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AT&T's 'Blogger Guy' Faces Public Backlash
Customers apparently not accepting AT&T's apology

AT&T's new self-proclaimed "blogger guy" Seth Bloom has been tasked with damage control in the face of AT&T's recent wireless network congestion PR problems. While Bloom put a welcome human face on a company that's traditionally seen as anything but during the iPhone 3GS launch, he's now being asked to play PR point guard on what's becoming an increasingly volatile public relations problem for AT&T. It's a problem fueled by high prices, poor connectivity, missing functionality, and slow speeds.

As we noted yesterday, AT&T's finally given a September 25 launch date for bringing belated (an understatement) MMS functionality to the iPhone. To accompany AT&T's announcement, the carrier posted a new YouTube video featuring Bloom that insists the carrier is listening to your complaints, with Bloom repeating the company's now familiar statement that they're busy upgrading both backhaul and tower capacity. Judging from the YouTube comments, people aren't exactly buying the "apology:"

quote:
Click for full size
The iPhone has been out for more than two years now, and I STILL can't tether my iPhone. If I bought a Blackberry today, I can use AT&T to send MMS and tether it to my computer, so why am I penalized for buying the iPhone. If AT&T can't keep up with the traffic, then you should let Apple market the iPhone to other carriers who can. What's the point of upgrading your network for future customers if when that time comes you don't have any customers left?
Says another annoyed user:
quote:
AT&T has gained millions of new customers since the introduction of the iPhone, saved billions of advertising and marketing dollars because Apple does their own iPhone ads an promotions, and AT&T has failed to use those profits to provide their customers with services available to every other customer not using an iPhone. You can't use SlingPlayer (available on Blackberry and Windows Mobile phones), Skype, or Google Voice on their network because of their failures.
Says a somewhat less elegant commenter:
quote:
Hey AT&T, $#@! YOU, I'm not paying you over $140/month to hear your bullshit excuses for not upgrading your shitty network!
AT&T could have done what most organizations or individuals who don't like criticism do: disable comments or remain mute. Other than that, there's only a few things AT&T can do to mitigate what's becoming an increasingly large PR stink: get the network upgraded as quickly as possible (which they say they're doing), and allow users to start tethering (which they say is coming, though they refuse to say when).

Most of our users clearly understand that upgrading a network is both hard and expensive, but with the kind of quarterly data and SMS revenues AT&T generates, that excuse was always a little thin. It's growing increasingly so for iPhone customers who can't complete calls on major U.S. interstates, or can't retain solid 3G connectivity while walking down fifth avenue.
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FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

1 edit

1 recommendation

FFH5

Premium Member

Customers understand upgrading a network is hard & expensive

And don't forget time consuming. But I don't agree that most customers understand that at all. Most think big network changes can be accomplished in months if not quicker. Few realize that the kind of upgrades being discussed here take years to accomplish.

A legitimate complaint would be that AT&T probably didn't listen to their strategic planning group which I have no doubt foresaw all this growth occurring several years ago. But most corporations don't listen to their strategic planning groups. They listen much more closely to their financial planners.

From AT&T a number they should have designed for and didn't:»www.att.com/gen/press-ro ··· pid=1574
Wireless use on our network has grown an average of 350 percent year-over-year for the past two years, and is projected to continue at a rapid pace in 2009 and beyond.

en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA

en102

Member

Re: Customers understand upgrading a network is hard & expensive

said by FFH5:

But most corporations don't listen to their strategic planning groups. They listen much more closely to their financial planners.
I agree 100%.
jniamehr
Premium Member
join:2003-10-09
Roslyn, NY

1 recommendation

jniamehr

Premium Member

Re: Customers understand upgrading a network is hard & expensive

said by en102:

said by FFH5:

But most corporations don't listen to their strategic planning groups. They listen much more closely to their financial planners.
I agree 100%.
Now all of a sudden being fiscally responsible is out of style???? Come on people... A Corporation incorporates many facets.... AT&T is a FOR PROFIT company with THOUSANDS OF EMPLOYEES, SHAREHOLDERS, and CUSTOMERS. They need to be able to pay the employee the paycheck, the shareholders their dividends, but in regards to the consumer, the power is in their favor, they have the ability to consume or to forgo consumption. I chose to consume an iPhone. I agreed to the TOS and pay my bill. If you don't like it don't buy it.

en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA

en102

Member

Re: Customers understand upgrading a network is hard & expensive

This is about AT&T's response on why they're having issues... and some of us calling them out on it.

