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Corrado
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Back to the iPhone and AT&T I go... goodbye Android

Thu May 12, 2011 2:43 pm

I hardly knew ye. After about 2 months of 3 separate Android phones on T-Mobile usage, I'm throwing in the towel and going back to AT&T/iPhone4. Hardware problems, software problems, service problems and billing problems have all been common place in my short 60 day experience. I had a Galaxy S 4G, and was promised by the T-Mobile rep that they fixed the GPS issues associated with the earlier Galaxy S phones. They did not. I returned it for a Nexus S. I liked this phone, I had random reboots and lock ups with it over the course of 2 weeks that I could not live with being that I need my phone for pages from work in the middle of the night. I was told 'oh a software update should fix that. one is coming in the next few weeks'. Well that's all well and good, but I need it to work NOW, not in a few weeks. Exchange it for a G2x for the past 2 or 3 weeks. The software is buggy as hell but the hardware is nice. If I leave Bluetooth on for more than 40 minutes, the screen stops being responsive. The battery driver for the thing is so broken that at any random time the thing will believe its battery is dead, even if you just took it off the charger, or sometimes it will burn 20-30% of the battery in 1 hour of idle time in your pocket. I was, again, promised 'oh a new gingerbread based ROM is coming out from LG directly in the coming weeks'. Once again, well and good, but I need this thing to work now. Its a $500 device and I don't want to spend $500 on a hope and a prayer that my issues will be solved. The LCD bleeds like CRAZY in the one corner as well. The T-Mobile rep tried to convince me that that was a software issue as well. I laughed. I was billed for overages on minutes, even though I switched my plan to a higher minute plan before I reached my limit in the first place. I was advised I could change my plan at any time, mid-cycle or not, and the new limits took effect immediately. After being billed $75 in overages, I was told 'Oh, changes don't take effect until your next billing cycle starts, so sorry, can't help you'. On top of that, I've dropped a few calls (not an outrageous amount, but still noticeable) when I've dropped 3 calls EVER on my iPhone 3GS and previous iPhone4 over the course of 2+ years with AT&T. I will say, the HSPA+ speeds are great, the low latency is great, but voice quality across all 3 phones was acceptable but not great.

AT&T said they'd take me back with open arms, give me contract price on a new phone, and not extend my upgrade date so I'll be eligible for an iPhone 5 whenever that launches this fall. AT&T, you may be more expensive and your CS may be (allegedly) terrible (I've never had to call AT&T for anything in the past), but your level of wireless service and Apple's hardware/software have won me back.
 
potatochobit
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Re: Back to the iPhone and AT&T I go... goodbye Android

Thu May 12, 2011 2:53 pm

uhhh... I think ATT bought Tmobile

I am still using a 3GS and am waiting for JUN to see what's going on
 
Synchromesh
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Re: Back to the iPhone and AT&T I go... goodbye Android

Thu May 12, 2011 3:25 pm

You're lucky your area has a good coverage. A friend of mine has an iPhone and has been dropping enough calls to notice. This is the reason I will not touch ATT and stay on Verizon for now. Sadly nobody surpassed Verizon's coverage in my area so they win.
 
DancinJack
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Re: Back to the iPhone and AT&T I go... goodbye Android

Thu May 12, 2011 3:29 pm

Synchromesh wrote:
You're lucky your area has a good coverage. A friend of mine has an iPhone and has been dropping enough calls to notice. This is the reason I will not touch ATT and stay on Verizon for now. Sadly nobody surpassed Verizon's coverage in my area so they win.


VZW is pretty money in the Northeast. My sister has an iPhone is Boston on VZW and hasn't dropped a call ever on it.
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DeadOfKnight
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Re: Back to the iPhone and AT&T I go... goodbye Android

Thu May 12, 2011 4:49 pm

I have an iPhone 3GS on AT&T with a 450 min plan with unlimited data and text. My bill has never been over $90 and I have had no issues whatsoever. I'll probably just get an upgrade to the iPhone 5 whenever that comes out.
Intel Core i7-5775c, Asus Maximus VII Formula, Win 10 Pro
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Captain Ned
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Re: Back to the iPhone and AT&T I go... goodbye Android

Thu May 12, 2011 4:59 pm

DancinJack wrote:
VZW is pretty money in the Northeast. My sister has an iPhone is Boston on VZW and hasn't dropped a call ever on it.

Agreed. From northern VT to DC I've never had an issue with VZW and the original Droid that could not be ascribed to VT''s terrain and tower-siting issues. Never once lost a call where I had a solid 1 bar or more. Lost a few driving through the mountains, but VT cell phone consumers are accustomed to that.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
Corrado
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Re: Back to the iPhone and AT&T I go... goodbye Android

Thu May 12, 2011 5:09 pm

ANd yeah, AT&T is TRYING to buy T-Mobile. It needs to be OK'd by the FCC, which will take months to be approved. Rumor has it the FCC isn't keen on the deal and may shoot it down anyway. Plus, even if the FCC OK'd it tomorrow, it'd still be a year till they'd be able to fully integrate.

