Any iPhone owners? (Pittsburgh, Bloomfield, Oakland: how much, house, neighborhoods)

[biggyv]

I was considering an iPhone, but I've heard horror stories from some folks regarding AT&T's service, and I'd hate to buy a phone and find out that I can't get service in my house (I don't have a landline).

Does anyone have trouble getting service in Pittsburgh, and the East End specifically? I live in Bloomfield and work in Oakland.

[greg42]

I haven't had trouble with the East End, although I don't live there or work there so it's only occasionally I am in that area. Have you heard issues locally with AT&T here? We've had relatively few, although in the center of a building downtown on a lower floor we had some problems with some phones. But in the city neighborhoods and north hills I haven't had trouble with AT&T phones. The iPhone has been great. Most of the AT&T signal horror stories I hear come from other, denser cities (NY, SF, etc.)

If you get it from the AT&T store, you should get a 30-day return privilege, although there is a 10% restocking fee on the iPhone. I'm not sure if when buying it from the Apple Store you get the same return policy. You could conceivably get a non-iPhone first to test the AT&T signal, but this is not necessarily indicative of anything since the phone itself also affects the ability to get the signal. Some phones are better performers than others. iPhone seems to be decent at this.

[biggyv]

Thanks. I haven't heard anything bad specific to Pittsburgh. Like you said, it's the more densely populated cities where most of the horror stories come from. I think the Apple Store has a 30-day return policy as well, but I'd also be switching carriers, which would make things messy.

[greg42]

Yeah, the return thing is like a comforting feature. I've never actually used it, and I can imagine plenty of hassle if I did actually attempt such a return. Not that they wouldn't take the return, but okay, now what do I do with this phone number, etc.

Depends on how much you want the iPhone, of course, but I think it's worth trying. I have used Windows Mobile, Nokia and Blackberry phones, and none of the others was anywhere near as easy to use all the features as it is with the iPhone. In fact, that's been AT&T's problem. People actually use the phone, unlike other smart phones, so they've been overloading the network capabilities in some cases. Heh.

[biggyv]

I think I'm going to go for it. I've been wanting one for some time, and the touch screen on my LG stopped working all of a sudden. I saw that as a sign from above.

[truemuck]

My original iPhone worked great when I was in the East End last month. Especially came in handy when me and my friend lost track of each other in Squirrel Hill.