AT&T Yet Again The Worst-Rated Carrier In U.S.

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AT&T is the worst-rated carrier in the country again. The company's response? "At least our 4G LTE service is okay." :rolleyes:

Consumer Reports has released its annual carrier ratings. And just as it had in the last two years, AT&T landed in last place, far behind the top major carrier in the company's roundup, Verizon Wireless. Verizon Wireless fared somewhat well in the study, earning relatively strong marks on voice and data. The only bright spot in AT&T's review was its 4G LTE network, which actually beat out its chief competitor in this year's study.
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With only a few carriers, someone has to be last. That said, I use Verizon for cell, TV, and internet.
 
I use T-mobile because I have unlimited 4G data, voice and text messages for my phone and my wife's for $170 a month, but the coverage could be better. I would consider other carriers, but they ask for more money and no guarentee for any better coverage.

Talking to people who have it, AT&T definitely seems to be the king of dropped calls around here, though.
 
People can say what they want about AT&T, but I've still had good experiences with them as my carrier for over 5 years now. It's not all bad for everyone.

Things that I like about them. Coverage is great wherever I've been. It's significantly faster than all the competition which is pretty important to me so I weight that higher. I never get less than 3mbit down and 1mbit up, even with 1 bar. Its all "4G" HSPA+ everywhere and normally ~7mbit down 3mbit up these days and LTE where I live and work which is 40-50mbit down and 15-25mbit up.

I think their family plans are at least really reasonably prices. I'm only paying $50 a month for my iPhone plan. I will admit that I do still have the unlimited data option which has been gone for awhile. Though Verizons share everything plans seems to be a worse value still and Sprint's unlimited is only good on LTE usage which is hardly anywhere.

People say their customer service is terrible, but every time I've to called them up or visited their corporate stores I've always got the answers I was looking for. I'm not sure what more there is to ask of them.

I've asked to do things including:
-Unlocking old phones
-Switching numbers around between phones
-Removing accidental data charges on lines without data plans
-Waiving upgrade fees
-Requesting data blocks for smartphones without data plans.
-Removing charges from those texting services that sign you up automatically
-Putting authentication in place to prevent future automatic signup to those spam text services.
-Removing erroneous international calling charges.

They are pretty friendly people and seem happy to fulfill all of those requests. My latest example is that I upgraded 4 lines on our family plan to new iPhone 5's and they added on the 4 36$ upgrade fees. I just called up and asked if there was anything they could do about them and they offered to remove them, crediting my account for $144 that month. Yes, you could say they they shouldn't even charge you anything to upgrade a line, but I know Verizon and Sprint do this too. Not sure on how they are about removing the fees though.

Just my 2c on my experiences with them.
 
I had AT&T for cell service for less than six months. It was total shit. Dropped calls, poor reception, etc.
 
I'm very happy with my unlimited/unthrottled Verizon, I get LTE even in some places where the only land-based internet is crappy DSL.
 
Metrocall said:
I'm very happy with my unlimited/unthrottled Verizon, I get LTE even in some places where the only land-based internet is crappy DSL.
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+1. I'm not happy about having to buy my own phones full price (or used) to keep it.
 
I have had AT&T for about 5 or 6 years now, and I have had almost no problems with them. Their customer service has solved all my issues, including being extra nice on a warranty repair when they didn't have to be.

I have no plans to leave them anytime soon.
 
david_ said:
+1. I'm not happy about having to buy my own phones full price (or used) to keep it.
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True on this, I just decided to buy a refurbished Galaxy Nexus for $150 and so far I am extremely happy with it. I may just decide it is worth always being behind one phone cycle to save on the phone cost.
 
Had AT&T for about 2 years when I bought my first iPhone. Never had any problems with them, coverage was great in my area too, then again, I never had any billing issues or had to call customer service for hardly anything. They weren't the most friendly bunch, but anytime I called for a question (usually upgrade date) .. they answered all my questions.
 
Switched to Verizon when I got a company phone... and have been regretting it :(

I had a few areas that were "dead spots" on AT&T, and especially around my work's office I had horrible or no reception. Since I was getting a company phone and Verizon coverage was better in the area's I usually need it for work, I made the switch while my wife stayed with AT&T on a personal account, so I can easily compare service.

