Are you happy with your AT & T service?

Just for clarification: The current AT&T is in name only, it was formerly SBC. When they bought Cingular, which had acquired AT&T wireless years earlier, they changed the name from Cingular to AT&T.

Either way I have been along for the ride and all the name changes. And I had AT&T to begin with.

I did to, back in the Digital One Rate days, when they were the first to have it. Was traveling a lot and it really saved money on calls back to the office, didn't have to pay hotel rates. Then when they acquired AT&T wireless I stayed with my AT&T SIM until I got my Treo. But they never went back and forth with the name, if you changed to Cingular you changed companies, then you changed back.

The AT&T you now have is really Cingular by another name. Thank God, because AT&T Wireless had the worst customer service I ever dealt with. Fortunately I rarely had to deal with them as my phone just worked.

During the first time it was Cingular I still had my exact same AT&T plan and for the same rates (which was a lot of minutes for little cash then) Which was nice, but during the second Cingular era I lost my Phone and had to sign up for a new contract with was less for more :{

That's why most of the original AT&T people held onto their agreements so long.

I would have too but I had to loose my brick of a phone, I wonder if you could have added to that plan the $20 more a month data package for iPhone and still kept the plan.

meh, don't open it yet. take it back

Zerimar wrote:
I would have too but I had to loose my brick of a phone, I wonder if you could have added to that plan the $20 more a month data package for iPhone and still kept the plan.

Probably not because the ATTWS phones were analog and TDMA; the iPhone is GSM. When I went from my ATTWS TDMA phone to a Razr GSM phone after Cingular bought out ATTWS, I had to get a new account (was able to keep phone number, though). We terminated my wife's TDMA phone number in February, but we still got the letter telling us to upgrade her phone because the TDMA network was being shutdown this month!

i am in VA and got cingular in 2005 when the service in the state was not really great (it was right as they were adding a lot of towers). had no service in a rural area here that i visit regularly but other than that it wasnt to bad, 6 months later when i go to the same rural area i now have full service, few months later they added 2 or 3 towers in my local area. my coverage is pretty good, the dorm i am in had bad service for everyone but ATT is one of the lowest ones, once i step out side or get to the ground floor though i get great service (stupid concrete and electrical wires).

my brother an i both have att (he has had it from before cingular bought att so i guess thats what 8 years maybe) and we have both had pretty good coverage and really good customer service when ever there was an issue where as my parents and sister have verizon and they have had sooooo many customer service issues.

the edge network is ok, with my iphone it is a lot faster than my old razr was with trying to go on line and heck its a freaking cell phone your not going to get dsl/cable speed (it was still plenty faster than dial up, way faster actually).

since you are in a city you should have good coverage, att seems to not penetrate into buildings, specifically ones with a lot of concrete or a lot of electrical, very well but its not to much worse than other services.

-matt

I live in Walnut Creek, and have been with ATT since before they were ATT. I started with Cingular probably more than a dozen years ago. My coverage has actually become better since ATT took over Cingular. Customer service has never been an issue. I had poor coverage in my home with Cingular, but it has improved considerably since ATT took over. I travel all over the Bay Area and a little beyond, and have not experienced any serious coverage issues. Again, much improved since ATT. Just make sure the iPhone does all you need it to do. There are a lot of whiners in these discussions who buy, THEN determine it can't do what they need it to. I too would like to see additional features on the iPhone, but for now, I really like it, and can wait for those features.

AT&T's network is terrible in the NYC metro area!

The latest issue of Consumer Reports (January 2008) they give their network quality rankings for 20 major metro areas around the country. AT&T ranks LAST or SECOND TO LAST in 19 of the 20 regions!!! Buy the issue it is very informative!!!

I love Apple, have TONS of their products subscribe to .Mac, LOVE my iPhone, HATE the crappy service.... Although it pains me to say it, I'm getting a Blackberry Pearl and going back to Verizon.

Meanwhile, Verizon ranked FIRST or SECOND in ALL of the 20 metro areas! I can't believe that Apple would risk tarnishing their reputation by teaming w/ AT&T.... They may have had a tough time trying to strike a deal w/ Verizon, but you know the old say... YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

Yet if you search through here you will find others that say they use AT&T in the NYC area and it if fine. Each time I have visited (not with an iPhone) my reception with AT&T has been fine.

The problem with the article you are referring to is cell repeater coverage is so limited that unless you assign someone to be like that Verizon guy and check every square block there is no real way to get an accurate measurement.

And, if you paid close attention, all of the companies were poorly rated. Kind of like saying you're number one in your division, but with a losing record.

And then if you go out on the web you can read all the Verizon users complaints about Verizon intentionally crippling features on phones (which may have been why their discussions with Apple went nowhere), such as allowing phonebooks to be transferred to vehicle bluetooth systems.

To me if you are going to get a cellphone you pick your provider first, based on how well reception is where you spend most of your time, then you decide on the phone. This approach ruled out Sprint and Verizon for me.

hmmm thats weird all the big metro areas ive been have had great service (ATL had 5 bars everywhere but in the metro, NYC was god service except in the metro, RIchmond VA is good, Reno NV was pretty good, Philly was good)

-matt

I live in NYC. I had verizon years ago. They were not great. could not get reception in Park Slope in many spots, including my apt.

I switched to Virgin, (runs on the Sprint network, I'm told). That was better, but not much. When going north I lost reception at Red Hook and didn't get any till Albany.

With AT&T I get the best reception in NYC I've had in years. And when going upstate I get good reception with the same dead spots my verizon-using friends have.

I just checked the coverage map for my house with the same result. Shows strongest possible signal, when in truth I often have none at all with the words no service showing instead of the bars. I live within the city limits of Bellingham WA and am a stone's throw from the main freeway, I5. Although the signal with Verizon at this location wasn't great it was significantly better than I am getting with AT&T.