CHICAGO LOOP / DOWNTOWN - Data and Coverage Issues Thread

[mmike17]

Yeah... let me get in on that move to Verizon (if it could seriously happen).  I've pretty much had it.  If they can give us any deal at all, I'd jump and sell my iphone 4s on the open market.

For someone who needs to use streaming music, google docs, apps and other things that are currently UNUSABLE well over half the time... it's complete heII being an AT&T customer.

Signed,

Lifetime AT&T/Cingular Wireless Customer

[DavidMoller]

I live in the suburbs. Visited Chicago loop area on Monday 2-20-2012 and had NO DATA SERVICE. This is totally unacceptable to have such an outage. My business depends on me being able to have access to the Internet constantly, and to go to a major city and experience 100% data outage is just plain wrong. Visiting other major cities I tend to experience very slow data service, but at least its something.

[Bwolffdrums]

For the past couple weeks I actually had pretty decent service downtown.  Today it's back to terrible.  My phone shows full bars and 3G but nothing loads and calls drop constantly.  Does anyone have any answers regarding the terrible Chicago service?

[jamois]

Okay, AT&T - I appreciate that you got Apple to add a feature in iOS 5.1 that actually displays the true HSPA+ ("4G") signal strength on my iPhone 4S.  I no longer see 5 bars of 3G while mysteriously getting no data - now I can see that I'm stuck on the HSPA+ network with 0 bars.  Thanks for confiming what I already knew.  It's useless, but I appreciate the transparency.

This raises a new issue, however; the HSPA+ network signal strength in the Loop is nil, and your own community boards show that it's close to nil in many places around the U.S.  When will you push Apple to allow iPhone 4S users to manually switch to the 3G network?  This needs to happen.  It's a decent workaround until you add sufficient HSPA+ coverage to support us.  Apple usually pushes through a second update within a month or two of a major OS release.  Prior OS releases allowed iPhones to switch off 3G coverage, so there's no reason this can't be added as a feature.

Not only would this help 4S users in particular, but it would get us off the HSPA+ network and provide more bandwidth to people with other HSPA+-based phones.  I'm tired of spending half of my day carrying around a brick.  It's now clear that this could be fixed.  Easily.  Do it.

[marcman713]

I've been experieincing problems in the loop/surrounding areas since I switched to ATT form Tmobile a few months back. Zero data connectivity yet full service. Sounds like ATT knows of the issue from other people's posts on this board - has anyone received any sort of compensation? It irks me that 90% of my non wifi data usuage is going to be on the way downtown in the morning for work, or on the way home after work. And I can't use my phone at all in either scenario. Full "4G" service, and can't even send an imessage...

If I complain enough, will they take anything off my bill? Seems like I'm just setting money on fire for a data plan that I cant even use. Phone is great on wifi...

[jacksai52]

Marcman,

I call in to try to get something back each month, and after about an hour of convincing them it's not my phone, they comp my data plan. But as I've told them, while its appreciated, I still can't use my data for most of the day nor can I use to do any streaming of any sort the moments I do have data. Their response to this is "well you get SOME data" (by looking at  usage). I can't argue with that, but its not when I need data the most. It's pretty much a stalemate, yet it still leaves AT&T completely failing in the customer service department.

I'd contact the folks that run their twitter account, they are a {word filter evasion} of a lot nicer than the CSRs that answer the phone. Your data not working is entirely your fault in those guys heads.

[jacksai52]

By the way,  I view their stance on providing data for some of the day as the same as an electricity company saying: "Sure your power isn't working right now, but we give you working power for part of the day, so you should you pay for it as if you used it for the entire day.". Um... I need service all of the day, not only when you find it convenient to provide it.

[ILCellPhoneUser]

Add me as another person that falls into this same situation.  

I work near Madison and Wells.

Consistantly have 4 bars on my phone and I'm "Lucky" enough to have my iPhone 4S display 4G after the latest iPhone update (even though I know it's still HSPA+.. another joke).

In any case.  I have virtually no data coverage.  I can make phone calls, so I guess the 4 bars is there for something, but the 4G shouln't show up if you can use data.

If I need data for something, I have to go out and find someplace that has Wifi so I can actually get and e-mail.  If you want to stream a video (or anything else for that matter) forget it. 