My verizon coverage at my house is horrible (dropped calls, static, no LTE and barely 3G) while she gets a solid 4G connection with AT&T. I've checked with Verizon a couple times now and they claim I'm within the "good" 4G range according to all their maps, so they don't plan on expanding the coverage in my area, and have yet to offer a "microcell" device to improve reception at home.

On a recent trip to Dallas, she had 4G connection all the way up I-45, while I was limited to 3G the whole way.

Around Houston, I seem to get good reception and decent speed (though AT&T beats it in speedtests between the two phones). Once I leave Houston... forget about 4G until I hit another major city.

If I had to do it again, I would have stuck with AT&T and unless things improve dramatically, I'll be switching back as soon as my corporate office will let me (probably 2 years ;( ). I'll take the dead spots over lack of coverage at home and on the road outside of the city...
 
at and t bag is bad news. I cancelled, paid my term fee, TWICE. Guess what? They STILL didn't close my account and sent it to collections. Good thing I didn't need credit back then. So yeah.

Verizon is expensive but damn consistent.
 
I'm also an AT&T iPhone 4s user and I don't have any issue with them, probably because I'm in Chicago, but my girlfriend's Verizon Samsung Galaxy S3 gets far better reception outside of the city and in train tunnels. The only reason I'm still clinging to AT&T at this point is because of my grandfathered unlimited data plan.
 
I was an AT &T customer since they were Cingular. Cingular was good, but once AT&T bought them service, reception, and consistency went down every year. I decided enough was enough and switched to Verizon, it's an amazing difference. Calls are clearer, never drop, and I get much better reception everywhere. I thought I might miss having data and voice at the same time, but it turns out my usage doesn't need. Verizon was also cheaper because they gave better discounts for my family.
 
Mr. K6 said:
I was an AT &T customer since they were Cingular. Cingular was good, but once AT&T bought them service, reception, and consistency went down every year. I decided enough was enough and switched to Verizon, it's an amazing difference. Calls are clearer, never drop, and I get much better reception everywhere. I thought I might miss having data and voice at the same time, but it turns out my usage doesn't need. Verizon was also cheaper because they gave better discounts for my family.
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With the Galaxy Nexus and I'm sure a few others, you can have voice and data at the same time. It seems to just depend on the phone.
 
Dan_D said:
I had AT&T for cell service for less than six months. It was total shit. Dropped calls, poor reception, etc.
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You probably use an iPhone. As soon as I got rid of my iphone 3GS and switched to a Galaxy 2 my dropped calls ended. :)
 
I've been with AT&T for 6 years now and not one problem (I currently use the S3). I also have their U-Verse package and like that also. I can't comment on their support much because I haven't had to ever call them but I did have to call their U-Verse section once and they helped me out plus gave me a better deal.
 
Metrocall said:
With the Galaxy Nexus and I'm sure a few others, you can have voice and data at the same time. It seems to just depend on the phone.
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You can have voice and data w/ LTE & WIFI, not 3G. I think it's the CDMA that makes 3G voice/data impossible.
 
david_ said:
You can have voice and data w/ LTE & WIFI, not 3G. I think it's the CDMA that makes 3G voice/data impossible.
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Yeah I imagine that's why it works with phones like my GN, voice over CDMA, data over LTE.
 
I'll be lazy and quote (with edits) what I posted in another thread a month or two ago:

Verizon: best coverage by a long shot, bad customer service, highest prices
AT&T: less coverage than Verizon but faster, bad customer service, prices lower than Verizon but still high
Sprint: nobody seemed to have a single good thing to say about them
T-Mobile: best customer service by a long shot, lowest prices, low coverage outside of big metro areas, forget it if you're rural
MetroPCS: good but regional (mostly the South and New York)
 
I actually haver liked my experience with att, if tmobile prepaid sucks in hawaii I'll be going back with att.

I think the biggest thing with them that have made me a fan is them willingly backdating me 6 months on a bill for a charge that I should not have gotten, then giving that to me back in the form of credit. They only go back 3 months normally and since it was my fault for not noticing it earlier and calling to correct it they still did that for me.

So yea, verizon is cool but I'll stock with something that has been good to me since cingular.
 
techrat said:
They are. By far.

I've dealt with both. I "went back" to Sprint by using Virgin Mobile.

Unlimited 4G/WiMax data for $35/mo.
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Yeah and I went from Sprint to AT&T and would say the complete opposite. Sprint is garbage!
 