I don't use an iPhone, but did have a 'normal' 3G phone, and when AT&T deployed 3G 2 years ago, the service went to hell. It took more than a year afterwards for them to fix it where I am... and still another year later other markets are still having the issue. I don't blame a company for being fiscally responsible, however, they will potentially lose customers in the near future if they don't attempt to patronize their customers.
Adding fuel to the fire by now making dataplans mandatory on media enhanced and PDA phones will just add to the issue that they covered.

cameronsfx
join:2009-01-08
Panama City, FL

cameronsfx to jniamehr

Member

to jniamehr
said by jniamehr:

said by en102:

said by FFH5:

But most corporations don't listen to their strategic planning groups. They listen much more closely to their financial planners.
I agree 100%.
Now all of a sudden being fiscally responsible is out of style???? Come on people... A Corporation incorporates many facets.... AT&T is a FOR PROFIT company with THOUSANDS OF EMPLOYEES, SHAREHOLDERS, and CUSTOMERS. They need to be able to pay the employee the paycheck, the shareholders their dividends, but in regards to the consumer, the power is in their favor, they have the ability to consume or to forgo consumption. I chose to consume an iPhone. I agreed to the TOS and pay my bill. If you don't like it don't buy it.
You are my favorite AT&T Wireless iPhone customer! You are eligible for an upgrade to a newer iPhone. Just sign a new 24 month contract and you are set. Oh, $499 for the iPhone. Call 1-900-UR-SCRWD. Yes, a 900 number. Congrats on being #1!

Randall
AT&T CEO
Glenn_Davis
Premium Member
join:2007-07-28
Lenoir City, TN

Glenn_Davis to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5
Isn't the point that iPhone users are paying for services they do not have? That would make me angry, for sure.
MRCUR
join:2007-03-09
Lancaster, PA

MRCUR

Member

Re: Customers understand upgrading a network is hard & expensive

I think that's the much bigger issues (especially for me). I've had the original iPhone, tried the 3G but returned it because it didn't work at my house (the 3G reliability sucks here, speeds are just OK), had a BB Bold, and now have an iPhone 3GS.

I paid $20/month for unlimited EDGE data and 200 SMS on the original iPhone. I thought that was a very reasonable price. I was then asked to pay $30/month for data-only with the 3G, and both phones thereafter. I understand this - it was in line with most carriers data pricing. I already had unlimited texting by then anyways, so I didn't care.

But, here's the sticking point for me: Those same $30 got me fantastic push email, cellular video access, 3G, and TETHERING on my Bold. Of course MMS also worked... Why the hell as AT&T not gotten their crap together at least with pricing?

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: Customers understand upgrading a network is hard & expensive

said by MRCUR:

But, here's the sticking point for me: Those same $30 got me fantastic push email, cellular video access, 3G, and TETHERING on my Bold. Of course MMS also worked...Why the hell has AT&T not gotten their crap together at least with pricing?
How about because AT&T made such a lousy deal with what they pay to Apple that they have to charge more for iPhones than what they do with other 3G phones.

jhboricua

join:2000-06-06
Minneapolis, MN

jhboricua

Re: Customers understand upgrading a network is hard & expensive

Um, what does that has to do with the lack of functionality on the data plan?

