Secrets of the City

Well, the only carrier for the iPhone is AT&T (used to be Cingular), which is the plan I have, but I don’t plan on buying one. It’s a good enough network (don’t know about speed of the internet, tho) and I like the rollover of minutes since I RARELY ever use all of my daytime minutes…but, the plans are a little more expensive than T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon…

I can’t afford nonna that yuppie shit!

Switch to AT&T wireless — uh — Cingular — um — yeah AT&T? Just for the privilege of carrying around a $700 phone that I’ll drop in the toilet? No thanks!

I use Sprint because it is one of the few carriers where I get a signal in my house and in my office. I would say a starting point for getting any cell service is determining whether you will get a signal in the places you are the most. What good is a cell phone if you get a crappy signal in your house? Or where ever you happen to be most often…

Wayne, you’re young, you live in the city, and you have a white collar job.

What good is a cell phone if you get a crappy signal in your house? Or where ever you happen to be most often…

That’s why I don’t have Sprint anymore. I had to stand by my window in a particular spot to get a signal, and would get a whole bunch of dropped calls in SLP and Hopkins…great service in the North Burbs, tho…

Wayne, you’re young, you live in the city, and you have a white collar job.

Not quite. I might do white collar work, but my job title and pay are decidedly blue collar.

But you are a professional, right? I know you’ve got a degree, if you’re working out finite element analysis codes on your electronic abacus. You, my friend, are technically a yuppie.

OK, I’m stirring the pot just a bit. It’s Friday.

Did somebody say pot?

The iPhone has cool gizmos, but does it really work as a phone? My friends with Trios have to borrow my old, shitty Samsung to make calls in wide swatches of the metro area. The fax component seems to work everywhere, though.

T-Mobile’s cheap, and pretty decent. It works really well in other big cities- I’ve used it in NYC, Boston, Vegas, San Fran, etc. without issue. The countryside, not so much.

Even though I am a Mac computer fan, I have no intentions of buying an iPhone for myself. Those things cost an arm and a leg: $700 dollars by the retail price; it only uses the AT&T wireless network, which is the lowest forms of subscription cell phone consumer plans in the United States, not to mention the worst. And I would never take an iPhone with me if I was in the woods on vacation since they are easy to get lost all the sudden.

Sorry Jobs. You lost me with another over hype tech toy from Apple. Remember the Power Mac G4 Cube fiasco in 2000?

“But you are a professional, right?”

What exactly is the definition of a professional, in the context of white collar employment?

Aliecat: “Did somebody say pot?”

Dude! You’ve got to play it cool and say something like “Anyone interested in meeting at 4.20? I’m talking about smoking marijuana.”

I think you all need to learn the value of Sturgeon’s Law, and remember that Sturgeon was an optimist.

* T-Mobile says “nobody has fewer dropped calls in the twin cities” and that’s because T-Mobile is the smallest major carrier! Very iffy coverage when you get outstate.

* AT&T only offers the same crappy GPRS coverage that T-Mobile has around here. You’ll be waiting to get EDGE service in the Twin Cities, and even that’s still much slower than the EV/DO offered by the following:

* Verizon has “America’s best, most reliable network”, except that it leverages Sprint’s network quite a bit, and their claim is based on their own study. Lots of hidden fees, and they are also the other half of the self-reassembling Bell monopoly that isn’t covered by AT&T.

* Sprint was the first wireless provider I used. Half of the calls I got at home (at 27th & Dupont S) went straight to voicemail.

mnblrmkr: “What exactly is the definition of a professional, in the context of white collar employment?”

That’s a rather good question, actually. I have never given it much thought.

Sounds like I’m in the small minority, but I’m heading to Rosedale right now to get in line.

But seriously… be the first kid on your block with an iPhone — what’s six hundred dollars and a two year contract on a gizmo you may not even be able to touch, let alone use, before you buy?

Run, don’t walk to be a consumer whore!

I love electronic gagdgets, nerd herd girl that way, but I always wait until round 2 so the bugs, or most of the bugs, get worked out — and the price goes down.

Sprint has been good to me. Every so often it gets tempermental, but I have gotten service wherever I am… big city or bucolic SD.

over rated. i watch movies on my home entertainment system, i listen to music on my ipod, and i surf the internet on my computer, and i have a cell phone. do you really need to have all of this in your pocket all at once?
besides, cingular is JUNK. i couldnt get good calls in the heart of minneapolis. I even paid 150 to get the hell out of that network.

I get typically good coverage across the state with Cingular.

