AT&T Wireless Review
AT&T Wireless is the largest wireless service provider in the United States and currently has over 71 million subscribers.
AT&T Wireless has gone through many changes over the years. After several years of business, AT&T Wireless was purchased by Cingular. In December 2006, Cingular was bought by AT&T and the wireless service was rebranded as AT&T Wireless after a short period.
AT&T Wireless Technology Review
With so many changes and acquisitions, AT&T has finally landed on the GSM network which is one of the more recent and popular wireless technologies. AT&T Wireless also supports higher speed data transfered like EDGE and is offers 3G transfer speeds in some areas.
AT&T Wireless Cell Phones
Through the original years of AT&T Wireless, Cingular and the New AT&T Wireless, they always offered some of the newest and most high tech phones including Motorola lines (RAZR, KRZR, SLVR) and of course, the Apple iPhone. AT&T offers a wide variety of standard cell phones and smart phones like Palm and others.
AT&T Wireless Features
Some of AT&T’s more notable features include their marketing claim of the “fewest dropped calls” and their rollover minutes. Very few wireless providers are offering rollover minutes where your unused minutes are carried over month to month. These minute typically expire after 12 months but can often prevent you from overage costs occasionally.
January 15th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
[...] a review of AT&T Wireless from wireless industry experts and everyday users like me and [...]
October 7th, 2008 at 10:09 am
if you are looking for service and reliability of wireless phone, don’t switch to ATT. I have been having dropped calls like crazy lately, and they having been able to help me. i called to terminate the contract with them,but they want to charge me, when the problem is their service. But i am tired of having this problem, that my only solution is to pay to terminate my contract with them,but will never give them my business again.
October 27th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
To all you military and non military people I am going to tell you about Att service and customer service. I am going thru att and have recently moved to a different state. We no longer get any services at all, at my house and by the local grocerie stores. We have called several times to let them know and the just give us a run around. At first they told us that there towers were down so we had to wait 48 hours,so we called them back, Then they told us that we had to change our number so we did that and still no service, so we called back and they told us we had to get a new sim card so we did that and still no service so we called again and they told us we would have to pay to get out of the service even though they have a military clause ( not really) they just say that they do. They also told us that within a year they are getting more towers where I am at and I am just outside of phoenix. We have tryed getting ahold of the company itself and they haven’t got back with us. neddless to say there service is shity and I will never go with them again.
December 16th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Very bad service. It has been hard to refrain from ***** words. They charge you months after you terminate service. They put you over to a collections agency who has no clue why you need to pay the amount. Then they ask you to dispute the charge. Trust me, all you get is hassled. They scare you with the charge of your credit history being affected. Record all their calls when they say “no more charges”. Ask them to give it in writing. Never settle otherwise
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:07 am
I’ve had more problems in my first month with AT&T than I did in 7 years with Verizon: dropped calls, poor sound quality, inabaility to make and receive calls, and all with full signal strength. I’ve gone through 2 phones and 3 SIM cards. The problem is that they don’t have the technology and bandwidth to handle all the iPhone traffic.
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:57 pm
First let me say something good. AT&T offers a wonderful service that allows you to “tether” your computer to your phone (connect your computer to the internet using your cellphone as a router). This can even be done using Bluetooth so your phone works like a wireless router. There’s just one problem. In order to use this service you have to download and install a program called AT&T Communication Manager which, though free, easy to download, and easy to use, is fraught with technical issues causing perfectly healthy systems to freeze and even crash (yes! the blue screen of death!) regularly. Visit the technical help forums and you will find that there is no really effective solution for these problems. The phone support, though generally very friendly and helpful, don’t have an answer for this either. The bottom line is AT&T Communication Manager is a problematic program, and since at this point there is no alternative to using this program if you want to use this service, anyone who signs up is in for some serious frustration. Though I haven’t canceled my subscription to this service yet because of this problem, I am seriously considering it.
March 29th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
I have been a customer with ATT for only 3 months due to work and I can only say that I hate hate hate their service. I have had more problems with AT&T than I did in 10 years with Verizon. I miss Verizon very much if it wasn’t for their phones. I’m thinking of going back to them even if I pay the cancelation fees. It is not worth the service. Don’t use ATT if you are looking for reliability and great customer service.
March 30th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
I have had AT&T for 3 months now, and I totally agree with the other postings. They are not good at all. Their 3G network is horrible. I can’t make a call without hearing static, crackling, or some kind of interference in the line, and I have a brand new phone. From what I hear, other people are having the same problem. I’m having quite a few dropped calls, and poor voice quality where it cuts out too. Customer service is useless. They just give you a run-around. I switched from Cincinnati Bell Wireless, they were just as bad, if not worse. Are there any good cell companies out there? It seems like they all give poor service. You don’t pay poor prices though!
April 17th, 2009 at 5:56 am
I agree with Brian C.-AT&T service is horrible in the Cincinnati area. I have a new i-phone and it does the same thing as Brian’s phone when I make calls. Verizon was so much better. AS soon as my contract is up, I’m going back to them. When you call customer service about a bill or technical problem, they don’t care at all. Nothing is ever done. The towers are always overloaded because they can’t handle the iphone traffic and voice calls. That is what causes all of the crackling and interference in the line. Definitely avoid them at all costs.
