Comments on: AT&T downgrades 2G service effectively telling you to upgrade

By: William

William — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 06:09:42 +0000

The whole 3G concept is confusing at best to begin with. AT&T is supposed to be a GSM network, but their 3G service is pretty much dressed up CDMA service? I live in Louisiana and in most of the areas here, AT&T is the only reliable coverage available. I”d say less than 10% of the state is covered with 3G towers, so phasing out 2G service isn’t extremely practical or economical. Despite the CDMA background of their 3G, it’s laid over their existing 2G network. This isn’t like the digital takeover of analog service a few years back, but it does leave one to wonder: are we going to be at 19G by the year 2025? At&T’s coverage over Louisiana is wonderful. For the majority of us who want to just make calls and get a steady signal, why isn’t 2G enough? For my limited experience, AT&T’s 3G reception is quite inconsistent.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 02:04:24 +0000

I lost edge service at work because of this, and was able to terminate my contract with att with out penalty. Due to the fact that the signal degrade was out of my control.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 01:59:27 +0000

Here is my experience with att downgrading their service. I purchased the iPhone in Aug 08′, gave it the 30 trial and kept the service. The iPhone is incredible. Anyways, one day last month, I no longer had edge service at work. 3G was not strong enough, so i would switch over to edge to get service. Therefore i no longer had service while i was at work. I called att to report the signal issue. After a few days, they called me back to let me know they decommissioned a tower in the area (or did they move the edge to the weaker band?). So when i brought up the fact that i would not have kept the phone if this is the service i was going to have when i signed up for the service, i wouldn’t have kept it. The CSR told me that because this change in service was out of my control i would be allowed to break my contract with att. After a few more days i decided to cancel my service. And as stated, there was no ETF. I miss using the iPhone dearly, but what good is a phone that b you cant use at work. This might help anyone that notices a degrade in cell service due to att lowering the band on the edge.

By: Barry

Barry — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:38:48 +0000

AT&T isnt cutting the legs from under the EDGE network, its moving the 3G to the stronger bands so that it can boost its 3G coverage to make our lives better. EDGE isnt going anywhere, its the backbone of 3g.. GSM>GPRS>EDGE>3g

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:54:58 +0000

Did anyone read the little work in the story? RUMOR?

There sure is a lot of thought and energy being used up on a rumor. Does anyone have any facts to share? Not like “I don’t have and never had 3G” but things like “I used to have better EDGE service then I do now? I don’t see any of that published in these comments.

Lets get some FACTS

By: Crunch

Crunch — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:43:32 +0000

Any Angelenos out there? How’s your service?

I must be the only one getting great service in my TENTH year with AT&T. 3G speeds are consistently above 900kbps, and EDGE speeds are just under 200kbps…Doesn’t seem to matter what part of the day/night I do a speed test.

HOWEVER, when I go out to jog, visit friends, etc., it will vary greatly. 2 blocks north of where I am, it’s EDGE-ONLY! In yet other areas, no signal at all.

So…won’t the already overloaded 3G network suffer yet AGAIN with 2G customers being forced onto 3G?

By: likeabite

likeabite — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:36:40 +0000

Verizon’s expanding without having to downgrade their 2G…AT&T is doing the same…spend money like Verizon instead of being cheap…that makes no sense when you’re trying to compete.

By: Josta

Josta — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:52:38 +0000

Can AT&T reception and customer service get ANY worse??? I going to switch to Sprint this week. I already did the math and I will save $62 a month with Sprint!! Besides they dont have reception issues and have the fastest and largest 3G network already! BYE BYE AT&T…Hello Sprint!

By: KW

KW — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:52:46 +0000

Not really surprising to me. I remember when I signed up with them, this was when they were just starting to roll out 1900 service in a big way. I bought a Siemens SX56 Pocket PC/Phone and got a great deal on it also (So I thought).

What they didn’t bother to tell me or anyone else that I know of was that they had discovered that the 1900 spectrum didn’t reach as far as the 850 band and that it would take as many as 3 1900mhz tower to cover the same area as the older 850 system. So they started converting 850 sites to fill in areas that 1900 couldn’t.

Unfortunately the SX56 was 1900/1800 dual band not 1900/850. Real nice of them to forget that fact when they sold me the phone.

I left them as soon as I could and haven’t looked back. AT&T sucks, “Get no bars for more money”

By: fernando

fernando — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:34:39 +0000

THEY WILL NOT DOWNGRADE YOUR SERVICE IF YOU HAVE A 3G PHONE. YOU WILL START GETTING 3G NOW. STOP BEING SO PISSY AND ACTUALLY READ THE ARTICLE. IF YOU HAVE A 3G PHONE YOUR SERVICE WILL IMPROVE.