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: Customers understand upgrading a network is hard & expensive

said by jhboricua:

Um, what does that has to do with the lack of functionality on the data plan?
Nothing. BUt I was answering a pricing question. Can you read?
moonpuppy (banned)
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

moonpuppy (banned)

Member

Re: Customers understand upgrading a network is hard & expensive

said by FFH5:

said by jhboricua:

Um, what does that has to do with the lack of functionality on the data plan?
Nothing. BUt I was answering a pricing question. Can you read?
And you are completely wrong about pricing too.

ATT is charging what they know they can get away with because THEY HAVE THE IPHONE.

ATT charges $30/month for a data plan that you MUST have to use an iPhone on their network (forget jail breaking and using it on other networks.) An additional $20/month gets you unlimited text messaging.

In comparison, T-mobile charges $35/month for data, visual voicemail and unlimited text messaging on their G1 and MyTouch phones. Verizon charges $20/month for 5000 text messages with unlimited mobile to mobile plus an addition $29.99/month for the basic data plan on their PDA (not Blackberry) phones (and add an additional $2.99 for visual voicemail.) Sprint charges $99/month for everything so take out $40/month for typical voice plans and that equals about $60/month.

So Verizon and ATT charges about the same for PDA type phones ($50/month.) So that means that IF Verizon did get the iPhone, it might have been more expensive on their network just because it is an iPhone. Lets not forget how Verizon loves to disable features on some phones.

ATT is practicing a basic rule of capitalism; charge what the market will bear. Even Sprint is advertising how much a Palm Pre will save someone over the cost of a plan with an iPhone. But everyone wants the iPhone.

Another issue is no one is really sure that Verizon's network could handle the traffic of the iPhone. Face it, that many new subscribers will tax any system. Who is to say any other provider wouldn't have the same issues?

SLD
Premium Member
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA

1 edit

1 recommendation

SLD to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5
Looking for your daily fight?

BTW, the "Bush/Cheney '04" sticker on the back of your Cherokee faded awhile back. You should remove it. Tell your friends, too.

BOGBS
Premium Member
join:2004-05-11

4 edits

BOGBS to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5
said by FFH5:

A legitimate complaint would be that AT&T probably didn't listen to their strategic planning group which I have no doubt foresaw all this growth occurring several years ago. But most corporations don't listen to their strategic planning groups. They listen much more closely to their financial planners.
Thanks for saying this. I wish more people would realize this. I can 100% identify, working in telecommunications myself. There is rarely a balance struck in cost/capacity for future upgrades.
said by MRCUR:

But, here's the sticking point for me: Those same $30 got me fantastic push email, cellular video access, 3G, and TETHERING on my Bold. Of course MMS also worked... Why the hell as AT&T not gotten their crap together at least with pricing?
That $30 did not buy you tethering, as defined by the plan. Tethering isn't technically included on the $30 BIS plan... You have to implement a workaround, or buy a 3rd party application as TetherBerry. If you really paid for tethering, you'd have the BIS+Tethering plan, with a 5GB cap @$60/mo.

This comes from a BlackBerry Bold user, that relies service for Business. I can't chance tethering on a plan that isn't designed for it, that's for sure. Other than that, using workarounds and 3rd party applications is fine for those who use their phones for non-critical, low use, personal customers
bsoft
join:2004-03-28
Boulder, CO

bsoft

Member

Re: Customers understand upgrading a network is hard & expensive

I'm sick and tired of telcos complaining about capacity issues. Guess what? Building capacity for their customers is part of doing business.

AT&T made over 12 BILLION dollars in profit last year. And they have the audacity to say that they can't get network upgrades done. The iPhone 3G has been out for over a year, and other 3G phones have been out for far longer. AT&T knew that the iPhone 2G drove higher data usage; they should have had the foresight to realize that the 3G would drive higher data usage as well.

The iPhone is sold all over the world, and yet it only seems to be AT&T that has these massive capacity issues. AT&T has the resources to get it fixed.

