AT&T Admits to Sub-par 3G Service in NYC, SF

AT&T fesses up to network problems, but shows improvement over last quarter.

AT&T's received a lot of flak from both its customer base as well as its main competitor Verizon over the quality of the iPhone-carrying cellular network. Most of the time, AT&T is doing some form of damage control with the help of Luke Wilson; but at the company's recent earnings call, the subject of improving network quality was a big one.

Specifically, AT&T revealed in a presentation slide that 3G Voice Composite Quality in high-usage areas such as New York City and San Francisco were below the company's performance objective. On the bright side, AT&T's slide shows that service quality has steadily improved since last fall.

For those of you in high-usage areas, are you seeing the turnaround that AT&T describes on its slide?

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There are 28 Comments.

Top Comments

20

RooD , January 29, 2010 2:21 AM

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||amount spent on Luke Wilson
||||||||amount spent on infrastructure
17

godwhomismike , January 29, 2010 2:27 AM

I love sitting on the bus in traffic on the BQE by the Battery Tunnel on the Brooklyn side, and looking at this giant AT&T Fastest 3G billboard sign, and having no service whatsoever on my iPhone. You'd think they would've placed that sign in a spot where there was actually AT&T 3G service, and not in a giant dead zone.

Other Comments

6

captaincharisma , January 29, 2010 2:17 AM

so does this mean they are going to stop there attack ads on Verizon? no chance
6

lunyone , January 29, 2010 2:18 AM

SHOCKER!! What about the coverage map thing that they are trying to change (vs. Verizon)??
5

Jazzmain , January 29, 2010 2:20 AM

I understand that every big company will have their share of problems now and again but AT&T seems to be having more than what I would call acceptable as a business model. No one company is perfect but they seem to as of lately to not even fall into the category of acceptable.
20

RooD , January 29, 2010 2:21 AM

||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||amount spent on Luke Wilson
||||||||amount spent on infrastructure
17

godwhomismike , January 29, 2010 2:27 AM

I love sitting on the bus in traffic on the BQE by the Battery Tunnel on the Brooklyn side, and looking at this giant AT&T Fastest 3G billboard sign, and having no service whatsoever on my iPhone. You'd think they would've placed that sign in a spot where there was actually AT&T 3G service, and not in a giant dead zone.
-6

blackened144 , January 29, 2010 2:27 AM

jazzmainI understand that every big company will have their share of problems now and again but AT&T seems to be having more than what I would call acceptable as a business model. No one company is perfect but they seem to as of lately to not even fall into the category of acceptable.

Location. Location. Location. I havent had more than 5 dropped calls in the last 3 years using ATT and I have solid 3G service within 300miles of my house. Even when I took a trip to Missouri to visit my sister at Whiteman AFB, I never lost my 3G connection and never dropped a call. From my point of view, ATT's service is more than perfectly acceptable, its near perfect. Im sure it helps that I live thousands of miles from both NYC and SF.
0

techguy378 , January 29, 2010 2:41 AM

AT&T isn't the only one with NYC problems. There's not a single cell phone company in the USA that has top notch service in NYC. Unless a cell phone company can get enough towers for every NYC resident to be on a phone call simultaneously (not possible) then even with Verizon you'll be spending a good portion of your time saying "Can you hear me now?".
0

theuerkorn , January 29, 2010 2:44 AM

Natural result of AT&Ts conservative network. Competition is good, and eventually they too will have to react and probably by doing so leap frog some of the competition for a while -- until the next competitor ups the ante. ;-)
0

flip_x , January 29, 2010 2:45 AM

the only way i can see verizon to stop those ads is that att offers 3g to an area not on there current map.. then they would have to remake new ones lol..
6

pullmyfinger123 , January 29, 2010 3:04 AM

hey AT&T, can you admit to subpar 3G service in a few more areas please? Like....the whole country??
1

pullmyfinger123 , January 29, 2010 3:06 AM

The good news, AT&T's service has steadily improved. The bad news, with the given current state of its decrepit 3G service today, one can't even bear to remember how much worse it was a few months ago...
0

cadder , January 29, 2010 3:35 AM

I'm sitting here with 3G and 4 signal bars showing. It took 63 seconds to fully load www.tomsguide.com. Is that considered the "fastest 3G network"?

What really burns me up though is not that it's slow, but that in too many areas there is no service at all. I can make and receive phone calls just fine but no internet connection at all.
0

pharge , January 29, 2010 3:52 AM

hmm... and now the iPad is going to use AT&T's 3G network.. Guess AT&T really need to pray for a hpe that... Apple is not going to sell much of their iPad (3G model)...... or.. in 90days... we will see the cruve dive deep again...;) lol
0

tikrjee , January 29, 2010 4:20 AM

I'm seeing more and more people move out here to South Dakota and introducing their iPhones to the concrete. If AT&T wants to prove their network is not that bad, maybe they should stop paying Luke Wilson and start putting up more (or better) towers. At least attempt to make coverage comparable to Verizon, please? I wouldn't mind an iPhone through AT&T, and I hate waiting for it to show up under Verizon. The Plains wants handheld awesome, too!
0

ikefu , January 29, 2010 4:21 AM

My wife's BF came home with us this past Christmas with her iPhone. I laughed when she said she didn't have 3G, then I laughed harder when she didn't have signal period.

Welcome to SW Wisconsin where AT&T doesn't give a damn. 5 Bars going strong on Verizon though.

Not that I have any great love for VZW but at least I have service.
0

tikrjee , January 29, 2010 4:21 AM

godwhomismikeI love sitting on the bus in traffic on the BQE by the Battery Tunnel on the Brooklyn side, and looking at this giant AT&T Fastest 3G billboard sign, and having no service whatsoever on my iPhone. You'd think they would've placed that sign in a spot where there was actually AT&T 3G service, and not in a giant dead zone.

You'd think that if they rented the spot for the billboard, they'd pay to hide a tower behind it. Even a compact one would suffice.
0

RichR , January 29, 2010 7:18 AM

techguy378AT&T isn't the only one with NYC problems. There's not a single cell phone company in the USA that has top notch service in NYC. Unless a cell phone company can get enough towers for every NYC resident to be on a phone call simultaneously (not possible) then even with Verizon you'll be spending a good portion of your time saying "Can you hear me now?".

Really? You must be talking about another NYC. Switching from Verizon to AT&T has been the worst decision ever for my wife and I. Completely disgusting service compared to Verizon. Speaking to my wife on the LIRR train from Long Island to NYC is so frustrating now because of numerous drops. With Verizon, it would sometimes drop only once at a specific spot in the underwater tunnel but she would just call me back and continue all the way to Penn Station. That's just one example.
0

anonymous@guest , January 29, 2010 11:17 AM

My brother-in-law worked cell tower service for about 6 months; he said at least 70% of their work was upgrades to damaged or severely outdated AT&T antennas- the verison antennas on the same towers were typically already installed within the past 2 years or so. This is in the mid-west, Missouri/Illinois. The whole state is 'countryside' but STL is a world apart and the best coverage in the area, both city and outside, is verizon.
0

d-block , January 29, 2010 5:35 PM

Luke Wilson needs to go the way of Old Yeller
0

anonymous@guest , January 29, 2010 8:10 PM

At&t's 3g signal is still terrible in Manhattan. 3g service frequently drops calls and loses connectivity during data usage. it causes phones to switch back and forth between 2g and 3g, causing significant battery drain.

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AT&T Admits to Sub-par 3G Service in NYC, SF

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