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l008com · Apr 29, 2009, 11:24 PM

Please use this poll to rate the quality of the AT&T network as experienced through your iPhone, over the past ~2 months. Is it the same as always? Has it gotten better? Has it gotten worse?

l008com · Apr 29, 2009, 11:29 PM

I'll make the first comment too. My network has gotten horrible. My house, despite being right in the middle of a major metropolitan area, is in a borderline zone for calls. But I guess I've moved across the line, these days I can't make a single successful phone call from my house, not even from outside my house. I've had to resort to using Skype over wifi. Even when I'm away from home, I seem to have more and more signal problems than I ever used to have. My next phone will almost certainly NOT be another iPhone.

cwkmacuser · Apr 29, 2009, 11:31 PM

I use Net10. They are a prepaid service and the phones just use whatever service it can find where you are. It's pretty nice.

l008com · Apr 29, 2009, 11:34 PM

Thats not going to help someone's iphone get a GSM signal where there is only CDMA

Captain Obvious · Apr 30, 2009, 07:14 AM

When ATT was bought out by Cingular the service went to **** around here. It has never recovered. TMo has the superior quality and fewest dropped calls as far as GSM goes in this city.

Verizon and US Cell beat them by a lot though. Too bad they mostly have crappy phones and the few good ones they do carry are crippled by software limitations the carriers stick on them

Railroader · Apr 30, 2009, 08:31 AM

My coverage is great here in Indiana and has improved since I first got my iPhone.

Friends up in Michigan who are on Verizon have been getting worse coverage lately.

cwkmacuser · Apr 30, 2009, 09:41 AM

Originally Posted by l008com

Thats not going to help someone's iphone get a GSM signal where there is only CDMA

Uh, Abbreviations not found in database, please rephrase!

Dork. · Apr 30, 2009, 09:51 AM

Originally Posted by cwkmacuser

Uh, Abbreviations not found in database, please rephrase!

Here you go:

GSM
CDMA

(sorry to be so snarky, I couldn't resist....)

Railroader · Apr 30, 2009, 09:54 AM

Seriously?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDMA

[EDIT: DAGNABBIT!!! Beaten by Dork.]

MRTrauffer · Apr 30, 2009, 11:05 AM

AT&T has been putting up some new towers in the VA Beach area, which has really cleared up some really bad dead zones.

Angelo78 · Apr 30, 2009, 11:13 AM

I live in Southern New England and have noticed a good increase in 3G reception. About 8 months ago 3G was hit or miss. I kept my phone set to the Edge network and used 3G for Maps or Location type services. Now I can leave the 3G setting on all day and consistently have 4-5 bars in the areas I travel.

My feeling is that AT&T is broadcasting 3G on the 800 MHz bandwidth in my area. I had zero 3G reception indoors when I first bought the current iPhone. Now, in my house as I type, the phone is showing 5 bars and data speeds are good enough for me.

jersey · Apr 30, 2009, 11:21 AM

I work in a building about 2 blocks from the AT$T headquarters in Manhattan, and it's dropped call city. It's actually gotten to where I'm hesitating about getting a new phone when my contract is up in June.

olePigeon · Apr 30, 2009, 11:30 AM

I don't have an iPhone, but my service routinely sucks. My phone will say I have 5 bars, but the second you receive or send a call, it drops to 2 and toggles between 2 and 1 no mater what. Then I get the inevitable three beeps and a dropped call.

My friend has T-Mobile and his phone never drops below 3 bars. I don't leave the city very often so I might just switch. I just hope I get to keep my number. It's an awesome phone number. Ends in 2000.

paul w · Apr 30, 2009, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by jersey

I work in a building about 2 blocks from the AT$T headquarters in Manhattan, and it's dropped call city. It's actually gotten to where I'm hesitating about getting a new phone when my contract is up in June.

After 18 months with the first gen iPhone, mostly in New York, I've never had one dropped call. Service is better than my previous t-mobile phone.

Maybe I have a metal plate in my head that I don't know about which acts as a signal booster...

turtle777 · Apr 30, 2009, 12:08 PM

It's gotten worse.

This morning, I was waiting for a call. I had two-three bars signal.
Suddenly, I get a voicemail.

The call never came through, iPhone never rang, call went straight to voicemail. WTF ?

-t

Railroader · Apr 30, 2009, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by olePigeon

It's an awesome phone number. Ends in 2000.

I had a number ending in 0007 once. Talk about awesome.