I too, can't believe that they can continue to charge this much for a service and not provide the service.  Can you imagine the uproar if your cable or sattelite company showed a couple frames of programming every 10 minutes or so?  This is how I equate the partial data service argument with AT&T.

It bugs the heck out of me when I'm on the train in Union Station and I'm sitting next to a Verizon cell phone user.  First of all I can't get an data.  Second, when I send a text message (not through iMessage, straight text message) it takes as long as 10 minutes for the receiver to get it.  Not very useful when you're trying to tell someone where to meet you on the train.  Finally,  if I'm on the phone and the train starts moving I have to hang up (or lose my call).  In all three of these cases the Verizon user is surfing, texting, and talking to whomever they choose.  There is a cell (microcell?) in the station.  I see it mounted on the pole near the actual station.   Why is it Verizon can do this and AT&T can't?

This is an unacceptable situation!!!

[basianov]

Add me to the list of disgruntled users ... I have a data plan for the iPad and work near State and Washington. At 12:30pm every day, nearly without fail, the internet slows to a crawl. Mind-boggling...

[captainjman2]

I second this, ATT service sucks in the loop! It says fulls bars and 3g on my iphone but it doesnt let me use any internet..  the service is terrible and its rediculous that we pay all this money for crappy service.  I can't wait to switch to verison!

[mmike17]

Back to update my situation:  After being stopped at the door at a couple of downtown AT&T stores (the "greeter" uniformly says that there is nothing they can do for me and refers me to call AT&T...gee, must be common problem) I have been in contact with AT&T Social Media via Twitter and follow up telephone calls (I recommend talking to them).

Basically, they admit theat there is nothing that they can do for me and they are aware of the problem.  They credited my account a little bit of $.  I will continue to try to get this credit on a monthly basis (since they are stealing from me) until the next iPhone is released.  At that point i will sell my unlocked 4s and get the new product and contract with a different carrier.  I have been an AT&T/Cingular customer since 1998.

FURTHERMORE, I stopped at the Genius Bar in the Michigan Ave Apple store to see if I could get some more answers.  The employee said that they are well aware of the problem.  She has Verizon service on her ipad and AT&T on her iphone.  The difference to her was night and day data-wise.  Anyways, just goes to show that we made the wrong choice in carriers here.  I don't even care that I can't be on data apps while talking on the phone with Verizon...  The next iphone device should be LTE and that will all change anyhow.  My helpful Apple employee also did say that AT&T is switching out all of its towers in the area from old tech towers to LTE (not that the 4s supports that) and that is potentially some of the reason for the crappy service.

Hope everyone is coping well...

[ohiocellguy35]

It's amazing how they make us sign a contract and make sure we pay their high prices every month, but they never get held to a higher standard or hold up their end of the contract by providing reliable wireless service. Since they don't many times, does the customer get a refund or allowed out of a contract?? NO!

[sailsfast]

Like everyone else that has posted here I've been going through this same hellish experience with the AT&T network and customer service for about a year now with my iPhone 4 (5.1). First off I'm glad I found this thread, we can now band together and get to the truth of the issue (maybe). This problem is not only just restricted to the Loop it's also a problem in the north Michigan Ave area. It has gotten progressively worse. If you're on a WiFi network in your office or home in these areas you're fine but for others like myself that depend on a data feed on the 3G network you're out of luck. I have a job that keeps me in a car sometimes in the Loop for 12+ hours a day. Some of my apps are needed for my job and if I can't jump on a WiFi hot spot I have a useless "smart" phone. We been paying for a service we don't get. Out of all the phone calls to AT&T tech support and customer service this is the best I've come up with, a once in a life time $50 credit and no answers as to why I have this problem. Last summer a manager of an AT&T store said the problem is the network is overloaded and as soon as they put up a new node it's quickly overloaded. He also said there's a issue with the fact the city is on the lake and and you can't put nodes out in the water so that there's a good triangulated signal. He told me to go to Verizon their system is working fine. He wasn't working when he told us this, he was shopping at our both at one of the red hot Chicago street festivals. Our iPhone credit card reader wasn't working because the AT&T network gave us no data feed. Co-workers with iPhones or Android phones on the other networks have no problem with data in the Loop area. The thing that really drives me nuts besides the fact I get no data where I have to spend a lot of time is that no one at AT&T (while on the job) can tell the truth about the issue. They always tell me that this is the first time they ever heard of the problem. It's "to big to fail" corporate bull poop! The poster mmike17 that posted this info from an Apple Store employee makes some sense:

