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Should I Buy??

D

denm316

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 16, 2003
338
0
Philadelphia
Hey Everyone,

I would imagine this may have been asked already but a little help/guidance would be appreciated. I had AT&T service about 5 years ago or so and was less then thrilled with the signal. I switched to Verizon and never really had any problems with the signal or anything.

I hate Verizon with a passion in regards to what they do to cripple thier phonesfeatures and change the UI's, but love the signal. I am a huge Apple fan and buy almost everything Apple makes. I have played with the iPhone numerous times and love it, I think it is one of the best designed phones on the market today. I am thinking of buying an iPhone but am concerned with signal quality, given it was 5 years ago when I last had it but am still curious.

Has anyone out there left Verizon to purchase an iPhone and if so how do you like the signal quality and call quality of the phone and AT&T's service.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks Again,
-Dennis
 
denm316 said:
Hey Everyone,

I would imagine this may have been asked already but a little help/guidance would be appreciated. I had AT&T service about 5 years ago or so and was less then thrilled with the signal. I switched to Verizon and never really had any problems with the signal or anything.

I hate Verizon with a passion in regards to what they do to cripple thier phonesfeatures and change the UI's, but love the signal. I am a huge Apple fan and buy almost everything Apple makes. I have played with the iPhone numerous times and love it, I think it is one of the best designed phones on the market today. I am thinking of buying an iPhone but am concerned with signal quality, given it was 5 years ago when I last had it but am still curious.

Has anyone out there left Verizon to purchase an iPhone and if so how do you like the signal quality and call quality of the phone and AT&T's service.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks Again,
-Dennis
Click to expand...


That is tough. I was with Sprint and had a great service plan but the draw back what bad voice coverage. It was so bad that I HATED using my phone and tried my best not to talk on the phone because it was painful. So no matter how good the phone is if the service is bad it could turn out as a bad experience.

Now that I'm with AT&T I get much better signal strength and voice quality I will talk to people on my cell. So IMO it would be best to find someone you know with AT&T and see if the coverage has improved where you plan on using the phone. Will the coverage be enough to keep you happy. No matter how good the device is if the coverage isn't there I think you a person will just end up being frustrated.
 
Coverage depends on where you live and travel. I was with AT&T about 5 years ago and switched to Verizon due to coverage. Since Verizion takes forever to bring out new phones I decided to look at the iPhone. Before switching I borrowed by brothers AT&T phone and checked out my house, my work and my wifes work (and travel). I found out that "for me" AT&T now has better coverage (go figure).

I also checked the AT&T web site coverage map (nice application) and found out that my house and work are in the "best" coverage area. I strongly recommend that you do this before switching. My experience is that the area coded as "best" is ideal. Other areas like "good" or worse get fewer bars when in that location. If you are not in "at least" the "good" area I would not recommend the switch.
 
Depends on the area you live.
With me AT&T/Cingular has been great, I been with them for over 8 years.
But I hear in some parts of the country their coverage is not that great.
Ask people around your area that have AT&T phones.
 
I was with a precursor to Cingular about 10 years ago, and I hated them. The signal was terrible and the billing was always wrong (and impossible to correct because the staff were mostly retarded). I switched to Verizon and was very happy for a while.

I was forced to switch back to Cingular about 5 years ago because Verizon had virtually nothing with BlueTooth capability (and what they had was locked for headsets only), and they had no GSM phones or international calling capability. These had both become important because of a new job that involved international travel and me being able to buy a new car with BlueTooth. I went back to Cingular and have been very happy ever since.

Hopefully, "the new AT&T" will work for you now.
 
I've had zero issues with AT&T's customer service. They were nice to me the two times I called.

In my area (Virginia Beach/Norfolk), I've found Verizon's signal to be "in more places" out here than AT&Ts.

I'm not sure if it's because Verizon has an 850mhz license and AT&T is all 1900mhz here, or if it's because AT&T bought their GSM network here from SunCom (vs. having built it theirselves), but there are a few places I go where my VZW phone worked fine that AT&T has "no signal" (like Barnes and Nobles at Lynnhaven, inside any business at Red Mill Commons). ARGH.

Having said that, I still prefer my iPhone overall experience (even with the "no signal" areas) than I did with any phone I had on Verizon's great signal.

