Forget about everything else. The cool consumer rage is currently directed at AT&T. Pat Lee, a Chicago iPhone user, is asking the iPhone community to petition Apple to drop AT&T exclusivity. In this biting 30-second video, Lee suggests that disgruntled users voice their displeasure about "less bars in more places." He points viewers to Apple's feedback page to get their AT&T hate on.
Created in Adobe After Effects, the video has great production values and a stinging message. Oh, and it's not especially safe for work. So you might want to bookmark this for later.
Agreed, O2 have been decent enough for me in the UK, but it's pretty clear that AT&T's poor service has affected more than just Americans. Should another carrier with a more supportive approach towards Apple, the iPhone and the App Store have taken or even shared exclusivity, then it seems clear to me that the iPhone would have developed and evolved further, for example with the recent Google Voice debacle or the Qik video streaming. The sooner Apple separates the iPhone from AT&T, the better for everyone.
How does qik streaming being denied have anything to do with AT&T? The fact the app doesn't STREAM video has NOTHING to do with AT&T, it's the fact they use the api illegally to the sdk tos. Just because 3gs does video doesn't make doing video related stuff with Apis in an "illegal" way ok.
Dude, great minds think alike! I came here to say "NSFW my ass, more like NSFC (Not Safe For Church)." ;)
TUAW: For future reference, NSFW = boobies or other related goodness, excessive swearing or very vulgar language in audio form (don't want people in the office to hear that), and other miscellaneous grotesque or vulgar visuals.
I'm all for opening up the iPhone up to other carriers, but here in the US since the iPhone is GSM your only other option would then be T-Mobile. And they have less coverage than AT&T. And as much as I loathe the Death Star, moving my iPhone to a carrier with less coverage doesn't make much sense.
yes but at least the choice would be open. however, what is missing from this video and such is that Apple has already said that ATT will not have an exclusive hold on the iphone til hell freezes over. it's a limited period. much less than T-mobile has had on the sidekick. the contract could be over this time next year, or perhaps 2011. that's only 4 years, not that insane an amount of time to recover the money they paid to help with the R&D costs.
I switched from Tmobile to AT&T (Washington DC/Baltimore area) just for the iPhone. With AT&T I was dropping calls everywhere even if I had full bars! AT&T allowed me to cancel without termination fee and I used the phone on Tmobile. Although i was only using EDGE, the iPhone experience improved immensely. No more dropped calls, full bars everywhere, and a iPhone that is working how it was meant to be.
If you are living in an area with a lot of Tmobile coverage, it works wonder. But if you are in middle no where America, you might as well stick with Tmobile as it is indeed true. Tmobile coverage as a WHOLE is not as good as AT&T.
Exactly. Where else is the phone going to go? Verizon? It's not GSM. Sprint? Ditto. T-Mobile? What 3G service? T-Mobile spent years sitting on their butts and kicking back and assuming that their customer service good reputation was enough. It was - until 3G and mobile browsing became hot. Now they've got an old, slow network that doesn't even run on the same frequencies as everyone else when it DOES have 3G (and that's only in a few places) so if you want to run an iPhone on T-Mobile, you've got molasses-slow service unless you want to deal with being tethered to a Wifi hotspot. And the whole point of fast 3G is that you don't have to deal with it.
AT&T is the only real option, alas, unless Apple gets into the wireless-service business itself.
i think it really depends on where you live. when the iphone first came out there was terrible att service in my home and office. About 6 months later they put up new towers and now it is totally fine.
However, when i am on the commuter train, i get dropped calls all the time. When i was with verizon, my phone would switch towers without a hitch.
And in manhattan the data connection is very iffy. Sometimes it can take 30 seconds to load a web page.
That said, verizon has the shittiest phones and as bad or worse customer service than att. And who knows...maybe if all iPhones were on verizon, it would also collapse under the burden of heavy data use.
i've had at&t since 2001 and haven't had problems with any phone. from time to time i have a dropped call but we can never substantiate who's side it's on. i see folks on verizon or t-mobile get a dropped call every now and again.
i'm not saying that at&t is perfect, but it's more likely that none of the carriers are.
I would think the parody allowance in copyright would exempt it, but I dunno if that applies only when making a parody of the copyright item itself, or if using a copyrighted item to make a parody would count.
I absolutely support opening up the iPhone. If it were available on Verizon (somehow working around the CDMA hurdle), I'd buy one in an instant. This video is great though! But it should be "fewer bars in more places" not "less bars in more places." :)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Downey92 said 4:42PM on 8-17-2009
Ha, excellent video. I'm so glad I'm in the UK on O2's network because the way the Americans moan about AT&T makes it sound as bad as smallpox.
Reply
breakbt said 9:01PM on 8-17-2009
Agreed, O2 have been decent enough for me in the UK, but it's pretty clear that AT&T's poor service has affected more than just Americans. Should another carrier with a more supportive approach towards Apple, the iPhone and the App Store have taken or even shared exclusivity, then it seems clear to me that the iPhone would have developed and evolved further, for example with the recent Google Voice debacle or the Qik video streaming. The sooner Apple separates the iPhone from AT&T, the better for everyone.
drunknbass said 11:43PM on 8-17-2009
How does qik streaming being denied have anything to do with AT&T? The fact the app doesn't STREAM video has NOTHING to do with AT&T, it's the fact they use the api illegally to the sdk tos. Just because 3gs does video doesn't make doing video related stuff with Apis in an "illegal" way ok.
mac.jordan said 2:36AM on 8-18-2009
O2's network coverage is appalling - I can't even get a cell signal in my house, where every other network can.
