Just like many iPhone users – I am frustrated paying expensive monthly rates for a great mobile device and unacceptable poor service. It’s the culmination of three unfortunate realities; slow data connectivity, multiple dropped calls, and inconsistently delayed voice mail messages. All three issues I never incurred while using a handful of smartphones on the Verizon Wireless network. I’m sure you’ve asked yourself more than once, ” why am I dealing with this (aside from the potentially expensive cancellation fee.)” You’ve probably done the same thing as I have, affectionately picked-up your iPhone and thought to yourself how much you enjoy the device, applications, etc.
So after the many tech support calls from friends, colleagues, and family I decided to go through the troubleshooting steps in order to try and understand if this is an AT&T issue, or an Apple software issue.
First off, lets look at what we know:
- AT&T now supports more than 20 million smartphones. That is a big number given the fact that a typical iPhone user uses 10 times the network capacity of an average mobile user. However, the average iPhone user pays AT&T $2,000.00 over their two year contract commitment. That is roughly two times what an average mobile user pays.
- The FCC continues to investigate the wireless industry practices which has called some of the industry-accepted business practices into question. In addition, you also have sides being taken by Google, etc. I suspect the FCC will end up imposing new rules which is sure to shake things up. My fear is the potential movement away from good capitalism, yet I am optimistic the consumer will be better off in the end.
- The NYTimes recently reported about the woes of AT&T as the increased demand on the network related to the hockey stick iPhone growth. The NYTimes was rather sympathetic to AT&T mentioning that, although other carriers are pointing fingers, they too can become victims when other sophisticated smartphones overwhelm their respective networks.
- AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson recently admitted that the company’s network is not up to snuff with the roll-out of all the iPhones. Mr. Stephenson makes a public commitment to make significant billion-dollar investments in order to support the demand; he also asks for patience as the upgrades will take time.
- AT&T announces their network upgrade roll-out plans in major metropolitan areas. Two of the most issue-ridden locations with a high concentration of iPhone users (New York and San Francisco) get slated for 2010 network upgrades. However, other (suspected geographically flatter – more efficient to upgrade) cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Miami, and Charlotte are slated to get the upgrades this year. AT&T plans to have service up in 25 of the nation’s 30 biggest markets by the end of next year, and 90% of its 3G footprint by 2011.
- In July 2009 Apple released iPhone software 3.01 which it lists fixing SMS-related security issues. However, I am told by a few AT&T technical folks this patch was also supposed to fix the myriad of dropped calls customers are experiencing.
- On September 9, 2009 Apple released the latest iPhone software upgrade (Version 3.1) I am told the AT&T technical folks have been testing and waiting on this release as it is expected to alleviate many of the technical issues plaguing iPhone customers. The jury is still out.
With all the AT&T complaints about slow speeds, dropped calls, etc. I decided to go through the typical consumer technical support process. After having already gone through the Apple technical support process with my first iPhone 3GS in July (my phone was defective and replaced by Apple,) I knew the Apple troubleshooting steps before they refer folks to AT&T. So, I backed-up my device and downloaded a fresh copy of the 3.01 software, loaded it, downloaded fresh version of my 60+ apps from the Apple store and reconnected to Microsoft Exchange for email. Several hours later, all was good. After spending two weeks of testing, sure enough, the slow data speeds, myriad of dropped calls, and of course, late delivery of voice mail messages were still in existence.
Now it was time to work my way up the ladder with the AT&T technical teams.
I spent several days back and forth with AT&T technical folks reinstalling software, checking settings, blah blah blah. After acknowledging the rapid growth the iPhone, and its recent strain on their network, they of course claimed the issues were related to Apple’s software. I escalated and urged them to go further where I worked out a system to document and send them data on each dropped call over a period of time. Finally, I got a call back from a senior specialist whom is tasked with alleviating the iPhone dropped calls issues. He concluded that since my dropped calls were not specific to a certain time or cell site – the issue was a hardware issue and instructed me to pass this on to Apple and get a replacement device, subsequently I received a note from him documenting this. The specialist also claimed Apple was very aware of their software issues and was working hard to fix it. He knew this as they were in the process of testing software improvements. I asked him why I should replace the device if it is not going to fix the underlying issues. He claimed that many of the new replacement devices put out from Apple are fixing the dropped call issue.
I just received my new device and will test it for a few weeks to see if there are any improvements.
Unfortunately, I remain frustrated at the experience, yet even more frustrated with Apple for the way they have been handling the situation. Sounds like I am not alone. For a company that prides itself on an over-the-top authentic customer experience, Apple seems to be disappointing many of their loyal customers.
- Why not be come out and talk with your customers about the issues… silence is a killer
- Why not help find a way to work with AT&T to financially compensate customers for their poor performance
- Time to call Ask Asa ?
What do you think?