We don't have to put up with crappy service just because AT&T is unwilling or unable to provide high quality service.
WhatNow
Premium Member
join:2009-05-06
Charlotte, NC

WhatNow

Premium Member

Re: Customers understand upgrading a network is hard & expensive

The engineers at the bottom design a good network for an area that would be flexible and easy to upgrade but the spreadsheet managers nickel and dime it to death. The final design ends up being obsolete by the time it is turned up at a single tower. Then they don't want spend any more money because they have already blown their budget for that area.
Their game plan is penny wise and pound foolish.
burrzoo
join:2004-03-28
Daly City, CA

burrzoo

Member

Re: Customers understand upgrading a network is hard & expensive

said by WhatNow:

The engineers at the bottom design a good network for an area that would be flexible and easy to upgrade but the spreadsheet managers nickel and dime it to death. The final design ends up being obsolete by the time it is turned up at a single tower. Then they don't want spend any more money because they have already blown their budget for that area.
Their game plan is penny wise and pound foolish.
Oh boy, you hit the nail on the head! Welcome to Project Management 101 for the Corporate world! Typical scenario in my experience.

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI

Nightfall to bsoft

MVM

to bsoft
said by bsoft:

AT&T made over 12 BILLION dollars in profit last year. And they have the audacity to say that they can't get network upgrades done.
Link? Source?

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
Netgear WNDR3700v2
Zoom 5341J

KrK to FFH5

Premium Member

to FFH5
said by FFH5:

Few realize that the kind of upgrades being discussed here take years to accomplish.
In my experience, I've always found it's a question of priorities. I've noticed that if the priority is there, then the money is available, and things can happen AMAZINGLY FAST. It's all about the choice and then allocating the resources. Now I'm not saying AT&T should spend the extra to make crews work 24/7 etc but they should have been working on this as a high priority from day one. 2 years on, wow.

elbm
join:2000-08-03
Reisterstown, MD

elbm to FFH5

Member

to FFH5
And they are still just listening to the financial guys. VZW is upgrading their transport to the towers by putting in new protected sonet rings, using Fujitsu FW4100s with gigE optical hand offs at all of their towers. ATT has opted to put Transparent Lan Service (TLS) to their towers which is basically ethernet over fiber. No protection, just two fibers vs four, no ability to switch paths, TLS is unregulated, sonet has FCC mandated response times, hits on a sonet ring are transparent to the user, hits on TLS take time to recover...... But tls is far cheaper the ethernet over sonet.
axus
join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC

axus

Member

Re: Customers understand upgrading a network is hard & expensive

Heh, you dug up the truth behind the "most reliable network" claims, eh?

en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA

1 edit

1 recommendation

en102

Member

That's because...

He's a PR fanboy.
His PR message about being a lot of work doesn't cut it.
Many areas have had 3G 1900 for a while.. AT&T could have saved itself a LOT of work (and most likely cost) by having installed enough capacity at the start. 3G 1900 in L.A. was horribly overloaded from day 1, and literally blew up when 3g iPhone was deployed. 1 year afterward inital 3G deployment, 3G 850 came into existance.
In other markets, such as S.F., NYC, where 3G was deployed at least 2 years earlier, they're just getting around to adding more capacity now.
To add insult to injury, they felt that it was 'ok' to B.S. most users and request that they replace SIM cards, phone exchange. During the first 3 months after iPhone 3G went live in my location, I had my 3G Samsung exchanged under warranty 3x, as I could not hold calls for more than 1 minute. The nearest cell site is less than 1/3 mile. It wouldn't matter if I was standing in front of the cell site, with -36dBm signal...no capacity = dropped calls.
Canada = Hollywood North
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88

Member

Re: That's because...

said by en102:

During the first 3 months after iPhone 3G went live in my location, I had my 3G Samsung exchanged under warranty 3x, as I could not hold calls for more than 1 minute. The nearest cell site is less than 1/3 mile. It wouldn't matter if I was standing in front of the cell site, with -36dBm signal...no capacity = dropped calls.
Canada = Hollywood North
A person who uses the field test screen, I know I'm not the only one.

en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA

en102

Member

Re: That's because...

