[Sharke]

I've been with AT&T in New York City for about 6 years now (Cingular before they were bought out). Service used to be pretty good. Then the IPhone came out and Manhattanites went nuts with them. Ever since the IPhone came out I've had problems with dropped calls and congestion.

It's been an issue in NYC for a while and I kept reading comments from AT&T spokespeople saying that they were aware of the issue and were "upgrading" the network. Well, nuts to that. It's just gotten worse and worse and now my Bold is virtually unusable at many times of the day.

I run a fast paced business in Manhattan where I have to be in contact with both clients and employees almost constantly. Emails take sometimes 30 minutes to arrive. Texts get lost. People don't get voicemails that I leave them, I don't get voicemails that they leave me. Oftentimes my phone will go straight to voicemail even though it's switched on with good reception. Internet performance is spotty and pages will frequently refuse to load even though I'm on 3G with maximum bars. Sometimes pages will only half load. Service switches between 3G and EDGE much more frequently. Today a problem caused by a client not receiving a voicemail cost me $235.

I'm sick of it. I've had replacement Bolds in case it was the phone's fault. Now I now it has nothing to do with the Bold, they're an excellent phone. It's just AT&T's extremely poor network in New York City. They blame the IPhone, well do something about it you idiots. You're getting millions upon millions of dollars from us smartphone users and you're supposed to be using that to invest in better equipment to make our phones usable. I am so sick of paying up to $130 a month for a service which would be unacceptable in Eastern Europe, let alone a sprawling metropolis like NYC. Dammit, how many millions of people in this city rely on their Blackberrys for business. It's 2009, not 1989 and AT&T are seriously in danger of facing a mass revolt because everyone I talk to is sick to the back teeth of their crappy network.

[MobileMadness002]

I would say to switch your phone to 2G but ATT ballsed up the firmware and locked that ability out.

[Sharke]

I would say to switch your phone to 2G but ATT ballsed up the firmware and locked that ability out.

I know. But really, I shouldn't have to. What bothers me is that AT&T use the excuse that New York is so crowded and there are so many users demanding bandwidth. Well, the amount of money that they have to spend on improving a network is directly proportional to the number of people who pay to use it. In fact due to economies of scale, it becomes cheaper per user to ensure a certain amount of bandwidth the more users there are.

The problem is that AT&T are using old-*** technology in their networks and refuse to update it, saying over and over again that they "have confidence" in it. All this means is that they're very happy to take our money and enjoy sky high profits, but not so interested in investing some of that revenue in maintaining and upgrading their networks.

They stink and they know it. A survey has shown that 34% of potential IPhone customers are put off by the fact that they'd have to go with AT&T. That's why Apple are going to be removing AT&T's exclusive contract with them soon.

[snowindec9]

i am a manhattanite. i never had trouble using my berry in the city.

[MobileMadness002]

Cant argue that. From a tech stand, I wish ATT had a single network. The handdoff is not seamless and the customer has to pay for that inadequacy.

To the above poster, What berry, 2G will work excellently, the bold with 3G will have issues.......

[Sharke]

i am a manhattanite. i never had trouble using my berry in the city.

You have to be in a small minority. Virtually everyone I speak to on AT&T in New York complains about the same issues I have.

I read a blog posting online recently by a guy who says he complained about his IPhone dropping 22% of calls in NYC. He took his problem to the Apple Genius Bar, who told him that he was actually doing well because the average IPhone drops 30% of calls in the New York area.

Oftentimes it will take me three or four attempts to make a call. It either says "call failed" or "congestion." Then when I'm on the phone it's an ordeal - the call drops and then they call me back and it goes straight to voicemail but I don't get the voicemail for an hour or so, if at all. I can't even begin to describe the problems and frustration it's caused me in my business over the last year. I don't even want to think about how much money I've lost.

Bottom line is AT&T know fine well that New York City is a hub of commerce and fast paced business activity. Their goal should be to make their network here acceptable for these purposes. Insufficient bandwidth? Too many users? Why is that MY problem, when the solution is for AT&T to invest more money in the network?

[snowindec9]

You have to be in a small minority. Virtually everyone I speak to on AT&T in New York complains about the same issues I have.

I read a blog posting online recently by a guy who says he complained about his IPhone dropping 22% of calls in NYC. He took his problem to the Apple Genius Bar, who told him that he was actually doing well because the average IPhone drops 30% of calls in the New York area.

Oftentimes it will take me three or four attempts to make a call. It either says "call failed" or "congestion." Then when I'm on the phone it's an ordeal - the call drops and then they call me back and it goes straight to voicemail but I don't get the voicemail for an hour or so, if at all. I can't even begin to describe the problems and frustration it's caused me in my business over the last year. I don't even want to think about how much money I've lost.

Bottom line is AT&T know fine well that New York City is a hub of commerce and fast paced business activity. Their goal should be to make their network here acceptable for these purposes. Insufficient bandwidth? Too many users? Why is that MY problem, when the solution is for AT&T to invest more money in the network?

i haven't used my bold in nyc since december of 2008. currently i am out of the country but i will get to test it out again in december 2009. in december 2008, my bold worked fine. i was able to use 3g with no issues. i will see how it responds now.

[rbauer89]

I was going to post something along the lines of this post but never got around. I commute to the city a couple time a week from Long Island and have noticed that recently when returning to the Island i will not get service again until after Jamaica.

