Has anyone else noticed AT&T's poor wireless service lately?

[lhunt1990]

What the heck is going on?! Within the last two-three months I've had at least two calls dropped each day and my cell service bars have been virtually nonexistent. Even as I type this from my iPhone I only have one bar on my 3G network and my wifi won't even stay connected because my service keeps going out. For as much as we all pay a month, there is no reason why the service should be so poor.

I am wondering if anyone else is experiencing this decline in cellular reception lately or if I am the only one? I have heard rumors that Verizon is buying a lot of AT&T's towers, which could be the reason AT&T customers are experiencing more dropped calls and very little service. I'm not sure though. I just want answers!

If you've been experiencing the same troubles with your 3G network, please share. There needs to be awareness brought to this issue if we're contracted to stay with this provider for a certain amount of time and are receiving less than satisfactory service. If no one else is experiencing this problem, feel free to respond too; that way I'll know that it's just the area that I'm in and that I'll have to switch providers.

Thanks guys!

[Davedbx]

Wow! this issue is exactly why I am on here.  The service has gotten so bad I am considering taking the early termination fee a month from my contract end date.  Drop calls are an everyday occurence.  The CALL FAILED notification on my Iphone 4 haunts me in my sleep.  I am not sure the recent issue with AT&T but for what i am paying monthy, no explanation would satisfy me anyway.  Luckily my wife has an Iphone on sprints network or I would have been completely without any phone service several times just this week. 

-Soon to be ex AT&T customer.

[dawnhrushford]

Yes, we too have had horrible problems with our service in the last month or two. We are soon to be ex-customers also! I live in Belmont, NC

[mikewho]

What part of nc is that in?

[youngjm ACE - Professor]

Not sure if it is related but with the cancellation of the merger with T-Mobile, att had to give up some spectrum in different areas to t-Mobile.  (Bad out clause on ATT's part that a regulatory block would cost them so much).  

I have also heard that as they repurpose spectrum to faster protocols including LTE and HSPA+ at the faster rate, the lower rates are potentially not funcitoning as fast as before?

[ohiocellguy35]

I totally agree with all of you guys who have posted. Yeah, I have noticed it lately.  I live in Cincinnati, Ohio and am constantly having problems with my AT&T wireless service and I'm getting tired of it. The problems are throughout the whole city and many places nationwide. The service here was never that good (typical AT&T), but it's become a lot worse in the past four to five months.  I'm guessing it has to do with tower overload, network congestion, and lack of upgrading the network.  I'm very frustrated because I use my phones for business and am constantly getting dropped calls everyday, terrible voice quality where you hear crackling, interference and background noise,  voice and text messages that won't come through even if the phone is on, missed calls where my phone won't ring, very slow internet/e-mail, and spotty reception.  I have called tech support and customer service numerous times and nothing is ever resolved and they have no answers as to what is happening.  They have opened 5 "trouble tickets" on my iphone and yet the same issues are still happening.  They constantly try to blame my phone. I get the run around-take the battery out and reset it.  We'll send you a network update. Even after that, the problems still happen. Well, I bought a 2nd iphone, and yet the same problems are still happening.  AT&T needs to fix it's network.  It's interesting because I have many friends who have iphones and other smart phones on Verizon's network and they never have problems-no dropped calls, clear calls, fast internet, etc.  I pay over $150 a month for this kind of shoddy service.  No more-when my contract is up in July, I'm switching to Verizon.

[dawnhrushford]

I am in Belmont, NC. In between Charlotte & Gastonia.

[wuvy]

i have noticed.  my cell never wanted to work 90% of the time when i'm in the office (manhattan 10022).  i have complained for 3+ year about service issues.  lots of false promises.  it significantly got worse after my last call to at&t.  maybe they hate me now and really want me to leave (which may happen if i don't see improvement by the end of my term).  all i know is in the 90% of the time, anyone who calls me can't get through, vm notifications don't come through, can't send my texts, can't receive my texts and don't even try to use data because a dial-up modem works over at&t's data.  it's so bad i have to use my co-worker's sprint or verizon phone to browse something on the web!  i can leave the office, take the train into queens and suddenly 10 million texts starts popping up on my phone.

so yeah...

[lee_]

+1 for my data service getting REALLY spotty / slow during the evenings ever since February, which was about 3-4 months ago.

[Tech38]

Same issue...  About a month ago, started to get lower reception in the outlying areas(West Central Indiana)......   I don't know how the technology works but it appears that AT&T has lowered their signal strength and I am not getting service even with a repeater.  Could it be that the transmitter power has be lowered to save energy and decrease costs?  Just a thought...

[wrdgirl]

Must be everywhere.  I'm in southern Connecticut and lately I have noticed the reduced amount of coverage on my iPhone 4.  I'm at my office which I've had great coverage early this year and late last year but about a month or so ago I keep losing 3G access and my phone keeps trying to search for network.  I've had to power cycle more often than before.

However I also wonder if this has to do with the recent iOS update that I did.  Maybe iOS 5.1.1 is screwing everything up?

[SEG58]

I am in Virginia west of Northern Virginia. My cell phone use to be the only phone I had at home. I had to break down and get a landline because the signal got so bad. It all started about 3 months ago. From reading everyones postings it appears everyone started experiencing the same problem at the same time.

My boyfriend has Verizon and now gets a better signal than I ever had with AT&T. The problem is I have the family plan and some of our contracts don't expire until 2013. What to do, what to do.

