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Technorati ProfileT-Mobile vs AT&T – iPhone Service Quality Santa Monica
Comments(3)
For the first 18 months I’ve owned an iPhone, I’ve been able to see past the shortcomings of the service, but I’ve had a change of heart towards the lacking service. Changing expectations, history with a more reliable provider/phone, and a few specific incidents where service quality (dropped calls, missed calls) has had an acute, detrimental impact on my work or personal life.
Now that I’ve made the mental leap to make a change, it’s time to evaluate the options:
- Get AT&T to fix the service
- Jailbreak the phone and swicth to T-Mobile (the only other GSM provider in the states)
- Buy a Palm Pre, Android, or HTC phone
After a stop at the local AT&T store, the manager helpfully submitted an on premise service request – apparently they will actually check my home address and make make adjustments to the tower. She literally said they might ‘turn the antenna’. Needless to say, I’m not optimistic that will resolve the issue. She also confirmed that the Santa Monica area does suffer from ‘capacity problems’, and that AT&T is in the process of adding capacity in the area. Promising, but who knows how long that will take.
Next up, I acquired a first generation iPhone to test a jailbreak and a T-Mobile SIM. Fortunately, the phone was already jailbroken, so after a few updates, I dropped in a T-Mobile SIM, and the phone was running.
The ability to compare an AT&T iPhone and a T-Mobile iPhone side-by-side was eye opening. I’ve heard lot’s of speculation that the iPhone was at fault for service problems – different provisioning of towers for iPhone users, a weaker radio, lot sof reasons, but nothing I could confirm.
This test was in no way scientific, but here’s what I observed:
- Visible difference in the number of bars on the phones. In most areas of my Santa Monica residence, the T-Mobile phone show more bars.
- Several areas where there is no reception for AT&T, but a few bars for T-Mobile.
I made several test calls – simultaneously calling both phones via Skype – as a conference call. In 4/6 tests, both phones rang. In 2/6 tests, the AT&T phone never rang and the calls went straight to voicemail.
Disappointing results by AT&T to be sure. At this point, I plan to give AT&T a few days to attempt to resolve the issues, then on to figure out which direction to take.
Of coarse.. I just made the switch to AT&T for the iPhone alone, and I still feel like I am regretting the decision. iPhone for Verizon is my dream!! I hope Mashable's "rumors" are true..
Does the internet work when you use Verizon? How does that transfer over? Don't you need the "AT&T 3G Network" for it to work?
Over the years, I've had a BlackBerry on every network (before and after mergers). I found Verizon to be the best overall carrier in S. Cal and during national travels. In the Santa Monica area, T-Mobile seems to be slightly better than Verizon.
The problem with AT&T is that their coverage network is a result the largest number of acquisitions (over the years). There are several instances where you can see full-bar coverage and yet have poor quality of service. They do not upgrade their hardware or antennas. They simply add more. The older legacy hardware and antennas can sometimes provide misleading coverage. An infamous spot to test this is at the SE corner of Wilshire and Santa Monica Blvd in Beverly Hills. On an AT&T BlackBerry, you can see full bar coverage (EDGE indication), yet have no data service at all.
If I were in your shoes, I'd make the switch to Android 2 on Verizon. http://phones.verizonwireless.com/motorola/droid/... I would hope they do some sort of Wave update within the near future.