AT&T Still Dropping More Calls Despite New Investments
AT&T Still Dropping More Calls Despite New Investments
Posted 05/05/2010 at 2:35pm
| by Ryan Whitwam
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Earlier this year AT&T made it known that they would be spending $2 billion to improve thier cellular network. This gave many iPhone users hope, but in the most recent ChangeWave Research poll of smart phone customers, it's not looking so good for AT&T. In fact, the number of dropped calls reported by customers has reached an all time high.
The poll asked 4,040 smartphone users on the four major networks how many dropped calls they had experience in the last 90 days. AT&T customers reported an overall dropped call rate of 4.5%. So every one in 22 calls on an AT&T phone is likely to be dropped. Verizon, by contrast, lost only 1.5% of calls. Sprint and T-Mobile were in the middle with 2.4% and 2.8% of calls dropped respectively.
It makes us wonder where that $2 billion is going. Over time Verizon has managed to reduce dropped calls even as they begin supporting high bandwidth devices like the Motorola Droid. If the iPhone comes to another carrier, it will be interesting to see if that network can withstand the crush. If you're an AT&T customer, let us know if you're service has been improving or worsening.
Image via ChangeWave
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ATT Dummy
May 23, 2010 at 4:33pm
YEP, I have had greatr ATT service since 2008 up till two months ago April 2010. All of a sudden my services took a nose dive! My cell phones both are fluctuating bars from full to "X" for no service. It has gotten totally worse in last 20 days. This is the Houston area . I have not held a 3 minute call on my cell with out it hanging up or distorted voices to the point of dropping.
Anyone have an idea why this is occurring recently especially since ATT spent billions in "upgrades"... Tech support will NOT admit to any system updtes as the potential issue.
audiokiwi
May 05, 2010 at 7:19pm
I live in the Colorado Springs metro area and never have any issues, however i've had great signal in many places: Denver, Hawaii and Rual Iowa (3G even). The only time i ever have issues with dropped calls is when i'm in the middle of a mall or department store. For reference, i'm using the Motorola Backflip but even my friends with iPhones aren't having issues.
In the springs, Verizon has worse signal than AT&T i find because many friends with Verizon have had problems getting signal even when i had full strength.
Glycerin
May 05, 2010 at 6:11pm
Why have AT&T's dropped calls been increasing since last year? (I'll give you a little hint: AT&T sucks)
Mr_Histamine
May 05, 2010 at 2:44pm
Honestly, I doubt any of the respondents travel more than 20 miles outside their home area.
I'd be more interested in seeing the percentage of dropped calls reported by commuters that travel more than 100 miles a day, or truckers, or any other person that travels throughout the US. I'm pretty sure every last one of them would exceed 10%.
________________________________________________________________________________
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tri8gman
May 05, 2010 at 3:41pm
How many people who get dropped calls use the iPhone. I run a Samsung Epix - only time I lose a call is when there are CLEAR signal inhibitors (kitchens, bathrooms, ventilation ducts...). My house is rather old, and I get great signal in most places inside of it, but there are clearly areas that lessen my signal.
I really don't think people consider environmental factors, hardware factors, and even the orientation of the phone. I know plenty of people that don't understand that going from your pocket to your ear is a significant position change, and the screen indicator is NOT real-time.
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