I have been an AT&T customer for almost a decade. Well, I came to AT&T as a Cingular customer. I am not terribly unhappy about AT&T but there are few areas I think they keep ignoring.
Every time I complete the contract and go to a new phone, my old phone becomes a paper weight. AT&T doesn’t seem to have a policy on unlocking the phone once the contract term is complete. I would like to give away the phone, like my iPhone 3G to someone outside US. Sure you can find ways to jailbreak and unlock it. But I prefer a simple mechanism to do that. Apple doesn’t seem to help either. This is not an environmentally responsible policy from either AT&T or Apple.
AT&T’s call quality (this could be the fault of iPhone as well) is not that good. AT&T 3G in the Silicon Valley is terrible. I am tired of submitting reports through that app. All the places I have had 3G or coverage problems, I still have the problem. May be Silicon Valley is not a priority for AT&T or the local governments do not cooperate with them. Either way, I do not get a good voice or data service from AT&T.
I did not like iPhone 4 design. The flat back side and sharp edges are not for me. I am a Windows user and iTunes is not really good Windows citizen. I also don’t like an application requires a few background processes even when I don’t need them.
Here are a few things I would be looking to if I make a switch, in addition to the above 2 primary requirements.
iPhone on another network could be tempting. Hopefully without those sharp edges.
No need for a computer to download and sync. May be it is not a big deal but iTunes turned me off from the idea of updating and syncing via a computer.
I prefer the OS update comes from the OS vendor, not the hardware or service provider. They do not have enough motivation to keep my phone up to date. If the last supported update to the phone comes 6 months to an year after the phone release, then it becomes a paper weight.