Yup - I've used it on many phones..
Samsung x426/e316 (AT&T Wireless)
NEC 525 (AT&T Wireless)
Siemens S46 (AT&T Wireless)
Motorola V505 (AT&T Wireless)
Samsung ZX-20 (Cingular/AT&T Wireless)
HTC Tilt (AT&T Mobility)

Best I've captured is -17dBm
»members.dslextreme.com/u ··· t008.jpg
»members.dslextreme.com/u ··· 0-3g.jpg
»members.dslextreme.com/u ··· 25_b.jpg
»members.dslextreme.com/u ··· 1906.JPG
AVonGauss
Premium Member
join:2007-11-01
Boynton Beach, FL

1 recommendation

AVonGauss

Premium Member

Silliness...

Its more of a political and corporate disaster than an issue of capacity management. Unless the iPhone is using some new nifty method of doing MMS, which I doubt, AT&T should have just enabled it along with all the other carriers on day one and saved themselves a lot of headache. If there was a "MMS armageddon" during the first couple of days after release of the iPhone 3.0 software, AT&T might have gotten a spanking or two about capacity and then the event would have been over and for the most part forgotten. However, by arbitrarily delaying the availability of MMS they opened the door wide open for intense scrutiny and potential consumer backlash on a variety of fronts that has lasted for several months already and with this much momentum may be very hard to turn around.
MRCUR
join:2007-03-09
Lancaster, PA

MRCUR

Member

Re: Silliness...

Actually, I'm pretty happy AT&T decided to wait and add capacity for MMS before they launched it. It's very easy to get around no MMS on the iPhone through email, which certainly isn't a solution or excuse for AT&T, but it helps.

What I'm not ok with is still paying the same price as everyone else for messaging when I can't get access to MMS. Just like I'm not ok with paying the same data price and getting crappy service and no tethering (I realize the latter isn't supposed to be included but works on BBs).

Hpower
join:2000-06-08
Canyon Country, CA

Hpower

Member

Can't wait to see video

haha I have to watch this funny video when I get home from work. Can't watch it at work of course. This guy's face is funny in the picture.

Radardan
join:2003-08-15
Scottsdale, AZ

Radardan

Member

Pres. Obama killed AT&T here in AZ

When the President and his entourage stayed near Scottsdale recently, iPhone cell service was essentially broken for several days and then suddenly cleared up when the visit was over.

One AT&T rep admitted there was a problem. All the others I spoke to could not find any issue in their network other than my intermittent "Call Failed" messages.

But I still remember vividly at least 10 years ago when some AT&T rep was claiming in a radio program that customers did not want number portability.

AT&T has a long history of denying reality.

joako
Premium Member
join:2000-09-07
/dev/null

joako

Premium Member

Re: Pres. Obama killed AT&T here in AZ

Oh, of course. Tell the customers "you can't port your number" and then log the number of customers that call regarding portability. "Last quarter 0.3% of calls handled by our call center were related to number portability. 20% of those were customers requesting we allow it" Thus by statistics "customers do not want number portability"

These numbers are totally made up, but you get the idea....

Nerdtalker
Working Hard, Or Hardly Working?
MVM
join:2003-02-18
San Jose, CA

Nerdtalker to Radardan

MVM

to Radardan
Oh so you think you've got it bad? Ha!

Down here in Tucson at the U the service stops, on the dime, at 11:30 every single day until about 1:30. For about that long, perhaps longer some days, any attempt to make a call results in "Call Failed" messages, sending texts results in "message send error," and data slows to around 120 kilobits/s. I did a test last week and found that during that period over 70% of my SMSes failed at least once to send, most required mashing try again at least 4 times.

I generally switch to EDGE if I'm planning on doing anything, and I just give up if it involves calling anyone who also happens to have an iPhone since they're oblivious to the obvious congestion since the whole time it still happily shows max bars.

