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Coverage Concerns

bigjay2100

Jun 24, 2010, 9:22 AM
All:

I currently have my office cell plan with AT&T. We run Blackberries only (1 8820WE, 2 Bold 9700's and 5 Curve 8310's). I have been speaking with AT&T a lot lately as all of these phones are having issues with dropped calls. Now I know AT&T has a history of issues like this but the issues are so bad that my staff can't keep a call on the phone. All AT&T customer care can tell me is that we need to try changing SIM cards out and that they are upgrading their network. Same canned response each time.

I had my rep out to speak with and he tells me that the problems are that the phones are old and the OS's are out of date. The only way to fix this is to get new updated phones. While I can't disagree totally with this it concern...
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celnut

Jun 24, 2010, 10:15 AM
It more than likely is the network in your area not the phones. A new OS will not help your situation. Your phones are not very old. I would try out a different network on one of the lines before switching all of them over.

Good Luck -
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bigjay2100

Jun 24, 2010, 11:06 AM
Yeah, that was my thought too. The rep admitted that the iPhone has horrible voice coverage but is really good with data. Since we don't use iPhones, that doesn't help me any. I personally switched my account to Verizon and all the coverage issues I had with AT&T went away.

I figured I would post out here to see if anyone else had seen/heard this before.
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Sigma1570

Jun 24, 2010, 3:43 PM
The rep who blamed the OS is full of crap. Call customer care and ask to file a network incident tracker.
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ATT272010

Jun 24, 2010, 10:25 PM
Do you have a way to download AT&T’s mark the spot application? If so I’d download it. That way you can send in basically your own troubleshoot tickers to our technicians to have them look into the issue. You can change sim cards as there could be issues with them that prohibit great coverage. The AT&T rep can do a lot more things with the devices. They can swap it out for a new one if you have insurance, they can check other networking tools, and they can obviously see if there are issues in the area. You could be interested in the 3G Micro Cell. I would say do something about the none 3G devices and try to see if they can upgrade you to the 3G devices and then get that Micro Cell. Upgrading the OS could help but a sim card and pe...
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bigjay2100

Jun 25, 2010, 8:22 AM
The AT&T Rep has done nothing for me really. I have staff who travel all over the US and they are the ones that are having the problems. They are constantly rebooting their phones but yet they still drop calls. A couple of them can't stay on a call for more than 10 minutes at times. The rep has turned in issues to the network staff about coverage issues and I have called customer care and asked them to put in network trouble tickets but nothing comes back on them at all.

Due to a past reps stupidity, insurance was not applied to any of the phones even though it was asked for. When I tell them this was asked for, there is no proof in writing as the communication was done verbally on it and they tell me it would be insurance fraud if...
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ATT272010

Jun 25, 2010, 6:54 PM
Yea I understand your concerns and it must be very frustrating. It is tough when dealing with type of issues all the time especially since you need your these devices to work. Rebooting phones isn’t a long term fix it is a temporary solution. If they phone seems to have issues most likely it is the phone. Tell me about your coverage area. Do you have good service? How many bars? What’s your zip code?
Yea, about the insurance that was their fault and you should try to see what can be done about that. Upgrading to the new software upgrade could help but If it keeps happening it isn’t that it is the phone that is having the issues.

Yea I would be annoyed to at this situation. You want something to work best for you and it is...
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waldorfsalad

Jun 26, 2010, 8:18 PM
Wow. I am SO sorry. This whole situation would really frustrate ME, too. It's clear you need these devices to work. Rebooting phones isn’t a long term fix- it's a temporary solution. If the phone seems to have issues, most likely it is just that: the phone. Please tell me about your coverage area. Do you have good service there? How many bars show on your phone? May I ask your zip code?
I am so sorry that insurance wasn't added when it was asked for. That was our fault. However, this issue wouldn't necessarily be an insurance issue. Upgrading to the new software may help but if it continues, it is most likely the network.

May I suggest going into a corporate store and explaining this situation to the manager? I assure you, ...
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bigjay2100

Jun 28, 2010, 9:42 AM
Well, here is the deal. My coverage area is the entire US. My office resides in Metro Washington DC where we have 4 staff members who live in the area. Out of the 4, 3 of them seem to have no problems and they travel between MD, Wash DC and Northern VA. the other one, myself, sticks on Northern VA and I drop calls like crazy. I have another staff member who lives in DC who travels up and down the Eastern seaboard. She drops like crazy, can't keep a call to save her life.

I also have a person who is on the West coast travels up and down the coast line, another staff member who live in Missouri and travels the mid US area and the last staff member is in Louisiana and travels the southern region.

All of these people have drop is...
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ATT272010

Jun 28, 2010, 10:10 AM
You are doing all the right things to get this resolved.

