AT&T and the coverage game

Posted by: Michael Disabato

Our daughter, my wife, and I all have iPhones. They are all 3Gs and, except for memory size, all the same. So why do we all have different signal levels when they are in the same room in the same house? Good question, and one that AT&T has failed to answer after numerous phone calls. What they did tell us was interesting and serves to underscore just how badly their network is operating.

After having her 4th dropped call in one hour (so much for advertising), Daughter called AT&T and was politely insistent that the problem be resolved. The customer service rep (CSR) had her try the usual things (reboot phone, move to another location, etc.) to no avail. All this time, I'm sitting in my office with 5 bars on my phone and listening to this. Somewhere along the 30 minute mark, the CSR tells her she can have a free repeater for the house, and my ears perk up. Free? Repeater? Say what? Before I could tell her to get more info, she wrangled 2 months free service and hung up. (At this point, my iPhone showed "No Service." Go figure.)

But there it is out in the open. AT&T will give you a free repeater to solve connection problems in your home. Now I don't know if this is a femtocell or a real repeater similar to those made by SpotWave and other companies, and it doesn't matter. AT&T will GIVE you hardware to solve THEIR network problems. This is more like it.

Those of you in similar situations might want to press your AT&T CSRs to see what can be done for your home coverage. In light of the potential pandemic, you can never have too many connectivity options.

Michael

Comments

[Bob]

Does anyone think it might not be the network? Maybe it is the device? My Samsung Blackjack II gets reception in elevators on AT&T, while a friend with iPhone has bars (in the same elevator) but no service. iPhone may have issues that AT&T may never be able to fix.

[Michael Disabato]

Now THAT is interesting! I had a Blackjack II that has worse reception than my iPhone. I can still verify this by swapping SIM cards. Can there be that much variability in manufacturing, or is it how you hold the thing and orient it with respect to your body?

Mike

[Cheap Computers Canada]

You sure look like a cool 3G family well and good.