Timothy said 4:46PM on 8-17-2009
NSFW? You must work at a church or something where saying a curse once is going to get you fired....
Reply
frank said 5:30PM on 8-17-2009
Hey Junior - some of us have graduated high school.
CaptSaltyJack said 7:42PM on 8-17-2009
Dude, great minds think alike! I came here to say "NSFW my ass, more like NSFC (Not Safe For Church)." ;)
TUAW: For future reference, NSFW = boobies or other related goodness, excessive swearing or very vulgar language in audio form (don't want people in the office to hear that), and other miscellaneous grotesque or vulgar visuals.
Alan G said 9:43AM on 8-18-2009
Yeah, I kept waiting for nude girls or something... It was good video, but it would have been great with nude girls. :)
This SO shouldn't have been tagged as NSFW.
Rob said 4:46PM on 8-17-2009
I'm all for opening up the iPhone up to other carriers, but here in the US since the iPhone is GSM your only other option would then be T-Mobile. And they have less coverage than AT&T. And as much as I loathe the Death Star, moving my iPhone to a carrier with less coverage doesn't make much sense.
Reply
LAGal said 10:32PM on 8-17-2009
yes but at least the choice would be open. however, what is missing from this video and such is that Apple has already said that ATT will not have an exclusive hold on the iphone til hell freezes over. it's a limited period. much less than T-mobile has had on the sidekick. the contract could be over this time next year, or perhaps 2011. that's only 4 years, not that insane an amount of time to recover the money they paid to help with the R&D costs.
David Robison said 12:07AM on 8-18-2009
Here in Seattle (near T-Mobile's home-base of Bellevue), my t-mo service was much better than my current AT&T service.
You'd think that with all the iPhone dough that AT&T is raking in they could improve their service.
wako said 2:45AM on 8-18-2009
I switched from Tmobile to AT&T (Washington DC/Baltimore area) just for the iPhone. With AT&T I was dropping calls everywhere even if I had full bars! AT&T allowed me to cancel without termination fee and I used the phone on Tmobile. Although i was only using EDGE, the iPhone experience improved immensely. No more dropped calls, full bars everywhere, and a iPhone that is working how it was meant to be.
If you are living in an area with a lot of Tmobile coverage, it works wonder. But if you are in middle no where America, you might as well stick with Tmobile as it is indeed true. Tmobile coverage as a WHOLE is not as good as AT&T.
Buran said 1:10PM on 8-18-2009
Exactly. Where else is the phone going to go? Verizon? It's not GSM. Sprint? Ditto. T-Mobile? What 3G service? T-Mobile spent years sitting on their butts and kicking back and assuming that their customer service good reputation was enough. It was - until 3G and mobile browsing became hot. Now they've got an old, slow network that doesn't even run on the same frequencies as everyone else when it DOES have 3G (and that's only in a few places) so if you want to run an iPhone on T-Mobile, you've got molasses-slow service unless you want to deal with being tethered to a Wifi hotspot. And the whole point of fast 3G is that you don't have to deal with it.
AT&T is the only real option, alas, unless Apple gets into the wireless-service business itself.
Dave said 4:48PM on 8-17-2009
My AT&T service has been nothing but great.
Reply
Jack Chance said 5:16PM on 8-17-2009
i think it really depends on where you live.
when the iphone first came out there was terrible att service in my home and office. About 6 months later they put up new towers and now it is totally fine.
However, when i am on the commuter train, i get dropped calls all the time. When i was with verizon, my phone would switch towers without a hitch.
And in manhattan the data connection is very iffy. Sometimes it can take 30 seconds to load a web page.
That said, verizon has the shittiest phones and as bad or worse customer service than att. And who knows...maybe if all iPhones were on verizon, it would also collapse under the burden of heavy data use.
darrell said 5:30PM on 8-17-2009
i've had at&t since 2001 and haven't had problems with any phone. from time to time i have a dropped call but we can never substantiate who's side it's on. i see folks on verizon or t-mobile get a dropped call every now and again.
i'm not saying that at&t is perfect, but it's more likely that none of the carriers are.
Cash said 4:49PM on 8-17-2009
I wasn't aware Squirrel Nut Zipper's music was considered "public domain." Expect this to disappear from Youtube shortly.
Reply
DJFriar said 9:55AM on 8-18-2009
I would think the parody allowance in copyright would exempt it, but I dunno if that applies only when making a parody of the copyright item itself, or if using a copyrighted item to make a parody would count.
Mike said 4:51PM on 8-17-2009
I absolutely support opening up the iPhone. If it were available on Verizon (somehow working around the CDMA hurdle), I'd buy one in an instant. This video is great though! But it should be "fewer bars in more places" not "less bars in more places." :)
Reply
Ian said 5:14PM on 8-17-2009
yes but look at all of verizons phones they are all crippled much more than the att service cripples my iphone.