Cult of Mac: a blog about the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone - and the people who love them

37 comments

If I don’t have good service on Friday I swear to…. Wait I never have good service!

Tommy, on December 15th, 2009 at 6:07 pm

You mean the service can get worse? Who knew THAT was possible. I thought this was bad as it was. Of course they keep blaming my calls from other networks.

Bryan G, on December 15th, 2009 at 7:29 pm

“on a network that provides critical communications services for more than 80 million customers”

I’m not quite sure how to interpret this statement. On one hand, it sorta sounds like AT&T really does try to provide communications services, yet I know for a fact that my contract has no SLA in it.

I’m sorry, but if the network is so “critical” then why does it suck so much? I mean, if it rains in San Francisco, we lose fucking data.

I think it’ll be a miracle if we’re even able to use an hour’s worth of data on AT&T’s network, never mind the fact that 300 of us want to use it at the same time.

alienvenom, on December 15th, 2009 at 8:04 pm

Hmm, I’ve never had any issues with data or voice on my iPhone other than when I’m literally in the middle of no where, or sometimes when I’m the mountains, usually in a valley.

lizaoreo, on December 15th, 2009 at 9:04 pm

AT&T not worried huh? So that is why they have the call center reps on standby and training them on how to handle the inevitable crash, including excuses that they will provide when customers call in? I worked for AT&T (Blech) and still have friends there. They are shaking in their boots, I promise you. T-Mobile FTW!

Tedd, on December 15th, 2009 at 9:05 pm

I have a unique solution for all you whiny people…shift to a different service provider if you hate the service so much. That is the great part about living in a free market system…you have a choice. Feel free to exercise that choice by shifting to a different provider. Otherwise, quit complaining. Better yet, complain about the fact that our federal government wastes your tax dollars by taking time on the House and Senate floors voting on legislation like commemorating the 2560th birthday of Confucious. No, I am not joking. That bill and many others of that type are debated on a daily basis, yet they can’t seem to pass appropriations bills before the beginning of the fiscal year. So, calculate how much federal tax money was wasted paying the salary of Senators and Representatives who spent time debating that.

Dave, on December 15th, 2009 at 9:34 pm

Well, number one, I think that operation choke hold is possibly the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard. Second, I live in Indianapolis, Indiana and I must say our 3g coverage, call quality, and data speeds are just fine. I tend to believe that a lot of complaints that people have with att’s data network seem to be centered around the west coast and New York. You must understand that areas that have such a high volume of traffic are going to have problems with successful traffic aggrigation. Simply, ATT needs to add newer, better infrastructure to it’s network to be able support better 3G network speeds in large populated cities. I know recently that ATT has been rolling out new infrastructure left and right so I wouldn’t cry yourself to sleep at night about it.

Now im not an a WAN Engineer but i can tell you that some of this is just common sense.

Iphone owner, ATT DSL customer., on December 15th, 2009 at 9:36 pm

“It’s unclear whether disruption of AT&T’s data network will affect voice calls.”

Who are they kidding?! Making a phone call affects voice calls.

Keith Wick, on December 15th, 2009 at 10:07 pm

@Iphone owner, ATT DSL customer: I know, common sense right? So it’s funny that three years after the launch of the iPhone, AT&T can’t get its shit together. Guess you didn’t see the news awhile back where an NYC iPhone owner goes into an Apple store complaining about a ton of dropped calls. The Apple Genius pulls up some diagnostic data and says (paraphrasing) how the owner is lucky how he’s only dropped ~20% of his calls and the average for NYC is 30%. This is beyond “high volume of traffic”; this is just plain stupid.

a former iphone owner, on December 15th, 2009 at 10:34 pm

I would participate in this, but I would spend that entire hour just trying to buffer a damn video.. there are **5** major cities in Arkansas that have 3g and mine is not one of them.
So i’ll remind everyone that you should consider yourself lucky that at&t got off it’s ass in your area and flipped the 3g switch, because edge sucks the big fat one.

Bryan, on December 16th, 2009 at 12:24 am

So they are planning to put out a house fire with gasoline. Brilliant.

I can almost promise you that criminal charges will be brought against Daniel and those who participate in this childish and counterproductive display if it result in loss of business and personal danger. As an AT&T customer, businessman, and broadcaster, I’ll support any effort to hold these impudent troglodytes who weren’t slapped hard enough by their parents accountable.

Joe Cassara, on December 16th, 2009 at 12:36 am

Let’s hope AT&T brings Dan Lyons to court.

The Real Steve is way better anyways.

David Randall, on December 16th, 2009 at 1:56 am

I think the best way to disrupt their signal would be to just take down one of their antennas.
But in seriousness, if a handful of people with phones could actually clog a phone network up bad enough to interrupt service, then the network wasn’t good enough to begin with. Its a company with millions of subscribers, it should be able to handle a few idiots messing around.

Brandon D'Hazana, on December 16th, 2009 at 2:48 am

I have a hard time believing that these comments declaring “Dan Lyons should be sent to Gitmo” are legitimate comments from persons not employed by Ma Bell.

