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Xaneth · 01-30-2009, 06:04 PM

Hair splitting aside, we the consumers, are the ones getting the short end of the stick in some areas it appears. I just want the service as advertised. I'm happy with the phone overall, but dropped calls can be not only embarrassing, but are really just unacceptable.

I've been into mobile communications since 1987, back when it took a 2 meter ham radio and a phone patch to talk on the phone from a mobile. We used towers back then, 2 meter repeaters to be more exact, and I never dropped a call back then. I'm surprised to be dropping calls more than 20 years later.

mobrien118 · 01-30-2009, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xaneth

I'm surprised to be dropping calls more than 20 years later.

Now we're getting philosophical

Suggested reason: Telcom budgets are driven by mergers, acquisitions and advertising, therefore pressure to increase bottom line profits is staggering. This is done by cutting costs by spreading service areas, networks and towers thinly. Long story short, the business drives the business, rather than the technology (the actual product) driving the business. Compound this problem with call center *DISincentives* for actually helping customers, (that's right, call center operators are penalized if they actually do some helpful tasks for customers) and you have the modern telecommunications industry.

The bottom line of all of this is that the incentives for a provider to improve technology are low because of diminished competition, further exemplified by the increase in the cost of AT&Ts service since the "merger". Compare it with it's competitors costs and you'll see what I'm talking about (partly influenced by their being the only iPhone reseller). Verizon is a close second in cost per service, and they also happen to be the second largest. How does that work? It's reverse economies of scale. Their greater ability to put pressure on suppliers gives them more power to grow and overcharge consumers to support their next strategic acquisition, so that they can provide even WORSE service, overcharge more and still compete in the market. The market is slow to react because of "Contracts" and "provider locking" of phones, so they only have to be good enough to keep someone from paying for a new phone and/or paying an early termination fee. I'm personally surprised that this hasn't been successful (although it HAS been brought to trial) as an anti-trust suit (like Microsoft was in the U.K. for installing Media Player as the default on Windows).

Another related observation: Providers have more competition to get the best PHONES than to provide the best service (both tech and customer).

To quote a comment I saw on a blog comment somewhere: "The FCC's idea of a competitive market is two providers in a market. "

Anyway, point is, AT&T 3g service was not acceptable for me as a business and personal user, and they frustrated me so much in the course of my 2 months with them that I switched back to t-mobile, one of the lesser of a handful of evils.

That's my rant for the week. Good thing it's friday...

petphotos · 01-30-2009, 10:32 PM

I've had my Bold since they came out. 3G is solid here in OKC and the calls are very clear and have not lost one yet. Do get an occasional showing of Edge, but do not notice a difference in speed since the change is so short. Have not been out of the area yet.

laurmac · 01-30-2009, 11:42 PM

I've actually noticed better service within the past week. I don't know what it is exactly, but I never ever got 3G when I was inside my house. Now I almost never get EDGE when I'm home. Kills my battery life, but I'm glad I'm getting better reception.

besadmin23 · 01-31-2009, 09:05 AM

3G in the North Dallas area has been a bit odd for me in the past 3 weeks. I have dropped more calls in the last 3 weeks then I have in the past 2 years. It is really frustrating. I work with a team of about 6 that all have Bolds and everyone of them concur that dropped calls has increased in our area just in the past few weeks. Strange. 3G speeds with tethering are great though.

radtek · 02-01-2009, 02:15 AM

This device is pretty much what I was looking for. My 3G/EDGE seems pretty quick but that might be helped along by the fairly fast processor. With Wifi I get almost nearly instant response. I just love it
.
Since the thread sez ATT service... I never get dropped calls except when I walk into the rather large wired up for Sprint building that I work in. BB's everywhere. With my old Moto phones I'd get spotty service due to lead lined walls. I'd get one in four calls. I'm hoping it'll be better with this one.

Jelly Bean · 02-01-2009, 08:56 AM

ATT southern cali 3G is fast

dockramer · 02-01-2009, 09:05 AM

Tons of dropped calls in the NY metro area on ATT. ATT tries to claim that it is a device issue but I hear the same complaint from others.

Xaneth · 02-02-2009, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobrien118

Another related observation: Providers have more competition to get the best PHONES than to provide the best service (both tech and customer).

To quote a comment I saw on a blog comment somewhere: "The FCC's idea of a competitive market is two providers in a market. "

Thanks for that, it really helps put it in perspective a bit better. Watching the Superbowl yesterday, and saw some Verizon commercials that were harping on "3G dead zones". Sounds like they're monopolizing on the obvious here. Been a while since I've been with Verizon, but wonder how much better their 3G network is. You're right, should probably go with T-Mobile. I was with them at one time, but dropped a lot of calls on their service too in my area, even in some major metro areas. Plus just curious if T-Mobile offers 3G support for the Bold, I understand they don't. Would be easy to unlock and switch, as I don't really care about roll-over minutes or nights/weekends. My bill has been pretty much outrageous anyway month to month.

Which brings up another point. T-Mobile has unlimited everything (voice/data/text) for $100 a month and AT&T has a "competitive offer", or so I thought. When I asked them about it, it's $100 for voice/text, but you still have to pay extra for data.

Serkle K · 02-02-2009, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xaneth

Which brings up another point. T-Mobile has unlimited everything (voice/data/text) for $100 a month and AT&T has a "competitive offer", or so I thought. When I asked them about it, it's $100 for voice/text, but you still have to pay extra for data.