April 19th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
i had been an AT&T customer, well also Cingular, for the past 5 years. i must say that they had great service back before AT&T bought out Cingular. but since then it has all gone down hill. i have over the past few years gained more dropped calls than i ever thought possible. i recently got a new phone and started to experience increased dropped calls, then moved to chicago, where you think that service would be better but in fact it was much worse. after having a case opened for dropped calls over a month they failed to solve anything. i counted 60 dropped calls in the period of one month. i never had reception at school or work. had full signal in my apartment, but that is where 80% of my dropped calls happened. after multiple times hearing that it was the towers in my area, when it wasn’t, they replaced my phone. in a period of 2 weeks i had over 40 dropped calls to just one person that i contact. the case was opened by my mom who has the same problem with dropped calls. she received horrible customer service, always being asked about what the problem was when it was already on file. then AT&T closed the case because she did not respond to them within 24 hours of them contacting her. after all that they would only remove the cancelation fee for myself. which is outrageous when there are two other family members on my contract. why would they keep the service and pay for another service for myself? they also have the same problems as i do. AT&T failed to provide good service so why should their customers pay for it? i recently switched to Verizon Wireless. not only is there better service with a lot less dropped calls but the bill is cheaper, there are more incentives in our plan, and my new Blackberry Storm cost $100 cheaper then the previous Blackberry Curve i had from AT&T. overall AT&T is horrible. maybe they should spend more time servicing their customers than focusing on the advertising for raising the bar.
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:26 pm
[...] the Author: Art Gib is a writer for Cell Phone Battles, a website featuring AT&T reviews and Verizon [...]
April 28th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
I agree with many of the other postings. I live and use my phone in Cincinnati, Ohio and the AT&T service here is terrible. I just bought a 3-G Blackberry and there is constantly interference and static when I make outbound calls. I switched from Verizon. I am constantly having dropped calls, voice cut-outs, and problems receiving text messages. Do not go with them as a provider, you will have nothing but problems. Customer service is rude and does not care about your problems. They will try to blame it on the phone. I’m on my 2nd new Blackberry and the same problems are happening. HMMM…. couldn’t be a network problem, could it?? The iphones are using so much data and use of the towers that people making voice calls are having problems. The network is overloaded.
May 3rd, 2009 at 1:10 pm
No phone AT&T has can ever make up for the fact that once they get you past the 30 day test period, AT&T’s mission is to nickel and dime you to death with features and processes designed to generate extra fees here and there. After years with Verizon, I decided to switch my family to AT&T because of the roll-over minutes come-on. The Samsung phones we selected on-line turned out cheap feeling and one failed, but the more irritating thing was how AT&T had set up the logic to put internet access immovably in the middle of the display - when what we wanted were phones. Long story short, I ended up getting the defective phone replaced, but phone logic and operation were user unfriendly and AT&T customer support attitudes made you feel like your call is an imposition. Customers at AT&T are unpleasant necessities to be taken advantage of and screwed in little ways rather than treasures that are the reason for your paycheck. The couple times I’d been late on a Verizon payment, they texted and called me so I could pay without penalty. Verizon had always responded well when I called in with issues (even “What can I do to save money?”). The people in their service centers are pleasant and well-informed. I was just getting used to the replaced AT&T phone but I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to stand AT&T as a service provider, so I hadn’t paid my bill on the due date. AT&T sent one piece of snail mail notifying me of the late payment. No call. No text. No attempt to use the technology they sold me! They just shut off all our phones! That was the last straw. I called Verizon and reactivated with them. Returned the phones to AT&T with an explanatory letter saying why I chose not to have a 2 year relationship with a company that behaved as they do. I sent in a check for $230.57 for activation and two months of service (quite a big penalty for a short experiment with a different provider) with a copy of the letter. They called and when I said I was unhappy with how they treated me as a customer, they turned me over to collection for $1,084 and have entered an unfavorable data point on my credit report. I hate AT&T with the light of a thousand torches. I am so happy to be back with Verizon where hardware, operational logic and service all are directed to treating the customer like someone they want to keep.
May 8th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Very Very Bad service i have seen ever from AT&T.
No proper Billing statement, every month they are increasing bill amount like anything. Web site doesn’t have proper information.
I have never used my phone for more then 550 minute, instead of getting rollover minute i have got over exceed minute bill.
For last 6 month i never got single rollover minute at all.
Now i want to discontinue my service with them but they are saying i have to pay 300 dollar for that.
I am very unhappy with at&t . i will not suggest anyone to take this service at all.
May 13th, 2009 at 7:12 am
I will never use ATT. They do not keep their word regarding anything, I ordered my service online, and these cheap asses said I was approved, than said I had to go to the store, all because they didnt want me to get a refurb Iphone for 100. I had to go through hell! I had to be transferred a million times, and i have spoken too 15 different representatives within the last two days! They are a joke! Good luck to anyone who has Att!! Your being over charged, for “customer satisfaction” and i had no satisfaction. I got a migraine from these ignorant people!!
