AT&T subscribers have remained loyal to the network following the launch of Apple’s iPhone on rival carriers Verizon Wireless and Sprint. ”Churn has not moved at all,” AT&T’s president of emerging devices Glen Lurie told MarketWatch on Wednesday, referring to the percent of subscribers who leave AT&T to open accounts with other providers. In the years leading up to the iPhone’s launch on Verizon and Sprint, many AT&T subscribers had been extremely vocal about persistant dropped calls and other connectivity issues when using the iPhone in metropolitan areas. Some analysts speculated that the launch of Verizon’s iPhone 4 would send AT&T iPhone users rushing for the door, but that does not appear to be the case. In fact, AT&T recently announced that it activated more than 1 million iPhone 4S handsets in less than a week following the device’s launch. Lurie even said the iPhone 4S is selling so fast for AT&T that demand is still exceeding supply.

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Market research firm ChangeWave on Tuesday released the findings of a recent study analyzing iPhone 4 owner experiences and owner satisfaction. The study pitted Verizon Wireless’ iPhone 4 against the same model from AT&T, and sought to compare consumer experiences with the device at each carrier. Following years of complaints regarding poor service and dropped calls on AT&T, the question on everyone’s mind following the iPhone’s launch with Verizon Wireless was whether or not service quality would improve. According to ChangeWave’s findings, the answer is yes. In a survey of 4,068 customers, ChangeWave found that over the past 90 days, Verizon Wireless iPhone 4 users have dropped approximately 1.8% of calls while AT&T iPhone 4 owners dropped 4.8% of calls. Of course Verizon’s iPhone hasn’t even been on the market for 90 days and calling habits and frequency were not taken into account, so the results do become somewhat suspect. What’s more, ChangeWave notes that its survey started “several weeks after Verizon began offering the iPhone 4,” so we could be looking at just over a month of anecdotal Verizon Wireless data being compared to three months of anecdotal AT&T data. ChangeWave also found that Verizon Wireless iPhone owners are slightly more satisfied than AT&T iPhone 4 owners, with 82% saying they were very satisfied compared to 80% for AT&T.

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Look, I have been dreaming about a Verizon iPhone since the original announcement was made in 2007. I’ve always admired Verizon’s insanely solid and reliable wireless network, even before it was Verizon (someone tell James Earl Jones I said what’s up). I had the first digital phone Verizon Wireless offered (following countless analog phones prior to that), and I’ve had many more since then. But I switched away from Verizon Wireless as soon as I saw that the handsets available in Europe were becoming more advanced, because these new phones typically didn’t become available from Verizon for months or even years later, if at all. As soon as I saw that I could switch my SIM card from phone to phone myself, I was on a tear — first on T-Mobile, then AT&T when I realized how much better AT&T’s coverage was in my area, even five years ago.

During all of this, however, I always knew that Verizon’s network was better than any other wireless network in the United States. Why? Not because it was the fastest or because Verizon had the best phones (that’s arguable in today’s day and age), but because Verizon worked wherever you wanted it to work, whenever you needed it to work. In Vermont in the middle of nowhere? Verizon Wireless has a signal. Driving across the country? Verizon’s got your back.

Fast forward to 2011: I was sitting at the Verizon iPhone event liveblogging, and I was ridiculously excited for what was about to be announced (plenty more people were excited as well — BGR crashed for 40 minutes due to the sheer number of people checking the site for the latest updates). My favorite smartphone, the only phone I choose to use day in and day out, was going to be available on the best damn network in the country — finally! I pre-ordered it at 3:00 a.m. on February 3rd, and then sat and waited for FedEx to deliver it days later. Side note: the friendly FedEx delivery person had me write my name on a piece of paper saying that I received the phone since FedEx had so many Verizon iPhone shipments that day that their system crashed.

I opened the phone, and connected it to iTunes, and saw the waiting for activation message. It failed. Three times. No worries — after turning it on and off, my phone was up and working, and it was time to go drive around to all the places my AT&T iPhone failed miserably and test things out.

