The fling with iPhone is over

[Jeremy Gray]

I agree with the OP, but I'm keeping my phone

You think service from AT&T is bad in Mass? Take a trip up to Maine! The service up here is terrible, terrible, terrible. But the phone is just so amazing that I can't bear to give it up. It's the best device I've ever used, AT&T's terrible service included. I love the phone, I love the iPod, I love the Wi-Fi device, I hate AT&T. I'm just going to deal with its shortcomings because, for me at least, the iPhone's pros far outweigh the cons. To each their own, and I'm sorry to hear you weren't satisfied.

 

[tomad]

They did it to me

I doubt you will like there, mods there frequently lock/delete posts of legitimate complains.

When I posted on Apple forum that I thought it was poor customer relations to charge me the $30 loaner phone fee for a 15 day old phone that stopped working they deleted it real quick. Especially since it was getting a lot of hits and responses.

I agree with that I'm a long time Apple user who won't ditch them, but I still feel I should be able to give my opinion on an actual experience and not a speculative one.

 

[motulist]

mswlogo, thank you for posting your experience here. To those of you whining that he shouldn't share his experience here just because it was a negative one, what's wrong with you? One of the reason why I like the MR forums is that the people here AREN'T all Apple apologists. When there is something wrong with an Apple product we should all want to hear about it, just like when Apple gets things really right we all get to revel in the victory.

 

[dukeblue91]

My friend has the Bose iPod Dock (which sounds very nice) and she has to shut the phone off to use the iPhone iPod features. It's again AT&T GSM that forced that issue on the iPhone.

I have the same Bose system and I don't have any interference issues at all.
But then again, AT&T performs fantastic where I am too, including Edge data.

 

[elg23]

people always complain about apple deleting posts... if you read the terms and agreements from the apple discussion you will see that the forums are for support purposes only... they are not your personal live journal where you write to complain... they are for asking questions, not whining about your experience..

 

[aristobrat]

When I posted on Apple forum that I thought it was poor customer relations to charge me the $30 loaner phone fee for a 15 day old phone that stopped working they deleted it real quick. Especially since it was getting a lot of hits and responses.

I agree with that I'm a long time Apple user who won't ditch them, but I still feel I should be able to give my opinion on an actual experience and not a speculative one.

I see your point, but I also see Apple's point that those forums are being provided as Support forums, not as "debate our policy" forums or "product testimonial" forums.

I don't agree that they only seem to delete negative threads. I think any off-topic posts/threads (pro-Apple or con-Apple) there should get nuked.

When I have a question and use their search feature, I hate that 90% of the posts are people saying how much they love something or hate something instead of just answering the question at hand.

 

[arn]

(thread revived for now, but keep the discussion civil)

 

[Passante]

Give the guy a break. He's hurting...
He had to return a device he probably waited for...lusted for, only to find it unusable.
He needed to vent - choose a place where readers would understand - maybe empathize, even.

I'm sure he did. But this is not the place to vent nor is it effective in anyway. He should have sent a letter to ATT and cc'd apple if he wanted to vent. It might have actually done some good. Doing it here or any forum is a way of amplifying bad news and attacking apple.

Now if he said that I just returned my iPhone and I'm bummed. ATT has bad coverage in my area. He would received some consolidation.

 

[question fear]

Can some phones be hacked to stay on 1900 only?

What are the chances of the iPhone being hacked to restrict band or codec?

Just FYI, my understanding of ATT is that restricting to 1900 would effectively slice down your coverage area since you'd be restriced to areas where 1900 is strong. And I don't know where you are in Western Mass but I know a few years ago when I tried T-Mobile for a day that the 1900 coverage was awful in MA in spots. Some spots were great, admittedly, but some were horrible. No reason to think ATT would be any different. If you aren't sure, you can always call ATT and find out how a tri-band phone would perform in your area (some tri-bands leave off the 850 frequency).

You think service from AT&T is bad in Mass? Take a trip up to Maine! The service up here is terrible, terrible, terrible. But the phone is just so amazing that I can't bear to give it up. It's the best device I've ever used, AT&T's terrible service included. I love the phone, I love the iPod, I love the Wi-Fi device, I hate AT&T. I'm just going to deal with its shortcomings because, for me at least, the iPhone's pros far outweigh the cons. To each their own, and I'm sorry to hear you weren't satisfied.

I was just visiting someone in Maine! ATT was so weird. In her living room it could go from full bars to no service to somewhere in between all while not in use. No wonder she always goes outside to talk to me.

 

[TXCraig]

This SIM thing makes me very uncomforable too. I think because Apple is getting a cut there are no discounts at all. And to keep things locked they are violating the normal protocal with SIM cards. They have defeated the advantage SIM cards have.

