Article: Apple to AT&T: Drop Dead (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

Interesting article here on Apple's declining relationship with AT&T.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Another article, Four Reasons why iPhone owners hate AT&T

 

[Ted Todorov]

The PC World article engages in more rewriting of history. Apple didn't choose AT&T over Verizon -- Verizon chose not carry the iPhone. One presumes that Verizon has seen the error of their ways, and Apple has seen the downsides of exclusivity.

So, one hopes, when the AT&T deal expires, the iPhone will be on AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

I would really like to defend AT&T here, but it's difficult. It's fairly evident now that the AT&T/Apple exclusivity contract is coming to an end.

It may not matter all that much to AT&T, though. The contract on my original iPhone will be up in August and I'll be upgrading to a 3GS then. And I suspect that that will be the case for anybody still using the original iPhone. By the end of summer, MMS will probably be available. And tethering and enhanced-speed 3G will definitely make it out before the end of the new two year contracts. So for millions of iPhone 3GS customers there may not be a compelling reason to jump to Verizon anytime soon.

But its still pretty lousy of AT&T to make their exclusive iPhone customers wait like this. I defended them on the Slingplayer issue, but the MMS and tethering issues are just pathetic! Especially when both features have been long requested by iPhone users and are currently available for many other AT&T phones.

 

[Ted Todorov]

If you have a first gen iPhone, you can upgrade anytime you want without incurring a penalty -- the original iPhone was not subsidized by AT&T, so it has always been "upgrade eligible".

 

[Carlo_M]

Normally I'm very reserved and controlled...but F@# AT&T!

I can say that because I'm a current customer, and the signal reception in my apt. sucks (Los Angeles). Everyone else who comes over (Verizon, Sprint customers) seems to get good reception at my place.

Meanwhile, not two blocks from my place, a huge billboard proclaiming "More Bars in More Places...AT&T". I give it the finger every time I walk by it on my way to work.

I'm still getting an iPhone because I've been wanting one for some time, but there is no defense for how AT&T is performing. The minute the iPhone becomes untethered to AT&T, I'm switching carriers!

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Ted,

I, of course, know that!

I thought I would let the 3GS go through a "shake-out" cruise first. I'm also a little curious to find out what works and what doesn't after I upgrade my original 8GB iPhone to the 3.0 firmware next week. I have WiFi nearly everywhere I go so I can afford to wait a few months. Besides, by then I fully expect MMS to be available.

When I do upgrade, I'm going all the way ... 32GB!! (Of course we'll all need it for the videos ...)

 

[nolesrule]

Go anywhere that has some sort of coverage and you can fill in the blanks with any 2 random cellphone carriers.

 

[DaveF]

Not I. I've never had bad coverage with Verizon. NY through to Indiana, to Tennessee. Los Angeles. Cabo San Lucas. Toronto and Ottawa. Always got "bars". There's someone to hate everything. But customer surveys consistently rank Verizon above AT&T, just as they rank Apple above all the PC makers. I won't tout V as unfallable -- I've had my gripes -- but it's incorrect to just wave away AT&T grumblings as equivalent to the grumbling about the other carriers.

 

[Carlo_M]

No doubt true. But since I'm primarily concerned about myself, that's really irrelevant to me.

Seriously I would change carriers except:
1. Family is on AT&T
2. Girlfriend is on AT&T
3. Closest friends I talk to most are on AT&T
4. iPhone is AT&T
5. 15% off of AT&T service due to job

Monetarily it would not make sense to switch because I get free minutes with those I talk to the most and it would be a considerable amount to switch plans, not to mention the loss of the job discount.

PS - Thanks for your sympathy Dave

 

[LarryH]

Man, I keep wanting to get an iPhone, but there's always a reason "just around the corner" to wait a bit. Of course, not being an AT&T customer, this has become a greater and greater concern as a problem. Maybe around the next corner Verizon will be an option....

 

[Ted Todorov]

Just keep in mind that that next corner is most likely 24 months from now. 12 at the earliest, but IMO very unlikely.

Both Verizon and Apple have publicly stated that there will be no CDMA iPhone. That means that when the Verizon iPhone is released Verizon's LTE network will have to be *completely* rolled out and I don't see that happening before 2011 at the earliest. The most likely scenario, is that Apple lets the AT&T exclusivity deal expire in June 2010, adds T-Mobile as a carrier in the fall of 2010, and Verizon in summer 2011 or 2012 when the iPhone 4G (LTE) is released. Sprint never, unless they do a 180 and drop WiMax for LTE -- an extremely doubtful proposition.

 

[nolesrule]

Carlo, got you beat on #5. My wife's company's employees get 18% off. 1-4 aren't relevent, as we rarely use all our minutes and I'm not interested in an iPhone until I can get one for the same $75 I got my Samsung Blackjack.

On a sie note, the iPhone would impress me more if their app comercials would advertise apps that were truly unique, rather than just another way of doing something you can already do on the internet using a web browser.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I don't travel much, but I too (and many others I know) do find Verizon's coverage to be substantially better in NYC and surrounding areas. I regularly have easier time getting reception than other folks who use the other carriers. We don't use our phones a whole lot, but we want/need them to work when we do use them (and to have incoming calls reach us more easily/regularly). We don't need all the bells and whistles. We just need them to work -- the bells and whistles are just extras. It's why we stick w/ Verizon.

As for the iPhone itself, I'm fine w/ just using an iPod Touch w/ WiFi access for all the non-phone stuff that interest me. Even if/when Verizon gets the iPhone, I may not bother getting it if they continue to require subscription to a rather expensive data plan.

_Man_

 

[LDfan]

To be fair to AT&T these problems would have happened to any other carrier had Apple signed with. I don't think AT&T (or Apple) ever imagined the strain on the wireless network that the iphone can use.

Things will improve as the network infrastructure improves. Growing pains should be expected.

 

[DaveF]

Perhaps the data bandwidth challenges, but I hear many complaints about basic phone connections, dropped calls, etc. Would that be affected by a few more iPhone users?

 

[nolesrule]

Must be regional, or maybe an issue with the iPhone antenna design. I've never had any issues with data or phone connections, and I've been with AT&T/Cingular since before the iPhone.

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

AT&T sucks. They were a great wireless carrier before being bought out by Cingular. As soon as that happened, their service went to crap.

 

[Ted Todorov]

I think that the badness of AT&T does get exaggerated, and also is very dependent on local conditions.

The most salient question is how good and how soon will AT&T's network improvements be. And if sales of the new iPhones take off, will we have a replay of AT&T's network being brought to its knees after the 3G release last summer.

I agree with both LDFan and DaveF: I am convinced that Verizon's vaunted network would have been brought to its knees too by 10 million iPhones. On the other hand AT&T has handled the situation less than optimally. You just need to spend time in Europe and see what good cell phone services really is like to see how much room for improvement AT&T has.

 

[Melvin Surdin]

In an area where I had excellent Verizon service I switched to AT&T because of the iPhone. The coverage is awful. So, it is a choice between the phone and the carrier. Would love to have a choice other than AT&T.