[amazinglygraceless]

That's right! All the hateful people on other carriers (VZW people, Can you hear
me now? ) can keep talking crap. The numbers tell the truth.

Most iPhone users love AT&T - Jul. 23, 2010

[pilsbury]

Ive been with AT&T for over 5 years, and Ive never had an issue with them. The reception on my i4 is actually better than the berries Ive had in the past.

[banshee66]

Location Location Location! Glad you have service where you live.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[markhunsaker]

Both AT&T and Verizon have good coverage where I live. I have been extremely happy with my service with AT&T and their customer service. I haven't had a single dropped call. But again it works for me.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[TampaDude]

I've been with AT&T for over 10 years now, both in Northern VA and here in Tampa, and I've been very happy with them. I just got an iPhone 4 and it's simply awesome.

[phonejunky]

I'm not shocked at this at all, ive been with Att for four years now and have always loved their service. And most of my iPhone toting friends and 9700 users like them as well.

[Duvi]

I've had AT&T for over 5 years (6-7 if you count original AT&T) and
it's always worked for me. I recently got 3G in 2008 (I believe) and
it's been heaven ever since. I have Sprint and had T-mobile, Nextel
and Verizon and all 4 did not work as good as AT&T does for me. I
don't get dropped calls and I get simultaneous voice and data. Not
to mention, I get great discounts and the ability to switch from one
device to another with ease.

[shawnomega]

I think every company has their good employee and bad ones. I think companies are starting to get it that there are a lot options out there as far as phones. I too have been happy with ATT, they bent over backwards to set me up with the iPhone 4 at the subsidize price when they really didn't have too.

[stuaw11]

As usual this just proves that its the very small group of haters who scream the loudest.

Just because you hear people on here moaning about ATT doesnt mean that represents their user base which is a few million times bigger.

Same with the iphone 4 antenna deal. Its mostly people who dont even own the phone, and a VERY slim portion of actual iphone users, whining about it and cracking jokes. If people were really the unhappy youd see a MUCH higher return rate than 1.7%. The haters just scream the loudest because they have nothing better to do than hate.

[amazinglygraceless]

Good stuff guys. My whole point (and it may fail) is that all the BS about the best
carrier really comes down to the service area. Most of what is stated here is just
parroting the prevailing meme.

I have also been a long term AT&T user (10 years) and have found the service
and support exceptional.

I have also tried every other carrier available in this area (Sprint, VZW, T-Mo) and
they were all lacking by comparison with Sprint and VZW being the worst.

I am with AT&T because it simply works and the CS has never let me down. If that
changes you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be moving on but you will never hear
me slag a company that provided me excellent service for this long.

[Username00089]

Been with AT&T since June of 2007 and I've been happy. I flirted with TMO and Sprint
but didn't last more than a week with each of those companies. Ultimately decided
to come back. I've had a few issues here and there as of late (before iPhone 4) but
not nearly enough to drive me someplace else. That and a monthly discount (30%)
on my bill, I'm a pretty happy camper.

However I will admit that when I was with Airtouch/Verizon for about 7 years before
that, the service was slightly better in certain places that I go.

[avt123]

AT&T service was great for me. Never had any complaints. 3G coverage everywhere I went, and never under 3 bars.

[Entertainment72]

I've been with AT&T for over 10 years now, both in Northern VA and here in Tampa, and I've been very happy with them. I just got an iPhone 4 and it's simply awesome.

Are you getting 5+Mbps down on 3G like I am in Fort Myers? I'm just down the interstate from you.

As far as carriers go, think real estate, location, location, location.

[Roo Zilla]

I've been with AT&T/Cingular since the Nokia 6190 days. I went to T-Mobile and Blackberry for a year, then came back to AT&T and iPhone. I never had problems with either service. I do drop calls, but I attribute that to iPhone and not AT&T since my friends on AT&T don't drop calls in the same places. There are advantages to living in a high population density area.

ASIDE: I always thought the Nokia 8290 and the Moto v70 were the best feature phones ever offered. I still have a spare Moto v70 I got off eBay to use as an emergency phone.

[TampaDude]

Are you getting 5+Mbps down on 3G like I am in Fort Myers? I'm just down the interstate from you.

As far as carriers go, think real estate, location, location, location.

Haven't seen 5 yet on 3G here, but I generally get 2-3 down and around 1.5 up at my house in Riverview. The download speed has been up over 3 a couple of times. Way, WAY faster than EDGE. I probably have more network congestion here, though, because I'm right near I-75. I guess AT&T has the newer 7.2 Mbps around here now.

[dcgore]

I live in Manhattan, one of the worst coverage areas for at&t and i have to say that service has improved tremendously. I cannot tell the difference between att and verizon anymore except in crazy fortified buildings where a gsm phone will not get reception vs a cdma phone.
In terms of speed, att is faster and no dropped calls with iphone 4 so far (knock on wood.)

