Consumer Reports appears to still be ranting about the reception issues on the iPhone 4, this time they’re targeting the Verizon iPhone 4 and excluding it from their list of recommended smartphones.

For that reason, we are not including the Verizon iPhone 4 in our list of recommended smart phones, despite its high ranking in our Ratings. Although Apple no longer offers a free case to buyers of the iPhone 4, as it did for a time after the problem was first discovered on the AT&T version, the company has said in the past that it will consider requests for a free case from customers who buy the phone and subsequently experience reception problems.

Consumer Reports helped set off Antennagate when the AT&T iPhone 4 was originally released. After their initial review of the iPhone 4, Consumer Reports claimed they couldn’t recommend the iPhone 4 due to the antenna issues.

I don’t know about any of you but the reception problems didn’t ever affect me personally. Maybe because I always use cases or bumpers. (Who doesn’t put a case on a phone as expensive as the iPhone?) I guess I’m not quite sure why Consumer Reports is still ranting about the issues. Millions of iPhones later, people still want them. All phones have signal attenuation issues when held, not just the iPhone. Is it just me or is Consumer Reports making mountains out of mole hills? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Consumer Reports

iPhone users on AT&T received an email filled with tips on how to manage usage and save money while traveling internationally. With access to email, Visual Voicemail, safari and data using applications, it doesn’t take much to rack up a very expensive bill while abroad. Instead of surprising you with a giant bill, AT&T has decided to give iPhone users some saving money strategies. Here they are:

• If you want to place calls but not use data, turn data roaming “OFF”. This will block email, browsing, Visual Voicemail and downloads, but it will not block SMS or MMS messages. But feel free to use wifi; you can do so without accumulating any data charges.
• If you want to use data but not receive email automatically, turn Fetch New Data “OFF”. This will allow you to have total control of your data usage because nothing will be synced or downloaded in the background without your solicitation.
• If you want to use data and track your usage while abroad, consider purchasing an International Data Package. The 20 MB package is $24.99 per month, the 50 MB package is $59.99 per month, the 100 MB package is $119.99 per month, and the 200 MB package is $199.99 per month. If you decide to purchase an international data package it is recommended to reset the usage tracker to zero so that you can estimate your data usage while abroad.

Any of you plan to travel abroad for the holidays? If so, which of AT&T’s tips are you planning to partake in?

In a recent survey by Consumer Reports, US iPhone exclusive carrier AT&T ranked the worst in a whopping 8 out of 9 categories. The survey took into account the top four carriers – Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile. it also looked at a few of the bigger regional carriers as well. Verizon came in at number one out of the four nationwide carriers. It only fell 2nd next to US Cellular.

The survey also ranked smartphones satisfaction. As far as AT&T smartphones went, the iPhone 4 tied the Samsung Captivate as far as customer satisfaction went. I personally wrote a comparison of the iPhone 4 and the Captivate. I thought the Captivate left a lot to be desired as far as UI and ease of use went, but it was certainly one of AT&T’s more capable smartphones.

When it comes to overall satisfaction, AT&T had this to say –

We take this seriously and we continually look for new ways to improve the customer experience. The fact is wireless customers have choices and a record number of them chose AT&T in the third quarter, significantly more than our competitors. Hard data from independent drive tests confirms AT&T has the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network with our nearest competitor 20 percent slower on average nationwide and our largest competitor 60 percent slower on average nationwide. And, our dropped call rate is within 1/10 of a percent – the equivalent of just one call in a thousand – of the industry leader.

If AT&T really has the coverage they claim to have, why are customers still so dissatisfied?

[BoyGeniusReport]

Earlier this week, Consumer Reports concluded that the iPhone 4 has antenna issues and therefore did not recommend it until Apple offered a free fix. During Friday’s iPhone 4 press conference, Apple announced that, through September 30th, they will be providing free bumpers to iPhone 4 owners and offering refunds to those who have already purchased one. However, Consumer Reports still does not recommend the iPhone 4.

Consumer Reports believes Apple’s offer of free cases is a good first step. However, Apple has indicated that this is not a long-term solution, it has guaranteed the offer only through September 30th, and has not extended it unequivocally to customers who bought cases from third-party vendors. We look forward to a long-term fix from Apple. As things currently stand, the iPhone 4 is still not one of our Recommended models.

