I recently noticed that almost all of my calls in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, hardly a data hotspot, drop at least once. Every single one. Now I know what people mean when they say AT&T sucks.
Well now there is an electronic version of that crosswalk button for me to push whenever my signal degrades. This app, free in the App Store lets you pinpoint your location when the call was dropped. Expect a good constellation of points around my house.
And everywhere else in New York. Presumably this will allow AT&T to send technicians to various spots in the city, resulting in potentially better reception.
maybe i have some special att coverage, but i really don’t have issues with the service.
is there an app to let apple know when my iphone freezes?
I’m with you. AT&T customer for 7 years. Works great for me. 3G too. Can’t even recall having an issue with a lack of 3G.
Me, I am more interested on finding an app to cure AT&T’s coverage gap on a larage chunk of USA area.
Now, is there an APP for that Luke Wilson (AT&T commercial boy) ? http://bit.ly/luke-wilson-headless-ads-worst
Well, at least its good to hear Apple is trying to compensate for the ‘loss’ of AT&T by unveiling this App.
Why does it matter to you if there is no coverage on the large swaths of land where no one lives ? How often do you travel through there ?
Instead of fixating over a map that shows geographical “gaps” – the relevant measure is where most people live and/or travel through.
A density and location of interest map comparison between AT&T and Verizon may show a very different picture
It’s a dimn cold night,
Tryin’ to figure out this life,
Won’t you take me by the hand,
Take me somewhere new,
I don’t know who you are but I,
I’m with you.
I’m with you.
@Went – don’t hold his hands… just yet :D
I drive through the exact spot on the screenshot almost everyday. Sometimes I drop calls, sometimes I don’t…
This particular spot in Kennesaw, GA is a VERY HIGH traffic and shopping area. There should be no reason for bad service here.
Me too. In the Chicago suburbs and an AT&T (cingular) customer for 10 years. No issues to speak of.
I live in the center of San Francisco and my AT&T signal sucks. I can barely have a phone conversation, so I use skype from home when I have an important call. AT&T’s monopoly is gotta be broken.
Same here, the signal is so bad I have to get a landline…I wish AT&T would take care of this crap, or give me a Mycell3G to make this crap work…
Found a spot in Chicago as seen in this pic: http://dearheathermarie.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/chicago_aerial600x800.jpg
You must not live near Berkeley CA. Today I tried to use the app to report NO signal on a major downtown street and got “This application is temporarily unavailable”
Only after walking a few blocks could I even use it to report the call failures.
“maybe i have some special att coverage, but i really don’t have issues with the service.”
i found a spot where it works. I dont know why there isnt a class action lawsuit against AT&T for misrepresentation in their advertising. I live in LA and my reception is dead on sunset.
i hate you AT&T.
hugs and kisses,
shahram
Do carriers still check deadcellzones.com?
Yes Deadcellzones.com talks with carriers very frequently about their problems and we see their IP address on the site. NIH is their main problem having a small startup tell them where their coverage stinks. David vs. Goliath.
What’s the name of the app?
Ahh — it’s “Mark the Spot.” Wasn’t clear in the article itself, but it was in the headline.
Just did a search of the App Store.
Thanks,
D
This smells like marketing to me. Since AT&T owns the towers and has extensive analytics behind them, don’t they already know when/where calls are dropped?
they totally know how many calls were dropped, from what tower and where the gaps are. If I go the speed limit at the top of my street calls drop as my phone switches towers.
Did you guys make up that screenshot or was it provided by Apple/AT&T? If you made it, kudos for having the one screen that says “Do not use while driving” and the other screen that puts the GPS coords right on an interstate.
hahaha…good point
This smells like marketing to me. Since AT&T owns the towers and does extensive analytics on the data flowing out of them, don’t they already know when/where calls are dropped?
I am not sure how AT&T would distinguish between a dropped call and a call ended by the other party, so this could be a very valuable tool for AT&T to figure out where some of the more annoying holes are in their network.
I went to the Apple Store and their diagnostics app showed a list of dropped calls on my iPhone. It had many fewer entries than the actual number of dropped, failed, incomplete calls I remember. My guess is that in many cases the system doesn’t actually record call failure.
Maybe this app will give them better stats on how bad their service really is, at least here in the Bay Area.
This may help improve coverage in hilly areas around CA where there are still dead spots, but most of the problems back East seem to be with cell overload. One moment, your service works great; the next you have no service at all. And you haven’t moved an inch. Presumably, though, cell towers keep track of overload, so there’s no need for customers to provide information about where and when problems occur.
Now i just need a version for my blackberry 9700. My first AT&T 3G experience, and I have already set it to 2g only. The level of call dropping was unacceptable in the middle of NYC.