I switched from T-mobile to AT&T and regret it every single day. Statewide coverage is better but their customer service is horrific and their data speeds are deplorable. I'm not shocked they were last.
 
Waiting for my Nexus 4 to get here so I can get off of Sprint. I had Verizon on my parent's plan when I was in SoCal but went with Sprint when I moved to Arizona because they have unlimited data. Ya, unlimited because you can't use it lol. When you can it's like dial up speeds, and I'm paying like $110 month.

At least with T-Mobile I'll have unlimited data I can actually use, if talking to my neighbors is any indication of the coverage I'll see, none of them had any complaints.
 
I switched from Sprint (had the worst service and continually got worse and worse) to AT&T and am happy that I NOW have cell service at the house.
 
I can't bash Sprint enough. Using them for around 4yrs now, my first phone was replaced 4 times and never worked worth a damn, upgrade time came, got another phone, this phone has been replaced 3 times (1st one had to be replaced 1st day I got it for a blown speaker, WTF!) and even now the phone sucks with stuck pixels everywhere and the touchscreen is off calibration by a mile.

I get signal through sprint but might have a bar or two if roaming which kills the battery. I get dropped calls on almost every call I make. I'll get text from people 3 days later after the person sent it if I am lucky!

Don't even bother with the idiots at the stores. I get mocked and lied to on a regular basis!!!


FFFFFFUUUUUUUU Sprint!!!

I want Verizon but family won't budge even when they agree on how terrible Sprint is, gggrrrrrrrrrrrr
 
A lot of you guys seem to completely demonize the phone carriers over the stupidest shit.

"Herp derp...X phone company has shitty coverage in my hometown. Therefore they must be shitty everywhere despite what millions of their customers say. Derp."

"My phone broke fifty times, its the phone company's fault. It couldn't possibly be a shitty manufacturer or the fact that I dropped it in the toilet while taking a drunken piss."

"The customer service sucks, I'm a self entitled asshole that demands special treatment and I will continue to bully around the poor kid on the phone answering my call until I get what I want."

Not saying all of you are like that, but I see it a lot of it reflected in some user's comments. Seriously people, if the phone company doesn't work for you, move on. It's not a monopoly yet, there are still several choices.
 
Well I've been with AT&T a good minute and won't go to any other provider. Drops calls most time that people experience can be traced back to the shitty phone that they have. Some phone manufacturers know a thing about antenna placement and many do not.
 
I will add that a lot of people complain about ATT at my work, but none of them have actually had a contract with them (or prepaid). The ones who do have it don't have anything to bitch about. Most of the stuff these people repeat are said on these articles, I'm pretty sure their is someone out there with a huge vendetta against ATT or something because I can't recommend them enough.

Contract is still pricey but honestly if prepaid isn't working for me I'll go back with ATT.
 
I deal with these jag bags almost everyday for my job and all I can say is I am amazed that they continue to survive and continue working. Their phone support is automated and all voice activated. Real pain in the ass when you have to read off a circuit ID. Second, when you finally do get someone (usually a 30 min. wait) they love telling you that you have the wrong dept.

And...getting to my home service, I pay for their best package and still get dropouts and slow internet speeds at times. And I can't switch because they are the only carrier in my neck of the woods.

I could go on...and on...and on, but I think you get the drift.
 
Having had T-mobile, Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T - AT&T has the best signal in the places I need it, everything else takes a back seat to that.
 
Never had a problem with them, was normally down to the phone of choice at teh time that had problems, Razor (from 2006) had crap reception, Blackberry was unstoppable but getting clunky and out of touch by 2008, iPhone 3GS had the case of dropping a call frequently, only problem I have with my current phone is getting my signal blocked in the big stores that want you to use their Wi-Fi.
 
I pay $50 for my 4g galaxy note 2. grandfathers on their unlimited plan (yes its 5gb but o well), unlimited text, 700 minutes, im happy.
 
TheMadHatterXxX said:
You probably use an iPhone. As soon as I got rid of my iphone 3GS and switched to a Galaxy 2 my dropped calls ended. :)
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This. My iPhone 3G dropped everything. Was fine with my iPhone 4 and now Lumia 920. And the Lumia is in a whole different league in voice quality from the iPhones. So. Much. Better.

Their CS isn't very good, but whose is?
 
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