I've been testing out my iPhone for about a month now and my conclusion is that the iPhone is by far the greatest cell phone currently on the market, but AT&T's network is either the worst or the best depending on where you are. And before you flame me for not knowing anything a little back ground first. I worked at AT&T for 10 years and pioneered from a marketing perspective marketing bundles of wireless and wireline communications starting in 1995. The program I volunteered to work on called Cheetah in 1995 is widely considered the first marketing of a free cell phone for a new account.
I of course had an AT&T Wireless cell phone - one of those bricks back in 1995 and stuck with AT&T until about 2000 when I left AT&T. I got a Verizon phone not because I was angry at AT&T but because of the horrible dropped calls I'd get on NJ transit and on Route 78. After years of upgrading, I had to get the latest iPhone because my Verizon phones just could not deliver on good wireless internet surfing and the applications were sub par.
Well driving around to NYC the past few days I've noticed that AT&T's network still SUCKs on Route 78 and Route 287. It is so bad, that I've begin to seriously doubt AT&T's claim of of More Bars in More Places. They may have more bars, but that doesn't stop the calls from being dropped. Around my house, in my town, and neighboring towns the service is crystal clear, but once I get on one of those two highways, my old Verizon phone works a lot better. Plus, on a recent trip to DC the iPhone was unusable but Verizon was fine.
Net, net around my home in Long Valley and Chester NJ the AT&T/iPhone is awesome, but once out on the main roads, Verizon seems to be a better shot. The phone itself is something that I can't put down and often replaces my laptop even in my house. AT&T's 3G is blazing fast when you get it too. For me, unfortunately, I'm a two cell phone kind of guy now.
PardonMyFrench,
Eric
Have to agree. I myself was a LONG time AT&T loyalist. I owned stock in the original "Ma Bell" pre-breakup. Every telecom account I had was AT&T (I tend to be something of a brand loyalty sucker.) Then I went to work as a lobbyist at the state Capitol in Sacramento. I moved to a neighborhood not far from downtown Sacramento. What I discovered was that i could be walking down a corridor near a major hearing room in the Capitol and my "more bars" would drop to zero bars. What I found at home was that I had to walk outside on my front porch to take or make a call. I also found significant areas in downtown Sacramento where signals and calls just disappeared. As a lobbyist, we are heavily reliant on (addicted to) our cell phones. They are a critical productivity tool. WE CAN'T AFFORD TO BE OUT OF CONTACT WHEN A KEY BILL IS UP FOR COMMITTEE VOTE and we are trying to round up absent legislators.
As a the owner of a small lobbying firm, we have to be available to our clients on a nearly 24/7 basis ... They often don't understand why the have to wait for us0 to get dressed so we can go out on our front porch to take a call.
Frankly, I have found the "more bars in more places" tag line in AT&Ts ads to be worse than laughable - it is a rude joke that verges on the criminal, at least in Sacramento (a town where cell phones are more common and more important than oxygen.)
I finally had to bite the bullet and dump AT&T. I briefly moved to T-Mobile, but found some of the same limitations (though not NEARLY as bad).
THE ONLY carrier that has provided me with 100% reliable service has been Verizon. Never dropped a call inside the Capitol or from my home, or elsewhere in the SAC metro area. Period. The system has also proven reliable up and down the I-5 corridor, in Oregon, Washington, Hawaii ... Mexico and Europe.
While I have to admit that the web services via Verizon / Vodaphone leave much to be desired versus the AT&T 3G network, my ability to access my email, text and phone traffic more than make up for these weaknesses.
If your concerns are about staying in touch with important clients, rather than being able to do internet searches or watch the latest episodes of your favorite TV shows on the road, then I would seriously consider going with VERIZON over AT&T.
I would KILL to be able to move from my Blackberry 8830 to an iPhone (I am a Mac guy, own several iPods, including the iPod Touch, and too many Mac computers to count) but to date the iPhone is locked to AT&T - and I simply refuse to go back to AT&T's crapy network coverage, continuing promises of "future upgrades in your area" and crummy customer support.
As for AT&T's tag line of "more bars in more places," I suppose it works for the single-under-30-bar-hopping crowd, but for those of us who rely on our cell phones for our livelihood, it is nothing but a rude joke.
BTW: This experience led me to dump my AT&T "baby bell" stock some time ago.
Posted by: PGambee | March 22, 2009 at 03:54 AM