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Frustrated/Giving Up My iPhone

N

NoCleverSNForMe

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 12, 2003
188
111
The day of reckoning has come.

I have been a proud iPhone user since June 29, but I sadly switched to Verizon yesterday afternoon. Why, you ask? Because I'm a Realtor, so my phone is central to my line of work, and I can't get AT&T service at my office.

I've called and complained to AT&T since November 2006 about the service in my area. I've had a Nokia 6103i, Treo 680, Treo 750, and BlackBerry 8700 series. None of them would give me service in my office -- you have to walk outside the building, turn the phone off, then back on, and you'll get service.

Last week, a client called in our centralized office line. I was the one on duty, so I took his call. He and I had a great rapport. He was moving into the area from out of town. I sent him some information on listings, schools in the area, and other information via email, along with my cell phone number for any follow-up questions.

He called me and got my voicemail. He called me again, got voicemail. No rings, just voicemail. He got so frustrated after several hours that he picked up the phone and dialed our competitor. He bought a house later that week -- the very one that I had suggested to him -- with our competitor.

I lost a $500,000 sale because of AT&T's crappy service in my area. I was just thinking about how many other clients I have lost this way, and will continue to lose because of AT&T's service.

I got so upset that I immediately went to my local Verizon Wireless store and bought a BlackBerry 8830.

Now I'm frustrated. I sat in my office earlier tonight, looking at my two phones. The BlackBerry to the right had five bars. The iPhone to the left said "No Service".

My BlackBerry is okay. The OS will serve me well, but it's obviously nothing compared to the iPhone.

I mean, I considered having both cell phones -- one for work and one for personal, but that's just crazy in my line of work. I don't have a "9-5" job, and besides, 9 out of every 10 of my clients becomes one of my friends, so it's impossible for me to separate the two worlds. They're intertwined.

Also, I can't have an office number. There are no personal numbers at my office -- just the main office number. Plus, the way it works at my office is that if you make an outgoing call using one of their landlines, it has the same outgoing number for all phones. Therefore, when someone calls back, regardless of what phone you were using, that call is going to reach the front desk, and the agent who's at the front desk is going to snatch up your client. So I don't use anything BUT my cell phone.

So frustrating. Looks like I'm going to have to sell on eBay. :(

It's a sad day.
 
I know it's a pain, but if I really loved my iPhone and HAD to have service for business....I'd call forward all my cell phone calls to my land-line whenever I was in the office. Once I leave, (and get back into a good signal area) turn off call forwarding.

I dunno....I understand your frustrations, but it seems like there might have been other options.

JimmyD
:apple::apple::apple::apple:
 
Ugh. :mad:

That's awful that you can't use your iPhone anymore! Maybe AT&T will improve their service around your office and you can go back to the iPhone later on, but you definitely have been given no other choice in the matter.

I'm a Mortgage Officer, so I completely understand your need for a reliable phone and service. My issue that I've been having recently is actually with my phone. I have Verizon service and it's great, but my Palm Treo 700p has been randomly resetting on me lately.

The worst was just last week. I was in the middle of taking a loan application over the phone and my phone suddenly turned off and reset. So my client tries to call back and it goes straight to voicemail because my phone hadn't came back up yet. He called twice and finally it came back up and I called him. Thankfully I didn't lose him as a client, but it was still extremely frustrating and embarrassing.
 
JimmyDreams said:
I know it's a pain, but if I really loved my iPhone and HAD to have service for business....I'd call forward all my cell phone calls to my land-line whenever I was in the office. Once I leave, (and get back into a good signal area) turn off call forwarding.

I dunno....I understand your frustrations, but it seems like there might have been other options.

JimmyD
:apple::apple::apple::apple:
Click to expand...

The OP said in his post that there are no personal numbers in his office so he can't forward calls to his land line.
 
snook911 said:
what about your contract with AT&T? Are you going to have to pay the $175 termanation fee?:mad::mad:bummer
Click to expand...
I would have thought a good rant with customer service would get you out of that one. He's not getting the service he's paying for, I'd tell them to stick their cancellation fee up their arse and cancel any direct debit (or whatever the US equivalent is) billing.
 
NoCleverSNForMe said:
The day of reckoning has come.

I have been a proud iPhone user since June 29, but I sadly switched to Verizon yesterday afternoon. Why, you ask? Because I'm a Realtor, so my phone is central to my line of work, and I can't get AT&T service at my office.

I've called and complained to AT&T since November 2006 about the service in my area. I've had a Nokia 6103i, Treo 680, Treo 750, and BlackBerry 8700 series. None of them would give me service in my office -- you have to walk outside the building, turn the phone off, then back on, and you'll get service.

Last week, a client called in our centralized office line. I was the one on duty, so I took his call. He and I had a great rapport. He was moving into the area from out of town. I sent him some information on listings, schools in the area, and other information via email, along with my cell phone number for any follow-up questions.

