I've confirmed that this problem is solved. The ability to join squads before the game has been removed and replaced with the automated system I mentioned prior. However, it appears when the servers are working that you will always be on the same team as your friends (or party) if their is enough room on their team.
The whole point of playing this game for me is to play with friends so you should be able to join before entering a game so you can join together. It's dumb to have try and hope there is enough room for friends to join you. I will regret getting this game and not recommend any of my other friends to start playing if they do not fix this.
This is the biggest DICE/EA fail !!! I still dont believe that no one answer us about it . EA i'm talkin in the name of hundreds of Italians i've meet online ...