I've been tweeting heavily about the issue and one of their reps finally got a hold of me and created a network ticket, but I haven't heard anything since about it. They called back once two days later and asked if "everything was fixed" to which I laughed, because their call went right to voicemail since I couldn't even answer it. I think they've given up on me. Whatever, F*%k 'em. I guess that $130/month goes right into making Ralph De la Vega another corporate bathroom or something.

AT&T has some serious serious load issues if they can't handle people moving around so much that any small flux in phones brings a local network to it's knees. It tells me their deployment was clearly designed before these things became ubiquitous, since they can't achieve the density needed to deliver the kind of bandwidth 35K students need to schedule lunch every day. Fail, AT&T, Fail.

Radardan
join:2003-08-15
Scottsdale, AZ

Radardan

Member

Re: Pres. Obama killed AT&T here in AZ

Hey

I feel for ya!

The only thing which comes close in my life is the dead zone in my kitchen. How many times have I walked into the kitchen for a drink or snack while on the phone and lost the call.

I guess I can say AT&T is leading to fewer calories, putting a positive face on it.

:{)

Nerdtalker
Working Hard, Or Hardly Working?
MVM
join:2003-02-18
San Jose, CA

Nerdtalker

MVM

Re: Pres. Obama killed AT&T here in AZ

That's really really annoying. Hopefully things will change when the AT&T femtocell starts hitting shelves.

I'm really lucky in that my primary residence has maximum bars throughout and generally speedtests really well (1.6 megabits/s).

Every time I head up to Phoenix (seems like Tempe and Scottsdale in particular) I notice that the speedtests slow to barely over 300 kilobits/s, perhaps 500 in some places, and just stays there. Sky harbor is particularly awful; just a huge glaring omission on AT&T's part to not bring frequency reuse to the max for one of the US's busiest airports.
watice
join:2008-11-01
New York, NY

1 recommendation

watice

Member

CNN Story

Anyone see the CNN story this morning about AT&T's network & the iphone? They actually called iphone users "network hogs" and blamed them for AT&T users dropped calls. I was shocked, appalled, and pissed that CNN would get the story twisted like that.

»www.cnn.com/video/#/vide ··· call.cnn

••••••••••••••••

cameronsfx
join:2009-01-08
Panama City, FL

cameronsfx

Member

LOL!

I'm AT&T

I'm a MAC. Uhh, what happened to PC?

Oh, I'm the AT&T guy just like you.

No you're not. iTunes doesn't crash on the iPhone.

Well, you see we have capacity issues...

Not prepared huh? You had two years.

You're a jerk like all iPhone users. Data ho..........(lost call)

I can't hear you. WHAT? Oh, I lost another call.

WE'RE FREEING THE IPHONE!

Ding-Ding!

Apple
papi4baby
join:2008-01-19
Callaway, MD

papi4baby

Member

ATT please, please get it together

First off, yes ATT f up real bad. They should have had this issue fix a long time ago. Is all about money.
I will say the iphone does use a lot of bandwidth, why??? i dunno an apple thing i guess.

I read i think here or somewhere else, the problem was the iphone not compressing down the image/file to send over MMS and that's where the capacity issue came up.

I am willing to bet, that if the iphone goes to Sprint and Verizon and ATT let people get out of their contract most would leave in a heartbeat, i know i would.

Yes ATT, read the above and get your act together.
WhatNow
Premium Member
join:2009-05-06
Charlotte, NC

WhatNow

Premium Member

Re: ATT please, please get it together

If enough customers leave that will help solve their problem. When it hits the top management bonus plan they will then blame everybody below them for doing what they were told to do.
captobie
Premium Member
join:2008-08-20
Ferndale, WA

captobie

Premium Member

Re: ATT please, please get it together

Oh please!!! All us non-iPhone AT&T customers can't wait for the day all the iPhone users jump ship.

abm
@comcast.net

abm

Anon

Network Planning

I worked in SMR network planning and budgeting for both metro back haul and site to MSO - I worked with the planners and modeling folks.

