Thu 9 Oct 2008
I wish my iPhone would work as a phone
Posted by Jason T. under Apple, iPhone
[5] Comments
<rant>I’m getting a little fed up with AT&T. I’ve had more and more dropped calls with my iPhone these days. It seems especially troublesome when the phone has to switch from 3G down to Edge. There are two spots on my commute home where I am guaranteed to drop a call. And one of them is near downtown out in the open, where there shouldn’t be any problem getting a signal. I’ve taken to disabling 3G whever I have an “important” call to make, in the hopes that I won’t drop it. But that’s a pain in the ass.
That being said, it sounds like my friends who are using AT&T on non-iPhones are having nearly as much trouble with connectivity as I am. Thusly I’m comfortable assigning most of the blame to AT&T. And we all know how much I think AT&T sucks. </end rant>
October 9th, 2008 at 9:58 am
I don’t have any problems with my AT&T service and I have the same commute as you do. I very rarely drop calls to the point that I can’t remember the last time it happened.
The iPhone puts too much emphasis on jamming in components and looking good to be considered a useful radio for communicating with cell towers. The antannaes suck which is really sad they should call it the iPDA (oh yeah it has a phone too)
October 9th, 2008 at 10:52 am
One could argue that almost all the new Smartphone devices are guilty of trying to cram too many components into a small form factor and looking good. HTC does it with all their phones, and Palm and Blackberry are following suit. Sony’s Walkman/Cybershot/Whatever phones do this too–6 megapixel cameras on your phone that have no zoom? What’s the point in that?
In general I think Smartphones have also had poorer phone reception. Ever since I switched to my first candy bar-style HTC in 2005, and switched to AT&T, I’ve never been as satisfied with the call quality and the ability to make calls that I had when I was with Verizon.
But there are other markets in which customers seem much happier with their iPhones, and with AT&T. But even my friend who lives in Tacoma is having problems with his AT&T phone, and I think it’s a pretty standard Samsung, non-Smartphone phone.
October 9th, 2008 at 10:54 am
And, also, when I lost my first iPhone I switched back to my old HTC 8525 which had just as many dropped calls as my iPhone–and that was never the case before I got my iPhone. I’m pretty sure AT&T’s network is slowly melting down right now.
We’ll see how well the T-Mobile network stands up to the demands of the G1.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I was just talking to my brother, we’re both on AT&T, and our call dropped 3 times in 15 minutes. Neither of us have iPhones. In my experience, AT&T is getting progressively worse over the last few months. My brother said he’s pinpointed spotty service to afternoons in his area, but I feel like it’s 24/7 for me. I also don’t think this is an iPhone specific issue.
October 11th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
I dont have an iPhone and I don’t have AT&T. Instead I am on the verizon network…and I as a reporter I’ve been all over this state…to some godforsaken corners. So believe me when I tell you my verizon NEVER drops calls. PERIOD.
For a while I had a second phone on the T-mobile network…and there were many places I would have no service on the t-mobile network, but full service on the verizon network, but NEVER was it reversed.
I’m envious of the iPhone…but until AT&T can match Verizon…i simply cannot afford to the switch.