I find it comical when ya'll get upset when someone that dislikes Apple comes back with a name when that's all Mac owners do. And I especially like how you try to turn my comment around on the vast majority. That's basically how al qaeda thinks. I don't really care who buys what, but we who make up the 90% don't buy Windows because it's made by Microsoft. That's what the majority of Apple buyers do. That's what spawned my comment. Just look at the second to last comment on page 2 of this thread. The iPhone is a really cool concept, but that price is absurd. Especially for people who just use their phones to talk and play music the majority of the time. I'd love to hear and actual reason why people don't like AT&T though. Maybe the network sucks in certain cities.

I'm in DC. I originally had AT&T Wireless (starting in '98). Great service, great customer service. As soon as Cingular bought them, I started getting dropped calls, poor reception, and at one of the stores they mysteriously added the "international package" to my bill. Yeah...I've NEVER made an international call...why would I want that?

In theory, they SHOULD have the best network, combining AT&T and Cingular. Problem is, too many subscribers. I don't believe the "fewest dropped calls" at all.

I don't have a problem with AT&T. Except that they're not AT&T anymore.

Keep w/ me, here...

AT&T spun off their cell phone company as a standalone, AT&T Wireless.

AT&T Wireless is sold to Cingular.

SBC buys AT&T, then changes their name to AT&T.

The new AT&T (SBC) then buys BellSouth (which owns Cingular).

So now there is a company by the name of AT&T, that has absolutely none of the history of AT&T. Until the new owners can prove they can run a company this big, I'm staying away from 'em.

Yes, we've all seen this by now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtFtcp4mNzA



Still, I had Cingular and Time Warner Cable. After all that crap took place, I now have AT&T everything and their Customer Service has been night and day compared to the crap I dealt with at Cingular.

I'm not upset, if I was upset I'd just delete your comments and be done with it.

Every company in the world want to create a brand loyal customer. Apple is just better at it than most, probably because of their attention to design, engineering, and use of use with their products, but they do tend to charge for that when they first bring out a product.

Your right, nobody buys Windows because it made by Microsoft, they haven't achieved any brand loyality, because for the most part they don't inovate anything, they just use their monoloplistic predatory practices to eliminate the competition (which of course is also what every company in the world wants to do, and Microsoft seems to better at this than most).

You probably wouldn't believe it, but we have just as many Windows PC's in the house as Mac's. My wife uses Windows, because that what she used when she was a PC programmer, and refuses to learn anything else, and she uses it to read email and internet surfing. My son got a Windows PC because of the game issue, that all he does on him machine other than some lite word processing. I happen to have two Mac's because when I replace one I don't need to trash the old one, I keep it around as a fileserver/backup machine. The machines that do the most work in the house are Mac's.

I never said ATT network sucks, I just said it wasn't a decent network, you might want to check the Cancelling Sprint thread to understand my opinion.

Great points. I forgot about the visual voicemail. That's a huge step forward. I swear Verizon has their V/M system tricked up so that it takes forever to toggle through all the messages (more chewed up minutes equals more $$). It takes a minute on the nose to listen to and delete one V/M. That's no accident since a one minute one second call gets billed as two minutes.

As for Windows Mobile, I've had mine freeze up on occasion. It's an inconvenience to soft restart or pull the battery out, but 99% of the time it's just that, an inconvenience. Hopefully Apple will raise the user interface bar so high that all the other cell phone manufacturers will take notice and drastically improve something that hasn't really moved in a positive direction in a few years.

The iPhone will offer some new things right off the bat, I just don't think it warrants $600 plus a two year commitment to a crappy network.

Off topic, but...

On my Verizon account voicemail doesn't count against minutes. I think if you actually dial your number it is, but if you use *86, it should be free.

Modify your voicemail contact to be something like this *86ppp#1234# (where 1234 is your pin) and you'll get into voicemail with one key. You can also set the system to use rapid prompts which speeds things up a bit as well.

Thanks for the tips. I didn't know about rapid prompts, or that it didn't count against minutes. I thought that's how they made their bread and butter with so many people addicted to voice mail.

Cingular was a joint venture of BellSouth and SBC (aka Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell, Nevada Bell, SNET, and Cellular One at that time) Acutally, they're more like the old AT&T now than they have been in almost 25 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_System_divestiture

From The Onion:

Apple is set to release the much-hyped iPhone Friday, June 29. Here are some of its most highly anticipated features:

• Nanotechnology enables it to reassemble itself when thrown against wall
  Exclusive link to Google Street View so you can watch yourself using your iPhone at all times
  
  Takes Polaroids
  
  When moved from hand to ear, makes Lightsaber sound effects
  
  Prominent Apple logo
  
  Reproduces through asexual budding
  
  Has way, way more PRAM than the last thingy
  
  Comes with an iPhone hat, so people know you own an iPhone during the brief periods you're not using it

This is some funny stuff, especially the bullet point about some of the most anticipated features being a prominent Apple logo and a hat so for the fleeting seconds early adopters aren't flashing it around, people will still know they spent over $600 for an average-featured phone.

That is some pretty funny stuff.

But how is the phone "average-featured?"

Seriously. I really don't know a lot about phones, other than the one I have - the Dash. I know the iPhone isn't 3G, but other than that, how is it average?

There’s no memory-card slot, no chat program, no voice dialing. You can’t install new programs from anyone but Apple; other companies can create only iPhone-tailored mini-programs on the Web. The browser can’t handle Java or Flash, which deprives you of millions of Web videos.

The two-megapixel camera takes great photos, provided the subject is motionless and well lighted . But it can’t capture video. And you can’t send picture messages (called MMS) to other cellphones.

Apple says that the battery starts to lose capacity after 300 or 400 charges. Eventually, you’ll have to send the phone to Apple for battery replacement, much as you do now with an iPod, for a fee.

Aside from the battery issue (which you can do yourself on an iPod, if so inclined, so I imagine they are working on it for the iPhone), what phones have all that other than Smart Phones? And how many of those have wi-fi?

I wouldn't call it *average*.

Holy shit!
Craigslist is blowing up right now.

BTW, I have a friend that works at Apple. He told me yesterday that all Apple employees will receive a free iPhone in July.

Sounds like that may be the ticket to getting a below-retail-price iPhone on ebay!

The day something made by Apple that goes cheap on eBay...especially something current...is the day Microsoft closes its doors.

I think what you MEANT to say was "sounds like that may be the ticket for an Apple employee to make the retail price PLUS a few bucks on ebay."

Priceless.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/ele/361291990.html

So who ended up getting one?

I'll let the lemmings beta test it for me and I'll pick it up when it starts to be useful in a few years.

Already going for $1500+ with bids on Ebay..

I'll wait for the cheaper, more feature rich 2nd generation.

Played with one tonight...it's better than I expected.
I must have one.

Are we still talking about iPhones?

I just don't get it either. If I'm going to spend that much money on a phone, I'd rather get a Nokia N95 myself. Wiki on it..

It beats the iPhone hands down, in my opinion. 5MP camera, built-in GPS, quad-band GSM and WCDMA, this phone smokes... Sure, it's only got 2 gigs of memory, but it's a cell phone for fucks sake. It's a $150 more, but it's from a company that's been in the game for a long time, not a first offering. Money much better spent you ask me.