[mataleao]

howard stern has a BB Bold and has complained on numerous occasions about the exact same thing you're complaining about. i'm thinking if stern, with his millions of listeners can't get AT&T to listen, you're not gonna have much luck. :-/

i'll keep my fingers crossed for ya.

[fidel88]

When I travelled to nyc last week, I've this ****ty problem too. My bold and iphone has the congestion probs and txt msg delayed upto 30mins, sometimes It wouldn't come. I don't know wtf is wrong with att.. They shud prepared for the big city I think.. It is so damn sad cause I just bought the iphone 3GS in nyc.. I hav 2 yrs contract.. Smh... Att sucks.. I've planned to unlock my bold and get rid of this...

And why the **** apple choose att as the network partner? Smh..

I hope att read this topic.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Duvi]

And why the **** apple choose att as the network partner? Smh..

I hope att read this topic.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Because they are the best equipped carrier. Whether or not there are problems, no one network in U.S. has more capacity than AT&T.

You can complain about AT&T, but Verizon wouldn't have done even half the job AT&T did -- fact. If it was released to all the carriers, we would all be good.

I'm in NJ/NY constantly and I have excellent service. In fact, never dropped a call in the city... this includes times square.

AT&T can't just erect towers out of thin air, they must get permission (and it's not done within an 8 hour shift either). And no AT&T could not have prepared better for this (neither could any carrier) except to have limits on data usage, but then that would be more ammo for people to throw AT&T's way.

[Duvi]

I also moved this to the AT&T section.

[sourkevin]

Living in LA, drop calls are rare and usually happen when cresting hills and inside buildings... will get dropped calls with good/full 3G service. And we have a Shid-loat of iphone users where in LA....

[christopherwwoo]

if you do a "Wireless Update" on your AT&T Bold, which is under "Options">>"Advanced Options", AT&T now enabled the option of switching your network from 3G & 2G to 2G under "Mobile Network" by pressing the menu key and selecting "Change Option"

[TgeekB]

if you do a "Wireless Update" on your AT&T Bold, which is under "Options">>"Advanced Options", AT&T now enabled the option of switching your network from 3G & 2G to 2G under "Mobile Network" by pressing the menu key and selecting "Change Option"

Good advice.

[tucg15]

AT&T in NY is HORRIBLE!! I had AT&T for years and was commuting to and from NJ and NYC. I can't even tell you how many times I lost calls or wouldn't even receive calls at all. It was the most frustrating thing ever. I hated it so much I ended my contract and went to Verzion. I have never looked back. Verzion is excellent in NYC and everywhere else for that matter. I sympathize with the OP on this one. I feel your pain buddy.

[Jigga5]

It got so bad that my whole company was forced to switch to Verizon.
It was at the point that I had to go to a specific window and sit on the window sill to make a call.

[dcscott]

The quality of service with AT&T is degrading across the country. I know several people that work for AT&T and have watched their attitude's go downhill for some time now. The company treats them like dirt, imposes stupid rules/procedures, and then wonders why they stop caring about their work. People who are responsible for keeping the network up used to take pride in their job and the ones I know could no longer give a rat's -----. That said, I'm not sure the other vendors are any better. They all seem to think they can treat their customers badly because the other vendors are doing the same thing. Sounds like a teenager saying "my friends are all doing it so why can't I". The first vendor that figures this out and starts treating their employees and customers like valued people will clean house.

[MrShawn]

Problem = AT&T

Solution = Verizon

Forward

[Chaldo]

Go into a att store and kick there *** haha just kidding. What I am looking forward to is when LTE and HSPA are both deployed around here so I know I will be up to 2 networks that are pretty quick for broadband. I hope AT&T gets better in NY they will have to or everyone there will flip.

[teriaki]

It's just gotten worse and worse and now my Bold is virtually unusable at many times of the day.

That is very interesting to hear. I didn't believe it was that bad, but for a few months at least Howard Stern has been talking about how he loves his Bold but can't use it as a phone in the city. He said exactly what you've said: it's virtually unusable. I didn't think it could be that bad but apparently it is!

[admirer]

When I travelled to nyc last week, I've this ****ty problem too. My bold and iphone has the congestion probs and txt msg delayed upto 30mins, sometimes It wouldn't come. I don't know wtf is wrong with att.. They shud prepared for the big city I think.. It is so damn sad cause I just bought the iphone 3GS in nyc.. I hav 2 yrs contract.. Smh... Att sucks.. I've planned to unlock my bold and get rid of this...

And why the **** apple choose att as the network partner? Smh..

I hope att read this topic.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

u r correct.. thats why i sold my damn bold in craiglist , paid their ETF, kicked the damn thing out of my life.. and went to t-mobile.. atleast i pay much lesser now..

[LainInTheWired]

I'm also a Manhattan resident with a Bold on AT&T and I don't have any of the problems you list.

[DVS_WiNdz]

I know what you guys mean.. I sooo want to pay the early termination fee and just go to Verizon... About 60-75% of my calls ends up "call failed" and service is horrible, a lot of the times I only have 1 bar of service outside in the street under a clear blue sky..

I don't think I can take AT&T anymore..

[Chaldo]

I want to see how frequently this bad service is. Can any of you in NY post like updates every week or day etc anytime, just saying what you experienced this day, and times/ what happened etc. I can't believe AT&T would let it get this bad.