Exactly how is what Lyons is proposing illegal? He’s not advocating that people take blowtorches to cell towers. He’s not suggesting jamming AT&T’s spectrum.

He’s simply advocating that people use the service they’ve paid for, in the most bandwidth-intensive way possible, at a particular hour, on a particular day. There’s simply nothing illegal about that.

Now, AT&T and its partisans want to cry that this could “disrupt critical services”. The simple fact is that if this protest could have that effect, the fault lies not with Lyons and his readers, but with AT&T. It’s called “overselling the network”.

(To say nothing of the simple truth that AT&T should *already* have the means in place to segregate and place priority on voice communications at the points in its network that might be getting saturated with data requests.)

BD, on December 16th, 2009 at 5:55 am

@joe cassara,
That’s the most ridiculous, retarded thing that could be said. You really think that AT&T can possibly bring criminal charges against every single customer who uses their iPhone data service at that particular time? What about granny who got an iPhone for her birthday, bumped the screen and has been streaming live video for 5 days now?
Oh wait… You’re probably too busy jacking over pics of Obama and Pelosi to be able to formulate a well thought out comment but instead rely on your moderately expanded vocabulary of purulent adjectives to attempt to bolster your online ego.
Go play in traffic

@joe cassara, on December 16th, 2009 at 6:25 am

“I can almost promise you that criminal charges will be brought against Daniel and those who participate in this childish and counterproductive display”

Sorry. No criminal charges can or will be brought against folks who watch YouTube at noon. Are your promises always this transparently false?

iGenius, on December 16th, 2009 at 8:04 am

Why is it, without fail, whenever there is any discussion of cell phone carriers it’s like sprint doesn’t exist. T-mob always gets a mention by someone. I pay less than AT&T customer and Verizon customers. I have better signal by default than everyone but Verizon customers and I roam for free on Verizon’s network, data included.

I get great customer service, great prices, great coverage and yet Sprint remains third in reality and fourth in hearts and minds. I just don’t get why.

lupos, on December 16th, 2009 at 9:46 am

Ummmm, most people with Iphones have unlimited data plans, so why would having a bunch of them actually USE THE SERVICE THEY PAY FOR be considered a criminal act?

I’m still pissed about the AT&T/Cingular mess, as I never had half as many problems with my service before they joined. Cingular never screwed up my billing, rarely had dropped calls, and always provided me with better than average customer service. Now that they are AT&T, I’m just waiting for my contract to end so I can switch…

EEJ, on December 16th, 2009 at 9:53 am

“I can almost promise you that criminal charges will be brought against Daniel and those who participate in this childish and counterproductive display if it result in loss of business and personal danger.”

@Joe Cassara, you are a complete moron. Not only are your claims idiotic, but you try to use the word ‘troglodyte’ while struggling with basic English grammar in the sentence prior.

ATT Blows, on December 16th, 2009 at 10:38 am

“Why is it, without fail, whenever there is any discussion of cell phone carriers it’s like sprint doesn’t exist. T-mob always gets a mention by someone. I pay less than AT&T customer and Verizon customers. I have better signal by default than everyone but Verizon customers and I roam for free on Verizon’s network, data included.

I get great customer service, great prices, great coverage and yet Sprint remains third in reality and fourth in hearts and minds. I just don’t get why.”

Sprint FTW! Ditching the iPhone 3G for a Sprint Blackberry due to ATT’s horrendous service as soon as my contract is up next week, I cannot wait. Everyone I know who has stuck with Sprint through their hard years LOVES them now.

ATT Blows, on December 16th, 2009 at 10:41 am

I could see charges being brought up because, while in essence they are “just using the service they paid for.”, they are doing it with the intent of bringing down the network. They are launching a DOS on AT&T’s network. That is illegal.

Course good luck proving intent in the vast majority of these cases.

Gouranga, on December 16th, 2009 at 11:15 am

Us Germans laugh at your primitive mobile networks……..someone actually had to explain to me what a dropped call was, I pissed myself laughing…..I did not think it was possible……

Jk, on December 16th, 2009 at 11:28 am

Apple screwed up when it partnered with AT&T (and vice versa) as the sole provider for the iPhone. Verizon clearly has the best cellular network (or at least the best overall coverage) in the country. Perhaps this whole mess will force AT&T to the table with Apple to renegotiate its position as the sole service provider. If I were Verizon, I’d have my knife and fork in hand and be prepared to dine.

Anthony, on December 16th, 2009 at 12:29 pm

As a side note, the only thing keeping me from buying an iPhone is that it only works on AT&T’s network. I’m confident that I’m not alone in this reasoning. The real Steve Jobs and the rest of Apple’s management team should take note of that.

Anthony, on December 16th, 2009 at 12:31 pm

Increasing coverage and capacity requires adding cell towers. I metropolitan areas like San Francisco and the Silicon Valley, people don’t want cell towers in their back yards. Not much ATT can do about that.

