AT&T: Our network is fine, really, can you pretty please tell your readers that?
By Stefan Constantinescu on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 12:16 AM PST In AT&T
AT&T’s marketing machine is in damage control mode right now. Remember that post I wrote a few days ago about AT&T’s network sucking because the company didn’t configure it properly?
Check out the email I just got:
Hey Stefan,
Saw your post and wanted to get you a response – we don’t think there’s any merit to the observation you passed along. Would you mind adding this to the post? Feel free to attribute to me or the company …
Also, noted your comment about cell sites – we’ve talked publicly quite a lot about the improvements we’re making to the network (7.2 rollout, increased backhaul to our sites, etc.) – but we also said we plan to add more than 2,000 sites this year.
Thanks,
Seth Bloom
FH for AT&T Corporate Communications“The AT&T (NYSE: T) wireless network is designed and engineered to deliver the highest possible levels of capacity and performance. Our standing as the nation’s fastest 3G network is validated by multiple third-party testing organizations on the basis of millions of drive tests annually.”
“We believe that recent online speculation regarding AT&T wireless network configuration settings is without foundation. Allegations in these posts regarding packet loss network settings are incorrect.”
To which I simply replied:
I’m not going to copy and paste your marketing message to my blog post. Good luck getting other blogs to follow your request.
Take Seth’s message with a few hundred kilos of salt. If you’re an iPhone customer, or just a plain AT&T customer experiencing network issues, leave a comment below.
I’m leaving AT&T on Monday when my contract is up. I’ve wanted to leave so many times but didn’t feel that I should have to pay $175 extra to leave their crap service. I’ve also been told that if I had any other phone on AT&T, I could have broken my contract without paying the early termination fee. But because I have an iPhone, I can’t. Absolutely Terrible & Tragic.
Wow Stefan your name must be COURAGE!
Hmm, the network is fine. Let me just give an example to the contrary. Driving home the other day I was talking to my wife, we are both on AT&T, and we lost connection three time in less than 5 miles. I finally gave up the call after the third disconnect. A point of note, my phone displayed a reading of 5 bars and according to my wife she had 4 bars of signal strength. So, I don’t think the network is “fine”.
I will admit that I switched from T-Mobile for the iPhone and we all love the iPhone (we now have four), but unless AT&T improves the network, we will be gone when our contract is up.
We drop 10x the calls on AT&T than we did on T-Mobile.
Tom – I couldn’t say it any better. I just came to AT&T from T-Mobile. I’ve had more dropped calls and network issues on my crackberry in the last 2 months then I had in the last 8 years with T-Mobile combined. AND I’m paying 30% more for AT&T service then T-Mobile. At the end of the contract, I’m going back.
Geez,
where to begin. Service stinks, period.
Fastest bla bla bla!
I think its BS that I have to pay full price for a data plan when the closest 3G service is 30 miles away…why not pro-rate the service for people who dont have the luxury of that “Fastest 3G Coverage”
Iphone customer in New Orleans…3G works great down here! I think we just dont have the congestion here in New Orleans that other areas have.
The only problem I have is that I can sit in a restaurant and have no bars and my daughter who has a motorolla 3g phone has full bars and my sons 3g iPhone has no bars…I think some of the problem may be with Apple and not just an Att problem…It’s the same in other location in the US.
Gee, do you think that the phone may have something to do with it versus the network!!!! Come on people, get a clue. Do you really think that with all of the 3rd party drive tests and the ability to claim the “fastest 3G Network” are false????? Do you relly think that AT&T can just go claim anything they want, or any Cell Phone provider for that matter??? The iPhone has the lowest return rate of any phone on the market, AT&T’s churn is only a fraction of that of Verizon, within .1%!!! Wake up people!!
It’s humorous that you blame the equipment – yet, the iPhone works well on networks in countries other than the US. Additionally, there are minimal complaints (if any) from the jailbroken phones on T-Mobile networks. I use over 6000 minutes a month on AT&T’s network and even broke one of my iPhones by throwing the phone in frustration of dropped and bad quality calls. Moving to a different phone hasn’t helped either (I went back to the Blackberry). Calls still suck. Network sucks. And AT&T is right – dropped calls ruin conversations but they need to add another by-line… Dropped calls ruin conversations and loses customers. Good-bye AT&T – I’m heading to Verizon.
But Stefan, you DID copy and paste their marketing message into your blog…
They wanted me to copy and paste it into the blog post I made previously.
I don’t think creating another blog post, copy and pasting their letter, and then shaming them in public a second time was the goal of the email.
