Are you happy with your AT & T service?

I have the iPhone and travel a fair bit for work. So far no major problems. With AT&T they do have limited coverage in the rural areas, though. For EDGE, its a lot like using a 56k modem (dial up). I live in Atlanta and the quality of calls is very clear and I almost never have a dropped call. Customer Service has been fine for me so far. I must say jump on any wifi hotspot you can find if you are surfing, emailing, or you-tubing frequently.

Coverage depends on where you are. Look at http://wireless.att.com for coverage maps. Mine is great here in Houston.

Customer Service is great as well. There is even a special number for iPhone customers. I use to have Sprint and we laugh about them sometimes.

Internet access over EDGE again depends on coverage. EDGE is fine with me, some report it slow, I usually have no problem with its speed.

I can't speak to the west coast, but I have used their network in Chicago, NYC, Miami, New Orleans...and most areas in between. Basically most of the Eastern U.S. and have had few problems. A few weeks ago, I was high in the Appalachian Mountains and was able to pull up web pages.

I'm pretty happy.

I've had a bunch of them (Verizon, Sprint, Nextel, T-Mo, AT&T/Cing) and here in the Denver area they're all pretty good. I came from Verizon when I bought my iPhone and for me my coverage seems a bit better with AT&T, which was certainly not the case 2 years ago - I switched to Verizon due to coverage issues, but in 2 years they (AT&T) have made giant leaps forward in coverage here in Denver and the Front Range area - all the places I did not have service w/ AT&T now have full strength and reliable data. I do travel quite a bit and have yet to be somewhere that lacks coverage.

In the Denver area, I was expecting EDGE to crawl compared to Verizon's EVDO - in practice they actually seem to be almost the same so I don't know if EDGE is faster than I remember or if EVDO is not as fast as advertised in this market.

Customer service is ok as far as I'm concerned.

As far as your coverage in the Bay Area, I was there a month or so ago and had no problems, but I wasn't outside SF much.

All the best,
Brian

I was with Verizon (for way too long) until I bought my iPhone. I was not able to use my phone at all in my home, or surrounding area (Oxnard, CA). Thus I only used my old phone for business as an emergency number when I was out of the area... but even then my Verizon service failed a few times.

Upon switching to AT&T I am able to get fantastic coverage just about anywhere I have been in my local area and LA in general. I now use my phone ALL the time, and edge is great too. I have found that connecting can be difficult in Large commercial buildings- I can't get a web connection when I'm at Frys- maybe too much interference?.

I was in Oakland in October for a long weekend and had great connectivity there and SF.

If you go to the AT&T site they have coverage maps to check service in specific areas, I expect that they are fairly up to date. I noted that the map of Omaha (my sisters's town) shows spotty reception, My sister has confirmed that.

You can always sign up with AT&T for a 2-yr contract with a phone provided and subsidized by AT&T without purchasing an iPhone.

Within the first 30 days you can return the subsidized phone and cancel your contract with no early contract termination fee or penalty but you will be responsible for any charges during this time.

Within 30 days you should be able to determine if you have good reception with AT&T at the places you frequent most.

If so, you can purchase an iPhone and when activating it transfer your AT&T number from the subsidized phone to the iPhone agreeing to a new 2-yr contract from the iPhone's activation date. This is not in addition to the previous 2-yr contract - just begins new again from the iPhone's activation date with no penalty and you will be able to keep the phone acquired from and subsidized by AT&T which can be used with the iPhone's SIM card if needed or wanted.

I became an AT&T subscriber 3-4 months prior to the iPhone being available and this is what I did. I still have a Razr 3xx which cost me $50 after a $50 rebate which I've used with my iPhone's SIM card when I've been out boating/fishing, etc.

I've got to say that so far, I'm disgusted with the lack of knowledge AT&T have displayed with the iPhone. It's almost as though they've been caught on their backfoot and are totally unprepared for what the iPhone can do and will need in the way of support. Some examples for you:

I'm a UK national who was on extended vacation to the US. I had to have the iPhone as soon as it was released. Because I didn't have a US Social Security number I couldn't get a 'normal' contract and had to go prepay, which is understandable.

As soon as the phone was activated I started getting flash messages informing me "your last transaction cost $0.00". These messages came in at all times of the day and night, even when the phone wasn't being used. Often I would have to clear a LOT of these messages before I could use any features of the phone. After speaking with AT&T regarding this, the best answer they could give me was "switch your phone into Airplane mode, you won't get the messages". Yes, this is true, but it also would interfere with my incoming calls... The AT&T agent informed me this was NOT the case and that I would still get my calls. Hmmm... right. I called back 3 times and was given exactly the same advice.

(The messages stopped themselves after a couple of months. Which was nice).

Recently I started having problems with data access. I called Apple who ran all sorts of tests, took the phone into the local Apple store and had the hardware checked - no problems. So, getting onto AT&T was the next step. 5 calls were made on the first day and in every one of those calls AT&T insisted that it was an Apple fault, not them. On two calls my protests and explanations were ignored and I was cut off mid-sentence to be put through to Apple Support. Not happy.

Eventually, an Apple supervisor came in on a call with the AT&T supervisor and demanded he put it right (at this point, I've had no data access on my phone unless I'm in a WiFi spot for 6 days), long story short - the AT&T rep disconnected my data plan without noticing that it couldn't be reinstated for one month and I'd be charged for data until then... When I pointed this out to him he put the Apple rep & I on hold for 40 minutes before coming back and telling me data charges would be refunded by AT&T until my data access plan was reinstated. Not ideal, but ok.