Yeah, I haven’t had many complaints with their coverage around the state…except there is none in the southeaster corner of MN, south of Rochester and almost to Iowa…but who ever goes there? Kidding…

But you are a professional, right? I know you’ve got a degree, if you’re working out finite element analysis codes on your electronic abacus. You, my friend, are technically a yuppie.

Not really. I do have a degree and do FE sims, but my job is ‘technician,’ which is basically just ‘bitchworker,’ doesn’t require a college degree and pays accordingly. I’m working pretty far outside the scope of my job title (and defnitely well outside of the pay) but that doesn’t change the fact that my position is not a professional one. I get paid for overtime (if they’d ever let me work any).

So I’m not actually a professional. Skirting the fine yuppie line!

We have our own iPhone line waiters. Here. And here.

I’m partial to the iPig myself.

Oh, and if I were actually a well-paid yuppie I’d probably buy an iphone since I already have cingular and, you know, for those yuppie types money ain’t no thang.

Being an well-paid yuppie (and proud of it) – i’ll be picking one up today. Heading to southdale in a few.

There is a forum for line status’s here: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=3840002

All cell phone networks suck but I have had Cingular (now AT&T) for the past 3 years and have no complaints especially compared to sprint or t-mobile in this area.

When Apple starts getting defense contracts we’ll have sweet wars in iRaq and iRan. But don’t worry, the branding and user interface will be great.

where do you work, yoshi?

and are they hiring people who are good at math?

iDGAF about keeping up with the latest craze in conectivity.

Here you go Wayne on the comedy tip.

Wayne, you’re young, you live in the city, and you have a white collar job.

Oh god, here we go again.

That’s why I don’t have Sprint anymore. I had to stand by my window in a particular spot to get a signal.

For real, yo. I had Sprint for 7 years and I finally couldn’t take it anymore. Switched to Verizon last fall. Pricing is comparable for my purposes. Although for as much as I’m spending on txt, I might as well cough up for a whole data plan. Which I’d need a better phone to take full advantage of. Which will cost me at least $200 that I’m not interested in spending right now. And everyone I know that has a phone that I really like has T-Mobile anyway.

So, uh, no iPhone or anything else for me.

Like Erica, I made the switch from Sprint to Verizon. After I moved here, I’d have to turn the phone off when I was at work (or else the battery would die as it was looking for a signal) and then it started being spotty at home. Considering I also used it to buzz people into my apartment, that was unacceptable.

Now, with Verizon, I have no trouble getting reception at home. Work still isn’t great. I get just enough reception to allow the phone to ring, but I have to go outside if I want to actually talk. Which I guess is good, because I don’t like making personal calls from my cube farm. It’s also a nice excuse to get outside (at least when the weather is nice).

I was a big fan of t-mobile until last week, when I went to Omaha and couldn’t get a signal most of the time I was there. and I mean actual city limits and all.

Then again, that’s what I get for going to omaha.

Nebraska has cell phone towers? Next you’re going to tell me they have running water, too.

Members of my family routinely drive from the twin cities to the Madison, Wi. area. We have T-Mobile and have had no problems getting through to each other. We always travel I 94 though. I know if you get more than a few miles off the freeway in some Wisconsin areas east off Eau Claire you won’t have service. T-Mobile isn’t really in Wisconsin. They piggy back off some one elses systems which accounts for less service away from the freeway areas. Along I 94 you have pretty decent service. As far as sevice goes in the twin cities I feel it has gotten much better the last few years as opposed to five years ago.

I’m relatively pleased with my AT&T Wireless-Cingular-the new AT&T service. I must be, I’ve stuck with them through three states and three phone numbers (and, also, I’m too cheap to break the contract). I love the rollover minutes; I haven’t gone over on my cell phone minutes in a long time, and I used to all the time. Overall, I have had pretty good service with Cingular, except in southwestern Minnesota, where my phone only serves as a paperweight.

I am such a excited fanboy! I’ve been in line since Wednesday! I’m getting an iPhone!!!!

I’m waiting until the second generation iPhone. Hopefully most of the bugs will be worked out by then.

“Nebraska has cell phone towers? Next you’re going to tell me they have running water, too.“

Recently, yes, the state of Mayberry did get running water but they don’t like to brag.

You lost me with another over hype tech toy from Apple.

I don’t know that it’s been hyped that much by Jobs or Apple. Some print ads with the TV stuff just coming recently. The TV ads bascially show you what it does. Analysts at Apple say that they can at best get a 1 percent market share. The hype is being done by Apple’s loyal customers and the press.

The iPhone gets a lot of press. Would love to have one, but The Rat doesn’t use the all features available on his Samsung.

Still, it looks like a cool little gadget.