The Verizon iPhone 4 performed decently at first, though I was quite surprised that Verizon had dead areas in most places AT&T did up in Connecticut. How could this be possible, I thought to myself? I have the best phone on the best network. I needed to head into Manhattan for a couple meetings that day, so, let’s just see how it holds up on the drive down, I told myself. First phone call on I-95? Dropped. What made things worse was that I was stuck on 2G a lot of the time, even in the heart of New York City once I was out and about.

How is this happening?

Well, after a couple calls to Verizon Wireless — and everyone I spoke with was extremely helpful — it turned out my phone didn’t fully activate. I believe the PRL and roaming configurations weren’t updated properly, and after I reprogrammed the phone (something most people won’t ever have to do, as iTunes discreetly does this on first plug-in), I was doing much better. Or was I?

After the “fix” was performed, I still saw 2G on the Verizon iPhone as much or more than I had seen EDGE on the AT&T iPhone that I have used for years (I realize it’s not the same exact phone — I’m referring to the signal quality and coverage). Back in Connecticut, I was still experiencing dropped calls, and it was almost comical. “Dude, I thought you got a Verizon iPhone finally?” I did… it’s just… not that different.

In the end, my personal experience with Verizon’s iPhone in and around New York City ended up being about the same as it was when I was on AT&T. This, combined with other advantages AT&T’s network has, has made me finally decide to switch back. Literally moments before I wrote this article, I synced up my Verizon iPhone and restored it to my AT&T iPhone (I can do this because the OS on the Verizon iPhone is lower than the AT&T iPhone — if I ever wanted to switch back, I couldn’t restore my data until the Verizon iPhone OS is updated to version 4.3). I missed the ability to talk on the phone while data is still flowing (even though I hate talking on the phone). I missed AT&T’s extremely fast data speeds. I missed knowing that if I ever travel outside of the country, I don’t have to get a new phone (even though I hate flying — no, seriously, try me). I missed feeling like I’m in the digital age instead of the stone age.

It’s just true. One of the reasons Verizon’s network is so expansive and solid is because it’s old. Verizon has been building this same network out for ages and so it seemingly stretches beyond any other — but it’s built on an aging and extremely outdated cellular technology. Verizon is in the midst of rolling out its incredible new LTE network in an effort to get with the times, but until then, I’m tired of CDMA. I’m tired of the limitations. What network powers my MiFi? Verizon. What network has the most reliable and robust data offering? Verizon. What network do I want on my iPhone? For now, and I believe for the foreseeable future, it’s AT&T.

Once the iPhone 5 comes out this summer, I’ll reevaluate things. Apple has stepped up its game in the radio and antenna department with each new iPhone release, and the company is practically confirmed to continue using Qualcomm chips (one of the reasons AT&T has had so much trouble with the iPhone is due to Apple’s use of Infineon-baseband chips). But for now, if I’m going to drop just as many calls on Verizon’s network as I do with AT&T, there’s just no reason to give up all of the other perks AT&T’s iPhone 4 affords. I want to talk and surf the Web at the same time on a super-fast data network, and roam internationally, and enjoy the latest iPhone OS, and have my voice calls come through instantly, and hold conference calls with more than two other participants at a time… so I’m back with AT&T.

It turns out Verizon Wireless may be in more hot water as a result of the 10,000 emergency 9-1-1 calls the carrier dropped during a blizzard last month. The Federal Communications Commission recently called for an investigation into the massive network failure that left thousands of Maryland residents with no way to reach police and other emergency services. One such resident was 94-year-old Carmela D’Antuono, whose house caught fire when nearby transformers exploded during the snowstorm. D’Antuono, who was trapped inside her home as it burned, was rescued by neighbors who took matters into their own hands when police and fire fighters could not be reached. “It was scary. It makes you think when a disaster like this happens. I know that was a pretty scary night. There were a lot of things going on, but it makes you want to hope that you can get a hold of help when you really need it,” one of D’Antuono’s neighbors said. Hit the break for video report from a local Fox affiliate.