Luckily I got T-Mobile to waive the ETF due to the issues, and I made money selling my iPhone4 and my wife's 3GS after switching for $625 total, and and spent $95 total ETF on AT&T in the first place. So I made $125.
 
DeadOfKnight
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Re: Back to the iPhone and AT&T I go... goodbye Android

Thu May 12, 2011 5:20 pm

I'm the worst kind of customer. I've never been very good about complaining when I have issues, I just take my business elsewhere. But I'm happy with my phone service, I've had dropped calls but there's really no such thing as good service here in Hawaii and it doesn't bother me that much. The only problem I have with the iPhone is how much the battery life degrades over time and the fact that I can't just buy a new one.
Intel Core i7-5775c, Asus Maximus VII Formula, Win 10 Pro
RTX 2080 Ti FE, Corsair 2x8GB DDR3-1866, Corsair AX860
Corsair H105, WD Red 4TB x2, Creative X-Fi Titanium HD
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Corrado
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Re: Back to the iPhone and AT&T I go... goodbye Android

Thu May 12, 2011 5:23 pm

DeadOfKnight wrote:
I'm the worst kind of customer. I've never been very good about complaining when I have issues, I just take my business elsewhere. But I'm happy with my phone service, I've had dropped calls but there's really no such thing as good service here in Hawaii and it doesn't bother me that much. The only problem I have with the iPhone is how much the battery life degrades over time and the fact that I can't just buy a new one.



Sure you can.

iPhone4:
http://www.ifixit.com/iPhone-Parts/iPho ... /IF182-000

iPhone3/3GS:
http://www.ifixit.com/iPhone-Parts/iPho ... -Batteries

The iPhone4 is 2 screws, slide off the back panel, battery pops out, plug new one in.
 
tanker27
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Re: Back to the iPhone and AT&T I go... goodbye Android

Thu May 12, 2011 5:26 pm

The grass isnt always greener....... :wink:
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blitzy
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Re: Back to the iPhone and AT&T I go... goodbye Android

Thu May 12, 2011 5:54 pm

I reckon Android/Apple are both fine, I've got an android and it does what I need, and I have used an iphone4 and that would also do the same. They're both really good, it seems like you just got unlucky with some bad hardware. The only reasons I would rather use Apple is for the high resolution screen and nice form factor on the iphone4. Apart from that its pretty close, and a tradeoff between flexibility and a slightly tighter user experience (but if youre a power user i dont think it really matters)

I only went with android because it was NZD $ 600 for my samsung galaxy s, vs NZD $ 1100 for an iphone4. Not really worth an extra 500 when I mainly use the phone to text and listen to music. Coulda got a Samsung galaxy s II for around 900, but its really just overkill for me. The phone formfactor is always gonna be too small to do serious stuff, just doesnt seem worthwhile to sink heaps of money into something that can be better done on my PC anyway (and most of the time I do have access to a PC). galaxy s is already really good, so i dont mind waiting a gen or two for some major improvements.

maybe you will have better luck with the apple hardware, at least you would expect to because its generally more expensive so should have better quality control.
 
Skrying
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Re: Back to the iPhone and AT&T I go... goodbye Android

Thu May 12, 2011 7:04 pm

I currently have an iPhone 4 on AT&T. I would say overall I'm happy with it. Never had a service problem with AT&T. Most of my complaints with the combo stem from the iPhone, more specifically some annoying hoops required for certain functionality. I would love to have wireless sync but the instability of jailbreaking has made me avoid that path (yes, I've jailbroken my iPhone 4 before and personally experienced the increased instability). The "home sharing" feature is a nice bonus but it only works on my local network, which when I use it solely on my iPhone hampers a lot of use cases. There are streaming apps available but they require not only an iPhone client but a desktop server, and worse they don't integrate into the iPod app. A bit more flexibility would be nice but it's not enough to keep me from jumping to an Android phone and paying the associated costs.
 
Corrado
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Re: Back to the iPhone and AT&T I go... goodbye Android

Thu May 12, 2011 7:47 pm

"Supposedly" there will be cloud syncing sometime soon. And I too had my 3GS and my previous iPhone4 Jailbroken and can verify your instability claims. It wasn't even like... full blown instability. It just didn't "feel" right, sometimes it would lock up, etc. Things were just weird with it and inconsistent. Anyways, I never should have left in the first place. Love my iPhone5 and really don't want it to do anything that it can't at this point. I only left because of the difference in price per month between AT&T and T-Mobile (~ $60 difference with my wife and my phones). Not worth the savings.

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