Like d21mike said, coverage depends on the area. How AT&T is down here really shouldn't have any bearing on how it is in your area!! :)
 
I have had my iPhone since its birthdate, and have found that in places where I never had service with my older phones, I now have service with my iPhone. Whether that can be attributed to my iPhone or not still shows that ATT coverage is growing. I have had ATT for 3 years now, and for me service has never been an issue. Customer service can sometimes be an issue, but never one large enough to make me angry. They spit phones out almost weekly it seems, but with an iPhone, you'll never switch. So while you have had little service 5 years ago, you may very well be sitting on a signal gold mine with respect to coverage. Your best bet is to ask around ur area and see who has ATT and how there coverage treats them.

I still like to say that the iPhone is what gets me the amazing coverage......but hey thats cuz i love apple.....:D
 
Thanks for all the replys.

Does anyone know if you can get an iPhone for use for 30 days on AT&T's network and then return it if you are not fully satisfied. What I was thinking of doing was signing up for a new account and just carrying it for a month along with my Verizon phone to see if the AT&T signal has improved and I can use it where I need to.

Thanks Again,
-Dennis
 
denm316 said:
Has anyone out there left Verizon to purchase an iPhone and if so how do you like the signal quality and call quality of the phone and AT&T's service.
Click to expand...


It is what it is. I (sadly) left Vz for the iPhone. I drop calls like a rookie drops balls. It's so frustrating, but for some reason, the iPhone makes it worth it. In my area, At&t is where Vz was like 5 years ago. And GSM doesn't carry as far as a CDMA (vz) signal, so some areas will always be poor on at&t. But if you love tech and Apple, just make the switch, you'll be glad you did.

Make sure you let Verizon know why you are leaving. They told me they have a iPhone model coming out soon. I asked if it was made by Apple, and they said no. lol. They just don't get the whole UI thing at Vz.

The day Vz gets an Apple iPhone, I'm ditching at&t that second, ETF and all, I don't care. It's not very 'business' like for me to be dropping calls daily.

My ideal carrier - CDMA, iPhone, Rollover minutes, Unlocked UI. Where are you?
 
gceo said:
It is what it is. I (sadly) left Vz for the iPhone. I drop calls like a rookie drops balls. It's so frustrating, but for some reason, the iPhone makes it worth it. In my area, At&t is where Vz was like 5 years ago. And GSM doesn't carry as far as a CDMA (vz) signal, so some areas will always be poor on at&t. But if you love tech and Apple, just make the switch, you'll be glad you did.

Make sure you let Verizon know why you are leaving. They told me they have a iPhone model coming out soon. I asked if it was made by Apple, and they said no. lol. They just don't get the whole UI thing at Vz.

The day Vz gets an Apple iPhone, I'm ditching at&t that second, ETF and all, I don't care. It's not very 'business' like for me to be dropping calls daily.

My ideal carrier - CDMA, iPhone, Rollover minutes, Unlocked UI. Where are you?
Click to expand...


Good luck getting all of those things with one carrier. If that carrier did exist they would put VZW and AT&T out of business. And I agree VZW does not get UI at all, I had a crippled RAZR and now an LG phone. I love the signal from VZW but despise them as a company for the way they lock stuff down. Can you imagine how VZW would have ruined the UI if they had the iPhone..it gives me chills.

-Dennis
 
denm316 said:
Hey Everyone,

I would imagine this may have been asked already but a little help/guidance would be appreciated. I had AT&T service about 5 years ago or so and was less then thrilled with the signal. I switched to Verizon and never really had any problems with the signal or anything.

I hate Verizon with a passion in regards to what they do to cripple thier phonesfeatures and change the UI's, but love the signal. I am a huge Apple fan and buy almost everything Apple makes. I have played with the iPhone numerous times and love it, I think it is one of the best designed phones on the market today. I am thinking of buying an iPhone but am concerned with signal quality, given it was 5 years ago when I last had it but am still curious.

Has anyone out there left Verizon to purchase an iPhone and if so how do you like the signal quality and call quality of the phone and AT&T's service.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks Again,
-Dennis
Click to expand...

I left Verizon for AT&T and the iPhone. I however had no signal with Verizon while at home and now get good signal with AT&T. Love the phone and the signal now. But your milage may vary.
 
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