New iPhone, New Gripes About AT&T

"Money isn't the only problem, there's also a lot of indecision" says Telecom Pragmatics analyst Sam Greenholtz, who talks to the technology decision makers at all the major phone companies. "They don't know what to do with the money they been given to spend," says Greenholtz. "They are doing upgrades here and there, but overall they are split with some wanting more 3G spending and others saying a quicker move to 4G should be the priority.

The AT&T rep disputes any claims that the network isn't top notch. "We have activated 5.9 million iPhones, our churn is the lowest in the industry," says the rep, adding "we couldn't achieve those results without an absolutely first-class network."

Wireless networks, as users well know, have always had flaws. But in AT&T's case, it's hard to tell if there is a real service quality problem or if the company has simply taken on a lot of tech-adept gadget fans who bring oversized expectations.

Either way, as millions more iPhones come on the network, the rising complaints could drive a wedge between Apple and AT&T. Other players like Verizon, Sprint(S) and Deutsche Telekom's(DT) T-Mobile are no doubt eager to come off the bench and enter the Apple game.

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