May 18th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
at&t took over cigular and started to circle the bowl the next day. all i asked of them is to stop sending me e-mail. sounds simple enough, 5 months and at least 20 calls to customer service and i still receive a steady 5 to 8 e-mails a week.
May 26th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
AT & T is the worst wireless provider I have ever used. Now I am just trying to find a way to get out of the contract. I live in the San Francisco South Bay Area. I have only intermittent signal in my home area. The signal is so fragile. You lose your signal if you walk in a wrong direction or you walk more than two steps. I get call dropped all the time if I am luck enough to make or receive a call in the first place. I went out to camp with last weekend. While my friend with Verizon was talking on the phone all the time, while my phone had absolutely no signal during the entire 3 days.
I could not understand what the AT &T guys are thinking if they have such a terrible nextwork and simply want to make money out of one-time cheating the customers.
June 8th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
this is the second website I have visited, the first had almost 200 bad reviews for ATT. whosucks.com. and all the 17 posts on this sight. no one has anything good to say so far anywhere.
Im doing research to find out if what all of my friends say about ATT is true. From what I have read so far I will not give them my business. I have already caught them in a couple of lies to get me to sign a contract.(viev my problems and 199 others way worse than mine @ whosucks.com).
Post your problems every where so we the customers can inform each other so we dont make the same mistakes. Thanks jacksAnger
June 10th, 2009 at 1:18 am
My story is that - last year, I switched to an AT & T “GO phone”. (I am one of those who does not do texting or internet with it and am a “light user”). It’s for emergencies (always in purse) and for long-distance. I did however find that I HAVE had dropped calls as mentioned which never happened with my previous “Cingular” service (different phone) - when I was on a contract. After it became “month to month”, I realized I was really paying too much for it, considering my usage with all the extra fees and charges.
I now pay only $25.00 every three months for minutes, PERIOD. (You can add more than that and anything not used, rolls-over). My point is, I can’t see paying all those extra fees of a contract. Also, being connected to other AT & T users are free calls. It may not work for some, but it’s been working out for me so far. I don’t know if I will stay with it, if I end up discovering another company that might be better overall.
Just to mention, I also eliminated some features on my land-line - Caller ID and Call Waiting - I had for years, which I thought would really bother me.. but it hasn’t. I have an answering machine and it’s enough. I don’t think people need or really use any “package” features, either. I also got rid of paying for monthly “long distance”, since I use the cell. (Boy, I remember when using a phone was enjoyable - they’ve taken it all away). I don’t want to tell you how low my bill is, but I never want to go back to what it was. It’s enough that we are faced with changes and other costs all the time. No wonder people are broke.
Just wanted to share regarding keeping costs low.
June 11th, 2009 at 11:05 am
AT&T is horrible !! stay away..
June 30th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
I have at&t and my husband is currently in Emory hospital in atlanta and we go there almost weekly for chemo. I have NO cell service but verizon has AWESOME cell service. I have to go all the way outside just to make a call.
July 1st, 2009 at 9:50 am
I switched from Alltel to AT&T to get the iphone. I love the Iphone…when it works. Here in the Research Triangle Park/Duke University/UNC-Chapel Hill/Capital City-Raleigh, one would think their service was better than it is, but it is not. I have dropped calls while sitting in my living room. I drive 5 minutes west of Chapel Hill and have NO service. Ocracoke,NC has NO service at all and left me stranded at 10 p.m. at night, having to borrow someone else’s phone. As SOON as Apple allows for the Iphone to be used with another company, I am going to drop AT&T like a bad habit, even if it does cost me $200.
July 1st, 2009 at 9:42 pm
I agree with the other posts from Cincinnati, Ohio. I am from there too. AT&T’s service in Cincinnati is horrible. There are so many dead zones throughout the city. 3G coverage is poor inside of buildings. I have a brand new Nokia 3G phone and constantly have dropped calls, poor voice quality where it cuts out and echoes, static and interference in the line, and network busy messages. It is an absolute joke. Also, when my phone is turned off and someone leaves a voicemail or sends a text message, I don’t receive it for several hours, sometimes not until the next day. Their network is VERY unreliable. Customer service-that’s another joke. They need to upgrade their towers in the Cincinnati area-they can’t handle all of the iphone traffic, along with voice calls. Get with it AT&T. I’m going back to Verizon when my contract is up.
July 1st, 2009 at 9:51 pm
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one having problems with my 3G iphone in the Cincinnati area. I agree-I am getting a lot of dropped calls, especially along I-75, the voice quality is bad-it cuts out even with 3G, and the reception is low in many parts of the city. There are also many 3G dead zones-at Herschel Ave. and Linwood Rd in Mt. Lookout, Mitchell Ave. at Clinton Springs Ave. in Avondale, just to name a couple. There are many times when I don’t receive text messages either. Avoid them like the plague, you will have nothing but trouble.