NOW I see why people say AT&T suxs....

I've had the original iPhone since shortly after they first came out, so obviously I've been confined to the EDGE data service. A bit slow, yes, but nothing I would have called unbearable. We've upgraded to the 3GS since last weekend, but Wilmington has yet to get 3GS service. Ok, that's a bit annoying to be honest since some surrounding and less populated areas have it now, but I confirmed it is coming. And EDGE is still tolerable to be honest.

So fast forward to this weekend, and here we are in the New York area for my wife's HS reunion and vacation. We're out in Middletown having lunch with family and I'm sitting there trying to load my Yahoo home page. They only have EDGE also, but it's some painfully slow version of EDGE, or whatever it is. After 5 minutes, my home page had YET to finish loading before I gave up. That is downright outrageous! I got to wondering if it's possible my service back home is better simply because it was Cingular who serviced the area before AT&T bought them out. If this is how AT&T's service typically is elsewhere, then no small wonder why people go off on them so much.

We'll be in the city tomorrow... I'm curious now to see how their service is in the big apple for comparison.

For me, a switcher from Verizon to AT&T, I find AT&T's coverage to be spottier and less reliable than Verizon. I also find it ironic that they claim the fewest dropped calls when I had a total of ZERO with Verizon and I've already had countless dropped calls within a few months of having AT&T.

On a side note, AT&T's TV service (U-Verse) and high speed internet is quite nice.

We didn't have 3G until about three months ago in Shepherdstown, WV, but ever since then, I get pretty much full service and 3G everywhere I travel.

Frederick, Hagerstown, & Baltimore in MD. Washington, D.C, Philadelphia.

It's been better than t-mobile or Sprint for me.

I have never had any problem with AT&T. I love them.

Neither have I, but then again I have only lived near urban centers in NJ and CA. The only time I've had zero service is some spots between CA and Arizona or Las Vegas, which is smack in the middle of the desert.

They replaced my iphone because I kept on getting dropped calls and such, now, I constantly have full bars!! I did replace it after the new ones came out though! All I know is I can't complain about att anymore!

Actually....Cingular bought AT&T Wireless out. AT&T exists only in name -- they took the name on and retained the ticker symbol. (Trust me -- my wife used to work for AT&T.)

BTW...September 11, 2001...cell phone providers didn't charge people for calls made that day...except for Cingular. (This was before they bought out AT&T.) Gee, wonder if that has anything to do with why I dropped 'em and switched to Verizon Wireless.

dauber said:

BTW...September 11, 2001...cell phone providers didn't charge people for calls made that day...except for Cingular. (This was before they bought out AT&T.) Gee, wonder if that has anything to do with why I dropped 'em and switched to Verizon Wireless.

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I never heard that before. Where did you hear this at? I can't find anything.

Eric559 said:

I never heard that before. Where did you hear this at? I can't find anything.

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Back when the AT&T name took over I had heard the same thing in that it was still Cingular using the AT&T name. I will see if I can find anything. It was a while ago now.

Actually at the time I said to my friends I felt it was a Lie and that AT&T who was broken up was coming back even larger than ever.

Never used AT&T, I'm currently using T-Mobile and I love them thus far. Thou I'm not using a smart phone.

I found these.

USATODAY.com - Cingular will be sold under name of AT&T

Cingular to Take Over AT&T Wireless Name - Technology News - redOrbit

Then there are this:

Cingular to Take Over AT&T Wireless Name - Technology News - redOrbit

Why don't you ditch the status symbol and go for something that works? I'm quite happy with my 20 dollar prepaid AT&T phone..

I don't think it's a status symbol. The iPhone works great for me

Kash said:

I don't think it's a status symbol. The iPhone works great for me

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For me also and I use that Pay as You go plan and WiFi for everything else. I see nothing else in one package that satisfies me the way the iphone does.

If people do not like it, don't buy it.

dtravis7 said:

I found these.

USATODAY.com - Cingular will be sold under name of AT&T

Cingular to Take Over AT&T Wireless Name - Technology News - redOrbit

Then there are this:

Cingular to Take Over AT&T Wireless Name - Technology News - redOrbit

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Thanks dtravis.

However, I was talking about ATT (Cingular) being the only one to charge people for calls on 9/11 and all the other carriers giving out free calls that day. I never heard about that before and can't find anything when I google it. Was hoping dauber or someone could point me to a link.

Eric559 said:

Thanks dtravis.

However, I was talking about ATT (Cingular) being the only one to charge people for calls on 9/11 and all the other carriers giving out free calls that day. I never heard about that before and can't find anything when I google it. Was hoping dauber or someone could point me to a link.

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I can't find anything either. I even checked Snopes, and they have nada. A claim like this, true or not, certainly would have made it on there if it was widespread enough. I'm calling BS on it.

Back to the OP: where in New York were you? I don't think it would be fair to get mad at AT&T if you were out in BFE away from any cities, or any place that Verizon doesn't have 3G service either. At first I just assumed you were talking about NYC and I was about to call BS because I've been there with my iPhone and had 3G with full bars everywhere.

Like many other services, a lot of it is just dependent on where you are and the tower proximity. I'm on the road about 75% of the time for my job and I go all over the US. I'm usually in fairly urbanized areas, but I still always have 3G and no dropped calls even in areas outside big cities. The only place I haven't had 3G was when I was working in a small manufacturing town out in BFE South Carolina where I doubt any carrier has 3G service.

fleurya said:

Back to the OP: where in New York were you? I don't think it would be fair to get mad at AT&T if you were out in BFE away from any cities, or any place that Verizon doesn't have 3G service either. At first I just assumed you were talking about NYC and I was about to call BS because I've been there with my iPhone and had 3G with full bars everywhere.

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My original posting was quite clear on where I had been and where I was. In Middletown, I had 5 bars (or close to it), constantly had an E on screen, but the data downloading was horrific (please see my OP for further elaboration). In NYC itself, which I visited since that post. I largely had good service (voice and data). The compass kept getting "interference", which was a bit annoying.

In Newburgh, had fine cell service and EDGE speeds. In Marlboro, they had fine cell service and actually had 3G there, which seemed fine, though I didn't use it much there.

Regarding the not charging for calls on September 11 - my sources were two customers:

- My wife, who used AT&T Wireless at the time, and
- My mother-in-law, who used Verizon Wireless at the time. (I think she uses Sprint now...)

Neither got charged for 9/11 calls (and believe me, they made a lot)

Now...I had Cingular...I got charged. Couldn't get a connection on the land phone, so I used my cell...had to call my folks back in the Chicago suburbs to let 'em know that we were okay and were nowhere near NYC at the time (we each had to go frequently for various reasons, mainly client meetings).

You know I have noticed on my iPhone if I am not in a 3G area I make sure to switch 3G off as sometimes it causes a No Service on my phone. Like where I live I have 3G where I work 30 miles away, the town does not have 3G but I find that if I turn on 3G it seems that its finding it but then dropping it and switching back to edge and then just going aww i cant do it No Serivce but I turn 3G off and no probs. just my 2 cents.