Sadly, this didn't fix my data access problem. In 2 weeks I've had access to the Edge network 3 times. The first session used the initial $20 credit (for less than 10 minutes of access to email through Safari), my second session cost $21 which was refunded with no questions by the one truly excellent AT&T staff member I've come across (Thanks Stephanie!) who read my account notes and saw the full history.

My third session was this last Monday, I was on the phone for 36 minutes explaining the situation to an obtuse young man who insisted my notes mentioned nothing of a refund of data charges (even though the previous agent had found this information straight away). We argued, I was accused of attempting to profit from this issue, I spoke with a supervisor, who informed me AT&T would never have agreed an ongoing refund like that. Getting angry I demanded a full refund of the iPhone purchase price and a refund of 3 months service fees for breach of contract (which is exactly what they informed me I'd have to pay should I terminate my agreement in the first year, yes. Even though I'm on prepay...). Now, at the beginning I was only asking for a refund of a $14 fee for the iPhone doing its' thing and updating weather & stocks etc but in the end I was looking for nearly $1000 (which I was perfectly entitled to request as AT&T are failing to supply the service contractually agreed upon). At this point the Supervisor relented and agreed 'as a gesture of goodwill' the $14 refund. Wow. Thanks.

My iPhone is now sitting on my desk switched off waiting until the 28th to see if the problem is resolved. I can only hope.

In conclusion, I love the iPhone but I can't stand AT&T. If Apple would allow the phone to be unlocked without limiting it's updates I'd be a very happy man. Be wary before signing with AT&T.

Saxkat,
You'll need to ignore any anecdotal information from posters who are NOT in your immediate area. The results vary far too widely from place to place.

Zero in on what Allan Sampson says. It's the best way to determine for you whether AT&T works for YOU, aside from just taking the chance and hoping for the best. To add to Allan's post, since the iPhone has already been purchased, you can use it with a temporary number before you cancel your other service and return it within 15 days AND cancel AT&T at that time (Allan correct me if I'm wrong about that).

If you don't know people in your neighborhood that travel within the same areas as you, you'll never know for SURE that your coverage is good or bad, and listening to people's experiences from Denver, New York, Oxnard, et. al., will do you very little good.

I believe this is correct but if the OP does not have adequate reception with AT&T and wants to return the iPhone for credit less the 10% restocking fee if the packaging is opened, it must be returned within 14 days of the purchase date.

I glanced over the portion of the OP's post indicting an iPhone has already been purchased.

If reception is good, I would prefer having another GSM phone out of the deal that can be used with the iPhone's SIM card if needed or wanted but it is good to provide an additional alternative.

AT&T has been the only carrier I've had since first getting a cell phone in 1992. On the whole it has worked well, with the occasional dead spot where I'd rather not have it. I think that's true of any carrier, however. Consumer Reports ranks AT&T third in total coverage, behind Verizon and Alltel. Sprint and T-Mobile are lower than AT&T. But they only checked out a few urban areas, so their results aren't statistically significant.

I have found AT&T's Coverage Maps very accurate. So take a look at this:

http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/

and check out the areas where you expect to be using it.

For EDGE, i typically see 100-200 kbps, 2 to 4 times dialup speeds. For most web sites and for email this is fast enough that I don't start tapping my foot waiting.

Saxkat wrote:
... My coverage area is the SF East Bay.

I see that you're in WC. I was just there over the Thanksgiving weekend. My mother lives there and I grew up in that area.

The coverage throughout the Bay Area is just fine for AT&T, having used iPhone from Santa Rosa to Gilroy, and through Livermoor to Fairfield. Clearly SF-OAK is fine. There are some dead spots on BART, if you use it as you go underground. AT&T must not run EDGE (and voice) through the tunnel and the underground stations.

I used my iPhone to do some Christmas shopping at the Apple.com store on the Black Friday, using EDGE. Also, there are plenty of Metro-Fi free wi-fi in the area that iPhone can take advantage of.

We had no issue, even when we ventured out to downtown/Broadway area of Walnut Creek. My old coverage with Sprint was horrible in the area - it kept roaming everywhere, whereas no issue with AT&T.

I've had no problems with AT&T every call i've been on have been clear and i haven't had any dropped calls, at first i was a bit hesitant being with Verizon for 12 years now i'm glad i purchased the iphone and i'm happy with AT&T.

I've been on both Verizon, and AT&T. Verizon had abysmal coverage at my house, where I needed it most for work. I've been on AT&T for about 2 years (My parents have had it 10+ years), and I've never been unhappy with it. I find their customer service to be very good. I've never had a rep, who wasn't nice or helpful. I live in the Central Valley, and I've gone down to L.A. many times and never really had bad coverage. I was in the Santa Cruz area just a few weeks ago, and had excellent service there as well.

I have no problem at all with AT&T. Having an Iphone made me learn more about mac and believe me my next laptop is a mac. I just think I should have done more homework before getting an Iphone because I cannot stand not having Yahoo/msn messenger on my phone. So far AT&T is good to me, but sometimes when I call people they can't hear me and I have to call back. I think that problem is the phone and Im waiting on a new update to see what that is going to be.

Yeah, they are ok.

Message was edited by: Lisa4720