[Via The Droid Guy]

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In a letter sent last Thursday to the nation’s top wireless carrier, the Federal Communications Commission is calling for an investigation into thousands of dropped emergency calls placed during a blizzard in late January. Approximately 10,000 emergency 9-1-1 calls placed on the Verizon Wireless network in Maryland were dropped, the FCC says. The calls were made on January 26th during a major snowstorm. “The large number of missed 9-1-1 calls on January 26 is truly alarming,” FCC public safety and security chief James Arden Barnett wrote in the letter. “I therefore request that Verizon provide an explanation of the causes of this and similar failures, provide Verizon’s assessment of the possibility of occurrence in other locations and describe what actions Verizon is taking to prevent recurrence of these problems.” The FCC is calling for a written response to its inquiry, along with a meeting within two weeks to discuss Verizon’s resolution of the issue.

[Via Wireless Week]

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In typical Daily Show fashion, Jon Stewart and friends celebrated the arrival of the Verizon iPhone with a hilarious segment Tuesday night. In a seven-minute spot that goes from funny to funnier, Stewart begins by recounting iPhone users’ hardships on AT&T. ”For the past three or four years, those of us in the iPhone community have sacrificed one thing for the ability to carry around every photograph we’ve ever taken, or song we’ve ever listened to, or home video, or compass,” Stewart said at the start of the segment. “We have sacrificed the ability to make phone calls.” Things were so bad for Stewart, it seems, that he had to send text messages by typing them out on his iPhone 4 and then having an assistant physically bring the phone to the message’s recipient. Daily Show correspondent John Oliver then joins in, reporting live via video chat from yesterday’s Verizon event using his AT&T iPhone. Needless to say, the quality is horrible and the video call drops several times. Oliver’s subsequent report has him hitting the streets to interview AT&T iPhone users — one of whom compares being tied to AT&T to slavery — and he then sits in on the actual announcement at Lincoln Center. Hit the jump for the full video.

Yesterday, my cohorts weighed in on the question on countless iPhone owners’ minds right now — should I ditch AT&T and buy an iPhone from Verizon? The answer is going to be different for everyone, of course. Some people have a compulsive need to switch phones constantly, so they can’t use a CDMA carrier. Some people have a need for speed and Verizon’s 3G network doesn’t cut it. Well guess what? I have a need for a phone that actually works wherever and whenever I want it to. That need is way more important than any need I have to swap phones every day or download iTunes tracks at lightning-fast speeds. I want to make phone calls. I want to receive emails instantly. I want to load Web pages and refresh apps any time, anywhere. AT&T, fast as it might be, just can’t hang.

Before AT&T scored Apple’s iPhone exclusively in the U.S., its network was solid. Once tons of iPhones began hammering its airwaves constantly, however, things changed — especially in big cities. Calls dropped more frequently than they connected, data pipes were clogged, and the iPhone experience on AT&T pretty much became a disaster in many regions. Now, it wasn’t all AT&T’s fault. Reports emerged that Apple, which was new to the cell phone game, didn’t quite know how to make the most efficient use of cellular networks. Internationally, iPhone users on several other networks found themselves experiencing problems as well, but none were as bad as AT&T. To AT&T’s credit, things have improved a lot over the past six months or so, but I still drop calls constantly in Connecticut and in New York City, where I spend most of my time.

I don’t think we’ll see the same thing happen with Verizon Wireless. The nation’s top carrier has had over three years to prepare for the iPhone and I think it’s ready. Beyond that, a video showing what appears to be parts from the upcoming Verizon iPhone surfaced recently, and it looks like we may be in store for a redesigned antenna. Antennagate might not have affected iPhone sales much, much it definitely impacts the user experience. I don’t use a case and I’m sick of dropping calls every time I accidentally touch the black strip in the lower left corner of the phone. I think Apple spent a ton of time on this issue following the Antennagate affair, and I think the new model will definitely be improved.

There are obvious downsides to switching and I’m well aware of them. Verizon’s 3G is typically slower than AT&T’s network, battery life will probably be a tiny bit worse, and I’ll lose the ability to use voice and data at the same time unless Verizon shocks us with a workaround today. But you know what? I dropped five calls before 9:00AM this morning and I just can’t take it anymore. I’m someone who needs to be connected at all times, in all places, and I need to be able to rely on that connection because by business often depends on it. AT&T simply doesn’t seem to be up to the task — I really hope Verizon will succeed where AT&T continues to fail.

