Off-topic...AT&T cell coverage in bay area?

Sorry to be offtopic, but I figured a lot of you guys probably use your cellphones more than I do. I'm on Verizon right now and my contract expired last month so I'm thinking of switching to AT&T. How's the coverage in the bay area? Verizon's phone selection sucks so I didn't upgrade my old phone and just gave it to my mom to use for the past few months and plus they don't have rollover minutes.

Oh and looking forward to this weekend's SR meet...if I can wake up in time.

 

I've had AT&T for 2 years now and I've never had problems in SF, San Jose, and the Peninsula. There are few spots where I have dropped calls, but very few. I had T-Mobile before and they were horrid with reception. You won't be disappointed with AT&T.

 

AT&T is pretty good in SF and surrounding areas, though I do occasionally get fluctuating signal strength, especially in my apartment which is ground level. Oddly, haven't ever experienced a dropped call though. good luck

 

Had Verizon and AT&T, I prefer AT&T. But, both work better in different places so you should have a friend with AT&T come over and see how it works around your area.

 

It sucks so bad (both) you are better off using a walkie talkie at times...

PS KIRBEEEEEEEE, you get my PM on the photos for the magazine this weekend?

 

Its very phone specific too I have found. I had the Blackjack and had crappy reception on it. I could not make a phone call from inside my house. Now that I have the iPhone, I have no issue and have only dropped a few calls in remote areas.

 

ditto, so far the iPhone has been working great.

Sharky, no, didn't get your PM.

 

AT&T works well but as far as service in the Bay Area is concerned, it's hard to beat Verizon. Also, the iPhone has several issues with email configuration and stuff but otherwise it's a great device. Furthermore, if Verizon would wake up and switch to GSM everyone would be happy but since they're making ~$88 Billion/year, I think they're happy with their position.

 

I had AT&T for many years, but switched to Verizon because of poor reception. Now I'm thinking about switching back to AT&T because Verizon phone selection sucks so bad. I too will have to find someone with an AT&T phone to see if I can make a call from my own kitchen these days.

BTW, did you hear about the new slang word for people who insist on using only Apple products? iTard.

 

I am on the AT&T network with a blackberry, and the reception's been pretty good up and down the peninsula; dropped calls have been rare so far.

 

I think Verizon has better coverage in the bay area but AT&T is GSM technology which works in Asia and Europe, that's why I use AT&T.

I use an unlocked Dopod (Cingular 8125) that I bought in Hong Kong.

Kai

 

Not sure if you guys use it but the data speed on at&t is supposed to be really slow. I use EVDO with verizon and get dsl like speeds. Watching my slingbox on my samsung i730 is awesome!

Vik

 

the reception with the treo was terrible. With the iphone it's better. used to lose reception on the bay bridge.....! these things are still junk, no matter the reception, guaranteed to lose reception, when you absolutely must hear them.

Art

 

On the Blackjack, I had 3g in a lot of places. I used it to watch my slingbox as well. One of my main complaints about the iPhone is no sling. But I guess we are a select few..and the 3g network was fast as heck...no complaints at all...iPhone on Edge isnt "bad" its just not as fast as 3g.

 

I've found iPhone/AT&T works pretty well in and around SF. Yes, data connection times are a bit slow, but the web browsing experience is years ahead of any other PDA I've tried.

 

you'd expect to get a decent connection speed to the Google Wi-Fi in Mountain View with the iPhone but that's CRAPINTOSH for you...or Google I guess

 

Guys, as a long-time Apple employee its really frustrating for me to sit here and read your posts about iTard and Crapintosh. I just don't get it. We're making some of the industries best products, in all categories of music, telephony and computing.

Regarding the Mac, this came out today in PC Magazine (to be extra clear: PC Magazine) where Apple again, comes out on top in PC Magazine's support and reliability survey. The magazine writes, ". . . no Windows machine comes close to Apple's 9.1 score," adding, "Apple's high marks extend even into areas we don't have room to print charts for. . . ."

