I Love the TITAN....but

[tampacoder]

I'm a little nervous about AT&T. I'm a long time Verizon customer that had next to no issues with the cell service. I also was using a second gen Android phone and even though it got the job done, I was looking for a new user experience and fell that a Windows Phone would provide me with that. So, I made the switch to AT&T because I felt the TITAN was the best phone on the market that has specs that can get me through a two yr contract.

But, even with all this hi-tech I can't seem to get an acceptable signal inside buildings where I never really had a problem. I just read through the new issue of Consumer Reports and by all account AT&T is rated the lowest in just about every category. As a consumer, I'm not sure if I should put up with this, so I'm asking for some opinions here.

1). Would you sign up for a 2-yr deal knowing about that you will probably get sup-par service? (I'm 10 days into my 30 day return window)

2). After using the TITAN, would you settle for another WP7 device on a top-rated carrier. e.g HTC Trophy (VZ)

3). Do you think things will get better with AT&T?

 

[Reflexx]

I think things will get better with AT&T. Though, that "better" might still be 1 or 2 yrs away, depending on your location. They're building more infrastructure and trying to restructure their buy out proposal of T-Mobile.

Whether you can put up with it is really a personal decision. In my area, AT&T is pretty good.

 

[Rocket_Girl]

Tampacoder, I am in the same boat. I came from more than 10 yrs with Verizon, and never once had a signal problem or lost data connection, other than random local or system-wide outages. Reliable service means a LOT to me.

I came from an HTC Trophy, so maybe I can help out there. It is a great phone for use in the US, but has a fatal flaw for international use (loses data connection upon return to US and requires hard reset to restore it). There is a very active thread on this over in the Trophy forum. I bought Trophy for full retail price only 3 months before getting the Titan... I was that desperate to get out of Android-****.

I love the Titan size and screen, so it would be a rough swap size-wise, but for me the Trophy is useless: I need the global features, and need them sooner than a fix will be in place (there is one in progress - again, see thread in Trophy forum). So, for a WP7 phone wiht global capability, I can ONLY use a non-Verizon carrier.

Signal at home is lousy, and data connection is non-functional about a third of the time while I am at home (I have wi-fi during the day, but rely on cellular connection at home). I could return the Titan and try T-mobile ( great ratings for speed, but Radar, not so sure...) - or think about shelling out for an unlocked version of the Titan, to see whether *that* is free from the data-throttling that seems to have been locked into the at&t-branded phones. I don't know if this would even work, but I am looking into it. Would also make international travel and sim-swapping a breeze, assuming frequencies are compatible across borders.

If I can answer other questions about the Trophy, let me know -- happy to do so. Have an almost-new Trophy sitting at home, ready for use as a Zune-touch music player. iTouch would have been cheaper. Oh, well.

 

[ZombieBacchus]

If I can answer other questions about the Trophy, let me know -- happy to do so. Have an almost-new Trophy sitting at home, ready for use as a Zune-touch music player. iTouch would have been cheaper. Oh, well.

I love my Titan but cant deal with the no data connection while I am at work. That is just a deal breaker for me. Who knows when ATT will address this and tomorrow my 30 days expires so it needs to go back (I originally had the Focus S but returned that as well because I couldnt get data at work either)

The Trophy is only 30 bucks on contract right now so I am going to consider switching to Verizon to get that. Did the Trophy receive the Mango update?

 

[Reflexx]

I'm pretty sure the Trophy received the Mango update.

You'd think that there should be some sort of nice, portable, and inexpensive signal boosting technology out there.

 

[TheRewardisCheese]

I believe all WP phones have received the Mango update now.

 

[aximtreo]

Yes, the Trophy did receive the Mango update and it is a great OS. I left Verizon in early 2011 to go with the Focus on AT&T. Kept it about a month; sold it and ported back when the Trophy became available on Verizon. In the one month at AT&T, I lost data, dropped calls and had lousy voice quality. I have had neither problem with the Trophy. I need a larger screen but won't sacrifice Verizon quality to get the Titan. Won't make that mistake again.

By the way, I don't have to worry about internation service so it wouldn't be a problem for me but can understand the concerns.

 

[tampacoder]

Thank you all for the feedback so far. This is definitely something I will be thinking about over the next 20 days.

Right now, its just down right embarrassing. My wife sends me a text..waits a few minutes..and call my work phone to ask me if I got it. Just about every time my answer is no, and she laughs. We both had a family plan with VZ and the plan in the beginning was to have her move over to AT&T. With all the phone connection/data issues there is no way I can convince her to move over now.

 

[kevm14]

Yeah I have been fairly disappointed with AT&T, and that's coming from Sprint. Reception is worse at home, and about the same at work. Even data speeds really don't seem better. I will probably not return the phone though. I'll stay with them for two years and see how it goes, as it is functional, just disappointing, especially for 4G. I also have some small amount of faith that between phone updates, and network improvements, that what we see today may improve over time...optimistic, yes.

 

[tampacoder]

Yes, the Trophy did receive the Mango update and it is a great OS. I left Verizon in early 2011 to go with the Focus on AT&T. Kept it about a month; sold it and ported back when the Trophy became available on Verizon. In the one month at AT&T, I lost data, dropped calls and had lousy voice quality. I have had neither problem with the Trophy. I need a larger screen but won't sacrifice Verizon quality to get the Titan. Won't make that mistake again.

So, what's the process of porting your number back to Verizon. Do they make you sign up for a 2yr agreement just for leaving them? Would I be consider a "new" customer and get all the good deals?