[Username00089]

I live in Manhattan, one of the worst coverage areas for at&t and i have to say that service has improved tremendously. I cannot tell the difference between att and verizon anymore except in crazy fortified buildings where a gsm phone will not get reception vs a cdma phone.
In terms of speed, att is faster and no dropped calls with iphone 4 so far (knock on wood.)

Most likely because of the overhaul that AT&T just completed in the NYC area
a month and a half ago.

[TheScionicMan]

And considering the way I see many iPhone users glossing over problems they encounter, I'll take this survey with a grain of salt...

[JoJoCal19]

I've been with Verizon for over a decade (since PrimeCo) and I've had AT&T at various points during that time (Original AT&T TDMA network, Cingular/AT&T (iPhone 2007) and now again with the iPhone 4) and as one of AT&T's critics I have to say they have made tremendous strides in their network. I have not had a dropped call yet, data speeds have been pretty good (2Mbps on average and 3Mbps at home), and their coverage is much better than it used to be even a year ago.

I still have all of my lines with Verizon and while I can still say that Verizon's data network is still much bigger and the voice quality is a little bit better, I have ZERO complaints about AT&T Competition is good. Now I only hope Verizon gets on their knees and kisses Steve Jobs' arse to get that iPhone asap so I can have all of my lines on one account as it costs me more money this way.

[Duvi]

And considering the way I see many iPhone users glossing over problems they encounter, I'll take this survey with a grain of salt...

You say many, but compared to what? Of the millions of i4s
already sold, do you really think a "lot" are having issues? Or
is it the ones who are the loudest are those who don't have
the device (and are speaking through what they hear) and
those who aren't even in great service area to begin with
who complain about bad service?

I have the device and everyone I know who actually own it
have not had any issues and those who don't are worried
because of the media hype and haven't even tested out
for themselves.

[gotplanes]

I came from VZ to AT&T and I had better service with VZ I'm in the Chicago area and work at O'Hare and the service there is not very good.

[chuckh0308]

I think the satisfaction with the network is at least somewhat directly related to satisfaction with the device. So, if most iPhone owners are satisfied with their iPhone then they are most likely going to be OK with the service provider because that's who carries the phone they like. In many cases I imagine they will even overlook obvious problems. And as I've stated many times before, the reason we're still rocking an iPhone 3G and haven't upgraded is because we refuse to renew a contract with AT&T. Even in Seattle the service just isn't too hot and the few times I have had to use the iPhone it has been a miserable experience. Unless the iPhone 3G is just really THAT bad, I have to place at least some blame on AT&T.

All that said, AT&T is the only carrier that has usable coverage at my Sister's house, which surprisingly is in a rural area. I can get VZW too, but only if I'm out in her driveway.

[stuaw11]

Of course its the minority who scream the loudest. MOST iphone users are happy with their devices, but you only hear about the 2 or 3% that complain nonstop.

And to the same extent, sure there are people who have some ATT problems, there's no denying it. But you mostly hear the bad experiences more than the good- again the smaller percent of dissatisfied people scream the loudest.

Its like that for most things, the pissed off people scream the loudest about it. Same with the media news, you hear more mayhem and death stories than people doing good things for others which go overlooked. For some reason the negative side of things always get the most coverage/press//discussion/etc.

[Roo Zilla]

Of course its the minority who scream the loudest. MOST iphone users are happy with their devices, but you only hear about the 2 or 3% that complain nonstop.

And to the same extent, sure there are people who have some ATT problems, there's no denying it. But you mostly hear the bad experiences more than the good- again the smaller percent of dissatisfied people scream the loudest.

They say out of the 1.5M i4s sold over the first couple of days, something like 75% were already ATT customers who re-upped. That must mean overall, people are ok with the service combination of iPhone+ATT. You gotta assume these people know what they're getting into, most of them must have been with ATT for at least a year.

It's funny, but I'm one of those people who have problems with the iPhone+ATT combination, I stick with it though. Although I get dropped calls on a daily basis, I still prefer that over using something else. I guess I could go Droid, but at this point, I'm not sure if I want to bother tinkering with a new device. Actually, I'm sure of it, since I did order a new iPhone just the other day in black since it's not coming in white anytime soon.

[JoJoCal19]

I think the satisfaction with the network is at least somewhat directly related to satisfaction with the device. So, if most iPhone owners are satisfied with their iPhone then they are most likely going to be OK with the service provider because that's who carries the phone they like.

This is very true. I've been a long time member on MacRumors and I also read several other Apple/iPhone sites everyday and the biggest thing is people will not leave because they simply refuse to use anything other than the iPhone.

Now that works conversely with the carrier too becuase you see how many people stick with Verizon and will settle for their second choice of phone rather than the iPhone because their satisfaction with the network.

Since everyone comes to me for cell phone advice my first rule of thumb is, what network works best where you live and travel, and then go from there.