When the previous data revolution started in SMR, the network planners came to my group and said, "how much to support mobile data from 20,000 users North of Boston, at 9.6kbps, 19, etc.?"

We worked on it and gave a figure for time and materials, labor - then they came back with a memo that said, (from network VP), "nahhhhh....the metro PW departments will never use that much data!"

Cut the upgrades budget by 75%, it will take Motorola a long time to upgrade the mobiles. Wrong!

We spent the next 3 years upgrading antenna sites with faster RF data modems and NIU's.

Same thing happened with ATT -

nunya
LXI 483
MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO
·Charter

nunya

MVM

I don't get it.

Maybe I live in a better area. I love my iPhone and don't have any service problems. The only problem I have with AT&T (and any other wireless company) is their contracts and outrageous prices. BTW, I knew about the contract length and outrageous prices before I signed on - so who's fault is that?

Quite honestly, the productivity increase from having an iPhone probably saves me money compared to doing without.

JAXx
aka Stephen
Premium Member
join:2000-03-31
New York, NY

JAXx

Premium Member

We're due compensation

I think its time ATT gave every customer a free month of service.
antonine
join:2004-08-18
Indianapolis, IN

antonine

Member

AT&T Backlash

If AT&T wants to pick a spot to start improving their wireless service, it should be San Francisco. The tech pundits writing and posting from there, such as for CNET, PC Mag, and Revision 3 (Tekzilla, etc.) regularly rag on AT&T's service. At least on a recent Tekzilla broadcast, they thought some AT&T upgrades had allowed them to keep a signal on local highway stretches infamous for dropped iPhone calls.

TeRRyZx
@mindspring.com

TeRRyZx

Anon

Blackberry

I wanted an iPhone but I will NEVER go to that CRAP AT$T Contract...so I got a Blackberry from Verizon and am extremely pleased with it so much that I might not even get an iPhone when it gets on Verizon. AT$T is the worst thing to EVER happen to Apple.

lets
The Gene Pool Could Use Chlorine
Premium Member
join:2004-01-22
Stockton, CA

lets

Premium Member

Remember At&T is really spelled SBC

And they are a predator corporation. At lease that the label I put on them
Maggs
Premium Member
join:2002-11-29
Jackson Heights, NY

Maggs

Premium Member

This is the reason I don't own an iPhone yet!

Really how incompetent do you have to be to not realize that the iPhone brings you millions of customers. AT&T should have had their head pulled out of their ass, and recognize this for what this is, a massive cash cow there for the taking. They should have been planing build-outs when the 1st iPhone was a huge success. Plan ahead folks, the shareholders would shit their pants with huge profits if they worked it right.

Really no CEO of a major telcom out there has the balls to spend money to build out properly, they listen to accounting and the shareholders, mind you half the shareholders of a company are idiots that don't even watch your companies' performance, they are looking for the quick buck.

If I had the capital and cash I'd start my own telcom, and buildout in stages over time. ATT lets their network rot while they buildout. That's really bad business.
w4ncr8
join:2000-10-27

1 edit

w4ncr8

Member

Re: This is the reason I don't own an iPhone yet!

Only if they would get the same prices and Services packages in The southeast for DSL what they are in Texas ! IM Glad I did not Buy a I phone.
»www.att.com/gen/general?pid=6431 for all the southeast!

»www.bellsouth.com/consum ··· dex.html out date Services packages and old price from the bellsouth .

