A joke made its way around Twitter a few weeks ago that went a little something like this:

Steve Jobs went to the wedding of AT&T's CEO. The ceremony was nice, but the reception was terrible!

The poor signal many iPhone users get on the AT&T network is an oft-bemoaned problem in the Bay Area. We've become particularly familiar with this problem in The Bay Citizen offices, as roughly half our staff members are iPhone users, and we’ve dropped what seems like more than our fair share of phone calls.

But according to an article released Friday by Business Insider and CNN.com, the iPhone has gotten an unnecessarily bad rap – a victim of “tech- and media- types” in New York and San Francisco. It just so happens that the places with the highest concentrations of media-savvy users who demand high speeds and lots of bandwidth – and who also “love to complain loudly on Twitter and to the press” about their cellular woes – also pose significant challenges for wireless companies.

Regulations, tall buildings and stubborn landlords can make adding a cell phone tower in a place like San Francisco pretty tough. Apple’s CEO, the turtlenecked Steve Jobs, noted at a recent press event that it takes about three years to get clearance for a new a cell tower here – as opposed to three weeks in Texas.

Nationwide, AT&T customers appear to be fairly satisfied. Business Insider and CNN.com analyzed the company’s customer turnover statistics, and found that they were only marginally worse than those of Verizon – a wireless provider known for its good reception.

Conclusion? Service on the iPhone is only really bad for the kind of people who want really good cellular coverage.