If AT&T Is So Bad..

[kas23]

"Some" current iPhone customers are ready to leave. I have no intention of leaving AT&T.

My bags are only half-packed. The thing is, once AT&T loses exclusivity, then the competition will begin and the customers will win out. Right now, AT&T can do whatever they damn please with the iPhone customers. They have no competition. But, once they do, I'm sure they will get their s**t together. Right now, they just have no reason to.

 

[iphoneftw]

Why do they 70 million customers and keep adding new users while other so carriers keep loosing millions of subscribers?

Because they have the glorified IPHONE
if they didnt have the iphone i wouldnt have switched from verion

 

[rjohnstone]

Because they have the glorified IPHONE
if they didnt have the iphone i wouldnt have switched from verion

The iPhone only makes up 6% of AT&T's customer base... the other 94% must be a fluke right.

 

[TLewis]

My bags are only half-packed. The thing is, once AT&T loses exclusivity, then the competition will begin and the customers will win out.

Maybe. Keep in mind that the other carriers appear to be, well, "mercenary".

It wouldn't surprise me if any future (hypothetical) iPhone carriers offered service for prices similar to those of AT&T's. Why? Because they can. Why should they lower prices? They might lower prices slightly, or maybe offer some enticement pricing (e.g., "$30 for the first three months!", w/a 2-year contract, of course), but I wouldn't expect much more than that. Of course, they might offer lower pricing with a longer contract (can you say, "3-year"?). Heh, I'd love to see the early termination penalty on that, and the resulting possible whining.

I wouldn't expect consumers to win much, except maybe better cell coverage. Apple would be the real winner, as more carriers is probably the biggest way of driving growth.

 

[Gershon]

Of the big US four, only Sprint is losing subscribers. ATT, Verizon, T-Mobile continue to gain at Sprint's expense. The prepaid resellers like Virgin also suck away new customers from everyone.

Verizon continues to usually have the most profit, and least churn, despite customers who moved to ATT for the iPhone... because they have the most postpaid subscribers (the best kind).

ATT has taken a profit hit for a couple of years, because of giving out 900 million dollars in (mostly) iPhone subsidies.

at least atnt is better than sprint..

 

[Goona]

At least AT&T is not pulling moves like this:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/13/verizon-to-its-smartphones-thou-shalt-have-no-other-app-store-b/

 

[LizKat]

"Some" current iPhone customers are ready to leave. I have no intention of leaving AT&T.

I have no quarrel with ATT either, except for their having said when they merged with Cingular that they would be expanding rural coverage... maybe they are, but I guess I just got all narcissistic and thought they meant they'd be building a tower for me in about ten seconds. Still waiting...

 

[Goona]

The iPhone only makes up 6% of AT&T's customer base... the other 94% must be a fluke right.

People act like the iphone is the only phone on AT&T. AT&T will still exist when they lose their iphone exclusivity.

 

[ronnyuk]

I think it's disgusting that you guys don't have MMS, there is no plausble reason why 6% of AT's customers are going to bring down the network if they enable MMS, like has been said before, we in the UK have had MMS since launch day and ATT&T have had 6 months maybe more to get it working properly, the iphone works no different then any other phone when sending text/MMs messages and its the reciepients network operator who needs resize/apply codec etc.

The least they could do is tell you why, give you a date, and appologise.

End of summer is not a date and considering the iphone is exclusive to their network you guys are right to be assed off.!!!

 

[Goona]

I think it's disgusting that you guys don't have MMS, there is no plausble reason why 6% of AT's customers are going to bring down the network if they enable MMS, like has been said before, we in the UK have had MMS since launch day and ATT&T have had 6 months maybe more to get it working properly, the iphone works no different then any other phone when sending text/MMs messages and its the reciepients network operator who needs resize/apply codec etc.

The least they could do is tell you why, give you a date, and appologise.

End of summer is not a date and considering the iphone is exclusive to their network you guys are right to be assed off.!!!

I still don't understand why the iphone doesn't get it on AT&T, are the other phones on AT&T also affected by this problem? What is the problem if there even is one? What is so special about the iphone that they can't add it while other carriers around the world can?

 

[aristotle]

You're right, they're not taking a hit. I remember AT&T's quarterly report a month or so ago....6% of their customers were iPhone users, that 6% made up 20% of their profits.

It's not hard to make back that $300 when the cheapest plan for the iPhone is $80+ a month. (And don't even try to justify AT&T giving you $80 worth of service)

Did you fail math in school? The plans are the same price regardless of whether you are renewing a contract and getting a new subsidized phone.