By: Iowapipe

Iowapipe — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:33:10 +0000

Well, the State of Iowa has no 3G coverage… so EDGE is our one and only option. So there is no way I would buy the 3G iPhone and pay $15 more /month for a service I am not able to get.

By: Terry

Terry — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:20:00 +0000

THIS MAKES ME SO MAD!!!!!!!!!!!!! They have been telling us in our city that we’re going to get 3G for about 2 years now and still nothing. Now they are going to downgrade? What the %$&* is going on? Give us ALL the option of 3G and then cut back those people that don’t want to upgrade. I have had a 3G phone since they came out and have patiently waited but this is unreal!

By: fernando

fernando — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:18:15 +0000

edge will only be fased out for 3g, and all is at the local level. So stop worring about your 3g handset relying on edge, cause this is going to expand and make the 3g coverage better. So instead of your phone making the switch to edge cause your at your house, or in the basement, or in the stix, or wherever, it will STAY on 3g, so NO need to worry about losing the freakin’ edge coverage if you have a 3g phone.

only people who should be complaining are the ones with edge only phones or people who don’t like 3g because of battery issues, but even then, expanding the 3g coverage will also make battery life better on 3g handsets.

By: TRV$

TRV$ — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:46:49 +0000

THANK GOD!! I’ll take a slight hiccup in my EDGE service to make room on the network to be upgraded to 3G!! That’s going to be AMAZING!!

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:40:12 +0000

If you’re having service problems, MOVE OUT OF THE STICKS!!! It’s really tiring to constantly hear people saying they don’t get service in a 600 person town. Why should AT&T care about that? Bravo Big Blue, bravo.

By: Andy Ruben

Andy Ruben — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:58:49 +0000

AT&T sucks where i live, and actually they pretty much suck everywhere according to the new CONSUMER REPORTS magazine (it has the g1 on front cover), they did a study on like 40 major cities as far as call quality and service and AT&T ranked only above Sprint, T-mobile beat them in about 85 to 90 percent of the tested cities, which is crazy becuase tmobile has less than HALF of the customer base that AT&T has, and yet tmo has better service. This is why i love T-mobile even though they have been slow to implement there 3g network (i live in cincinnati and i am EDGE only) they still are cheaper, better coverage and have faster data speeds (EDGE and 3G), i think the strength of tmo’s EDGE network is great, on my g1 which was running on EDGE, i beat an Iphone 3g running on 3G 3 out of 5 times, thats pretty impressive. As Far as coverage (voice) and speed goes, T-mobile is the best GSM carrier in the US, and as soon as they get there 3g fully rolled out, they will be the fastest 3G GSM carrier available and yet there the smallest and least money making of the big 4. This just shows that t-mobile is putting the money it earns to good use all the while at&T is spending there money on who knows what, maybe nicer phones but really, whats a noce phone if its on a poopy network?….
all my friends who have Att and/or Iphones, have the worst coverage in my area and they constantly dropping calls or recieving text late or not at all, its kinda pathetic becuase you see there commercials and it just makes me laugh, i dunno how there even allowed to post that false info on TV. Consumer Reports advised that as a last resort get AT&T or sprint but they highly recommended Verizon and T-mobile.

By: jacksplat

jacksplat — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:20:11 +0000

All I know is people spend a good deal of time bashing VZW for it’s hardware and it’s cost, but I tell you what..you get what you pay for.

In all my years of being a VZW customer, I’ve moaned and groaned while other carries have offered way sexier equipment and moped in the corner waiting for Verizon to offer something half as decent.

But NEVER once did I complain about being able to USE my service. It’s always been there, at a consistent speed over a wide area. I never worried about traveling (except to Long Island…abysmal..just abysmal).

So to conclude, Verizon: Pricey, restrictive hardware but man-oh-man does that test man do his job.

By: ron

ron — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:05:58 +0000

*What* 3g? All we have is stupid EDGE and promises of 3g “coming soon.” There are no viable alternatives for semi-decent internet service here. Alltel/verizon has 3g here, but it’s oversold and constantly dumps people off during peak hours.

By: SirBeef

SirBeef — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:57:32 +0000

I’ve got the Balckberry Bold, but still rely on the Edge Network because I live in the Fort Knox area of KY…which is not in the 3G coverage area. If they completely phase out the Edge network before getting 3G in my area, I will be furious.