Not in my back yard, on December 16th, 2009 at 1:01 pm

Operation Chokehold is like taking your poison wishing another person would die, (but hope the name is recycled, cool).

Krampus, on December 16th, 2009 at 1:27 pm

300, you say? Hmm, what does that number remind me of?

Coming to a theater near you: i300, the sequel, with ATT as the new Xerxes and 300 nerds of iPhorta!

Butcher, on December 16th, 2009 at 1:49 pm

lupos and ATT Blows – I’m with you as far as Sprint. Though lupos, to answer your question about why Sprint is ranked lower – it’s because their actually phone selection is usually inferior to the other brands. I have stuck with them because of their price, their customer service, and their cell service, but have often been disappointed by the (lack of) variety of their phones. This has improved in the past few years (especially since the merger with Nextel), but even with the Instinct, they fell far short of anything like an iPhone (since it didn’t get 3G speed, but only regular data speeds like you would on any other Sprint phone). Like Anthony, the only thing that has kept me from getting an iPhone is also the fact that it’s on AT&T’s network. I might have considered switching to any other service provider (I had dual phone service T-Mobile/Sprint for a while when I got a Sidekick for the data plan), but I had AT&T before (and got stuck with them for home phone/internet a 2nd time when they bought SBC), and I’m never going back voluntarily.

evenangelsfall, on December 16th, 2009 at 2:41 pm

Interestingly, it sounds like the iPhone may be part of the problem:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/business/13digi.html?_r=1

I bet most of the people participating in the “operation” don’t realize that.

Jamie Jo Vittetoe, on December 16th, 2009 at 5:38 pm

@EEJ You realize you have not been informed correctly. Cingular bought at&t then AT&T bought cingular. Always has been the same network. Just different corporate employees. AT&T setup everything then cingular took over and AT&T took control back.

P.S. I agree AT&T’s network is not good in highly populated areas. However where I live I have constant 3G access with no complaints.

Michael H, on December 16th, 2009 at 5:45 pm

The Operation will NOT, I repeat NOT affect the phone network it will only affect the data network therefore it will NOT affect emergency calls

Alex N, on December 16th, 2009 at 11:03 pm

Don’t you folks remember how shitty the network the afternoon they turned on MMS??? Nothing worked for hours.

I say flood the shit out of AT&T on Friday at noon PST….

Vic, on December 17th, 2009 at 12:03 am

That NYT article about iPhone being the problem is ridiculous. First off their sources for AT&T having a better Network are all on AT&T’s payroll, they even mention this in the article. Not to mention that iPhones overseas on other networks work just fine. I love the NYT, read it everyday, but I had to laugh at that horrible story.

On a side point, I do not now, have ever, or ever will own any product from Apple. I’m not one to defend Apple, I hate that company, however, the idea that AT&T’s network is not the problem when the iPhone works perfectly on every other network in the world is laughable.

Jaded Tristin, on December 17th, 2009 at 1:33 am

@Anthony: “the only thing keeping me from buying an iPhone is that it only works on AT&T’s network.”

That’s what kept me from buying an iPhone as well. Still does, although several additional reasons popped up between then and now.

JohnFen, on December 17th, 2009 at 12:29 pm

Has anyone stopped to think that it seems like 99% of the AT&T whiners are iPhone users? Maybe the iPhone really is just a piece of crap that doesn’t know how to interact with the AT&T network, like they said?

I hate defending companies, but you all forced me. My AT&T blackberry is great. Have clear calls, no drops, fast internet, and stronger signals than my friends and family (even when traveling).

If all iphone users switched another carrier, you’d have the same problems. You’re abusing the network. Unlimited data plans mean unlimited over the billing cycle, not all at once.

Just because you all have the time to do this while sitting around doing nothing at mommy and daddy’s house doesn’t mean that other customers don’t rely on the network for important things.

I wish cell carriers had separate networks for business users and pleasure users that just HAVE to watch some stupid utube video on there phone instead of waiting until they get home.

Grow the f*** up!

AT&T user, on December 17th, 2009 at 2:49 pm

I dropped my cable to afford two iPhones for our household. Here in Denver I feel the coverage is fine and the data works well. I listen to SiriusXM over the 3G network without problems and only once in a while does the bit rate drop to low quality. Overall I’m very happy with the iPhones and feel for the money I get waaaaay more out of these devices than the garbage on cable. Wish they were unlocked though for travel purposes!

Henry, on December 17th, 2009 at 5:33 pm

…”several have pointed out that the action may affect emergency calls!”….

OK…has anyone ever tried calling 911 from a cell phone??
The few times I have had to call (report drunk driver, car accidents, etc) I have either not been able to get thru or have had to wait for an operator to assist me, so I don’t think this is going to make any difference with making emergency calls!

Telling people to limit thier use of an “unlimited data plan”, is like telling people to limit how much they can eat at an “all-you-can-eat” buffet!

Allen, on December 18th, 2009 at 1:12 pm

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