My brother has an iPhone.
Several people in the office here at Exec Digital own an iPhone.
With that being said, I’m both laughing and concerned about the news that Consumer Reports rated AT&T as the worst U.S. carrier. Right now, AT&T is the only cellular carrier that the iPhone runs on, and this new survey done by Consumer Reports doesn’t bode well for AT&T going forward.
The survey rated Chicago-based U.S. Cellular number one followed by Verizon and Sprint. AT&T rated dead last in every category measured except for text messaging – rated second to last. Millions of AT&T customers – my brother included – have complained about shoddy service, dropped calls and not nearly enough network capabilities to handle the intense stress of data coming from the millions of iPhone users.
AT&T did spend $2 billion in 2010 to try to correct the weaknesses in the network, but the complaints continue to rain down on the carrier like a monsoon.
If you’re lucky enough to live in the relatively small service area of U.S. Cellular (only available in 26 states), a switch may be in order. However, those of you who want a more nationally known carrier have options. AT&T has stiff competition and that competition has a pretty impressive hardware line.
Verizon Wireless (ranked #2 by Consumer Reports) has just rolled out the Motorola Droid 2 for their customers with a price tag of $199.99 after mail-in rebate with a two-year contract. Naturally, if you want to send AT&T and the iPhone a message, what better way to do so than buy from two of their rivals – Verizon and Android.
Sprint, another chief AT&T rival (ranked #3 by Consumer Reports), has gotten great responses from the HTC EVO™ 4G phone. The EVO™ features speeds that Sprint claims is ten times faster than 3G. The phone itself runs on the Android OS as well with a tag of $199.99 as well with a two-year contract.
As trendy as the iPhone was, there was the fear that AT&T would not be able to handle the massive amount of data traffic. There have been rumors of the iPhone going to Verizon, but until then, those of you who want an iPhone will have to make due with using Consumer Reports worst-rated cellular carrier.
Choose wisely because there are alternatives to the iPhone and AT&T.
