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Athens · May 22, 2011, 11:11 PM

When I was in NY the last couple times the reception from AT&T was poor at best. That was ok and expected, big massive city, lots of people and lots of phones. When I was in San Fransico last year, same thing terrible reception from AT&T but I had the same expectations, large city lots of people lots of phones. Ive been in Washington all day and night so far and its the same dam thing, poor reception with AT&T, battery being drained really fast trying to maintain reception. Its been the same thing all the way to Seattle. So even in small urban areas it was crap. How do you guys who use AT&T put up with this.

brassplayersrock² · May 22, 2011, 11:17 PM

You might want to get your phone checked out. Last month in New York, the reception and battery life was fine for me. Newest OS newest iphone version, ect.

Athens · May 23, 2011, 03:40 AM

Nothing wrong with my phone. I'm just used to a better carrier. At home the only time I see a bar go below 5 is when I'm deep under ground or really far out in the bush. I've been sitting at between 2 and 4 bars everywhere the second I got into Washington.

turtle777 · May 23, 2011, 07:58 AM

Originally Posted by Athens

At home the only time I see a bar go below 5 is when I'm deep under ground...

Where is "at home" ?

NYC is known for rather limited AT&T experience. It's gotten better, but not as good as other big cities.

-t

nonhuman · May 23, 2011, 08:15 AM

Washtington, as in DC? I haven't really had any problems with AT&T here at all.

Big Mac · May 23, 2011, 08:22 AM

ampamp. When's that going to get fixed? Seriously annoying.

When people say cellular carriers suck, it's pretty relative. It's amazing to me, at least, that we have cell phones that are as good and capable as they are, and that includes the cell service that goes with them. ATT has problems with signal strength and reliability compared to its peers. If it doesn't work well for you, you know that you probably will want to get off it and to a different provider if possible as soon as you can. But to say it seriously sucks across the board is false, or ATT's mobile division would be out of business.

Athens · May 23, 2011, 10:20 AM

Washington State. In the past my phone would also connect to T-mobile. My home carrier is Fido/Rogers in Vancouver Canada. The guy I'm traveling with is having the same problems with his Android phone too. Reception for both of us has been middle to poor in Bellingham, Bellevue, Tacoma and Seattle. It's been consistent. In the 10 minutes my phone has been off the charger I have dropped 3% battery.

I've never been able to test data speeds south side of the boarder because the roaming costs for data is horrible.

This reminds me of all the news storires about poor reception for the iPhone and how ppl sued and stuff. I can tell you with 100% belief that it was never a problem with the iPhone because on a forign nations network it works flawlessly. The general overal coverage would appear to be lacking. Like I said I never bitched about NY and San Fran cuz in those markets it was expected due to the large populations and phone sarurations. But in western Washington no way. This is def a carrier issue.

I have not had a no signal situation but the one call I've made so far which was to order pizza got dropped half way through.

ghporter · May 23, 2011, 09:32 PM

Large cities that added cell service late in their lives have a lot of issues to deal with. Multipath interference is horrible, especially in places like Manhattan, with all the tall buildings. It isn't ATnT or any specific carrier, it's the nature of the network physical structure. If the cell antennas are high enough to provide service within buildings, they're at the wrong height for street-level use, and vice versa.

Conversely, I spent all of last week in the Detroit area, and in and out of town I had solid signals almost everywhere-except within a large building, where dead spots were common. Nearer the outer walls service was excellent, but deep inside, nothing.

Athens · May 23, 2011, 10:04 PM

Should define good service, because I count anything below a full 5 bars as poor reception.

brassplayersrock² · May 23, 2011, 11:08 PM

Ya might wanna lower your standards to 3. For me, 3+ is fine. (yes, that would include sex as well. WINNING)

besson3c · May 23, 2011, 11:31 PM

Why do people take the silly little bars on their phone as some sort of gospel-like indication of the quality of your phone service? First of all, there is the data and voice network - which are you talking about? Secondly, what exactly is the problem you are having? Dropped conversations? Conversations that cut in and out? Slow internet connection? You can experience any of those things with 5 bars of strength showing up.

Please define exactly what your problem is.

Dex13 · May 24, 2011, 12:56 AM

New York City
Population: 8,175,133
Land Area: 304.8 sq mi

wtf did you expect?

Athens · May 24, 2011, 09:17 AM

Originally Posted by Dex13

New York City
Population: 8,175,133
Land Area: 304.8 sq mi

wtf did you expect?

I did expect it. Read my post again. Now explain Washington state. Cities of only a couple hundred thousand.

And if 3 bars is fine I guess that's why AT&T gets away with it. So far half of my calls have dropped out hear. I can't make a full day on a single battery charge.

Railroader · May 24, 2011, 11:24 AM

Must be your phone.

Both my 3G and iPhone4 have great call quality and I very very rarely have a dropped call that is ATT's fault. Now whenever I talk to someone with Verizon I can expect them to have to call me back a few times of the conversation is longer than 10 minutes. Not a problem when I call land lines or Sprint service phones. I spent more than a few times last week on hour+ calls to various land lines and never had a dropped call. 80% of my usage of my phone is in the Indianapolis are with about 15% throughout Indiana and 5% in Michigan. ATT has great coverage just about everywhere I go. Anywhere I don't have a signal the same applies to all cell phones.

brassplayersrock² · May 24, 2011, 05:18 PM

Originally Posted by Railroader

Must be your phone.

Both my 3G and iPhone4 have great call quality and I very very rarely have a dropped call that is ATT's fault. Now whenever I talk to someone with Verizon I can expect them to have to call me back a few times of the conversation is longer than 10 minutes. Not a problem when I call land lines or Sprint service phones. I spent more than a few times last week on hour+ calls to various land lines and never had a dropped call. 80% of my usage of my phone is in the Indianapolis are with about 15% throughout Indiana and 5% in Michigan. ATT has great coverage just about everywhere I go. Anywhere I don't have a signal the same applies to all cell phones.