He called me and got my voicemail. He called me again, got voicemail. No rings, just voicemail. He got so frustrated after several hours that he picked up the phone and dialed our competitor. He bought a house later that week -- the very one that I had suggested to him -- with our competitor.

I lost a $500,000 sale because of AT&T's crappy service in my area. I was just thinking about how many other clients I have lost this way, and will continue to lose because of AT&T's service.

I got so upset that I immediately went to my local Verizon Wireless store and bought a BlackBerry 8830.

Now I'm frustrated. I sat in my office earlier tonight, looking at my two phones. The BlackBerry to the right had five bars. The iPhone to the left said "No Service".

My BlackBerry is okay. The OS will serve me well, but it's obviously nothing compared to the iPhone.

I mean, I considered having both cell phones -- one for work and one for personal, but that's just crazy in my line of work. I don't have a "9-5" job, and besides, 9 out of every 10 of my clients becomes one of my friends, so it's impossible for me to separate the two worlds. They're intertwined.

Also, I can't have an office number. There are no personal numbers at my office -- just the main office number. Plus, the way it works at my office is that if you make an outgoing call using one of their landlines, it has the same outgoing number for all phones. Therefore, when someone calls back, regardless of what phone you were using, that call is going to reach the front desk, and the agent who's at the front desk is going to snatch up your client. So I don't use anything BUT my cell phone.

So frustrating. Looks like I'm going to have to sell on eBay. :(

It's a sad day.
Click to expand...



Thats nice and all but I could tell the same story about Verizon. Zero bars from Verizon in my building. ATT - 5 bars. You knew the situation with ATT and bought an iPhone anyway.

User error.
 
skubish said:
Thats nice and all but I could tell the same story about Verizon. Zero bars from Verizon in my building. ATT - 5 bars. You knew the situation with ATT and bought an iPhone anyway.

User error.
Click to expand...

I hear you. I think they all suck. I love the iphone, but cannot stand all the "issues" with it.

Thank god my wife still has Verizon through her company and I can steal one of their lines.
 
skubish said:
Thats nice and all but I could tell the same story about Verizon. Zero bars from Verizon in my building. ATT - 5 bars. You knew the situation with ATT and bought an iPhone anyway.

User error.
Click to expand...

You're right.

I'm trying to figure out a solution to resolve my issue. Although this BlackBerry 8830 is nice and Verizon gives me five bars...it's not an iPhone. Everything is just easier to use on an iPhone.

Maybe I can use Skype or live with two cell phones. There has to be a sacrifice somewhere.
 
pdpfilms said:
Unfortunately, T-Mobile runs on the same GSM network, and would therefore likely be no better.
Click to expand...

That's not true. While T-Mobile runs GSM as a network interface, their network structure and layout is different. Just because one GSM carrier doesn't give youa good signal somewhere does not mean that all of them will. The same is true of CDMA: it's only an air interface, one variable among many, and good service on Sprint does not automatically mean good service on verizon, and vice versa.

This thread is a good textbook example of why one should pick their service based on coverage, not on the phone. The iPhone is great, but it's useless if you rely on the coverage and the coverage isn't there. Every network - Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Alltel - has their deadspots, they're just all in different places from one another depending on how they built their network and what priorities they placed on covering certain areas more than others. What should guide your decision is whether you get a signal where you live and work, never how nice looking the phone is. AT&T has good coverage in most places, but they are not immune to the occasional spot that has poor signal.

I also should point that AT&T isn't responsible for losing the sale... it's the OP. No service means no service, and if you placed the snazziness of the phone over the importance of receiving calls, then who else is there to blame? It's a lesson learned. Good luck with Verizon.
 
pdpfilms said:
Unfortunately, T-Mobile runs on the same GSM network, and would therefore likely be no better. It was the switch to CDMA (Verizon, Alltel) that was the only option.
Click to expand...

Do T-Mobile and AT&T actually share the same physical network (i.e. the same masts) then? The problem isn't GSM per se (see how well it works in other countries), it's the carrier's lack of proper coverage in that area. It's quite possible that T-Mobile may have a closer (or higher-powered) mast in the original poster's area.
 
displaced said:
Do T-Mobile and AT&T actually share the same physical network (i.e. the same masts) then?
Click to expand...

No they do not. A couple years ago they used to in certain parts of California and in the Northeast, but they have since built out or acquired their own separate networks.
 
scaredpoet said:
That's not true. While T-Mobile runs GSM as a network interface, their network structure and layout is different. Just because one GSM carrier doesn't give youa good signal somewhere does not mean that all of them will. The same is true of CDMA: it's only an air interface, one variable among many, and good service on Sprint does not automatically mean good service on verizon, and vice versa.

This thread is a good textbook example of why one should pick their service based on coverage, not on the phone. The iPhone is great, but it's useless if you rely on the coverage and the coverage isn't there. Every network - Sprint, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Alltel - has their deadspots, they're just all in different places from one another depending on how they built their network and what priorities they placed on covering certain areas more than others. What should guide your decision is whether you get a signal where you live and work, never how nice looking the phone is. AT&T has good coverage in most places, but they are not immune to the occasional spot that has poor signal.