The hubbub hardly registered a blip on most people’s radar screens, but HTC recently found itself fielding some “death grip” claims related to its HD7 smartphone. The term death grip, in this context, was made famous earlier this year when customers found that a certain grip on Apple’s iPhone 4 would cause the handset to lose signal and drop calls. Apple uncharacteristically addressed the issue with a press conference, claiming most phones suffer similar issues when gripped near the antenna. Now, HTC’s HD7 is the latest smartphone to allegedly be affected by certain grips. In response to these claims, HTC made the following statement:

Quality in industrial design is of key importance to HTC. To ensure the best possible signal strength, antennas are placed in the area least likely to be covered by a person’s face or hands while the phone is in use. However, it is inevitable that a phone’s signal strength will weaken a little when covered in its entirety by a user’s palm or fingers. We test all of our phones extensively and are confident that under normal circumstances reception strength and performance will be more than sufficient for the operation of the phone when network coverage is also adequate.

BGR reviewed the HTC HD7 last month and did not find attenuation to be an issue during normal usage.

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Apple has released a statement regarding reception issues with the iPhone 4. The statement, which is in letter format, cites the “formula” Apple uses “to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display” being “totally wrong,” and the fact that “gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars.” We’ve got the full release for you after the break. Apple said a free software update will be coming in “a few weeks” that will allegedly provide a fix. What do you think?

Dear iPhone 4 Users,

The iPhone 4 has been the most successful product launch in Apple’s history. It has been judged by reviewers around the world to be the best smartphone ever, and users have told us that they love it. So we were surprised when we read reports of reception problems, and we immediately began investigating them. Here is what we have learned.

To start with, gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid, Nokia and RIM phones. But some users have reported that iPhone 4 can drop 4 or 5 bars when tightly held in a way which covers the black strip in the lower left corner of the metal band. This is a far bigger drop than normal, and as a result some have accused the iPhone 4 of having a faulty antenna design.

At the same time, we continue to read articles and receive hundreds of emails from users saying that iPhone 4 reception is better than the iPhone 3GS. They are delighted. This matches our own experience and testing. What can explain all of this?

We have discovered the cause of this dramatic drop in bars, and it is both simple and surprising.

Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.

To fix this, we are adopting AT&T’s recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhone’s bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area. We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see.

We will issue a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula. Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.

We have gone back to our labs and retested everything, and the results are the same- the iPhone 4′s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. For the vast majority of users who have not been troubled by this issue, this software update will only make your bars more accurate. For those who have had concerns, we apologize for any anxiety we may have caused.

As a reminder, if you are not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.

We hope you love the iPhone 4 as much as we do.

Thank you for your patience and support.

Apple

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Lost in all of the buzz surrounding the iPhone 4 antenna fiasco was the fact that Apple has three new job listings for antenna engineers. Well, that is until Engadget unearthed them after sitting unnoticed since June 23rd, or one day before the official launch of the iPhone 4 and the very same day that the now infamous reception issues came to light. Here’s a little snippet from the job description.

“Define and implement antenna system architecture to optimize the radiation performance for wireless portable devices [...] The The candidate should be able to design antennas suitable for wireless handheld devices with excellent radiation performance [...] Work closely with other RF and antenna design engineers, mechanical and industrial designers, and EMC engineers to integrate the antenna design in our products.”

Irony, we love you so!

Thanks, Zachary!

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During an televised interview with CNBC, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said Tuesday that his company’s efforts to repair its voice network have been paying off and that call quality is steadily improving. “We’ve been going hard at the voice quality issue,” Stephenson said, adding that AT&T’s network revamp, one which primarily focuses on particularly troublesome major cities such as San Francisco and New York, is nearly complete. Stephenson said AT&T customers can expect to use their phones as a phone by the end of the summer. Okay, that last bit was a joke. Sort of.