Regarding the iPhone, there has never been a product in Apple's 30 year history that's rated as high in customer satisfaction as the iPhone. We sold over 1,000,000 phones in 74 days and if you haven't used one, you don't know what you're missing. If you have used one, well... then you know exactly what I'm talking about.

iPod, how does 75% market share sound?

iTunes is the industries third largest music distributor (any channel) and has nearly 90% market share in the on-line, digitial distribution market.

Apple is incredibly healthy with a market cap in excess of $125B with zero debt. We're three times the size of Sony, twice the size of Dell and just a few dollars/share way from catching IBM.

We should have this discussion over a cup of coffee at SRO sometime. I've got a lot more to say on the subject

Best,
Frank

ps. I just picked up my new F430, but this topic is even more important to me than writing about my new car...

 

You guys are doing a great job over at Apple! Never used anything else and never will. No crashes, no viruses and FREE genius bar help, unlike paying for geek squad.
Eagerly awaiting the new OS, and then I'm moving over to Aperture!

On topic, i have Verizon, all of my friends who have AT&T have been happy.

 

You didn't work on Apple ]['s did you? My all time fave.

Vik

 

I like Apple products. I even have an Ipod (well...a gift given to me). I just think Apple products are a bit overpriced. I'm hoping as Apple grows and gains market share in the PC world, they'll start to reduce their costs.


Anyhow, I'm glad apple is doing well. I bought in Apple when they were $13 (before Jobs came back to Apple) and sold some last year for a 1000% profit. I should've held onto it now...but oh well. Can't complain.

Oh and I would've bought an iphone, but I like my phones small and it's nice when a phone can fit in my jean pockets. Great product, just not for me.

 

Frank,
Relax. I was just making a joke. However I would like to have a discussion about PC vs. Mac sometime as I'm considering getting a new computer. I just feel naked without the 'right-click' button if you know what I mean.

 

All our mice have two buttons now... while the surface is smooth and doesn't have two descrete target areas, there are two switches under the surface. You can program either side of mouse to do whatever you want and you can program the scroll ball (on the top) to do what you want when you push it as well. Arun, I'd love to bring you current on what we're doing.

Sorry to take this tread away from AT&T. As I mentioned, I've been at Apple for a long time and now when things are going so well, we tend to be a bit protective of the brand.

Vik... I was there when the Apple ][ was shipping, but they hired to me to bring a high-performance Mac to the market, so I was on the other end of the performance spectrum. My first product there was the Mac IIfx, then the Macintosh Quadra family and then I was on the core team who brought the first PowerPC to market. Now I spend most, of my time on the iPhone team where I'm responsible for the marketing relationshiops with domestic and international carriers. We just launched the device in the UK and in Germany. I'm also responsible for Product Marketing for the media technologies in the OS. If it plays video, makes a sound or displays an image... it's a technology I'm responsible for.

Anyway, I did pick up my 430 last night, but frustratingly, FoSV handed me the keys smack in the middle of Friday PM traffic. My ride down 84 to 280 was bumper-to-bumper, my ride down 280 came to a stand-still a couple of times and I only got to open the by-pass valves in the exhaust twice and in 2nd gear, no less. I pull into my garage becase my neighbor is having his lawn mowed and the guy was using his weed-whacker, 10 minutes later there's a downpour... which stops, but now it's pouring.

Gesh, I hope it's clear on Sunday!

Frank

 

I used to have an apple ][e back in the day. It had a Novation Applecat modem which was way ahead of it's time and the modem choice for hackers. There was so many hacking programs for it like a wargames dialer and phone code hackers. I used to hack out sprint and metrophone codes. They were only 6 digits long back then! I moved on to a Powermac 60 when they first came out. After that I couldn't resist the temptation of all the Windows based software available. I would walk around Fry's and there would be one aisle of software for Mac and like 4 for Windows. I guess the wide availability of programs and the fact that I'm so used to it is what keeps me using Windows.

I love the iphone but I have verizon.

ps. congrats on the 430. Can't wait to see it. I'll have to get a picture of it with my son like we did the 360!

Vik