AT&T spent a good bit of its
earnings call today talking about its network -- not too surprising, really, considering the cozy relationship between dropped calls, subscriber count, and profit. The overall takeaway was that the company is pleased with its progress and continues to improve thanks to the addition of new carriers at existing cell sites (read: increased over-the-air capacity), an ongoing backhaul renovation, and the recent
roll-out of 7.2Mbps capability across most of its 3G footprint. In terms of dropped calls specifically, AT&T claims that the statistic dropped network-wide from 1.41 percent to 1.05 percent between December '08 and '09 -- not bad, though the real problems seem to be in key high-density, high-visibility markets like Manhattan where it hasn't yet met its vaguely-defined "performance objective." That said, it seems convinced that it'll patch things up over the next few months as it continues its infrastructure push -- and considering that Apple's entrusting AT&T with the
iPad, we don't doubt that there's some work underway to mute the cries of "we want Verizon" about 90 days from now. Then again, there's no substitute for real-world experience, so we'll dare pose the question: are you seeing improvement in your neck of the woods? Follow the break for another juicy slide out of AT&T's earnings deck.
posted January 28th 2010 1:05PM
@FSRGuy You still get fatster 2G than Verizon there. Verizon's 3g is so slow its almost as fast as nice Edge connection.
Shouldn't they be aiming for 0 dropped calls? I mean who tries not to be perfect? I am seeing less dropped calls then when I first got my iPhone 3G. But it isn't zero.
I do see data speeds increase, while latency drops too. I am getting ~2Mbps down, with ~180ms latency. I am in New Orleans.
If they weren't using Ethernet to "improve network backhaul" then what were they using?
@DustoMan They're a phone company. They use SONET over optical probably.
Still Dismal over there in Times Square NYC, dead zones rampant too.
Thanks At&t.
I'm not sure how many people posting live in Manhattan, but from someone who does, there is zero improvement going on. Regardless of where I am in the city, I have never been able to maintain a call for longer than 15 mins without a dropped signal. If it wasn't for the iPhone, there is no way that I would use ATT. And with all the new android phones hitting the market on Verizon, I'm definitely going to switch over as soon as my contract is up. It really is a joke.
In Plano, TX, the coverage had gone from bad to worse :( I can't remember the last time I had a spoken for more than 1/2 hour without getting dropped (yes, I have an iPhone). And 3G is a joke, i use it to watch youtube videos during lunch and it takes ~3 attempts on average to get a movie to play, with several different alerts from 'The movie could not be loaded' to 'Could not connect to youtube". And when it does load, I have to make sure I pause the video until it buffers to about 70% to prevent it from stopping in between while playing.
I think the dropped calls is due to the iphone itself. I have n att fuze and an iphone 3gs. Never ever had a problem on the fuze.
The iphone 3gs does not like to hunt for a signal. When the signal drops it takes a long time to search for a new one.
I think if people tried other phones on ATT they will see its the phone and not the network.
... and I am getting closer to curing cancer! See, I have this graph to prove it!!!!!
Question if AT&T is the worst reception coverage company of all times.
Y is it that it carries more wireless data than any other carrier not only in USA but on the planet????
Andrews now!!!!!!!!!
Vzw sprint tmobil I'm talk,. Yelling at u.!!!
Answers now!!!!
@logic thinker
What?
In New Orleans all week and dropped calls were high.
More bars...
The most interesting thing I noticed about these graphs is the drop in the "Composite Call Quality" between about August through October in *ALL* the lines. It makes me wonder what happened that caused them to go backwards.
Any ideas?
As a Manhattanite I can definitely confirm that there has been no improvement in dropped call incidences whatsoever. It has sucked since the day I bought my iPhone (July 2008), and it still sucks. There is virtually nothing AT&T or Apple can do to keep me from switching from their pathetic service the second my contract is up.
And I sure wish Engadget would qualify its mention of AT&T's recent "7.2mbps upgrade" with the fact that the upgrade had no impact on existing bandwidth at all, and will not until the their physical network is upgraded as well...and that's not expected to be complete till sometime next year. AT&T deceptively mentioned the half-assed upgrade in their earnings call because T-Mobile announced its ACTUAL and COMPLETE upgrade to HSPA.
Too little too late AT&-----------------
I'm glad they're happy with their progress because I'm NOT! Their service sucks ASS. I can have full bars, and without moving an inch, I'll drop an average call two to three times over the course of 15 minutes. Their service sucks and I regret ever singing up with them.
BTW, I'm in Orange County, CA and using an iPhone. It's a highly populated area and I'm using a 3GS phone. There's no excuse for their pathetic service and I'll be leaving them as soon as possible.
San Diego has never been worse... It's awful... Drop calls all the time, non stop in SD... Please att, fix it fix it fix it...
maybe next they should try to close the gap between what they say at the time you sign up for their "service" and what you actually get billed.
case#1) friend signed up for 1K min/month, 2 $400 phones @ $100 each, unl. pm/wkends,---all for $150/mo. First bill was $1200 and never saw a bill after for less than $400 in next 18 mos. And rebates of $300 per phone NEVER came in.
case#2) friend signed up for lifeline-landline @ $27/mo. She hasn't seen a bill for less than $100 in 9 mos. since.
AT&T works fine for me considering the terrain around here.
AT&T said what? Sorry, I missed it. They must've been saying it on AT&T.
