The results of a recent survey from ChangeWave Research should surprise no one: While the overwhelming majority of iPhone users approve of their phones (97%), more than half do not approve of AT&T, the phone's sole provider of service.
Thirty two percent of respondents said the biggest problem with the iPhone is service lock-in with AT&T, while 23% said AT&T's calling and data coverage, service quality and service speed were the biggest downers about owning an iPhone. That adds up to 55% of iPhone users citing AT&T as the biggest iPhone issue.
Overall, iPhone battery issues were the No. 1 dislike of Apple aficionados.
I have AT&T service for my phone (not an iPhone), and I'm okay with it. But I'm not a huge "phone guy." I imagine most of the frustration for iPhone users has to do with the lack of choice of providers. If Apple opened up the iPhone to other providers, everyone would be happy... except, of course, AT&T. Many are predicting that Apple will open up the phone as soon as the current contracts are up, but I'm not sure.
Opening up the iPhone would be the best thing for consumers, but that doesn't mean it will happen. Like most things in life, I'm pretty sure it will all boil down to money, to who is going to pony up the most cash for the rights to service iPhone users -- if AT&T can convince Apple to keep exclusivity by driving huge trucks full of money up to the Apple offices, the status quo will remains. Meanwhile, you gotta figure Verizon is pleading its case to Apple too.
Comments
Displaying 1–20 of 20
TheCrystal
I'm glad I am not the only one in the world who thinks this. Thank you G4, with all my heart. Like I have said in the past, I work in an environment where my co-workers are constantly picking on me for being the only one without an Iphone. They always call my phone the stupid phone, although I have a blackberry. I do not hate the phone at all, I hate At&t! I can honestly vouch that I have had all four of the major characters at one point, and I had At&t the shortest of all. I will not touch an Iphone until it is on Verizon or at least Sprint. I hate how AT&t keeps making exclusivity contracts with Apple. Right now I am on verizon with a blackberry and I have no complaints. Why not go for the network with the most carriers, best customer satisfaction, and best reliability? At&t always lies too, I have done speed tests with their 3g speeds and found a Sprint Palm Pre beating out the Iphone 3gs and my Blackberry on Verizon beating a Iphone 3g, so fastest speeds my @$$. As for the more bars in more places, those bars may be there, but maybe their just stuck on the screen for show because they get the most dropped calls and always have tingy sound and call quality. Come on Apple! AT&t is making you guys look like fools! (but you guys aren't)
Xero_Wing
i said that Apple was foolish to renew the exclusivity contract w AT&T
only think keeping me from an iphone is AT&T
SirCitadel
i stay away from at&t and the iphone... and apple. my biggest thing is batt life. i dont think ill get a smart phone until i see some serious strides in battery technology.
WildGunMan001
At&T sucks thats all there is to it, I had it for a month i never got bars or anything it was terrible. Verizon and sprint are both good i just have sprint because its cheaper. When the iphone goes to all planes i have a feeling at&t is going to go out of business
Kanaye
Studies like this only raise awareness over to the guys at Apple to aid their decision in who should carry the iPhone, seeing as the rumor scene is buzzing that the Apple & AT&T deal will end in 2011. Me? I'd prefer they choose T-Mobile. It'd be interesting for me to watch which phone will consumers choose - the iPhone or the Google Android-based smartphones they offer.
As of my experience, I've always looked up to the iPhone with lust. When I got the chance to actually get one, I was behaving like a kid when it's given a new toy. Two months after that, and already I'm feeling regret of having made the jump from my past provider to AT&T, even go as far as seriously consider to opt out of the contract and the service altogether.
Sure, I can jailbreak/unlock my phone if I wanted to take it to another service provider, but I'd rather see Apple just free the phone and let the cellphone providers fight over themselves for customers. It would only benefit us all in the long run.
Drop_Six
This is something we all knew already. The Feed doesn't need to report on it.
Punk09
I've been with ATT for as long as I can remember, and last year I went to buy an iphone. I'm a huge texting and calling freak, and the plan for unlimited everything cost about $50 more than what I was paying for my current phone. I couldn't afford that, and just walked off.
djboogymonster
Iphone users unhappy with AT&T? Really!?
Next you'll be saying people breath air, and earth has gravity!
SlickyFats
I have only been enjoying AT&T lately. I have had them for 11 years now. (since I got rid of my pager).
In February I bought the LG Incite for $600. In June I called Customer service because it was dropping calls. The sent me to warranty for a new phone for free. Same thing happened with the next 2 of them I had. I Finally got my 4th Incite and called back ANGRY they transferred me to the ESCALATION DEPARTMENT, where I got a new Blackberry Bold and 1 months free service.
Tip just call and be angry, you'll get something for free from them.
