I'm tired of the poor service and the dropped phone calls and audio so choppy that you can't make out what was said. After many many complaints I just decided that I can't take it anymore and need real cell phone service that works.
I don't know about other areas but in San Francisco AT&Y sucks. The are merging with Cingular which also sucks and they are already sharing relay towers. I had hoped the service would get better - but it's worse.
AT7T wants to try to confuse me claiming it might be my phone(s) and other things. But - I'm a tech and I know how this works. The problem occurrs mostly at peak hours - and it's clearly an overload problem.
Here's how it works. There is a limit to how much information that can be transmitted down a data pipe and AT7T's pipe is too small. This results in "packet loss" which means that chunks of words are just plain dropped or lost. That creates the "choppy" effect.
Signal strength is plenty good and the problem isn't related to my location. And I have two phones and they are both doing the same thing. The problem is that the service is oversold.
What AT&T is doing is probably illegal and certianly immoral. What they are doing is selling something they don't have. Here's an analogy. Suppose that a movie theather sold more tickets than they had seats. If enough people didn't show up - no one would notice. But - when the overselling gets to a severe point then people who pay for the movie don't get to see it.
In my case I'm paying for service 24 hours a day - but during peak hours I can't make or receive phone calls. I'm not getting what I'm paying for.
I have heard good things about Verizon - I'm hoping that they will be better. We will see. I would warn everyone though that AT&T - in the San Francisco area - is cheating their customers and if you are considering AT&T you might want to go elsewhere.
But not to Sprint - they are even worse!
Glad to hear it Marc. Verizon's service is very good over here in NYC and I'm sure it is just as good on the west coast.
Are you going to pay the $175 breach of contract fees to AT&T?
Posted by: Paul at July 30, 2004 11:35 AMAll cell companies suck. T-Mobile is probably the lesser of the many evils. Cingular is horrible btw.
Posted by: Chris at August 1, 2004 10:20 AMIt really depends on where you live, in the end. In Indianapolis, T-Mobile is absolutely terrible. Sprint and Verizon are great, as is Cingular. AT&T wasn't bad (I'd give them a B-) but they improved after the merger. However, Verizon is the best for using out here simply because they've put a fair amount of money in the area (they bought a HUGE music venue nearby).
Posted by: Mance at August 2, 2004 12:42 PMhi, I'm not a salesperson or anything but any time someone I know voices disatisfaction with their phone service, I try to remind them of working assets. I like my cell phone and long distance service from them and I like that they donate to progressive causes. just a thought.
Over here at nyc AT&T sucks big time! I can't make calls when everybody around me can. Question, is it my phone or the service whenever the screen freezes? I think is the service cause it happens when I try the call connection and nothing happens then when I cancel and try redialing, the button seemed to have no effect. Lucky I don't have a contract with AT&T anymore, just paying the monthly, and I will switch over to Verison this weekend.
Posted by: frank at February 7, 2005 08:32 PMLike the man said almost all of the cellphones have problems. However I think we are spoiled.
just a few short years ago I paid $1000 for a moble phone the thing filled my trunk. The calls were hit or miss and you could only talk for three minutes and you were cut off. Them the Israelis came up with a device call a cell phone.
the prices came down and the service got better. Now everyone has a cell phone. They are not perfect but theyare a lot less expensive and they are a whole lot better. Just think whaty it would be like without them. You woiuld be stuck in your office or your home. Now you can go all over the world and use your cell phone. So stop complaining and invent a better mouse trap.
I would like to get a cell phone pay as you
go. No contracts for me. I tryed vig mobile but
that does not work to good. Which is the best deal. for pay as you go