Surprise, You Really Like AT&T

[Paul Daniel Ash]

Confounding expectations built up through three years of complaints and previous studies showing AT&T clients as the least satisfied among customers of the major US carriers, a new survey from the Yankee Group shows that 73% of iPhone users are actually "very satisfied" with AT&T's service. Objections have been raised to the methodology of the study, including that it ignores the location of the respondents, which tends to obscure the fact that most AT&T service problems are in cities.

The study's author credits the so-called iPhone "halo effect" for the positive impressions of AT&T. Carl Howe told CNNMoney.com that "consumers transfer the high gloss of their Apple iPhone experience to AT&T." Unsurprisingly, AT&T says it's all a misunderstanding. "There's a gap between what people hear about us and what their experience is with us. We think that gap is beginning to close," Mark Siegel, an AT&T spokesman, said in a statement, adding "we have a great network."

No details were available from the Yankee Group website on how the survey was conducted or even how many iPhone users were contacted. Carolina Milanesi, vice president of mobile devices research at Gartner Group told NewsFactor's Adam Dickter that the results didn't line up with her studies. "My comments are based on feedback from clients we have in the U.S., especially in metropolitan areas, and my personal experience when roaming on the AT&T network." she said. "I have to admit I am very surprised by the results."

A Consumer Reports study done last year found that AT&T had the worst rating among major carriers in terms of quality, service availability, circuit capacity, dropped-call frequency, and voice service. The study, surveying 50,000 users in 26 cities, gave top ranking to Verizon Wireless.

Source: CNN

[Daerid]

They didn't ask me...

[dantheman1040]

AT&T is average. I drop calls from living on a high rise and 3G is sometimes spotty.

[Neo0019]

well i swich to T-mobile on 2008.. cheaper!!

[Daerid]

I am currently off contract w/ AT&T. I'm waiting, patiently, for Verizon to get the iPhone.

[SnowLeo]

at&t can go suck my ****. I dont give damn bout everyone else I am 0% satisfied with at&t

[ClerkDante]

Proof positive that those that spend all their time whining are, in fact, in the minority.

No network could hold up as well under the strain of all these iPhone users. The mighty Verizon's CDMA network would be brought to it's knees.

Hell, it recently was just by a tiny Droid launch.

Considered that under the weight of 3 million new users over a single weekend.

[Poseidon79]

I PRAY Verizon gets the iPhone soon... so that their network can crumble under the same network stress as AT&T due solely to iPhone traffic. Just wait and see.... it'll be a disaster just like the Droid X launch where their network failed to activate data.

[Agudan]

blah blah blah....... BORING!!!!! who cares about these dumb topics........

[zoso10]

at&t can go suck my ****. I dont give damn bout everyone else I am 0% satisfied with at&t

^^Woahhhh somebody's a little testy

[LastSonOfKrypton]

My only gripe with AT&T is I don't have 3G where I live. I pay $30/month for data that I can barely use because Edge is so slow.

[Cowboy]

Att works great for me! Just saying

[LastSonOfKrypton]

blah blah blah....... BORING!!!!! who cares about these dumb topics........

Who cares about your 9 pointless posts?

[UsernSC]

I was never asked, Not surprising though, is it?

[Poseidon79]

My only gripe with AT&T is I don't have 3G where I live. I pay $30/month for data that I can barely use because Edge is so slow.

You're much better off downgrading to the $15 per month plan. It will be nearly impossible to get up to 200MB of data on EDGE unless you're just streaming all day long.

[giancarlo]

Have you ever met someone 100% happy with their cell service? People don't think of the math behind it, the vast majority of ATT subscribers are heavy iphone users. Now imagine the load on the network when everyone is facebooking, tweeting, youtubing, downloading, skyping, 3G Unristricting for services that are meant only for WiFi, downloading 500mb apps while sitting in a bus and so on. It's like 15 laptops on a wireless home network.

Oh and BTW, the ads that keep popping up with a simple "mouse scroll" are getting annoying. I rather pay $25 every 3 months in order to access this site. Might want to consider that because it'll get rid of the "leechers" that just sit around for a jailbreak and not follow directions about updating and such...then turn around and fill the forums up with "HELP!!!" for any little stutter.....just my .02

[mikerlx]

My niece has a 2G with tmobile edge setup on her phone. Edge is so slow. I had to switch WiFi on her phone so she could see the speed difference.

[L00i3]

My only gripe with AT&T is I don't have 3G where I live. I pay $30/month for data that I can barely use because Edge is so slow.

That used to be my only real gripe with them too. But about 6 months after I started with them, I went on a business trip, and when I came home they had rolled out 3G in my area. So I am now pretty happy with the service. Granted, their unlimited everything option costs more than the sprint simply everything plan I used to have, but I don't use enough voice minutes to justify a need for an unlimited minutes plan, so that point is moot for me.

[Nielsenius]

I've been with AT&T for a number of years and haven't had any problems. Sure, their service could use some improvement, but so could all the other networks. Now that Verizon is getting all these smartphones it will be interesting to see how they handle it. My guess is that people will quickly realize that AT&T isn't so bad after all.

[g12007]

T-mobile!!!