

ATT to NYC: No iPhone for you... - telemachos
http://consumerist.com/2009/12/att-customer-service-new-york-city-is-not-ready-for-the-iphone.html

======
telemachos
My wife was trying to look at prices online today and noticed that the iPhone
wasn't available for our zip. After trying a handful of zips in NYC, we gave
up (figured it was a temporary glitch), and checked at an ATT store.

They're still selling them in stores here in the city, for what that's worth.
Apparently, get them while they're hot...

~~~
DannoHung
Or, y'know, at the Apple store.

------
lallysingh
There's a special relationship between NYC and inept telecom. I spent tens of
years in DC, and never have had as much trouble with phone and internet
service as one year in NYC.

Is it the infrastructure? All the buildings? Or just a sadistic local telecom
culture?

------
Maciek416
In the linked article a commenter says that they were told by ATT support that
the iPhone is unavailable in NYC due to "massive fraud".. Seems like the story
people are getting is inconsistent.

Can any HN'ers shed some light on this?

~~~
ericksoa
Someone should try to buy an equally expensive non-iPhone. If online fraud is
the problem, it should apply to all expensive/high demand products, not just
the iPhone.

~~~
icey
Unless the fraud is directly related to the iPhone - as in people buying the
iPhone using fake credentials, unlocking them and selling them at a premium.

------
dzlobin
Honestly, wait for the google nexus and see if that might be a better choice,
if you're just getting an iPhone now in NYC. With over 50-60% dropped calls,
it's really the worst phone to have if you actually plan on calling people.

~~~
seldo
Who calls people? My iPhone is a wireless Internet device, which comes with a
hugely inconvenient tax of 400 unused voice minutes every month.

I cannot WAIT until somebody releases a good phone with a data-only plan
(maybe the Nexus?)

~~~
windsurfer
I don't understand how you can be complaining about the plan. Surely you can
get any plan you want with your SIM card, and what phone you're using is none
of the phone company's business?

~~~
nuclear_eclipse
If only that were true in the US...

------
jsz0
How limited is AT&T's wireless spectrum for voice & data? There must be some
limit, in a small geographic area, to how much channel overlap you can have.
Is AT&T running out of spectrum?

~~~
wtallis
That could be the case for a densely populated but otherwise open area.
However, NYC is a concrete (and metal!) jungle. The only way to guarantee
consistent outdoor coverage would be to put a cell at practically every road
intersection. At that point, you might as well make a municipal wi-fi network,
too. Or instead, since wi-fi hotspots are much cheaper and higher volume
products than micro cells.

------
kvs
"Yes, this is correct the phone is not offered to you because New York is not
ready for the iPhone." I would like to rewrite that part of the phone script
to read, ATT is not ready for iPhone. :)

------
dustineichler
ATT irritates. this only adds fuel to the fire.

how's the service in nyc (esp subways)? can't be any worse than in sf.

~~~
apu
Uh, no one gets phone signal anywhere in the subways, on any carrier.

~~~
w1ntermute
Are you sure? [http://www.switched.com/2007/09/21/nyc-subway-stations-
wired...](http://www.switched.com/2007/09/21/nyc-subway-stations-wired-for-
cell-phones/) says towers were added more than 2 years ago. After all, not
having cell service in the subways seems like an enormous omission that would
have millions of people screaming.

~~~
lallysingh
On the upper east side, living here for 1 yr, I've never seen anyone talk (on
their phones) on the subway.

