[PCWorld]

Post your comments for AT&T and Apple: A Failing Partnership? here

[standish96]

Does the author have an Iphone? The phone works great, and the coverage in any major city is great. The wifi works well anywhere available, and most times the phone works as well or better than my laptop. Complaining about a list of items that will be niceties is rediculous, and just sounds like someone is bitter that they have Verizon and not AT&T as their service provider! By the way, everyone I know with their Verizon service and Blackberrys get smoked by my Iphone on any comparison test head to head.

[DataFerret]

I won't even consider buying an iPhone as long as AT&T is the only service provider for it. My "distaste" for AT&T goes back many years and i won't do business with them, or Sprint either for that matter.

[Fretless]

I would add AT&T's embarrassing attempt to solve the early upgrade surcharge debacle to this list. While many companies charge these upgrades and the uproar from existing customers was understandable, for AT&T to now say that they'll pick and choose who is eligible the upgrade fee waived and who doesn't, is just poor business judgment.
The waiver decisions seem like they will be made arbitrarily with some internal criteria related to how much you pay each month. From a business perspective, this looks like poor planning and as if AT&T just got it wrong from the start.
While Apple makes its missteps at times, they would be wise to seek a more reliable business partner when the AT&T partnership term expires.

[Yoni]

There are several things that are pointing at Apple's servers operational capability - incapability. This is not the first time we have these kind of problems. Apple's servers are usually overloaded leaving many customers in the dark for a good period of time whenever there is an update release either for the iPhone or the Mac OS. AT&T, oh well they have thrown so much crap at themselves that I would be unfair if I just add one more reason to dislike their business practices and services.
To all this, I have to add that I don't understand why they are considering the extra charge for tethering other than abusing customers over again. They have a 30 dollars-5GB data plan (the one they advertise as UNLIMITED), ENFORCED on every iPhone user whether the user wants it or not for the simple reason that they hold the exclusivity on the iPhone. Or better yet, because they advertise the iPhone as a multimedia phone. (Ironically without MMS or tethering).
Customers won't like the idea of paying extra charges for Internet access that must be covered within the 5GB plan they pay for every month. As many users have done already they will be pushed to jailbreak the iPhone and go the Cydia way with PDAnet or another application of that kind.
I wonder what would happen to AT&T's iPhone customers if users could get the phone from another carrier? Don't forget that CDMA has been traditionally faster than GSM.
How about the iPhone 3.0 OS? Google for "ultrasnow" and jump over T-mobile. You won't regret!
Yoni

[ivorycruncher]

I love my first-gen iPod Touch, but I really wish it had cellular capability so I could get data anywhere, not just wherever I can find open WiFi. I would also love some of the features that require the extra hardware that the iPhone has, and the iPod does not. However, I refuse to subject myself to the horrible treatment of AT&T's service, partly due to the horror stories I've heard about their service, and partly because based on their actions, I don't believe they truly care about their customer base. Granted, I ask myself that question about Verizon too, but at least they have in their favor a decent network.
I don't know enough about CDMA vs. GSM to state an informed opinion, but I can tell you that I have been on CDMA networks for most of the time I've owned a cell phone (briefly on TDMA with my first one in college), and I have no complaints about the service whatsoever. Maybe it's not a good option for "world-wide" coverage, but I think the extra investment for Apple to develop and manufacture a CDMA version of the iPhone could easily return big profits from people who would love the device but refuse to switch to a lousy network to get it, myself included. After all, like this article points out, what have you gained if you have a great device that you can't use properly because of its network?
I personally think the top dogs at Apple are fools for creating exclusivity agreements. Any sane businessman knows that in order to maximize your profits, you have to exploit all available markets to sell the maximum number of units. Apple has failed to do this, and now it's coming back to bite them. An exclusivity agreement might generate more profit over a short-term period, but the iPhone is turning out to be a long-term product, and the consumer backlash is now painfully evident.
AT&T has had almost two years since the launch of the iPhone to get their act together and improve their service, and they have failed time and time again. Apple, it's time to wake up and smell the roses. You made a bad choice, and now it's time to correct that mistake. I am currently in the market for my first smart phone, and I would love it to be the iPhone, but it will only be the iPhone if I can get one on Verizon's network. If you don't announce a Verizon-compatible model soon, I will probably end up getting a Samsung Omnia with the Windows Mobile OS. It may not be as nice and easy to work with, but at least I know it has a good network behind it, and with the upcoming WinMo app store, it probably won't be long before I find apps that replace everything I have on my iPod Touch.

[standish96]

My question still stands, however, it now has to be amended to ask do any of the owners of the replies to this article even have an Iphone or current AT&T service. It seems people have an opinion but not based on anything other than previous biases towards the provider of the service or the equipment. I personally do not know ANYONE who has an Iphone who is complaining about the service or the equipment......so how about some personal experience, and not hearsay.