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AT&T continues to boast of “the nation’s fastest 3G network” while many customers in various regions across the country seem to think differently. Dropped calls, outages, network congestion and general reliability issues continue to plague the carrier’s 3G network but today we have some good news for those of you currently with AT&T. According to one of our ninjas, AT&T is set to begin a rolling launch of its Network Settings (N-SET) Solution across all networks in the US. The roll out will begin this month. N-SET will balance traffic between the carrier’s 2G and 3G networks, thus reducing the load borne by its 3G network. Essentially, a customer who primarily uses voice services will connect via 2G even if 3G is supported by his or her handset. If and when said customer begins to actively use data services, the network will bounce him or her over to 3G. BlackBerry Bold and iPhone 3G users will not be affected by the change. Assuming all goes according to plan, N-SET stands to have a pretty immediate impact on network performance by freeing up 3G bandwidth for heavier data users. Whether or not it will be enough to impact urban and populated areas — especially once the new iPhone is released this Summer — remains to be seen.

According to a new email blast AT&T is currently in the midst of sending out, the company has been hard at work in 2008 and through Q1 2009 improving its service in the New York metro area. In fact according to the email, the carrier added 75 new cell sites across New Jersey, New York and Long Island during the 15-month period. Specifically, AT&T lists the following areas as key improvements in 2008:

• Along I-78 in Hunterdon County west of Exit 11 and between Exit 33 and I-287 in NJ
• Aong the West Side Highway from 7th Avenue to West 10th Street in Manhattan
• The Sprain Brook Parkway from Route 100C to 100 and I-684 near Goldens Bridge in Valhalla, NY
• The Long Island Expressway near Exit 51 in Huntington Station, NY
• Perrineville, Prospect Plains, Union Valley & Applegarth Roads all in Monroe Township in Middlesex County, NJ
• Main Street and Ocean Avenue in Northport, NY
• The Southern State and Sagtikos Parkways in Bayshore, NY

A few more areas are also listed as recipients of even more recent coverage improvements:

• The NJ Transit line in Glen Rock, NJ
• Todt Hill Road in Staten Island
• Howells Road and the Sunrise Highway in Bayshore, NY
• Greenwich Village from Washington Square Park to East 12th Street, Central Park South
• The Upper East Side from East 82nd to East 91st Street in Manhattan

While we applaud AT&T’s continued efforts in the region, we’re still hearing from an unending stream of readers, colleagues and friends wondering what is going on with AT&T’s service in the NYC area. Of course people love to complain much more than they do praise so to be fair, we also talk to plenty of people in the area who live and die by AT&T’s service and seemingly have no problems at all. Consider this an informal third party survey — those of you with AT&T service in and around New York… How’s it hanging?

Hit the jump to see the full email and then hit the comments section to be heard.

While select market testing has been going on for well over a year, today Canada’s Rogers Wireless officially announced that it has a 3.5G 7.2Mbps HSPA network up and running coast-to-coast. So far the only devices that Rogers sells that are capable of taking advantage of the new speeds are the HTC Touch Diamond and the LG Vu, but these figures will hopefully take a turn for the better in the next few quarters (there are also two data cards by Novatel that can reach speeds of up to 7.2Mpbs). The extra .5G is great to have, but since the upgrade process began there have been some serious problems that have popped up and that refuse to go away. Subscribers in many large markets have complained that since 3.5G went the network has become rather unreliable. Dropped calls have increased, 3G reception has been sketchy and has developed a habit of going down now and then, and a lot of calls are going straight to voicemail for absolutely no reason. There’s no doubt that congestion is playing a major role here, but we’d really have preferred it if Rogers had fortified its 3G network before throwing some serious dollars at a 3.5G upgrade.

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Word is spreading that AT&T is having some major issues in California right now. Dropped calls a plenty with no ETA on when it might be fixed. According to one of our tipsters, AT&T even tried to buy him off placate him by offering him a $25 credit for his inconvenience. Savvy dude, he negotiated them up to $30. So all you Californians out there, how’s AT&T treating you right now? Same as always or major fail?