I would totally have an iPhone if it wasn’t tethered to AT&T. It’s bad enough that I’m forced to use AT&T’s crap land line and DSL service! AT&T is the world’s worst ISP and not much better as a wireless provider. Here in Atlanta, if you call a cell and you get “We’re sorry, the network is busy right now. Please try your call again later.”, you know you’ve gotten ATT. My land line is incompatible with ATT’s own cell phones, apparently, because I get an echo half the time when someone with an ATT cell phone calls on my land line.
ATT could not handle the SXSW convention last weekend due to the iPhone and wireless usage around Austin TX. They crash and burn every year when DragonCon hits town. Clearly ATT is not the best choice for all this traffic, but their exclusive deal with Apple has made them the only game in town. Very unfortunate.
Hopefully, the FCC will introduce some new regulations that will abolish or at least reduce the amount of control cell phone service providers and cell phone companies have to restrict access to networks and applications.
ATT, of course, is very much against any moves to restrict exclusivity, as the iPhone has boosted their market share substantially. Plus, they may have to actually, um, work to make a better service if iPhone users could opt out of their crappy network. This is how ATT justifies its exclusivity (try not to choke on your lunch):
AT&T believes that exclusive deals actually drive other carriers’ innovation. “Exclusive arrangements are an important form of competition,” AT&T said in a statement.
HAHAHAHA! Yah, I’ll just bet ATT thinks that. Exclusivity means that ATT can continue its sucky service, horrid “customer service” and overall shitty attitude and rake in the iPhone cash without lifting a finger. If the exclusivity was lifted, ATT would be left in the dust by better providers such as Sprint or Verizon.
So, I have my fingers crossed that the FCC will break up the Apple/ATT lovefest soon so I can get an iPhone. SWEET!
I completely agree.
I am seriously thinking about trying out one of those GO! Phones (pay as you go.) I hear that work anywhere and have no roaming fees. I don’t really use the phone for phone chat but would if I had one of those fancy computer/walkman/iPhones/blah/blah that could get signal. It’s even worse up here with less cells.
As for the bloody net for ATT… ahhh, yeah. YOU can imagine. Endless frustration is all I can say.
Can’t wait to switch.
as for the above comment, go!phone is att, so good luck with a signal.
and yeah, the ENTIRE reason i got an ipod touch for my anniversery and not an iphone is the att issue. att sux the big donkey dick.
personally, i’d rather pay cash for my phone and chose my provider accordingly. as it is, i stick with metro, and deal with their crap selection of phones for the following advantages: 1) signal everywhere in atl. 2) very few dropped calls. 3) unlimited minutes in my home area, and now that they have roaming and are soon to be national, i’ll keep with them.
Vigin Mobile baby. pay as you go..on the sprint network, and I never lose signal even in the boonies
virgin* as for internet id say go with a cable provider but the cable companies, esp mine, (charter) will nickel and dime you with bullshit that you never knew existed.
I think the government getting involved is a bad idea. This is not anti-competitive in any way. There are multiple carriers available in every market with many, many options for handsets. There is nothing the iPhone does that other handsets can’t do. In fact, many handsets are more feature rich than iPhone.
I dunno how iPhone compares to other multitasking phones, since I am not a cell phone power user. I do know that my friend recently dumped her Treo for the iPhone and says the iPhone is MUCH better. The complaints I’ve heard about the iPhone all seem to go back to AT&T.