I live in Dallas and have an iPhone and I am constantly dropping calls because of the 3G reception/congestion. ALL of my family members (cousins and all) have Blackberry Bolds and/or iPhones and we all experience this problem in Dallas. The dropped calls on the iPhone seem to be attributed mostly to the switch from 3G to EDGE when you loose 3G coverage, but why am I losing 3G coverage so often. Also, after the 850Mhz rollout in Dallas, my indoor reception has gotten worse. I don’t know about packets or network configuration, but something needs to be fixed. I have had all 3 generation iPhones and I seem to have had fewer problems with the original. Switch to EDGE and you will have no problems, but you shouldn’t have to for what you pay AT&T and Apple…
Whatever. I’m cancelling U-verse this week. Wireless goes 11/6. No mo’ feeding the monster.
WOW! It’s that bad south of the border? Come to Canada! Our prices and terms are horrible, but I have never had a dropped call with Rogers/Fido.
Externally hired or not, he is corporate communications person paid by AT&T, therefore he is AT&T.
I’m a bit disturbed that AT&T thinks there’s nothing at all wrong with their network. If that’s what they think, then they have no intention of fixing it (because to them there’s nothing to fix.)
All AT&T has to do is ask, and many many people will GIVE THEM A LIST OF PLACES the network is ‘broken.’
I’m glad we are finally getting ATT to listen. I’m an ATT user and I will add that their network really sucks right now. I have the 3Gs, which is faster, and everything takes forever to do. Data, Email, Calls. Heck I get calls and they can hear me but I can’t hear them.
C’mmon ATT, you’ve made millions off IPhone customers with your extravgant plans. So at a minimum give us a network that is worth what we pay. I personally beleive they have major issues on their network and need to get them resolved. Don’t just say that everything is OK, take a look at it and keep going over your configs till you get it right.
No problems with AT&T in the 3 years I’ve had them (6 months so far as an iphone user), in the midwest (mostly central IL and Chicago area). I think I can count on one hand how many dropped calls I’ve had
I haven’t been able to make a call using my iPhone for the past one hour. It tells me that my call cannot be completed at this time and that I should try again later. I get the same message when I dial 611. I tried restarting my phone and my friend’s phone, but it didn’t solve the problem. People who are trying to call me using the land line simply hear the ring(ing) tone but my iPhone is not ringinging! My friend is experiencing the same issues with his iPhone! I also tried calling through Google Voice with no success… We are paying for the gym membership and the fact that we couldn’t get hold of each other (me and my friend) disrupted our schedule and cost us money tonight. I want my money back!
wow ! well, technology isnt dependable all the time ! and i doubt it that any network at any given time will be able to support 100% of the customers that use a specific carrier !! regardless of the advancements that are made !
I live in Los Angeles and own an iPhone. Never really had any network issues. 3G works just fine, with download speeds around 1 Mbps. Never had any dropped call and call quality is always clear.
i have at@t in Bergen county new jersey
everyone complains about these problems with the network and they never happen to me
im on the phone all night talking to my girlfriend and never does the phone call drop and she has verizon
but i do have problems with txt messages but its only from att to VERIZON
txt messages always come in atleast 3 minutes after i send them and alot of times it will drop repeat ext…
sometimes it takes up to 45 minutes to send
sprint tmobile and anyother company works fine
sprint and tmobile also have some problems with sending to verizon but there not as bad which as weird
they have the 2 miunte delay as well
i think the only reason at@t is so bad is because its compared to verizon
I lived abroad for a few years and have traveled extensively, always using a phone on a GSM network. It wasn’t until I returned to the States and obtained a SIM card from AT&T that I started having every kind of network problem in the book (including NO service in my home town for 3 months!!). The final straw was standing in front of a AT&T store in the NYC area and not having any service. I paid the early termination and switched carriers. I would love to use the iPhone, but I cannot stomach going back to AT&T. The problem isn’t the phone or the GSM platform; it is AT&T’s network. Until they are willing to acknowledge the problem and do something more than use chewing gum and duct tape to fix it, it’s not worth the iPhone.
I live in Denton, TX, just north of Dallas, and I have very few problems with ATT. I can’t remember the last time I had a dropped call. I also have Nokia phone, not an iPhone. However, my brother has an iPhone and tells me that his service has been great.
Mark
No problems in Akron/Canton/Cleveland area.
I support Steph I don’t like ppl that bash at&t or any network b/c they might have had a bad experience b/c of a faulty device and run and shout that the network is bad… Your opinion is not valid at all towards at&t’s network..