[BurzumNazgul]

I had AT&T/Cingular before making the switch to Verizon two years ago. As an AT&T customer a billing mistake overcharged my credit card $1,300. It took me 4 week for them to refund the money and the following billing period another $350 was automatically billed to my card. They finally corrected it and I paid $300 to cancel two AT&T phones to switch to Verizon where I've had nothing but good experiences.
Verizon also has MUCH better coverage. I've never had trouble getting a signal (as long as I'm above ground) and when my AT&T/Sprint/T-Mobile friends can't get a signal I let them borrow my phone.

[ivorycruncher]

standish96 said:

My question still stands, however, it now has to be amended to ask do any of the owners of the replies to this article even have an Iphone or current AT&T service. It seems people have an opinion but not based on anything other than previous biases towards the provider of the service or the equipment. I personally do not know ANYONE who has an Iphone who is complaining about the service or the equipment......so how about some personal experience, and not hearsay.

Okay, fine. Somebody I work very closely with is an Apple guy. He's the only guy here who has a Mac for a work PC, on which he dual-boots Mac OS and Windows. He has an iPhone, and he's thoroughly disgusted with AT&T's service, but it's a work phone on a contract, so he's pretty much stuck. Just the other day, he said the only operator with possibly worse service is T-Mobile. How's that for personal experience?

I will say that I'm sure your mileage will vary with AT&T, depending on where you live. I've heard stories about AT&T being awesome and Verizon not working hardly at all, but it always comes down to geographical distinctions. I would say that taking all the comments I've heard from all sources, Verizon simply has better overall coverage and service than AT&T. That's not to say you aren't getting fabulous service from AT&T (and haven't from Verizon), but I'm inclined to believe that more often than not, AT&T is a poor choice. I have compared coverage maps several times over the past few years (read: YEARS), and it's fairly clear that AT&T doesn't do well at all in rural areas. There are large areas between here and my parents' place in the country that there is no service, and if I remember correctly, there's no AT&T service at my parents' place either, which is simply unacceptable. In fact, I think any and all service in their area is CDMA, which is probably why no GSM provider will work out there (no idea what Sprint's excuse is). On the other hand,I can hardly find a single spot in my state that isn't listed as in-network for Verizon, and my sister has been on it for years with no trouble whatsoever. Again, your mileage may vary, but for me, I need good rural coverage, which is something that AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint simply do not do well.

And for the record, I'm currently on Alltel, but have now moved out of Alltel's area and am looking to switch to Verizon. And actually, since Verizon has acquired Alltel, I'm assuming that soon I'll be getting an offer from Verizon to convert to one of their plans, getting an extra discount on a new phone, and I'd love for that to be an iPhone. I just hope that dream materializes soon.

[BurzumNazgul]

I have an AT&T data card for my laptop provided by the company I work for. Just 3 weeks ago I was on vacation. I had 3 data bars on my Verizon Cell phone and only 1 bar on my AT&T data connection. I couldn't even log in to check my email. It was PAINFULLY slow.

[Yoni]

I actually own both iPhone's versions and I don't believe my personal opinion is based on the iPhone's usability. Additionally, my wife owns a 3G as well as my sister does. In total there are 5 phones in my AT&T account so I believe that's an important number to use as reference.

The iPhone itself is a well designed-usable device (I don't believe anyone has said otherwise). The carrier (AT&T) kills 1/3 of the iPhone usability and fun. WAP push is disabled in many cases and calling the provider won't help. So, there are people that can do exchange with the iPhone, there are people that CAN'T do exchange and there are others like me that can't use MMS not even having my own MMS server at home because AT&T has done their best to prevent iPhone owners from doing MMS (a 10 years old feature on any US carrier).

An important part of my customers run on Mac. Their personal phones are mostly iPhones but every single one of them own a Blackberry for work because it does exchange, sync and most important, MMS! Whoever thinks in my organization that MMS is not an important feature on daily work is completely lost or unemployed by now.

[tjleeland]

I agree that the iPhone experience is hurting both companies. I love Apple, but my over all opinion of the company is less than it was after buying the iPhone. Too many basic mistakes and odd decisions.

The finish is coming off the Apple logo a little. I think we're seeing that it's really gold "clad" and not solid gold as we were once led to believe.

[Duvi]

Brennon Slattery, I must say you sound very bias. I'm not saying you do, but do you have Verizon?
Either way, it seems as though you have Verizon and want the iPhone on Verizon or you're an AT&T customer that isn't happy.
Then again, what article these days are written without being a bit bias?

[timothytripp]

Whatever rate they come up with for the tethering, I hope it's reasonable. Rumor is that it will be $55 a month. I hope that includes the iPhone data plan ($40 a month currently) or that would be WAY too much to pay. I'm sure AT&T is worried that the tethering will overload their network, but I think some sort of LARGE bandwidth cap will keep P2P file sharers off the network. I just want to be able to VPN into my company network to hit a few web sites on the intranet while I'm at the lake. My iPhone web browser is good but not so good at sites with a ton of data on them or that need ActiveX controls.
AT&T - PLEASE don't screw this up - tethering would be a great feature to have on our iPhones don't price it out of reach for the average "sometimes remote" worker. That means in the ballpark of $10-$20 a month extra for tethering, max.

[triut30]

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[triut30]

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[triut30]

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[triut30]

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