Wait… what? Let’s back up. Consumer Reports has confirmed that Apple’s bumper does indeed alleviate the iPhone 4′s signal-loss problem. They also stated that they would recommend the iPhone 4 once Apple provided a free solution to the signal-loss problem. This is exactly what Apple has done, yet Consumer Reports will not give their recommendation. Yes, Apple’s solution is only in effect until September 30th, at which point they will “reevaluate” the issue and perhaps “have a better idea,” but why not recommend the iPhone 4 until that date? It seems rather contradictory.

What do you think? Is Consumer Reports being inconsistent, or is their lack of recommendation justified? Sound off in the comments below!

[Consumer Reports]

Consumer Reports has run lab tests and confirmed what many real-world users likely already know — in areas with weak signal, touching the iPhone 4 external antenna band at the bottom left side can cause a loss of voice and data connection.

We reached this conclusion after testing all three of our iPhone 4s (purchased at three separate retailers in the New York area) in the controlled environment of CU’s radio frequency (RF) isolation chamber. In this room, which is impervious to outside radio signals, our test engineers connected the phones to our base-station emulator, a device that simulates carrier cell towers. We also tested several other AT&T phones the same way, including the iPhone 3G S and the Palm Pre. None of those phones had the signal-loss problems of the iPhone 4.

A piece of duct-tape placed over the offending area can prevent the problem, according to them, and they repeat that a case can likely prevent it as well (though they haven’t tested any in the lab yet).

The signal problem is the reason that we did not cite the iPhone 4 as a “recommended” model, even though its score in our other tests placed it atop the latest Ratings of smart phones that were released today.

So their bottom line is iPhone 4 is terrific for its display, camera, battery life, gyroscope, FaceTime, and other features, but if you have the antenna issue, it’s a show stopper and they believe Apple needs to come up with a free fix before they’ll recommend it.

[Consumer Reports — Thanks Phil!)

Consumer reports has posted up their thoughts on iPhone 4 and all the reception issues some users are experiencing. They start off by corroborating Apple’s line that all phones, from smart to flip, suffer the same attenuation problems — since they’re all used by humans whose bodies are interfering bags of water.

They also say iPhone 4 is reported as having better overall reception and less dropped calls than previous versions of iPhone, including the 3GS. They refer back to AnandTech’s tests, and conclude:

There’s no reason, at least yet, to forgo buying an iPhone 4 over its reception concerns. And even if those do materialize, Apple’s Steve Jobs helpfully reminds new iPhone buyers that “you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.”

Apple is claiming the issue is related to a software miscalculation that erroneously reports high bars in low bar situations. Given all phones can definitely be susceptible to signal drop due to the position and placement of the antennae, we’ll have to wait and see whether or not Apple’s update fixes the issue or just the perception. What do you guys think?

[Consumer Reports]

It is safe to say that it will be a while before AT&T wins any awards for their customer satisfaction. AT&T has come in last place in a Consumer Reports mobile survey of customer service of all four major U.S. cell carriers.

This particular survey involved 50,000 readers in 26 U.S. cities. Questions that were included asked about the four carriers in different categories related to service and customer support. AT&T ranked dead last in 19 of the 26 cities surveyed and overall ranked last in every single city. Sadly the pain does not end there as voice service also ranked last while messaging and data were only average. On the customer service side of things, both the phone and internet service along with overall staff knowledge ranked poorly. Ouch…

And if you are curious as to where the other carriers ranked, Verizon came in 1st while T-Mobile and Sprint respectively took 2nd and 3rd place.

[Via AppleInsider]

The latest piece of hardware to come out of Cupertino, Apple’s iPhone 3GS, has claimed the honor of being ranked number 1 in Consumer Reports new smartphone ratings. Now does this come as a surprise to anyone? In all actuality, it was pretty close within the top 8 devices: (Device/Overall Score):

• iPhone 3GS (16 GB) 73
• iPhone 3G (8 GB) 70
• Samsung Omnia 69
• BlackBerry Storm 69
• HTC G1 69
• BlackBerry Bold 69
• Samsung Epix 69
• Palm Pre 67

While the race to top honors was anything but a blow-out, the iPhone shined when it came to it’s 3.5-inch widescreen display, top of the line multimedia, ease of navigation, web browsing, and battery life. Devices like the Palm Pre, among others, beat out Apple’s gem when it came to messaging along with superior multitasking capabilities.

So the iPhone ranked number 1 this year as it did almost two years ago, congratulations goes out to Apple for a continuing job well done!

Update – We love our friends over at PreCentral.net so to be fair we wanted to let it be known the Palm Pre did not come in last place, we simply just cut the list off after the Pre. For the full list please visit the Consumer Reports site.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]