SpillTheBlood
All the people that I know that have AT&T constantly complain about the billing and whatnot, but they don't complain too much about the service. I live in KY, and from what I've seen, AT&T provides pretty good service to our area.
I, for one, am on T-Mobile and have nothing but praises to them. Personally, I don't care about the exclusivity of the iPhone to a carrier, because I found mine in the trash while taking out the garbage at work, and Apple sent me a free replacement, so I jailbroke/unlocked it, and use it without problems. T-Mobile even provides me customer service for it. I guess it's because they are the iPhone vendor in Europe.
angryspoon
The providers in America are terrible at best. Why? Well lets see America is by far larger than any other "advanced" country and because of this we have more land to cover. Japan has internet nearly 32x faster than America and oh yah complete cell coverage in nearly all areas. Japan also fits inside of California meaning it takes far less resources to set up a cell network there. Hopefully America at some point down the road will have universal cell coverage for all but until then we are stuck with multiple cell companies with spotty coverage when concerning all the US at best. Yes Alltel/Verizon has the best coverage but the worst phones and options. T-Mobile, Sprint, and At&t have the best phones but worst coverage. I live in Ohio and had Verizon and Alltel for over 10 years when i finally switched to T-mobile b/c of the options. I can do nearly anything on my G1 for only $75 a month. Nothing like it when you consider what Verizon and Alltel has.
At some point we will have full highspeed internet coverage and cell coverage, when that day will come no one knows. And for those on the west coast NO DSL is not universal. In my area of Ohio we JUST got DSL a couple of years ago at earliest. In many areas here you still cannot get it or Cable TV for that matter.
gardner901
Yeah, I love my iphone but I hate AT&T
Wozman23
Your on the right path SkinnyJr, but why not expand it to "All cell phone users unhappy with all cell phone providers." Its a market filled with greed, and as a result lacks quality across the board.
I guess its safe to assume that I'm not a huge "phone guy" either.
BONERJAM
I had AT&T with my first phone years and years ago and I hated it. I moved to T-Mobile after that and I have had no problems there which is kinda funny because I have talked to people who hate T-Mobile but not me.
craftlass
I don't have an iPhone and left AT&T ages ago, but as a Verizon user who talks to people on their iPhones regularly I"ve found their voice service is horrible. When I talk to anyone on any other network they sound fine, like land-line quality these days, but AT&T people (especially on iPhones) cut out constantly and the conversation is mostly filled with, "What? Can you repeat that?"
Apps and stuff are great, but a phone should be a decent phone first and everything else second. Especially now that practically everyone has given up their land-lines and depend on mobiles, network voice quality is key. The survey is completely unsurprising.
Exclusivity is lame, networks are much more important than phone models and we should be able to have whatever combo works best for us.
SkinnyJr
The title is wrong. "AT&T users unhappy with AT&T"
Parisi2274
I have an iPhone and I agree with this survey, I can not stand AT&T. When I first signed up with them back in 2007 when I got the original iPhone, I was very happy. Their plans were priced well and the service was good, but then as Apple introduced new models of the iPhone, AT&T began to collapse on itself. They raised the price of the Data Plan and txt messaging (which is a joke in itself, since it costs the major wireless providers nothing to send these txt messages) and their 3G coverage is spotty at best. I thought perhaps AT&T would recover when Apple announced the OS 3.0 and how it was going to now allow for MMS messaging (this was in January 2009), but when Apple introduced the 3GS in June and AT&T said that MMS would be available at the end of summer, well I just gave up on them. How is it that Apple announced the feature in January and almost 7 months later AT&T still could not get the service up and running by the time the phone launched? At this point I am pretty bummed with AT&T and I hope that Apple opens up the iPhone to other carriers, and I would love to switch back to Verizon and rid myself completely of AT&T.
dv8withn8
AT&T's technical service has been ok-good for my iPhone. Their customer service and billing practices are atrocious. I'm literally on the phone with them for an hour plus every month because they double bill me, charge me for calling myself (how that happens I don't know but they say I am calling my cell phone from my cell phone for an hour at a time) and just plain don't give a crap.
It's like staying in an abusive relationship. I get beat every night but I get to wear Versace and drive a Ferrari during the day.
blasphemous
i live in the dirtydirty, so I dont know how the service is on the westcoast (I only use the service going from seattle to the canadian border) but over here in the southeast AT&T is one of the best networks around.
TehSkull
I actually LIKE AT&T.... I just got a new phone last weekend, and the only thing preventing me from getting an iPhone was the fact that it's friggen $50 a month. I ended up with a Samsung Eternity and am just as happy. I mostly wanted an iPhone for the app store, so I might as well just get an iPod Touch.
Displaying 1–20 of 20
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