SIM cards are used in phones all over the world. It makes it easy to go from one phone to another- what on earth does it have to do with Apple getting a cut of the airtime charges?

You could have a different phone for each day and put the SIM card in and go.. try that with Sprint.

EVERY phone purchased from a carrier comes locked- this is normal practice ALL OVER THE WORLD. I don't think you know anything about SIM card "protocal". Some people have their phones unlocked and its only a matter of time before someone figures out how to do it with the iPhone.

Different carriers have different advantages. Sounds like Sprint was the best for you in your area. So swtich back- that is the nice thing about the 14 day trial.

No one here can do anything about your coverage problems in your area- so the best anyone can do here is treat it as a rant.

 

[Cybergypsy]

Still lovin my iPhone.......

 

[skye12]

Conclusion-it depends on where YOU live as it pertains to quality of
reception. All carriers have good and bad parts of the country.

 

[.Andy]

EVERY phone purchased from a carrier comes locked- this is normal practice ALL OVER THE WORLD.

It's not normal practice in Australia. For us most phones are just on a contract where there is minimum spend over 12 or 24 months (with an early contract termination fee). However you're free to switch out the sim and put in whatever you want, you're only locked into the monthly contract fee, not the carrier. Alternatively you can buy any mobile outright and you're free to do whatever you want with it. The only exception is pre-paid phones.

I'm not aware of any model of phone ever being locked to a carrier here (I usually purchase outright). Perhaps another aussie knows of one though as I'd be happily corrected. I think it would actually be illegal here as it would be seen as anti-competitive business practice. A quick check of wikipedia reveals that phones aren't locked in Hong Kong either. US and UK seem to lead the pack in phone locking...

 

[danny_w]

SIM cards are used in phones all over the world. It makes it easy to go from one phone to another- what on earth does it have to do with Apple getting a cut of the airtime charges?

You could have a different phone for each day and put the SIM card in and go.. try that with Sprint.

EVERY phone purchased from a carrier comes locked- this is normal practice ALL OVER THE WORLD. I don't think you know anything about SIM card "protocal". Some people have their phones unlocked and its only a matter of time before someone figures out how to do it with the iPhone.

Different carriers have different advantages. Sounds like Sprint was the best for you in your area. So swtich back- that is the nice thing about the 14 day trial.

No one here can do anything about your coverage problems in your area- so the best anyone can do here is treat it as a rant.

What make the iPhone different and what some people would consider as "beaking the protocol" is that the iPhone will only work with its own SIM card. Yes, once the iPhone is activated you can swap the iPhone's SIM card into another phone and have that other phone work, but not the reverse. According to normally accepted SIM protocol I should be able to take the SIM card from my RAZR and put it into the iPhone and get at least basic use, but it doesn't work. THAT is what is broken.

 

[jasonsmith]

You know Apple set up a deal with AT&T to somewhat secure the best possible support and experience for iPhone users. Obviously ALL the cities aren't going to have best of reception. But at the same time Apple alienated the rest of the globe to provide such a great experience.

For a non US'er it is just difficult to read that people aren't 100% satisfied with AT&T reception because we have been left out so AT&T customers could have it all good.

Apple could have realeased the iPhone worldwide and given the power to the consumers to put pressure on their providers to upgrade their networks. I would even forgo Visual VM and a great data plan just to use it.

I feel bad for anyone who isn't getting to fully enjoy the iPhone 100%. I also believe that it is 100% Apple's failure and the poor iPhone is stuck in the middle.

Sad.

 

[mswlogo]

SIM cards are used in phones all over the world. It makes it easy to go from one phone to another- what on earth does it have to do with Apple getting a cut of the airtime charges?

You could have a different phone for each day and put the SIM card in and go.. try that with Sprint.

EVERY phone purchased from a carrier comes locked- this is normal practice ALL OVER THE WORLD. I don't think you know anything about SIM card "protocal". Some people have their phones unlocked and its only a matter of time before someone figures out how to do it with the iPhone.

Different carriers have different advantages. Sounds like Sprint was the best for you in your area. So swtich back- that is the nice thing about the 14 day trial.

No one here can do anything about your coverage problems in your area- so the best anyone can do here is treat it as a rant.

That was my point. Let's say I had two AT&T phones Razor and BB. If I wanted to swap SIMs I can. If iPhone is in that mix, I can't, at least not as easily. Another example was when I returned my iPhone I didn't cancel the line and they refused to give me the SIM (for my Phone line).

It's just a guess that some of these extra restrictions, lack of discounts, iPhone only SIMs, has something todo with Apple being assured that they get their cut.

Again, it just makes me uneasy about it. It was one of the things I wish CDMA phones had and Apple made it less flexible than normal.

Even if an iPhone is "unlocked" good luck getting iTunes to put an update on it.