HappyBunny9
Hi. Cram It.
Premium Member
join:2001-06-23
Long Beach, CA

HappyBunny9

Premium Member

Take your iPhone to T-Mobile

And you have MMS! And a more stable network. No it doesnt use T-Mobile's 3G network (the spectrum is different) but few if any dropped calls and yes, MMS has been working for me since the 3.0 software came out.

pizmo pete
join:2007-10-24
Portland, CT

pizmo pete

Member

Flash *Corp Board Meeting* a few years ago

Boys, we got this sweetheart deal with Apple, to sell this phone/music/internet toy all the kids will want. We'll sell millions....wouldn't that tax our network, sir? Na we'll wait and see we will make more profit with using the net we have now.
Fast foward to today.... Boys, we got a problem, our network is overloaded. We need more cell towers and more repeaters. PANIC....they are deployng hundreds of T-1s to meet the demand....Yet these Million dollar EXECS who should of had enough of an MBA degree, to see this coming? Why do we compensate these people in the millions, remind me what are they paid to do? I pay you EXECS,as a shareholder and as a customer, to have VISION of the future, in new trends and FORSIGHT to take RISKS and INVEST in the Corporate FUTURE. Not make a quick buck for the Dividend and hide your stupidity with blame on ignorance of demand and the high cost of the employees. We all should dump the IPHONE and get the same capability's on our phones as we have on our home computers. "Nickle and Dime the customers" has been replaced with "What the market will bear". We can't be treated like stupid consumers.
utp216
Premium Member
join:2001-12-26
Red Lion, PA

utp216

Premium Member

Off topic

Do any of you users have an iPhone as there only phone on a plan by itself? I am wondering what the ballpark on cost is for a 700 or so minute plan with unlimited text and the iPhone data plan.

I am wondering this because I recently upgraded (if that's what you want to call it) my girlfriend's phone on my ATT plan to an iPhone. I think that my bill should only change for the $30 amount of the data plan since nothing else has changed. My bill seemed a tad bit high over the last two months so I think ATT has something wrong on my plan.

It's a cool phone but I told her I'm not getting an iPhone until at least MMS works with a non-jailbroken phone. I will stick to my Blackjack 2 for the time being. It tethers and does everything else and I've been using it for two years now.

Mike00
Premium Member
join:2002-09-16
Tulsa, OK

Mike00

Premium Member

Re: Off topic

said by utp216:

Do any of you users have an iPhone as there only phone on a plan by itself? I am wondering what the ballpark on cost is for a 700 or so minute plan with unlimited text and the iPhone data plan.

I am wondering this because I recently upgraded (if that's what you want to call it) my girlfriend's phone on my ATT plan to an iPhone. I think that my bill should only change for the $30 amount of the data plan since nothing else has changed. My bill seemed a tad bit high over the last two months so I think ATT has something wrong on my plan.

It's a cool phone but I told her I'm not getting an iPhone until at least MMS works with a non-jailbroken phone. I will stick to my Blackjack 2 for the time being. It tethers and does everything else and I've been using it for two years now.
I have an iPhone 3GS as my only phone on a plan by itself. I think I get a 15% discount from work or school but with the 450 minute plan and 200 text messages my bill comes out to about $85/mo after taxes and if I don't go over on text messages which are an additional .10/each. With my original iPhone at&t only charged me .05 for each additional text message.

For you, If you wanted 900 minutes which is $60, and unlimited texting for $20, then the $30 for the unlimited data plan, add roughly 15% for taxes and all the other fees they throw on there, I'm guessing your bill would be around $125/mo assuming you don't get any discounts and don't go over on minutes.
Mike00

Mike00

Premium Member

Re: Customers understand upgrading a network is hard & expen

So, when at&t finally allows us to have MMS on our iPhones, I wonder if they are going to require Apple to severely compress our pictures and videos before we send it via MMS to conserve bandwidth. If they do that, I wonder how many people would roll their iPhone firmware back to 3.0 and just replace their carrier ipcc file to enable the full functionality of MMS as Apple originally intended. Should be interesting I think.

Z80
1 point 77
Premium Member
join:2009-08-31
Amerika

Z80

Premium Member

Also, problems aren't everywhere

While certainly some localities have problems, others don't. I always get 1Mb+ and usually 1.5Mb from my 3G iPhone and Sierra Wireless USB 3G modem.

IOW, it isn't a "nationwide, everyone is suffering" problem. It's a cable HSI-esque problem.
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