And if I got a $1 dollar refund for everytime i clicked on a browser link and got an error telling mt the network is not available i think they might have to start paying me.
+1
I’m from the Boston area. I have had AT&T/Cingular for 8 years now. I really haven’t a problem with them. They seem to be the only ones at the ski resorts that I go to regularly. My friends with Verizon phones always ask to borrow mine.
The places that I notice drop calls, well, all the phones drop calls there. Seeing that the tower is behind a mountain.
Wow, this is genius marketing by At&t. With one little app, not only are they turning every frustrated iPhone user into their own (unpaid) QOS testers, but they are doing this with the guise that the information they gather will actually improve service. This is a cheap and effective way that they can give the appearance that they care about QOS and coverage. Until I stop losing signal in my cubicle at work I’ll maintain my poor opinion of their coverage.
Your building might need a repeater. We recently installed one here. We had almost zero signal while outside we had a strong signal. Might not be a problem AT&T can fix…
Oh yes what a great idea to install a repeater! Why not have customers install cell towers for AT&T in dead spots while we’re at it?
We have the same issue in our building (NYC) even just by the windows we can barely place a call or receive an sms.
Verizon users in our office get 5 bars all the way to the hallway inside the building, no problems at all.
Verizon has put a lot of repeaters in buildings – there is a fair chance that there is one in your building.
Actually, this app gathered information from the iPhone that AT&T doesn’t have access to, which will help it in diagnosing the problem better. Its not good enough just to know that a call was dropped. More details on why it was dropped is necessary. Kinda like when you send a report to Apple or Microsoft when an app crashes. The crash dump has tons of useful info.
I have used the iPhone across Europe without issue. Here, in the DC area, it sucks. http://tinyurl.com/y9qamzc
That said, I am going to try this app…..
Same here, when in europe it’s really fast, even checking emails on gmail is faster when i’m in Paris then when in the US.
NYC coverage is simply horrendous.
And on top of that my experience in Europe vs. US in terms of data downloads makes me think AT&T also has an issue with its network performance (besides cell coverage). They probably don’t allocate enough bandwidth to each cell tower, so it doesn’t matter if you get full 3G you never get the benefit of the full speed.
I’m basically echoing the above poster saying this is a brillant move by AT&T to make it seem like they care about users and to get some free QA.
At first I was amazed that AT&T doesn’t have this info firsthand. Maybe I shouldn’t be. Really all they have to check is a call terminating nit due to a hangup or the user placing a call to the same number in under a minute of the previous call. This isn’t rocket surgery.
I think AT&T is doing this as their contract with apple is set to renew and unless they make it seem like they are doing something apple, with their reputation for quality, will jump. Hopefully apple isn’t fooled by something so simple.
I agree with this being a ruse as well. Remember how AT&T is running ads talking about great their service is? When you call to complain about shoddy service or dropped calls they act like it’s only you. The script probably works like this now for complaint calls: “Did you download our fancy app and report it? No? Then please do and we’ll take care of it right away” and your complaint gets checked off the list and tossed out.
If the data isn’t working, how will it send a report? Wait until a data connection is found?
I haven’t had service between 12 pm and 5 pm in mid-town Manhattan in over a year. I’ve given up even trying. I don’t even bring my phone with me when I go to lunch, there’s no point because it doesn’t work anyway.
You can pick a location where you don’t have signal, you don’t have to be at that exact point for AT&T to verify no signal.
The application uses the gps locator, which is satellite, not data.
I wonder if the app has an “all of NYC” setting
Bad headline writing champ.
It’s the network that sucks. iPhones most certainly don’t suck. And for those who would argue otherwise, opinions are like navels, everyone has one. But the fact that a lousy network can steal customers away from a great network means that 3G speeds are not as important as Verizon wants people to believe – and only a great phone (though far from perfect) could do such a feat.
Argue all you want. Such a juxtaposition of bad network and good phone is pretty much proof.
Just downloaded it and realized there is no information that I can use. It would be great if it would map where there has been a report of a bad signal so I could simply walk towards a “strong signal” area.
This reminds me of the Steve Martin joke of how to avoid paying taxes on a million dollars: “First, get a million dollars….”.
If one is standing in a poor coverage area, presumably either data or voice, the likelihood that the app will actually be able to submit data is also reduced, so the likelihood of getting meaningful info to ATT is pretty small as well.
As mentioned above, ATT NOC should be getting alert, and log entry whenever a call “fails” (i.e not terminated by user), so this is more of a customer placation than anything meaningful.
The app allows you to submit later and pick the place on the map where the failure happened.
When service is the worst, you are unable to do anything–let alone connect to publish this type of information.