You know Apple set up a deal with AT&T to somewhat secure the best possible support and experience for iPhone users. Obviously ALL the cities aren't going to have best of reception. But at the same time Apple alienated the rest of the globe to provide such a great experience.

For a non US'er it is just difficult to read that people aren't 100% satisfied with AT&T reception because we have been left out so AT&T customers could have it all good.

Apple could have realeased the iPhone worldwide and given the power to the consumers to put pressure on their providers to upgrade their networks. I would even forgo Visual VM and a great data plan just to use it.

I feel bad for anyone who isn't getting to fully enjoy the iPhone 100%. I also believe that it is 100% Apple's failure and the poor iPhone is stuck in the middle.

Sad.

That's because Apple wanted a cut of the services.

But most of your other complaints concerned aspects of the iphone that are obvious before you buy it. No voice dialing button? Well it wasn't there when you bought it, were you expecting it to grow one? And quoting mysterious friends with insider knowledge of cell phone survey data and marketing issues is a no-no.

I had not thought about the button until after I bought it. Voice Command is all software. And with a headset, that includes the button. And Apples wired headset does have a button. It makes as much sense to add Voice Command as it does to add iChat and other goodies folks are hoping for. But I forgot about the stupid button on the handset. I still think they might do it or a 3rd party may do it (for headsets). Ooh maybe they could use the motion sensor or proximity sensor to activate it Just put it up to your face and talk.

 

[coolbreeze]

I agree with the OP re: ATT service. I have yet to understand how my voice garbles like I'm underwater when I have full blast bars. A big part of me misses the crystal clear voice quality of CDMA (Sprint) and have found ATT's coverage to be inferior in rural areas. With Sprint, I had unlimited roaming, and could roam voice and data off of Alltel and Verizon. My phone worked EVERYWHERE.

I paid the $200 cancellation fee to get the iPhone. ATT better enjoy the business while they can. As soon as CDMA gets the iPhone, I am running away from garbly GSM.

 

[danny_w]

I agree with the OP re: ATT service. I have yet to understand how my voice garbles like I'm underwater when I have full blast bars. A big part of me misses the crystal clear voice quality of CDMA (Sprint) and have found ATT's coverage to be inferior in rural areas. With Sprint, I had unlimited roaming, and could roam voice and data off of Alltel and Verizon. My phone worked EVERYWHERE.

I paid the $200 cancellation fee to get the iPhone. ATT better enjoy the business while they can. As soon as CDMA gets the iPhone, I am running away from garbly GSM.

I used to have Sprint and I agree that the voice quality was FAR superior to at&t gsm, at least when I had good signal strength. My problem was that I often had very weak signal strength, and little or no coverage. But I loved it when it worked! I just wish they had better coverage here (north Austin).

 

[Noumenon]

I'm not sure what the point of posting about local coverage is. Your particular experience says little about AT&T coverage in general. You realize that AT&T and sprint use different towers, yes?

 

[QCassidy352]

strange. I live in Eastern MA also, and AT&T coverage is great. I've found it to be just as good as Verizon, which is to say, I always get a signal.

 

[deannnnn]

I do think though that you are one of the very few people that like sprinit.

I love Sprint.
AT&T is horrible in South Florida...

 

[danny_w]

I'm not sure what the point of posting about local coverage is. Your particular experience says little about AT&T coverage in general. You realize that AT&T and sprint use different towers, yes?

If you're talking to me, I was posting about the difference in voice quality between cdma and gsm with equal signal, not my local coverage. I only mentioned local coverage because I wish that Sprint cdma was better here.

 

[DiamondMac]

I'm not sure what the point of posting about local coverage is. Your particular experience says little about AT&T coverage in general. You realize that AT&T and sprint use different towers, yes?

If 1-2 people were doing that, I would agree.

But this site has had a great number of people from numerous cities complaining about AT&T's coverage so I would say that is a slight reflection on their nationwide coverage.

Mine is absolutely terrible down here but I still love my iPhone

 

[question fear]

If 1-2 people were doing that, I would agree.

But this site has had a great number of people from numerous cities complaining about AT&T's coverage so I would say that is a slight reflection on their nationwide coverage.

Mine is absolutely terrible down here but I still love my iPhone

Look, it's still a matter of what works locally. I have had ATT from when they were Cellular One (before the Cingular days) and had no coverage issues in most of New England and all over most of the east coast in my travels. It's never been an issue for me to get signal on vacation or anywhere I lived. So their coverage is pretty much dependent on where you live, but I've never had an issue with anywhere I've gone...just my .02.

 

[Wintrmte]

So, allow me to ask the obvious question -- is there a way to force the iPhone to 1900mhz only? I sure can't find any setting to do so.