Sprint has unlimited everything for $99.99 a month, vioce, txting, data - all included. FWIW from what I hear if you get the samsung instinct, they make you get this plan.

Xaneth · 02-02-2009, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Serkle K

Sprint has unlimited everything for $99.99 a month, vioce, txting, data - all included. FWIW from what I hear if you get the samsung instinct, they make you get this plan.

Yeah, I've just had REALLY bad experiences with Sprint's customer service. I'm a systems administrator, and at my last job, I handled a fleet of 45 Blackberries on both Verizon and T-Mobile.

Both have excellent customer service, but Verizon was highly expensive, so we switched to T-Mobile. Verizon also had better coverage, but we were saving about half on our monthly bill (10k per month with Verizon, 5.5k with T-Mobile). T-Mobile definitely had good customer service, but not much could be done about their infrastructure from a customer perspective.

We also had Sprint services for a GPS application so we could track a fleet of vehicles. The solution did not work out because the batteries in the phones would die, among other issues. We did due diligence and tried locking the phones in a box, better antennaes, etc, but the solution did not work for us. So we called in and canceled 60 lines and paid early termination on all the lines. Trust me, I tried convincing the powers that be that it would be better to go with a true GPS solution, but the up front costs for the hardware was pretty expensive, and you know how cheap companies operate... At any rate, my point. We called in and canceled service. They continued billing us. We kept calling in. I remember spending half a day trying to maintain a connection, as my calls kept getting dropped on their 800 number! I finally got to my rep and had to leave voice mail. We did not hear back from this guy for 3 months! I tried getting another rep to deal with, but it was their policy that we HAD to work with that rep, even though he was not returning our calls! I wanted to speak to his boss, or his bosses boss, but no go. Finally he called back and we got everything sorted out, or so I thought. We continued getting harrassed by their billing dept, and again I got his voice mail for another 3 months. In the end we got it sorted out, but every time I contact Sprint customer service, IT SUCKS.

birdiebo · 02-04-2009, 02:50 PM

I have experienced very poor data speeds with the iPhone 3G and have been considering switching to the Bold. Could the speed difference be attributed to the Apple hardware, or is it just that the ATT 3G is slower than Verizon's? Web pages load very fast on my Verizon Curve. BTW, no dropped call issues on either network.

Xaneth · 02-06-2009, 02:30 PM

Hm... Well, my contract is up this summer, and I have T-Mobile SIM cards here at work that I can use to test the service after the 11th. I was told by a rep that they will be selling the Bold by the 11th of Feb and supporting 3G. Already unlocked my Bold and have tested it on T-Mobile, but only getting EDGE so far.

dc/dc · 02-06-2009, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xaneth

Hm... Well, my contract is up this summer, and I have T-Mobile SIM cards here at work that I can use to test the service after the 11th. I was told by a rep that they will be selling the Bold by the 11th of Feb and supporting 3G. Already unlocked my Bold and have tested it on T-Mobile, but only getting EDGE so far.

T-Mobile will not ever be selling the Bold, and if you use T-Mobile with a Bold, you will only ever get EDGE in the US. The device coming out on the 11th is the Curve 8900, aka Javelin. It does not support 3G.

Xaneth · 10-23-2009, 12:18 PM

Wirelessly posted (Bold 9000)

On my fourth Bold now and service is no better. AT&T, the most dropped calls nationwide! Looking at that Verizon commercial with the coverage maps may explain a bit.

Xaneth · 10-23-2009, 12:28 PM

Actually here are the real maps, vs. what Verizon is advertising. Not sure where they got their maps from... Attachments in order are:

AT&T Voice
AT&T Data
Verizon Voice
Verizon Data

I grew up in Alaska, it would suck to still live there with AT&T!

wadhiamod · 10-23-2009, 09:07 PM

your points of failure could be as follows.
The phone OS.....so upgrade it
An old sim....So change it
Dead zones...u cant do much there.

Have u isolated the problem by using a different BB and seeing it u get the same result.
Have u tried a duff sim in your BB and monitered the results.
Have u tried to switch the phone into 2g mode and see the performance improve or drop.

I guess these are some diagnostics that u can do on your own and get a fair cause of failure.....

mgerbasio · 10-24-2009, 01:52 PM

The problems with AT&T is location dependent. I use about 3,000 minutes per month in the NYC Metro area and the service ranges from fair to horrible. Switching the phone to edge gets less dropped calls. You can go to forums.cingular.com or howardforums.com and read thread after thread about the 3G service in places like NYC. I still get congestion errors and when I walk on 5th Avenue and 58-60th street calls get garbled and drop. Is there a busier place in America and they can't manage to get it working?

They released me from my contract last month on five phone lines. I really hate to switch to Verizon but that's something I'm going to decide in the next few weeks. I use a lot of M2M minutes on AT&T. I'm waiting to see what T-Mobile offers as I had T-Mobile for a few years and the service was very good in this area. I don't like Verizon's crippling phone features, customer service, policies and no SIM so I can switch phones.

miamirulz29 · 10-25-2009, 06:01 AM

I'm in Miami and have been getting great service. Everyone I know who has a bold never has data issues, even in the more crowded parts of Miami.

shockwave · 10-26-2009, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xaneth

Actually here are the real maps, vs. what Verizon is advertising. Not sure where they got their maps from... Attachments in order are:

AT&T Voice
AT&T Data
Verizon Voice
Verizon Data

I grew up in Alaska, it would suck to still live there with AT&T!

yeah as you can tell verizon is so much converage then att .. where i live verizon stuff has 3g and we dont wth

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