As far back as I can remember owning a cell phone (since the cingular days), I’ve always had AT&T as my cellular provider. No problems whatsoever. I’ve always had great reception, hardly any dropped calls, and life was awesome.
Recently, however, my fiancée and I have moved into a new apartment in Brooklyn, NY where our reception is TERRIBLE. You would think being in a major metropolitan area, cellular reception would be ubiquitous. Think again.
Compound the lack of cellular reception with the need for me to run my business out of my home office and you can see how someone like me would be a bit upset. I’ve thought about dropping a land-line in my apartment but unfortunately that’s another expense my tiny little bootstrapped startup can’t afford.
I’ve called AT&T customer service a few times and here is a summary of their reponses:
Call #1 resolution:
We’re upgrading a tower close to you in 3 days. Wait three days and see if that makes it better.
Call #2 resolution (after resolution 1 failed):
We know you’re having cell reception issues. That’s because a bunch of towers in your area are down and we have no idea when they will be repaired or if that will even help.
I even got an email from a customer service rep that recommended this:
If indoors and there are no signal bars are displayed, attempt to step outside and see if the signal improves. If so, then indoor coverage is not available at the current location. Move to open areas that are less likely to block the signal to increase the phone’s signal strength. Confined areas such as tunnels, mirrored buildings, and elevators are known for blocking wireless signals.
Awesome. I guess that means every time I need to place or receive a business call and I need to quickly run down three flights of stairs and across the street to get some reception. Unacceptable.
As an iPhone developer, it is somewhat expected that I use an iPhone on a regular basis. While I love my iPhone 4, cell reception issues in my apartment have resulted in way too many dropped calls with clients and colleagues.
So interwebs, what should I do?
UPDATE (after posting this article I went back and forth a few times with @ATTJenn):
ATTJenn: I can take a closer look at this if you can please DM your cell number and zip code. Thanks.
Me: <number and zip sent>
ATTJenn: Thanks. There are known issues in your area that we are working to resolve. I apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.
Me: Can you tell me when you expect these issues to be resolved?
Me: That article is from a month ago which says the upgrades are completed. I don’t have issues anywhere except my office.
ATTJenn: If the issue is isolated to one building, then it would not be related to the known issues in the area. I can understand that you are upset about how your service works when you are inside your office, and I am sorry for your frustration. A lot depends on the material used in the building’s construction. The signal for cell phones is in essence a radio signal and can be affected by the same structures that would block a radio station signal, for example. Depending upon where the tower is located and the angle of the antenna, you may find better coverage in one building over another.
Me: So what solution do you have for me other than moving to another building or canceling my service?
ATTJenn: At this point the best way to improve signal in a building is with MicroCell. You can check availability at
http://bit.ly/njH2(I checked the availability and the site was down. Lame.)
ATTJenn: You may want to also try manually switching to Edge just when in your office. This may help while in the building.
Me: Edge doesn’t help and there’s absolutely no way I am buying a microcell to fix your network. I don’t live in the middle of nowhere
Radio silence since then. I’m sure there will be more on Monday. Verizon is looking more attractive by the minute.
Death star image from http://www.applegazette.com/