Survey: iPhone loved, AT&T hated

A survey of iPhone owners confirmed what we already know: The phone itself is great, but its U.S. wireless carrier, AT&T, is loathed by many customers.

The survey by ChangeWave, which draws on an admittedly paltry sample size of 200 users, found that eight out of ten respondents were “very satisfied” with the phone, and anothr 17 percent were “somewhat satisfied.” Still, half the respondents cited AT&T issues as the aspect they most disliked. ComputerWorld reports that 32 percent named the iPhone’s lock-in with AT&T as a top complaint, and 23 percent said they didn’t like the wireless carrier’s calling and data coverage.

Battery woes trumped those two complaints individually, but when combined, they show a general dissatisfaction with the carrier. And why not? AT&T hasn’t exactly been friendly with iPhone owners, who are arguably its most valuable customers.

An infuriating example is the inability to use SlingPlayer, a program that pulls someone’s home television content onto the phone over a 3G connection. For fear of network woes, AT&T disabled this feature for iPhone owners, even as other AT&T phones are able to use SlingPlayer in that manner. In other words, AT&T is punishing iPhone customers because the product is so popular.

Most customers gripe about the lack of multimedia messaging or tethering, even as overseas carriers support it. Complaints with reliability on AT&T’s network persist, however the carrier is upgrading its 3G network, with favorable results.

There’s evidence that the negative sentiment towards AT&T is deterring potential iPhone buyers as well. A survey from last month found that a third of respondents hadn’t switched over to the iPhone because of spotty coverage and service costs.

Dropped calls are tough to quantify, as most people don’t keep track, but in the month I’ve owned the iPhone, I can recall a few specific instances where I lost a connection. In a recent frustrating example, I lost my call with a supervisor during an hour-long customer service call (on an unrelated matter). Those little instances can add up to general frustration.

But as with the people surveyed by ChangeWave, I do enjoy the iPhone, and I’m willing to endure the issues brought along by AT&T. Hopefully those 3G tweaks will reach my neck of the woods (and yours) soon.