Salty · Apr 30, 2009, 02:41 PM

My reception on Rogers is grand

scaught · Apr 30, 2009, 03:09 PM

Originally Posted by Railroader

Seriously?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDMA

[EDIT: DAGNABBIT!!! Beaten by Dork.]

He's special. Give him some time.

olePigeon · Apr 30, 2009, 03:58 PM

Originally Posted by Railroader

I had a number ending in 0007 once. Talk about awesome.

My brother's phone ends with 9911.

Timo · Apr 30, 2009, 04:45 PM

Originally Posted by paul w

After 18 months with the first gen iPhone, mostly in New York, I've never had one dropped call. Service is better than my previous t-mobile phone.

Maybe I have a metal plate in my head that I don't know about which acts as a signal booster...

Funny, I guess I'm opposite paul w. I've had the first gen iPhone also 18 months, with a few dropped calls -- though what I really don't like is when it doesn't ring. I liked my t-mobile service better previously, but not enough to regret getting the iPhone.

Brien · Apr 30, 2009, 07:42 PM

I live in the LA/Orange County area and I get 1 bar most of the time.

msuper69 · May 1, 2009, 01:08 AM

I had the first gen iPhone and the 3G iPhone. Both had many dropped calls and crappy Internet connections.

The iPhone is in a drawer and my current phone (a crappy LG freebie) still has dropped calls.

I'm inclined to think the problems I had with the iPhone were the fault of AT&T and their "notwork".

cwkmacuser · May 1, 2009, 09:38 AM

Originally Posted by scaught

He's special. Give him some time.

Who, me or Dork?

Maflynn · May 1, 2009, 09:42 AM

I've been an iPhone user since December and I've not seen not marked improvement or any degradation in my usage. I also see not real change in quality vs. Verizon as well.

Maflynn · May 1, 2009, 09:43 AM

Originally Posted by cwkmacuser

Who, me or Dork?

You dude, since you had no idea what CDMA, GSM were.

dn15 · May 1, 2009, 11:14 AM

Mine is the same or better.

I purchased my iPhone 3G just a month or two after they were released last year, and had lots of service problems. It improved at a pretty rapid pace, and has been consistently good since then.

However, I would still have occasional data connection problems where various apps would say they couldn't access an Internet connection, even up until two or three months ago. In recent times that problem has almost entirely disappeared and service quality is about on par with what it was when I had Verizon.

Note, however, that I never actually used a data service with Verizon, just voice. But it was rock solid.

lklarson · May 2, 2009, 08:38 AM

Since here in Montana there is NO AT&T service at all. There are two GSM carriers in my town, and depending on where he is, my cousin's iPhone will show the correct time or be an hour off. Plus, the phone shows no indication that it is roaming, never mind which carrier you are on. A stupid marketer made that decision, I'm sure. Not useful. This is why I still have my 4+ year old Kyocera on Verizon. My battery is getting weak, though, so I hold on, and hope the rumors of a CDMA iPhone are true. I love my iPod Touch!

Big-C · May 3, 2009, 03:24 PM

I'm in the Los Angeles area during the day (work), and it's very weak. When a phone call comes in I have to sit in a chair and pray it doesn't fail. Walking down the hall will definitely kill it.

At home (montrose), even thought the coverage map indicates strongest signal, it's terrible (indoors or outside in my yard), and it's the thing my wife and I complain about most in life (which is probably pretty good!). Anyway, has it gotten worse? It sure seems like it. I'll definitely be checking out the microcel/femtocel when it comes out; but if it's a recurring cost, forget it. One-time costs I can deal with.

QSilver · May 4, 2009, 12:35 PM

I voted "About the Same>" It's been just fine since I first got it in Oct 2007.

chotty · May 6, 2009, 03:12 PM

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious

When ATT was bought out by Cingular the service went to **** around here. It has never recovered. TMo has the superior quality and fewest dropped calls as far as GSM goes in this city.

Verizon and US Cell beat them by a lot though. Too bad they mostly have crappy phones and the few good ones they do carry are crippled by software limitations the carriers stick on them

*Dude. You got it bass-akwards. Cingular was bought out by AT&T...

l008com · May 6, 2009, 03:52 PM

Actually didn't cingular buy AT&T, and then change it's name to AT&T?

CharlesS · May 6, 2009, 04:16 PM

It's complicated. Fortunately, Stephen can clear things up a bit.

osiris · May 6, 2009, 05:05 PM

Service has been good - it's improved greatly in locations like upstate NY (Ulster County), now there's 3G in more places.

I still find myself on Edge more than 3G in NYC, which bites.

Sound quality is about the same (good), and I rarely ever have dropped calls (maybe 2 in the past year).