I’d get all the phones replaced. It seems like that is the issue.
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madhatter923

Jun 29, 2010, 3:36 PM
Im sorry for this comment but it has to be said. How many phones can this man get before you stop blamming the phones. This person has a business to run and no time to drop calls and customer service reps saying the problem is the phone. Plus I know someone that had just replaced his I phone for the same problem stepped out side of the at&t store and still dropped a call with a new phone and infront of the store it self. now im not saying jump ship to another carrier Im just saying it is kinda of funny that you are up for renewal and they are all saying to solve the problem is to buy all new phones and lock you in for another contract so you have to to deal with this longer
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bigjay2100

Jun 30, 2010, 8:13 AM
THANK YOU!!!!!

That was my comment as well when it came down to it.

Against my better judgment, I am going to give AT&T a small chance. They are providing me with a couple of new phones to test. Since they seem to be so demanding that the problems are my "old phones", I am going to try a couple of the new ones for a couple of weeks. I'll see how that works.
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alee

Jun 25, 2010, 11:36 AM
Try to turn off the 3G on your 9000's and 9700's. You can do that under the Manage Connections icon. Should improve your voice coveraga.
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bigjay2100

Jun 25, 2010, 1:47 PM
Maybe it is just me but I kind of expect services to work as advertised. I understand turning off the 3G and that should help, kind of doubt it as my Curves which are Edge phones are dropping calls like crazy too, but I think that asking AT&T to provide a service that is advertised as available is not a hard thing to do.

I did some digging and if I go based upon the rep, the 5.0 OS software will fix the issue but the phone phone right now that has that software available to it is the Bold 9700 so I would have to switch to that phone for all of my staff. Kind of concerns me with all the blackberries they have on their network that are not running 5.0 and based upon his reasoning, should not be working.
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cell_G

Jun 25, 2010, 5:56 PM
Have you ried Sprint? They have great rates with a solid 3G network and now offer unlimited 4G service in supporting markets!
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bigjay2100

Jun 28, 2010, 9:46 AM
I personally used Sprint a couple of years ago and will never go back to them. I spent more time on the phone with their tech support and billing than I did using my phone for personal use. Our bill was never correct, it always had mis charges on it. For some reason, the system could not retain our account settings so we would always loose a function of our service each month that we would have to fight to get back on. Constant dropped calls and calls that never made it to the phones.

Also, not to be a pain but I wouldn't trust their 4G to save my life right now. There is only a single phone that runs on 4G and while it is a great, in theory, phone, the 4G service has been taking several hits since that phone hit the market and cau...
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crackberry

Jun 28, 2010, 10:57 PM
I know a bad experience sticks with you, but I left at&t over a year ago and have been with Sprint since then. They have a 30 day no questions asked return policy and will refund everything to including phone cost, bill and activation. They aren't the same company they used to be. I will say with my past experiences with at&t you'll be getting this same run around forever. If Sprint isn't an option, there is always Verizon. Everyone knows how reliable they are. Pricey but good...
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Its-The-Network

Jun 27, 2010, 10:58 AM
www.verizonwireless.com
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bigjay2100

Jun 28, 2010, 9:48 AM
yeah, switched my personal account to Verizon a couple of weeks ago. All the issues that I had with AT&T don't exist on Verizon and I have had no problems at all.

I am trying to get my boss to let me switch the office phones to Verizon too because of that. The AT&T rep sat here and bad mouthed Verizon saying that they can't support new age of phones and new technologies and how AT&T was moving to 4G. I asked him how AT&T could move to 4G while the 3G wasn't working and he couldn't answer the question for me other than saying Verizon just won't be able to support 4G unless they change their network and he figured they weren't going to do that.

I don't put any faith into what my rep or his boss has to say.
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ATT272010

Jun 28, 2010, 10:08 AM
Wow you got that from one of our reps? I would immediately talk to a supervisor or manager.
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bigjay2100

Jun 28, 2010, 10:29 AM
Yup, this actually came from the sales reps manager/supervisor. Not sure how to go above him as he seems to be the one that hovers all over the sales staff that I work with.
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ATT272010

Jun 28, 2010, 10:31 AM
Sorry for that unfortunate conversation but I would immediately then go to the ARSM. Area regional sales manager.
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madhatter923

Jun 30, 2010, 12:54 PM
Well Jay I do not like to talk bad about other carriers since I am with Verizon. We will also be going to 4g but we don't want to jump the gun and launch in just a few markets we want to be able to launch in every city. Plus would like to have more than just one phone to use on it. I don't know if I could trust someone that would not be able to answer my questions when i ask and not bashing someone else to get the attention of them. With everything else you buy you get what you pay for. As for the price thing if you have more than fine lines on your business you would also get a Discount on your service. But like I'm said I'm not here to plug our network I just want you to have the facts for you and the company could make your own choice ins...
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