LOLcat courtesy of this site

I’m not too excited about the multi-touch touchscreen, or the built-in iPod functionality, or even being among the first to the latest greatest gadget… but OMG, you’ve totally sold me on having LOLcats on my phone. See you guys later, I’m off to the Apple Store!

also I had thought about getting a smartphone when I got my last new phone last year, but I realized that I don’t actually have that many friends and I’m never very far from home so all the internetting on it is kind of dumb to spend money for.

So is somebody going to tell us how it is what?

Apparently the iPhone will do no one in Vermont any good. ATT/Cingular does not service any of the state. LOL

You folks probably heard about the terrorist brouhaha in London in which some Islamic fundy nut tried to blow up two used cars in the heart of the city by using a remote control device. It was all on cable news….

But no matter. Most Americans like us are generally at the apple store, trying to buy the latest iPhone off the shelf—as if important world events are not that important these days.

Are you at home hiding under your bed, Big G?

That’s just what the terrorists want you to do.

Were they using an iPhone to trigger the bombs and that’s why they didn’t work?

If they had used an iPhone, it absolutely would have worked.

People with iPhones are much less likely to have kids push through shoddy screens and fall out of second story windows.

“Hi Kassim, my name is Brad and I’m a level 2 technician with Apple support. I’m very sorry to hear about the connection problems you have experienced with your iPhone, let’s see if we can walk through five simple steps together, and between us we should be able to resolve your issue and get this thing to explode to your satisfaction…”

T-mobile seems to be the best around here – someone here stated that t-mo only has GPRS… not true, all of the metro is on EDGE now, and even most of the outstate coverage. Only place I’ve seen just GPRS coverage was the Brainerd area. Sure, GSM doesn’t cover 100% of the state, but every place I’ve been to “up north” has had coverage. I guess if you’re really out in the sticks often you might want to look at providers that have phones with analog capabilities… But then again you run into roaming charges often. I’m reasonably sure that I could be anywhere in this country and as long as I have GSM coverage, I don’t have roaming charges.

I’ve never had a dropped call with t-mobile. I’ve had them since they were Aerial Communications here. The only drawback is the high-frequency GSM sometimes has problems penetrating large concrete buildings…

Overall, I’ve been happy with them, happy enough to stick with them for 7 years. Another great thing about t-mobile is if you call and ask nicely they’ll seem to send you free phones if you do a contract extension.

As for the iphone… what a joke. I’ll keep my ‘berry.

I’ve used them all, and Sprint is the one I’ve stayed with the longest. Almost 9 years. My only gripe is the lack of Smart/PDA phone selection. Most innovations are happening around GSM phones from Asia. Sprint has to be selective in their process of designing CDMA phones, thus there’s less to choose.

Anyone want my T-Mobile contract?

I’m glad to see that the iphone has gotten so much free advertising. Everytime I watched the news this week I felt like I was watching an infomercial.

It’s as big as a Zune

Only people with low IQ’s are stupid enough to dig into this media hype, regarding the iPhone. I mean, come on! Let’s face it! AT&T that supplies the network programing for the iPhone device is in bed with the Bush Administration and its domestic spying program through the NSA; it was reported last year in the New York Times and it was the biggest talk in Washington D.C. when the Patriot act was up for renewal in the U.S. Senate. Yet, I don’t see anyone in the news media that write stories for the iPhone, talking about this little controversy with AT&T.

Also, AT&T has the worst record of customer service providers in the United States by consumer reports! So why in the hell did Apple went for AT&T, after not realizing that the phone service company had a grade F by a well-known magazine publisher and numerous complaints by former customers, who pass their stories along to various sectors of the news media?

Anybody that is dumb enough to think that the iPhone is going to really change the cell phone industry with all this PR mania and spin is like saying that Iraq is going to have a U.S.-style democracy in the middle east in the near future. Boy, talk about human stupidity. No wonder Americans are detach from the real world!

I’m glad to see that the iphone has gotten so much free advertising.

Yeah, it’s kind of like when Krispy Kreme or Trader Joe’s or IKEA came to town.

Where’s Mika Brzezinski when you need her?

Yeah, I’m not sure what the big deal is. I mean if I duct taped my cell phone to my iPod. It’d have Almost 8x the hard drive space and way the hell longer battery life and it’d still be smaller than the iPhone. Plus, it’d have less smudges.

I knew it had to be Bush who was behind this iPhone hype.

Prick.

Words can’t describe how much I want one, but they can describe why I didn’t get one: $60/month minimum service plan is waaaaaaaaay too much for this clown. I got a red RAZR instead.