I live in Tampa Bay, Florida and I have very few problems with voice or data with my iPhone. There are a couple of spots that I get dropped calls, but when I was with Verizon, it was the same deal.
Service is excellent as usual in central IL, and in the Chicago area. No problems aquiring or keeping a 3G signal on the iPhone or Q.
It seems that most of the people bashing AT&T haven't actually used their service...
Here in cincinnati my coverage is Great!!!! i have wonderful 3G speeds way faster than verizon ,and here in Ohio verizon was just Horrid coverage and very slow speeds and dropped calls all the time. i had verizon before switching to at&t and have loved there service! I don't know what all the fuss is about from what i have been experiencing my coverage has been great and hope it will be for the other major cites. My friend has sprint and they have pretty good coverage as well here but not as good as at&t. I also have wonderful speeds its great I'm very happy with my at&t coverage!
Since the very day AT&T did the software 7.2 Mbps upgrade, I stopped dropping ANY calls and my data rates have doubled or tripled. That upgrade was VERY significant for me. Cleveland market, btw.
@yddot
Here in Cincinnati too, I get super fast speeds I guess AT&T loves Ohio
If I had to be honest I would say that I've noticed this. I used to dip calls SEVERAL times daily. It was horribly frustrating. Now, I still drop calls but it ha gotten better enough for me to notice. AT&T still needs to do a much better job though. Ad I'm still leaving when the opportunity presents itself. Red isy fav color anyway...
That's great news. Do you think this will benefit the iPad?
I use to have one to no bars at my house in Florida, but then like 2 weeks ago out of no where I now have 5 bars of 3g service. So at least they are improving service in some areas.
I live in lower Manhattan and I think I am getting less dropped calls now then a few months ago.
I live in San Francisco, AT&T is still dropping the same amount of calls as before and there are still neighborhood (the Mission, Soma, Potrero Hill), where I get the "NO SERVICE" indicator.
This is the same level of service I have observed from AT&T for the past two years with AT&T's 3G service.
Our company uses AT&T, and this week in particular I have experienced extremely poor reception and a few dropped calls in our office at 26th and Broadway.
I'm on AT&T right now and I don't really experience that bad of service. Could definitely be better, but it's not too (then again, I live just outside a medium sized city). On the phone I use now, I don't do anything but text and call. I'm thinking of getting an iPhone but I want to be sure I'll have good 3G coverage before I do. Is there any site you can check that out on? AT&T has a map on their site and I know my area has 3G coverage but I don't trust that it's "good" like AT&T says.
For everybody's info, coverage in Dallas sucks.
My GSM has always worked just fine- screw 3G.
When I had Cingular, everything was good. Then when at&t took it back over, it really got crappy. I would drop calls and would get the dreaded "call failed" 2 or 3 times before a call would go through. I switched to Verizon and the Droid and am very happy. Sure I am paying a bit more, but it is worth it to me to know my calls go though on the first try.
I have a love hate relationship with my iphone. I love the phone, but I hate ATT. I had a personal account with ATT and got so fed up with it's network and customer service that I swore up and down I would never go back... and then work bought me an iphone. I live in the Northwest, where ATT supposedly has some of their best network performance anywhere, and I regularly drop calls. I probably drop five or six calls a day. It was the same with my other non-iphone ATT phones as well. Now my verizon phone on the other hand would never drop a call if you were in one place (driving I would occasionally hit a dead spot). So having to deal with the dropped calls all the time, it pisses me off when I hear people say "stop complaining." Why the hell shouldn't I? My phone drops calls like crazy. I get a different phone and still I drop calls like crazy. Verizon's phones have always been crippled and right now there isn't much that competes with the iphone, but man, I was hoping that the ipad announcement would be accompanied by a "we are supporting verizon too" announcement.
Well, it is BAD in Dallas. It was bordering on bad before the 3G version of the iPhone came out. But when THAT blessed day came I stopped being able to make/receive calls in my own house as well as at half my clients.
God only knows how bad it will get when Apple's new fancy newspaper reader (iPad) comes out.
I'm in Baltimore, where dropped calls have never been a significant problem.
That said, AT&T just sent me a marketing message yesterday, lettin' me know they'd added a new cell phone tower in the area. I imagine they're doing the same elsewhere. Let's hope the build-out is real - bet they get it right just when everyone's ready to switch to 4G.
Ha ha
the little engine that could
I live in the Philly suburbs and I have to admit the my coverage has been better. Places that were dead spots last summer aren't dead spots anymore. It's not up to Verizon's level, of course...but I can say that there is some improvement
I'm in Boston area and the ATT voice service is poor on my 3Gs. In the past I've had Sprint and T-Mobile, both of those carriers were fine for call quality and dropped calls. I've have an iPhone since day 1. Edge service on the original iPhone was miserable in my area. Now a days I drop a call probably 10% of the time. I constantly make calls where I don't even hear the phone ring then suddenly the party I called is saying 'hello? hello?' I even had dropped calls when I am stationary and have 5 bars. From all the good things I have heard from Verizon customers I would drop ATT in a second if they started carrying the iPhone.
Wow, what a concept. The most dropped calls come from high-density areas. Duh.
Good thing I don't live in one of those areas... I've been a happy AT&T customer for their cellphone plans for a few years and haven't had any issues.