By: old bluetooth

old bluetooth — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:54:25 +0000

I have an original curve, my kids hava a Bold and an iPhone. if i really want speed I guess I would jump to the Apple iPhone, I am not impressed with the browser nor speed of the Bold, which kind of disappoints me. When they surf, side by side there is no question, the iPhone wins, but the Curve inspite of the Edge has been a dutiful phone and email device, plus I don’t think I could get the hang of typing on the iPhone. So until the 3g/wifi curve hits the streets, I think I will just hold on. Too bad AT&T, my carrier hasn’t seen fit to update my Curves (8300) OS, and most likely won’t, not that really sucks.

By: fernando

fernando — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:39:51 +0000

Well, this means you WILL be getting 3g, if the 850 your edge is on now will be converted to 3g, then your coverage will stay the same only 3g instead of edge. Sucks if you have an edge only phone, but if you have a 3g phone this is better.

By: Marc Flores

Marc Flores — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:22:11 +0000

@ilikephonesthatwork What are you talking about? You probably didn’t even read the post. It was a negative piece about AT&T.

By: ilikephonesthatwork

ilikephonesthatwork — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:19:54 +0000

Amazing… If this rumor had come from Verizon you would have seen 300 comments about how the devil “BIG RED” proves it’s the evil empire! LOL .. shocking at the difference of posts when Big Blue Blue screws you even more with their pathetic network… Simply check the coverage maps and compare 3g from VZW and Att, then go with a REAL nationwide 3g network. Blue continues to suck as usual…

By: Ervel Flick

Ervel Flick — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 06:43:32 +0000

@keymaker: LTE trials have it running at over 100mbps. Kicks the crap out of WiFi speeds.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:03:53 +0000

I officially hate AT&T even more than I do now if this turns out to be true. After my contract is done (if not before) I’m going back to Verizon. I had Verizon before I got the iPhone, and I’m already upset with AT&T’s coverage, but now this!? Verizon Wireless truly does have the best network.

In my area, AT&T actually has more towers than Verizon, but Verizon covers my area better. AT&T doesn’t know where to put their towers. They stick them in the big towns and forget about the outlying areas. If they switch our 850 MHz coverage here to 1900, AT&T is going down the drain. They no longer should even be able to call themselves a cell phone company after this move. 1900 MHz is not for rural areas. Absolutely NO. If you’re going to deploy 1900 in a rural area, plan to have quadruple the number of towers a normal 850 carrier would have.

My area is never going to see 3G coverage at least for a few years. If they do this, I’m gone!!

By: bigdreamer11

bigdreamer11 — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:54:14 +0000

all the more reason for me to be happy with my new STORM

at&t sux!!!

By: drunknbass

drunknbass — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:16:19 +0000

@Dan, ..he may be mistaken by 2g and 3g iPhone plans. It is true if you have a 3g enabled device and pay for data you CAN get it. But the shady fucks like att try and confuse people and offer “packages” like what they try and shove down iPhone users throats. Other carriers are no better. They are all fucktards equally.

Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone) in: Los Angeles CA, 90025

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:29:34 +0000

@Chewychomp

Are you joking? Show me an AT&T “3G phone service” plan. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.

You can get the cheapest phone voice plan for $39.99 + unlimited media net with unlimited text for $35. You can get unlimited media net for $15 w/o texts with a non-PDA 3G phone.

There is no difference in plan cost or even any distinction between EDGE and 3G. If you have a 3G capable phone and have 3G service in your area, then you get 3G. You don’t pay anything extra over EDGE. Obviously iPhones are a different case.

Show me any evidence of an “EDGE plan” or a “3G plan”. Good luck with that.

By: zephxiii

zephxiii — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:26:34 +0000

@chewychomp, wow you are dead wrong buddy, might want to rethink that.

This rumor is very misleading.

By: vlangs

vlangs — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:24:35 +0000

this won’t affect anyone jeez.

look, if more 2g is sent to 1900 band all that means is that well established areas are going to have faster 3G nothing else. 2G won’t change because of how well established 2G is in those areas.

AT&T isn’t an idiot company, think about it, if most of their subscribers (corporations included) DON’T have a 3G phone, why would the decrease the performance of 2G? especially in areas where is there isn’t 3G it’d make absolutely zero sense to lower performance if there isn’t an installed database of 3G customers in an area. all that means is more service calls complaining about lack of service and what not.

now about big cities that have 3G, if they allocate more to you so what? people are talking like the 850 band isn’t well established and it’s going to hurt. the 850 band has been building for about 10 years, and it is increased exponentially faster in larger population areas. don’t be tricked into thinking that the reallocation will hurt you. infact, when you decide to finally get a 3G device you will be thankful (unless of course you live in an area of zero 3G, in which case this still won’t matter)