"FURTHERMORE, I stopped at the Genius Bar in the Michigan Ave Apple store to see if I could get some more answers.  The employee said that they are well aware of the problem.  She has Verizon service on her ipad and AT&T on her iphone.  The difference to her was night and day data-wise.  Anyways, just goes to show that we made the wrong choice in carriers here.  I don't even care that I can't be on data apps while talking on the phone with Verizon...  The next iphone device should be LTE and that will all change anyhow.  My helpful Apple employee also did say that AT&T is switching out all of its towers in the area from old tech towers to LTE (not that the 4s supports that) and that is potentially some of the reason for the crappy service".

That was posted over 4 months ago and the data service is worse that it's ever been! So what is the real story? I'm trapped in this mess. My contracts up the end of June and I want the new iPhone 5 (if that's what they call it) on a network that works. I'll have to re-evaluate all this when this happens but in the mean time why should I be paying for data when I don't get it most of the day while working? Maybe contact Jon Yates (What's Your Problem) of the Chicago Trib ? I'm sick of AT&Ts endless lies. Why just sit around and get robbed? There's got to be some sort of consumer fraud protection here. Maybe that's why AT&T is not say anything? There's plenty of proof here that there's a significant problem. Here's Jon Yates current article: 

Problem Solver: After robbery, victim feels ripped off by Sprint

Company tells her she must wait six months to cancel contract for stolen iPhone purchased day before incident

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/problemsolver/ct-biz-0429-problem-denton-20120428,0,6341973.c...

Bit of a different iPhone story but Jon gets the job done! 

Oops! Watch this thread disappear now and all the others on the NO service issues in Chicago.

[Edited to comply with Guidelines]

[sailsfast]

Oops miss read the date on mmike17's post. I was looking at the "Registered date"! Scrap that comment about 4 months later the service is worse. 

[jacksai52]

I started this thread months and months ago but as noted, I have had problems since August of 2011. I'll contact the trib guy as well. Its infuriating and criminal that AT&T holds people to contracts and demands payment while not being able to a service. Furthermore, there is next to no response from AT&T regarding resolution of the matter.

http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/

This is from AT&T's coverage viewer. Is it not a blatent lie and false advertising to say that you cover an area when there is a known issue that cannot be resolved??

[funboy1126]

Boy, am I glad I found this thread.  Not that ANYTHING will come of it.  It just validates what I've been experiencing for months now since I got my 4S.  I have always defended AT&T but I am ready to jump ship.  But then what do I do with my phone?  So darn frustrating.  The greatest device in the world paired with the worst provider ever.  I get lucky maybe 5 minutes a day when I actually get data to download.  Most of the time, though, I'm just frustrating myself by even trying...

Brian---

[mmike17]

Nice... is someone forwarding this thread to a contact at the Chicago Tribune?  I am not sure why this injustice and AT&T robbery is such a big "secret" in such a huge poplation center.... or are we just the relative few registered to some unlucky designated celluar data reltreival path????  I don't think that's the case.

Seems like something the media and public should be made very aware of.

Consumer Reports?  Unfortunately I think AT&T is banking that we are all too busy/stupid to escalate the problem. Maybe they are just hoping that the conversion to LTE network later this year (?) will happen before any serious negative reaction is dropped on them.

[jacksai52]

I sent an email to the Trib and referenced this thread. I feel if more people send e-mails it may help get the issue some face time. The email address is:

yourproblem@tribune.com

If everyone could take a moment and put together a short email referencing this thread and your experience, it may help get something published. If anyone has contacts anywhere else, perhaps that would help to.

I realize AT&T is relying on their 4G network to solve this issue, but I am still not clear on how opening up the entire spectrum to T-Mobile customers will affect service. Sure 4G will be great for the iPhone 5 (or 6 depending on how you look at it) but how long before those waves are over saturated?

Btw, I also printed this entire thread to PDF, just in case!

[mmike17]

FYI -- There are a bunch of other great Wall Street Journal articles out there in February and March regarding the impact of recent industry events and cicumstances impacting AT&T.

