Respondents in the annual survey hammered AT&T in just about every category, from voice service to the frequency of dropped calls. The big winner: AT&T's nemesis, Verizon Wireless.

Covering about 50,000 wireless chatters in 26 major cities, the Consumer Reports survey had little in the way of good news for AT&T, which has been taking a shellacking in recent weeks from Verizon and its devilishly effective "There's a map for that" ad campaign.

Complaining to AT&T about poor wireless coverage has never been easier thanks to a new iPhone app.

Mark the Spot is no prank that somehow slipped past the App Store's censors. This is an official iPhone app from AT&T letting you report dropped calls, failed calls, lack of coverage, data failure, and poor voice quality.

In the app's information section, AT&T says it will use the reports to "optimize and enhance the network. Problems will be clustered to highlight areas for investigation." This app is as close as we'll see to AT&T admitting it's got a coverage problem.

The last few weeks have not been good for the carrier. First came Verizon Wireless' attack ads, which showed major gaps in AT&T's 3G coverage. Then came the ultimately failed lawsuit from AT&T to stop the ads. In the meantime, AT&T launched some terrible ads of its own. But I think the real killer was a Consumer Reports survey that ranked AT&T last among the major carriers in customer satisfaction. For all AT&T can say about the iPhone's success and customers' low turnover rates, you can't ignore unhappy people.

at&t appleSo now we've got "Mark the Spot," which at least makes you feel like your grievances are being heard. Yeah, it's kind of silly -- I find it odd that AT&T doesn't already know where its problems are -- but I like the idea. Here's AT&T admitting, albeit indirectly, that it's got problems. And instead of talking about those issues in another ad, which would be really embarrassing, "Mark the Spot" communicates directly to iPhone owners. It's a creative solution that actually takes advantage of the iPhone's ease of use.

Kudos to AT&T for taking a different stab at its coverage problems, even if we don't know how exactly the data from Mark the Spot will be used.

Just one warning to frustrated iPhone owners: AT&T says that multiple submissions from one person, for the same problem in the same area, won't be given extra weight. Your angry Mark the Spot spam won't bring relief any faster.

AT&T sure did pick a smart time to bury the hatchet with Verizon. It turns out that AT&T’s 3G coverage map, small and laughable as it is, is even smaller than what we see on the Verizon commercials. The covered areas apparently include AT&T’s partners, which means you can get 3G service with towers that do not belong to AT&T, but are in a sharing agreement with the carrier. The only problem is that it costs AT&T a little extra to provide service through those towers, so if you go over a certain limit, AT&T will warn you, then shut off your service if you continue to consume data over that limit.

According to R. Scott Raynovich of Light Reading: <----Link

Upon arriving in Bozeman, my wife discovered some flaky data operation on her iPhone. After checking the AT&T map on the Website, we were assured that there was coverage in the Bozeman area. The icon on the phone showed full coverage. We couldn’t figure out why the data access wasn’t working properly.

Approximately one month later, AT&T began sending notes to my wife, making it known that they wanted to shut the data access off. We were consuming too much data, they complained. I called AT&T’s customer care and they informed me that, according to the iPhone Terms of Use, they reserved the right to turn off the data access to the iPhone whenever they want.

Why? I asked.

Here’s how it merges with the map controversy. The official AT&T customer service rep pointed out that that map on their Websites differentiates between 3G access via partners versus AT&T’s own towers. That distinction is not being shown on the current AT&T TV commercials featuring Luke Wilson, which appear to be running 58 times a day on NFL Sundays.

via Light Reading – Luke Wilson’s War – Telecom.

If you take a look at AT&T’s website, you’ll notice that a good chunk of its EDGE and GPRS coverage are split with other partnerships, too! AT&T accused Verizon of confusing customers regarding coverage, and that its maps don’t accurately depict just how much AT&T’s data networks cover. It’s true because we now realize it’s the opposite of what AT&T wants us to believe. If you move to an area where there is AT&T data coverage, like Raynovich and his wife did, but it’s via a partnership, you’re screwed.