I guess this app assumes that I’ll have a gps signal. In San francisco/south bay it takes at least 3 minutes to pinpoint my location within a mile. Give it a shot around SOMA as you’re coming off the 280…guarantee you’ll get lost.
Switch to Droid on Verizon.
I live near Green Bay, WI. I know it isn’t the “big city”, but the Fox Valley area has a population of around 220,000 people. I LOVE my iPhone, but I wish I would have gotten an iTouch instead. This weekend I tried calling my wife 55 times as it would dial and then tell me the call was unavailable. I’ve had more calls dropped in the past 4 months.
I also visit Chicago quite a bit and while I do get better service there, it still isn’t as good as my wife’s (She is on Verizon).
I wish I had Verizon. I will be using this app over and over again until AT&T steps up its coverage area.
…or until the FTC and FCC force AT&T to sell their wireless business off to a Carrier With A Clue.
how does an app that obviously depends on signal report bad signal?
it works off of gps, which is sattelite, not att network.
The funniest part is that my office is next to ATTs office on Winward Parkway Alpharetta, GA and I have terrible reception here. Its even worse when I drive through the ATT parking lot. This morning I couldn’t make a call to I drove away from the parking lot.
What a bunch of baloney. ATT cust svc reps when pressed will admit that TODAY there are dozens of towers in critical if not completely failed condition in Chicago. ATT already knows they have a problem with their network. This app is a joke. One would think it’s the carrier’s responsibility to get their act together and monitor their own network. This app would only be interesting if it were 3rd party and the results were published, which of course ATT will never do.
Just waiting for my contract to expire.
why should we do ATT’s job. Screw em let them fix these issues non their own. Verizon didnt need an APP like this and their coverage is the bomb……Proud SPRINT Customer.
“… that almost all of my calls in …”
and
” …drop at least once. Every single one. “
They should just make NYC one big problem dot. Not a day goes by without a dropped call and it has to do with the iPhone and more to do with AT&T’s network not being up to snuff.
I have a feeling I am going to be using this app a lot. I just installed it, had to make a call and take a wild guess what happened.
Call failed.
They are going to get a *LOT* of reports from me.
I managed to get a $175 credit a few weeks ago because I have out right had it with AT&T.
I love the iPhone, best phone imo. But what good is a phone if you can’t use it. *IF* Apple resigns the exclusive contract with AT&T, I am done … I will find a new phone until they are on other networks.
As a former Cell Phone employee, the sad part is people will still be upset regardless of the service they have.
We saw it all the time… someone would be upset because they didn’t have coverage in their living room. So, they switch carriers.
They’re Elated when they can sit in their rocking chair and make a call… that is of course until they get to the kitchen and find the new service doesn’t work there.
It is a RADIO technology people… meaning, it’s affected by objects, weather, elevations, you name it. It will NEVER work perfectly EVERYWHERE!
So, the fact that AT&T can already detect where dropouts are is irrelevant?
Remember how one of the location-based social networks (wouldnt remember the name, theres more of these networks than flies) did a deal with AT&T to get the locations of users all the time?
AT&T should just map out the locations where there AREN’T GPS traces sent from. That’s probably a good indication of where there’s holes in the network.
As an Australian, I have no idea what it’s like to drop a call. Optus FTW :D (oh, and I just got tethering enabled on my account today, totally legitimately)
This is a handy tool
I’m hoping for a less chunky, better app store, & more multimedia friendly Android 2.0 phone by June, when the next gen iPhone comes out & I can comparison shop. IN THE MEANTIME… Me & the entire tri state area will be bombarding AT&T with free QA! An honorable, if ultimately futile attempt, given they are bombarded with bug reports as people slowly begin group dropped call therapy… Then again, I will be impressed if they respond to the 100 dropped signal / data zero / no signal in Sunnyside, Queens bug reports I deliver daily, beginning yesterday. Of course, I was supposed to get a free text confirming receipt of my submissions… but I had no signal.
Hey AT&T! Dead zones already has 10,000 “Mark the Spot” locations here: http://deadcellzones.com/att.html
AT&T user generated content requires that you share the information with others. Why would customers give you data for nothing in return. Dead cell zones shares the locations with others.
Every morning, as I drive to work, i call my relatives on the east coast. at the exact same spot, my AT&T coverage drops 3 out of 5 days. ther eis no rhyme or reason for when it drops (and frequently numerous times in the course of the 20 minute drive), as it can be cloudy, clear, rainy, foggy, and it cuts out. I used to have a Helio account and phone (the iPhone buster of 2008), and neer dropped a call as i drove to worik…
I moved to Alpharetta, GA recently.. till then I was really happy with my i-Phone.. But now I really hate ATT services as call keeps dropping every 2 min… Its really bad…