All of them bad for us.  AT&T's failed merger and it's lack of bandwidth (the government only allows a total of only so much bandwidth available) has it way behind the 8-ball with data use and smart phone proliferation.

They are overloaded.

[sailsfast]

Quoting mmike17:

"Consumer Reports?  Unfortunately I think AT&T is banking that we are all too busy/stupid to escalate the problem. Maybe they are just hoping that the conversion to LTE network later this year (?) will happen before any serious negative reaction is dropped on them."

Our collective numbers are chump change to AT&T but with a large voice we might be heard.

[sailsfast]

Quoting mmike17:

"All of them bad for us.  AT&T's failed merger and it's lack of bandwidth (the government only allows a total of only so much bandwidth available) has it way behind the 8-ball with data use and smart phone proliferation. They are overloaded."

Exactly. That was what an AT&T store manager told us off the record last summer when we could not use our iPhone credit card reader app at most of the summer street festivals. These were all up on the northside of Chicago not in the Loop. We grabbed a Verizon phone so we wouldn't lose thousands in credit card sales. So we are paying for a service AT&T cannot provide and AT&T won't say or do anything about it. Is that fair to pay for a service we don't get and then not let us out of our contracts and buy our useless iPhones back? Ok of course the iPhone isn't useless it's AT&T that's useless. But our AT&T iPhones won't work on another network. This is a mess that AT&T so far can't fix. If they buy me an iPhone 5 now and it works great on the LTE network now then I'll shut up and be happy. :-D

[sailsfast]

The big mess with AT&T clearly starts at the top! This guys a complete dope! Be sure to read the comments. 

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/04/att-randall-stephenson/

Aside from the data disaster I've had with this "company" ever since I've had iPhones with AT&T (going back the the first one) the cell service (actually talking on the phone) in my home has been horrible! Pretty much can't talk on the phone on first floor unless I step out side of the house. On the second floor it's better sometimes. 

Maybe this will be the deal: 

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/are-you-ready-for-apple-mobile.html/

[kultyper]

Bump.

I live and work in the financial district...a block away from the Willis Tower.  i have 3 bars, but cant get any data in 3G.   When i switch to EDGE, i can get data, but its super slow.  This has been an issue in the Chi for years, at least for me.  I have a microcell at home, but once i leave my place, my iphone is basically worthless. 

[marcman713]

More fun times with AT&T. I was at Frontera grill with a buddy of mine. He has an AT&T iphone 4 and i have an ATT 4s. Sitting next to each other, we both did a speed test. Huge shocker, my 4s couldnt even connect to the data network, while his 4 got 3mbps download and was working fine for all intents and purposes. 

What's up with THAT? Wonder if there's something wrong with the HSPA+ versus the regular HSPA. Is that possible? 

[Porkchop74]

Same.  I have even had apple replace my iphone 4s twice as a result of AT&T's need to shift blame.  My level of frustration is beyond words. FIX THE PROBLEM AND STOP SKIRTING THE ISSUE AT&T!!!!

[jacksai52]

Anyone else still having issues? My service comes and goes.

[savagettu]

I just moved to Chicago and I am having the same problem.  I live in south loop at 8th and state and I constantly drop/don't receive calls.  Half the time I can't even send texts.  Forget about using data.  I have had AT&T/Cingular for 10 years now and I have never had problems like this.  I was holding out for the Iphone 5 to upgrade, but now I think I will just switch carriers instead.  I am so frustrated I actually signed up to write on here (which I have never done on any thread before).  That's how mad I am!  Does anyone know how to fix this problem?  If not do you know what carriers actually provide decent service in this area?  At this point I just want to be able to call and text, data would be a bonus (even though I pay for it).

[mmike17]

No.  There's nothing you can do except spend a significant portion of your day on the phone with AT&T and they might give you a $75 credit.

Just waiting for the new phone to come out and switch to Verizon.  Unlock my 4S and sell on Ebay/Craigslist to pay for the termination charge.  Wish I had better news for you, but I think you'll ge the jist of it from reading this thread.

[Cptcmmndr]

As an iPhone 3Gs owner who has had AT&T for three years I find this thread inexcusably disappointing. As kindly as it is that an AT&T representative has peeked in to inform us that they are listening, at no point in the months that this thread has been active have there been any attempts or prospect of attempts at improving the abysmal service in this area.