I also should point that AT&T isn't responsible for losing the sale... it's the OP. No service means no service, and if you placed the snazziness of the phone over the importance of receiving calls, then who else is there to blame? It's a lesson learned. Good luck with Verizon.
Click to expand...

Here's the thing: AT&T got service with my friend's BlackBerry 8830.

If I have to, I will buy a BlackBerry 8830 at retail price and stick the SIM card in there when I'm at work and switch to the iPhone when I'm back.

I want to make this work.
 
scaredpoet said:
No they do not. A couple years ago they used to in certain parts of California and in the Northeast, but they have since built out or acquired their own separate networks.
Click to expand...

Ah, gotcha.

Here in the UK it's quite common for several operators to place their transmitters on the same physical mast, but none of them actually share physical networks. Actually, that's a lie -- there's one exception: The 3G network, '3' built and operate their own 3G network, but use Orange's network in areas where the 3 Network doesn't yet exist. It's a nice arrangement, since 3 get to claim 99% UK coverage with the caveat that 3G coverage is a subset of that.
 
NoCleverSNForMe said:
Here's the thing: AT&T got service with my friend's BlackBerry 8830.

If I have to, I will buy a BlackBerry 8830 at retail price and stick the SIM card in there when I'm at work and switch to the iPhone when I'm back.

I want to make this work.
Click to expand...

You're obsessing over the phone again.

If you insist on trying this, I'd recommend against the Blackberry. You should get a Treo or a Windows Mobile smartphone instead. Blackberries are just as closed as the iPhone if not more, and they require their own data plan and must use RIM's special proxies and back-end to make e-mail and data functions work. This plan is not compatible with the iPhone data plan.

However, a WM or Palm device will live and function quite happily with an iPhone enabled account.
 
JimmyDreams said:
I know it's a pain, but if I really loved my iPhone and HAD to have service for business....I'd call forward all my cell phone calls to my land-line whenever I was in the office. Once I leave, (and get back into a good signal area) turn off call forwarding.

I dunno....I understand your frustrations, but it seems like there might have been other options.

JimmyD
:apple::apple::apple::apple:
Click to expand...
Clearly you didn't read his entire post.

snook911 said:
what about your contract with AT&T? Are you going to have to pay the $175 termanation fee?:mad::mad:bummer
Click to expand...
Due to the lack of service where AT&T probably claims they have service I believe this is an easy fix.

skubish said:
Thats nice and all but I could tell the same story about Verizon. Zero bars from Verizon in my building. ATT - 5 bars. You knew the situation with ATT and bought an iPhone anyway.

User error.
Click to expand...
User error? Are you out of your mind! My goodness that is a rather dense statement.
I get service on a Sprint Blackberry 8700 in my house. I get 4 bars. On my AT&T SLVR I get 1 bar if that and regardless I better be plastered next to a window in two of the three rooms in my house. User error is not the case here.

AT&T really needs to fix these issues. I too would have probably bought an iPhone and had my work configure it so I could drop the Blackberry, but the Blackberry service is so awesome that I tend to use it when I need to make a call on my way home...another area where there are 4 places any call can get dropped on AT&T's network.

Point being, as a Realtor in today's market there is far greater frustration in losing a deal because of a missed call than many people can imagine. I think that when I consider losing a $500k deal or paying $175 to get out of a contract that paying $175 to get out of a contract is a cost that would be easy to swallow. I do not believe the OP will have to actually pay it, but if he does, trust me when I say that it is a small price to pay to ensure this won't happen again.

I can tell you similar stories about Verizon, this is true. However, depending upon your area the horror stories will vary. If Verizon worked better then Verizon it is.
 
scaredpoet said:
You're obsessing over the phone again.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you're right.

Of all the things to worry about in our lifetime, I shouldn't be obsessing over a cell phone. I hate to see it go because I love the thing and it's even harder being a former Apple employee, but you know what? So be it. AT&T gets no service where I need it most. And the most important part of a phone is actually the phone.

I will sell it on eBay sometime over the weekend.

Who knows? There might be new multi-touch iPods on Wednesday that fill the void.
 
If you really want the iPhone on AT&T, I've heard great things about cellular repeaters. I know they are a little expensive, but so is missing a commission on a sale of a home. The bummer is that I don't think Verizon is going to get the iPhone for at least 5 years. But I'm with you... CDMA is the best when it comes to signal, but I had to jump ship for the iPhone.

There are several of these available on the net, and they get good reviews.

Here's a place to start:
http://www.repeaterstore.com/

Here's another:
http://www.cellphoneantennas.com/yagi.html

Shouldn't be too tough since you mentioned you can get signal by walking a short distance.

Also, others in the office might share the cost with you. I've heard stories of neighbors benefitting just as much from one of these.

Good luck.
 
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