When any carrier offers a subsidized phone, they are taking a hit. Rather than earning X number of dollars over the contract term, they are earning X number of dollars - cost of subsidization of the phone.

 

[JustinEvil]

I've only ever used AT&T, that being said, I hate it. Only recently did they expand their 3g network to be more readily accessible where I live, so I guess I can't give them a hard time for that, but during my time living in san francisco I was battered with dropped calls, 3g deadzones, and crappy voice quality. Their plans are expensive too, no text messages included with an unlimited data plan? Psh. (I know this isn't limited to just AT&T)Not to mention AT&T lagging behind all the other iphone providers and not offering tethering and MMS till later this summer. If the 3g and 3gs users were using any other AT&T phone they'd be able to MMS, AT&T is a joke. Hate them...:/

 

[ronnyuk]

I still don't understand why the iphone doesn't get it on AT&T, are the other phones on AT&T also affected by this problem? What is the problem if there even is one? What is so special about the iphone that they can't add it while other carriers around the world can?

Nothing special, the sooner they all get done for Anti trust laws the better IMO, Exclusive handsets suck big time, all phones should be open to all networks and everyone should be given a bite of the cherry, if the iphone was not exclusive to att&t you can bet your kids life that MMS would have been enabled before release day.

 

[samcraig]

Nothing special, the sooner they all get done for Anti trust laws the better IMO, Exclusive handsets suck big time, all phones should be open to all networks and everyone should be given a bite of the cherry, if the iphone was not exclusive to att&t you can bet your kids life that MMS would have been enabled before release day.

If the iPhone was exclusive it's very possible that it would have taken many years longer to reach the marketplace.

And for those complaining about the US being the only place that doesn't have MMS or tethering on their iphone yet (and also hate AT&T) - the answer is staring you in the face. If it's that life altering... Move.

 

[kas23]

The iPhone only makes up 6% of AT&T's customer base... the other 94% must be a fluke right.

But 20% of their wireless revenue.

 

[Goona]

Nothing special, the sooner they all get done for Anti trust laws the better IMO, Exclusive handsets suck big time, all phones should be open to all networks and everyone should be given a bite of the cherry, if the iphone was not exclusive to att&t you can bet your kids life that MMS would have been enabled before release day.

I don't get this. Should Apple have waited until they had all carriers on board before releasing the iphone, there are many smaller carriers than just the big main ones, should the have iphone also have been released on those. That would take too much time of negotiations and would frankly had held back the phone from being released. So Apple did what has been done for many years and released the iphone exclusive to carriers. The iphone started out on 1 network in one country and is now in many countries on different carriers. All of this was done in 2 years. People forget the iphone is relatively new and Apple is just building up, more carriers will be added as the iphone moves forward.

 

[ronnyuk]

If the iPhone was exclusive it's very possible that it would have taken many years longer to reach the marketplace.



And for those complaining about the US being the only place that doesn't have MMS or tethering on their iphone yet (and also hate AT&T) - the answer is staring you in the face. If it's that life altering... Move.

Rubbish, a good phone is a good phone, being locked to a network does not help sales in any way. The nokia N95 was released to every network and sold a million handsets in the UK alone in the first 7 months, I doubt 150,000 3gs have been sold till now.

And why should you move? You just spent $1200+ on an electonic device that does not work as advertised.

 

[kas23]

People act like the iphone is the only phone on AT&T. AT&T will still exist when they lose their iphone exclusivity.

Of course they will still exist. No one is doubting that. But, they are wildly popular right now due to the iPhone - and with that, comes criticism, especially if you're not perfect. They are adding millions of NEW customers just due to the iPhone. 20% of their wireless revenue is from just this one phone.

Sure, they'll still be around after they lose exclusivity, but people likely will not be flocking to them at the same current rate. And they will no longer get a get-out-of-jail-for-free card after they lose their exclusivity. They'll actually have to work for these customers, not just have them magically fall into their laps. In fact, people being opening critical of AT&T will actually die down after they lose exclusivity.

 

[Goona]

Rubbish, a good phone is a good phone, being locked to a network does not help sales in any way. The nokia N95 was released to every network and sold a million handsets in the UK alone in the first 7 months, I doubt 150,000 3gs have been sold till now.

And why should you move? You just spent $1200+ on an electonic device that does not work as advertised.

Well O2 had already sold a million iphones and that doesn't even include the
3gs. They already said their 3gs opening sales were the best ever.