I experience inconsistent data service in the suburbs and absolutely none at all downtown in the Loop when my acquaintances with Verizon iPhones have little to no interruption. The lack of attention to improving this obviously widespread concern is an extremely dark mark on AT&T's customer service. I have no particular allegiance to AT&T but I do prefer my unlimited data service plan from 2009 to the new alternatives offered by AT&T and other carriers and was hoping to grandfather that plan when the supposed next iPhone comes out. I cannot imagine, however, being bound to a service plan for two years when the service I pay for will not be provided.

I sincerely hope that other AT&T iPhone owners in the Chicago loop area will seriously consider the ineptitude of AT&T service demonstrated by this thread when their contracts are due for renewal. Our complaints here over the past few months have not ignited the kind of customer support that merits continued patronization. If AT&T will not respond to our concerns and attempt to correct their service issues in heavily populated areas, perhaps they will respond to the mass exodus of consumers to other, more competent providers.

[Paxman]

Greetings Community Manager,

I am grateful and appreciative that you are reading our comments and passing them along to the respective people within AT&T to deal with the ongoing data connection problems in the Chicago Loop.  I am sure you are doing your part.

However, it's been nine months since your post and it seems that nothing has been done towards rectifying this ongoing issue.  I work in the Loop near Adams and Wacker and it is a complete dead zone on my Iphone 4s.  I get full bars, but zero data and no texting or email capabilities.  This also holds true for most of State street and Michigan Avenue as well.  The only data I successfully receive while in the Loop are error messages saying that apps, safari, or any other processes that require access to a data signal cannot open or load.  This is unacceptable! 

And for icing on the cake, I received a letter from your great organization saying that I am using too much data on my UNLIMITED data plan and I am going to be switched to a capped plan that will cost me $20 more per month, plus $10 for every gig used over the cap each month if I don't stop using too much data.  Ummm, last time I looked at a dictionary, the word unlimited means without limits or limitation.  I know this issue isn't related to the thread topic, but in my case it is.  How on Earth can I be using too much UNLIMITED data when I go without access to ANY wireless data for a minimum of 9 hours a day for 250 days per year???  This makes no sense to me, whatsoever. 

So basically to sum this up, I am already overcharged for UNLIMITED data that I don't have access to, and now you want to charge me more money per month for a capped amount of data, while at the same time there's clearly been ZERO effort on AT&T's part to rectify the lack of a good data signal within a substantial area within the Loop.  Epic fail AT&T.  AT&T should be refunding monies to me every month for the time period that I cannot access data, email, texts, internet, etc while working in the Loop (20 days per month @ $1.00 per day = a refund to me of $20 per month).  I am able to receive a pro-rated refund from my cable TV provider if service is disrupted for longer than a few hours. So AT&T should step up to the plate of good customer service and do the same, or start providing better data coverage and giving me the minimum of what I pay for month after month.  And if AT&T  switches my UNLIMITED data to a capped plan, then goodbye...nice knowing ya.  I will gladly pay the fee for breaking my contract and I will make certain that the cost to AT&T is far greater than the maximum of $250 they will get from me for doing so.

Furthermore, there's a five-letter word that strikes a chord in the wireless industry.  It's a word that wireless providers live and die by.  It's called CHURN, or customer CHURN rate/ratio.  I haven't personally looked at AT&T's churn ratio lately.  But judging by the lack of customers lining up at AT&T's retail store doors for the release of the new Iphone 5 versus the lines I've witnessed at the release of previous Iphone models, I would like to think that the rate is going up; existing customers are dropping off and potential customers are avoiding AT&T altogether.  I am also driving the AT&T churn figure up through word of mouth.  I am steering any person I know from becoming a new AT&T customer or renewing with AT&T just by telling them my story above.  I haven't even bad-mouthed AT&T to anyone, I have only told them the truth (which is being perceived as lousy and irresponsive service with lack of effort to remedy the situation).   I don't wish failure upon anyone or any organiztion, but It seems that from this thread and countless other online threads and forums that AT&T will cause their own failure and demise just by p*ssing off enough customers.  It's past time for AT&T to stop resting on the laurels of the Iphone for customer attraction and retention and start re-building their customer loyalty through charging a FAIR price for RELIABLE service, or no price if they can't provide service. 

That is all......for now.