[mikewho]

The signal and coverage has definitely dropped.

[mikewho]

But could just be network upgrades and refarming. In my area thr signal got temp worse but seems pretty strong now.

[evil2006]

I live in Harrisburg, PA, the Capital of the state, and the signal strenght has definitely gotten worse over the last year.  Because of this, my phone reboots at least 3 times a day (Looking for a signal).  Phone doesn't reboot when the signal is strong. 

[erdos]

I’ve been with at&t wireless for over 6 years since their Cingular days.

Before this year, the service had been good, no dropped calls, no headache.  heck, i even could make call from down in the basement.  i live in northern Virginia area just outside of DC by the way.

but Laterly I’ve noticed increasing amounts of dropped calls by at&t. Sometimes it takes several tries to even get my call through. that is from the living room next to the window.  first i thought that my phone was starting to fail, but since i own more than one unlocked GSM phones, this same drop of service happened to other phones as well, so this basically eliminated the phone problem.

just wondering what's going on with AT&T.  don't screw with your customers.  if this doesn't get fixed soon, i won't be staying with att anymore.  what's good of the service if i couldn't get my call through and also being constantly get dropped in the middle of conversation with loved ones?

[mikewho]

My service had a few glitches right before upgrades but the upgrades made the service much better and I'm getting great signals in almost everywhere I go. One spot I frequent gets a half signal but the calls are crystal clear now. Not saying all issues are from upgrades but some are when things are getting tweaked.

[Jerrymelk]

I'm in Kansas & have the exact same thing with NO help from ATT. Can't get results from tech support other than free month of service. Can't sit in my own home and use our ATT phones.
Would love to know what's up....
Ready to change.

[Jerrymelk]

Ditto to above...we're in Kansas.
Ready to make change

[Jerrymelk]

Same problems in Kansas...
We're ready to change

[Jerrymelk]

I'm thinking if ATT can't provide the service we should not be required to stay in contract.
Tech support is a JOKE!

[Mitziegurl2001]

AS a matter of fact I was on the phone with AT&T today about this very subject.  I get very little connectivity at home. I need to stand by the window in order to talk and recently it's been so bad I can't even get a signal outside of the the house.

[Mitziegurl2001]

I'm totally disgusted with AT&T. My friend at work has Verizon and has no issues with getting or receiving calls, or text or internet service. I on the other had can do none of these in work and furthermore at home I used to have to stand by a certain window to talk on the phone, then I had to go out side, now going out side doesn't even prevent the dropped calls. I'm done with this company when my contract is up!!!

[Mitziegurl2001]

The women I talked to today told me it's because I live near a small airport. My boyfriend lives near Philadelphia international and has no problem with his service. I've had enough. 11 years of dropped calls and poor service is enough.

[Mitziegurl2001]

I did the upgrade this afternoon. Now I have no service at all.

[Mitziegurl2001]

I turn my smart phone off 3 - 4 times a day hoping to get a signal. I'm in Philadelphia PA. Terrible terrible service. It's time to move on!!!

[Mitziegurl2001]

I have a friend who get's test and calls and internet while I sit with nothing. She has Verizon and I'm thinking of going to them. Enough of the poor signal and dropped calls.

[Bluediamond27]

Yes, My husband and l are experiencing the same issues. We keep getting letters from AT&T about enhanced service in our area but it's actually getting worse? I have been trying to contact someone at AT&T but there seems to be no way to address this directly. I am even starting to have problems with text's failing to my husband who is also on the same network. Our contract has been up for a while in fact l have been able to upgrade but have been putting this off to see what happens with the service. We were thinking about adding another line for our business but have now also put this on hold due to this issue. Our daughter has Verizon but her service is not good here either so if Verizon is buying up cell towers it apparently isn't here. I am really disappointed as when l checked the coverage area At&T had the best in this area and has been good until the last few months also. I hope they figure it out before they loose too much business as l have always liked AT&T the best. My hope is they will become aware of the problem through everyone here and take care of the problem before it is too late.

[wilsonch15]

Amen brother... This is also why I am on here now. I figure using the "Mark the Spot" app was getting me nowhere so maybe if I made enough noise online I would see a change. I live in Portland Oregon and I have calls drop everyday and would rather use my barracuda's work internet then try and surf on my phone. I have only seen my phone have full bars when standing 400 meters from a cell tower and it was awesome to see it work like they show in the commercials, but the rest of the time it sucks.

[wilwith1l]

I live in Louisville, KY. The service in downtown is absolutely terrible. It has been for the past 3 years I've worked down here. That being said, it's only terrible downtown. I get that it's network congestion that's causing the problem, but shouldn't that be where the bulk of the effort is to fix the problem? I don't care if it's using existing AT&T infrastructure to put wi-fi hotspots all over downtown (like they did in Time Square NYC), it needs to be fixed. I think no service (like not being able to send an iMessage on my iPhone) is a little ridiculous, and the same as throttling. I don't care about customer service either. That seems to be people's gripe about AT&T. Who enjoys talking to people on the phone all day? NO ONE.  So, here I wait for LTE. It'll be the last chance before I move to VZN. It's just the logical move for cities where it's blatantly apparent that I don't fit into the small number of major cities that AT&T gives a crap about... oh look at that, I just got 15 iMessages 20 min after they were sent. SOLID SERVICE AT&T.

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