 

[ronnyuk]

I don't get this. Should Apple have waited until they had all carriers on board before releasing the iphone, there are many smaller carriers than just the big main ones, should the have iphone also have been released on those. That would take too much time of negotiations and would frankly had held back the phone from being released. So Apple did what has been done for many years and released the iphone exclusive to carriers. The iphone started out on 1 network in one country and is now in many countries on different carriers. All of this was done in 2 years. People forget the iphone is relatively new and Apple is just building up, more carriers will be added as the iphone moves forward.

America is the biggest audience for the iphone, it stands to reason that Americas biggest telco should be able to provide the infastructure to allow the iPhone to use all it's features.

Only my opinion....

Well O2 had already sold a million iphones and that doesn't even include the
3gs. They already said their 3gs opening sales were the best ever.

I am not saying the iphone is not popular, it is.. but it would sell tons more over here if Vodafone/Orange/T-Mobile/3 could get their hands on it.

 

[samcraig]

I don't get this. Should Apple have waited until they had all carriers on board before releasing the iphone, there are many smaller carriers than just the big main ones, should the have iphone also have been released on those. That would take too much time of negotiations and would frankly had held back the phone from being released. So Apple did what has been done for many years and released the iphone exclusive to carriers. The iphone started out on 1 network in one country and is now in many countries on different carriers. All of this was done in 2 years. People forget the iphone is relatively new and Apple is just building up, more carriers will be added as the iphone moves forward.

Not only that (and I'm speaking as someone who worked for a major cell phone manufacturer a few years back) each carrier has a list of requirements/features/programming specifics that they want from the manufacturer. Between designing the phone, inventing and writing APIs, the long process of GUI development and tweaking, etc for a 1st gen device - it's amazing that phones ever REACH the marketplace. Trust me. I worked on the messaging component on a range of phones which were on the table for well over 2 years before I started and morphed into many other designs before it was finally released. And that was only on one carrier because a couple other carriers still bogged down the approval processs on their devices because of specifics they wanted which meant major changes.

I think it's easy to take things for granted until we witness it for ourselves.

For example - do you have any idea how complex the system is to get a morning paper delivered to your door - every morning - before work? People take things like that for granted and just grumble if the paper is late one day. Think of the thousands of people and procedure it takes to make that happen. There are (and this is even abbreviated) reporters working on deadlines, layout and design, outputting the plates, running the press, bundling the papers, having a distribution system in place to get everyone their paper before work and compensating for any problem that arises from that first task to the last. And oh yeah - the kicker? This process all happens within less than 12 hours. EVERY DAY.


Having been in the news industry for MANY years I can tell you (ego permitted) it's a truly astounding accomplishment that goes completely unnoticed by the majority of the populous.

Designing and bringing ANY phone (even the ones most would deem crap) is still a "daunting" task.

 

[Goona]

Of course they will still exist. No one is doubting that. But, they are wildly popular right now due to the iPhone - and with that, comes criticism, especially if you're not perfect. They are adding millions of NEW customers just due to the iPhone. 20% of their wireless revenue is from just this one phone.

Sure, they'll still be around after they lose exclusivity, but people likely will not be flocking to them at the same current rate. And they will no longer get a get-out-of-jail-for-free card after they lose their exclusivity. They'll actually have to work for these customers, not just have them magically fall into their laps. In fact, people being opening critical of AT&T will actually die down after they lose exclusivity.

Sure they won't get talked about on blogs and on the news much, the only reason they are mentioned most of these days is because of the iphone. Apple coughs and its on CNN these days. They even had a story about a porn app on the iphone. But AT&T will still be there after the iphone, the iphone doesn't make or break the company. Even if iphone contributes to 20% of their revenues, they are still getting 80 percent from elsewhere.

 

[aristotle]

Rubbish, a good phone is a good phone, being locked to a network does not help sales in any way. The nokia N95 was released to every network and sold a million handsets in the UK alone in the first 7 months, I doubt 150,000 3gs have been sold till now.

And why should you move? You just spent $1200+ on an electonic device that does not work as advertised.

Your post is rubbish. The n95 is probably under a hundred dollars unlocked. It is several years old right now and I would not call it a moddern smartphone by any stretch of the imagination. Most of those phones were probably sold for "free" on a 2 year contract renewal for people who mainly call and text.

 

[bdorpetzl]

Your post is rubbish. The n95 is probably under a hundred dollars unlocked. It is several years old right now and I would not call it a moddern smartphone by any stretch of the imagination. Most of those phones were probably sold for "free" on a 2 year contract renewal for people who mainly call and text.

You mean this n95?

 

[serialtoon]

*GASP!* i thought forums were created SOLELY for the purpose of complainers to have a place to.....complain.