 

[Rocket_Girl]

I love my Titan but cant deal with the no data connection while I am at work. That is just a deal breaker for me. Who knows when ATT will address this and tomorrow my 30 days expires so it needs to go back (I originally had the Focus S but returned that as well because I couldnt get data at work either)

The Trophy is only 30 bucks on contract right now so I am going to consider switching to Verizon to get that. Did the Trophy receive the Mango update?

Yes, it did. You're fully mango'ed on Trophy.

 

[Rocket_Girl]

So, what's the process of porting your number back to Verizon. Do they make you sign up for a 2yr agreement just for leaving them? Would I be consider a "new" customer and get all the good deals?

Good question. Porting should be easy - whether you were there before or not. Whether they consider you a new customer or not may be fuzzy. May depend on who you ask and when... My bet is that for unlimited data, they would NEVER let you back, which means that they should give you all the good deals. If they won't give you your OLD good deal back, they should be willing to give you the new ones. The can't have it both ways, right?

 

[tampacoder]

Good question. Porting should be easy - whether you were there before or not. Whether they consider you a new customer or not may be fuzzy. May depend on who you ask and when... My bet is that for unlimited data, they would NEVER let you back, which means that they should give you all the good deals. If they won't give you your OLD good deal back, they should be willing to give you the new ones. The can't have it both ways, right?

Yes. I did have unlimited data; but I hardly used it. On average, I'm running about 1GB per month. Maybe someone else went through the same process and can clarify this for us.

 

[aximtreo]

Porting to Verizon

So, what's the process of porting your number back to Verizon. Do they make you sign up for a 2yr agreement just for leaving them? Would I be consider a "new" customer and get all the good deals?

I was a 12 year customer and they allowed me to port back to the family plan my wife and kids were on. I even was allowed to keep the unlimited data plan. I was lucky and go a good CS on the phone. By the way, I was not charged either for the porting or the reactivation on the family plan.

YOu should give it a try.

 

[tampacoder]

So, I'm very close to say screw it...and buy a Trophy from eBay and port back to Verizon. I'll probably stick with that until they either get a LTE ready WP7 device or wait until AT&T aquire T-Mobile with hopes that they get better cell coverage. I'm giving myself until next week unless someone here convinces me otherwise. It would be sad to give up this device. :-(

Sent from my PI39100 using Board Express

 

[Duvi]

Tampacoder, I am in the same boat. I came from more than 10 yrs with Verizon, and never once had a signal problem or lost data connection, other than random local or system-wide outages. Reliable service means a LOT to me.

I came from an HTC Trophy, so maybe I can help out there. It is a great phone for use in the US, but has a fatal flaw for international use (loses data connection upon return to US and requires hard reset to restore it). There is a very active thread on this over in the Trophy forum. I bought Trophy for full retail price only 3 months before getting the Titan... I was that desperate to get out of Android-****.

I love the Titan size and screen, so it would be a rough swap size-wise, but for me the Trophy is useless: I need the global features, and need them sooner than a fix will be in place (there is one in progress - again, see thread in Trophy forum). So, for a WP7 phone wiht global capability, I can ONLY use a non-Verizon carrier.

Signal at home is lousy, and data connection is non-functional about a third of the time while I am at home (I have wi-fi during the day, but rely on cellular connection at home). I could return the Titan and try T-mobile ( great ratings for speed, but Radar, not so sure...) - or think about shelling out for an unlocked version of the Titan, to see whether *that* is free from the data-throttling that seems to have been locked into the at&t-branded phones. I don't know if this would even work, but I am looking into it. Would also make international travel and sim-swapping a breeze, assuming frequencies are compatible across borders.

If I can answer other questions about the Trophy, let me know -- happy to do so. Have an almost-new Trophy sitting at home, ready for use as a Zune-touch music player. iTouch would have been cheaper. Oh, well.

Have you inquired about a microcell? In my home, my service was lousy (how the house was built), but right outside, I get pretty good coverage.

 

[jfa1]

I'm a little nervous about AT&T. I'm a long time Verizon customer that had next to no issues with the cell service. I also was using a second gen Android phone and even though it got the job done, I was looking for a new user experience and fell that a Windows Phone would provide me with that. So, I made the switch to AT&T because I felt the TITAN was the best phone on the market that has specs that can get me through a two yr contract.

But, even with all this hi-tech I can't seem to get an acceptable signal inside buildings where I never really had a problem. I just read through the new issue of Consumer Reports and by all account AT&T is rated the lowest in just about every category. As a consumer, I'm not sure if I should put up with this, so I'm asking for some opinions here.

1). Would you sign up for a 2-yr deal knowing about that you will probably get sup-par service? (I'm 10 days into my 30 day return window)

2). After using the TITAN, would you settle for another WP7 device on a top-rated carrier. e.g HTC Trophy (VZ)

3). Do you think things will get better with AT&T?

LTE tewchnology will have better penetration into buildingds than straight GSM

 

[tampacoder]

Well, I just cancelled service with AT&T. I hate to have to give up this TITAN; but I just couldn't see myself signing that two-year agreement with the lousy phone reception. But, I'm still a WP7'er. I purchased an HTC Trophy for $200 on eBay. It looks brand new so got a good deal on it. Comes with a carrying case too. I must say though, after carrying that big boy for about 3 weeks, looking at the Trophy makes me really appreciate at 4.7inch screen and I know my next phone will at least be > 4inches. Will be trying to activate this phone tonight so hopefully the ESN is clean or I will not be a happy camper.