billpalmer.net

my reply to someone who said I sounded like an AT&T apologist on the most recent episode of iProng Radio when I pointed out that AT&T reception on my iPhone has been fantastic. He apparently bought an iPhone, had reception troubles, and returned it to the store a week later...

Hello XXXX,

You're certainly entitled to your opinion. Why am I not entitled to mine? I've had a grand total of one dropped call in five months with my iPhone. Should I pretend I'm having more problems than that just to appease the fact that others dislike AT&T?

AT&T's coverage has in fact been excellent now that I have an iPhone. That's a fact for the city I live in (Los Angeles) and appears to be the case in the other cities I've traveled to since I've had my iPhone (Chicago, San Francisco). All these iPhones in LA and I can't find anyone else here who's had reception issues either. Have you considered the very real possibility that the iPhone you bought was defective, or did you just assume that it was the AT&T network because you already decided you didn't like the company going into it?

My five months with AT&T on the iPhone, in terms of reception, have been an A-minus at worst. I'm not going to pretend my AT&T experience on the iPhone has sucked just because that's the "cool kids" opinion to have. And if I had a dollar for every time someone from various parts of the country has told me that their AT&T reception improved drastically once they moved from a moto phone to an iPhone, I'd be a rich man, because it's the prevailing trend that I see. It turns out AT&T has been unfairly taking the heat (from myself and others) for the crappy antennas in RAZR cell phones for years.

I'd think you'd know me well enough by now to know that I'm not going to fake an opinion just so I can gain entrance to the cool kids club. I know you're only allowed to be a true "Apple geek" if you use Firefox, Gmail, and Adium, and you think the iMac isn't a real computer and the Mac mini is the only Mac anyone should buy, and you think AT&T sucks. Sorry, but none of that conformist nonsense impresses me. And it's funny how nearly every time one of my "radical" opinions gets me shunned by the Apple geeks, it turns out the other 99% of the Apple user base agrees with me on that issue. Wonder why that is.

Have you even considered the possibility that your reception experiences with AT&T on the iPhone were atypical? Or were you too blinded by the drumbeat of Apple geeks who have spent the past ten months chanting "AT&T sucks" to see that you may have simply had a defective unit?

Much thanks,
Bill