AT&T Offers Video Update on iPhone MMS and Cellular Network Issues

[KurtangleTN]

The fact of the matter is that no single carrier has complete, sufficient coverage. It doesn't take a genius to understand why that is. Cellular service is still somewhat young for being a large infrastructural development. It has only been a little more than a decade where cellular phones and plans have become affordable enough for nearly everyone to own one.

I hear the same explanation from many people. "I use fill in carrier name because they have the best coverage in my area". Makes sense to me. Maybe those who got blindly sucked into the iPhone should have done a little more research and reconsidered what is more important, cool phone or reliable service. The only person to blaim is Apple for making a cool phone and establishing an exclusive deal with AT&T.

For myself, it just so happens that AT&T's service has always been perfectly fine where I live. I don't recall ever having a dropped call. It was a no-brainer for me to get an iPhone.

Although I tend to agree, but if people are going to these places and they enter their zip in and are insured good service, they should get good service. Rarely is this the case though.

Just recently since T-Mobile is pretty poor in this area our family went to Radio Shack to look for a decent provider and the guys ASSURED us that we get coverage with Boost and with no contract and decent plans they went for it only to not get coverage around our home's area.

Luckily they were easily returned but knowing my experience thus far with AT&T's DSL service it probably wouldn't be quite as easy with AT&T.

[daviszo]

How is spending $17 Billion sucking? I want to see how much Verizon or T-Mobile has spent.

Sprint doesn't count on the fact that their network is near nada in many areas (you have to roam) and there network works because people are fleeing in an Exodus.

Just so you know at least for verizon they have 3g EVERYWHERE!

[butterfly0fdoom]

Just so you know at least for verizon they have 3g EVERYWHERE!

Verizon was able to implement 3G more easily is because EV-DO is a modification of the CDMA2000 they use for 2G. AT&T and T-Mobile have a harder time because UTMS isn't a modification of GSM; it needs to be deployed alongside, not on top of, GSM. (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, this is just what I remember reading somewhere). LTE's going to be a hassle for Verizon and AT&T both because its another along-side technology that's an extension of neither CDMA or GSM/UTMS.

[kiljoy616]

I can see where they would have problems, I for one use the Iphone so much more than my old phone. That said I don't really see the problem people are having; living in Nashville and near San Antonio I had absolutely perfect 5/5 reception, as well as good data. But now that I am in California I have notice a big slowdown.

Living near LA does not help. ATT is not perfect but neither is any of the other carriers, if they had as many Iphone as ATT I could see them having similar problem, maybe that is why they did not push for it here in the states, unlike other countries. I for one would have liked if apple from the start had not done it this way with tying to one company.

But that is also the fault of government regulation and still allowing these deal to go thru. I for one am all about competition:), that how things really move forward.

[fleshman03]

All I heard was "Waaaa, Waaaaa. Waaaa."

How much longer am I going to have to put up with ATT's incompetence, Apple?

How much longer do you think I'm willing to put up with ATT's incompetence until I just go to t-mobile or Verizon, regardless of the iPhone?


If I told my boss I would have something ready by the "end of summer" and then told him that it would really be ready on September 25, I'd be looking for a new job by then.

[kiljoy616]

Verizon was able to implement 3G more easily is because EV-DO is a modification of the CDMA2000 they use for 2G.

Yes this is correct, not an expert on it but that about it.

Here is a link that explains the different technology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDMA2000

[kiljoy616]

If I told my boss I would have something ready by the "end of summer" and then told him that it would really be ready on September 25, I'd be looking for a new job by then.

That is because your an individual, actually this is not that uncommon. Not sure what job you have but it must be real low level. Real jobs where complications can come up or just don't have the technology yet to fix it as fast as we would want is not reason for dismissal. If companies where run like that they would have very few if any good quality employees. High end problems require high end solutions that are not going to magically appear.

In a real company with real job titles that does not have clerk on it, been wrong, making mistakes, been late is not a reason for dismissal.

I for one have no problem with ATT, used the 3 main carriers and they all have their problems, but considering how much I use my iphone I can see any one of them folding under the strain, and when I walk around where I live there is a lot of iphone users.

[aphexacid]

No one is forcing anyone to stay with at&t or buy an iphone. If you dont like it, go somewhere else. but for pete's sake, stop crying.

[Bubba Satori]

AppleT&T. Massive network fail on the 25th.

[tpm1999]

I still do not understand what ATT is thinking/doing.

Their network is still a mess, no amount of Seth "The Blogger" videos is going to convince us otherwise. ATT could have done numerous things since the iphone 3g was launched...instead they waited for their network to totally fall apart before doing anything.

What they could of done right when they knew they had a mega hit with the iPhone 3G

1. Build out network (duh...they are finally doing that now)
2. Fast track in home/business femtocell. ATT is last to the game with this and it is STILL not out, even though it has been in testing since January. Would have been nice to have this in customers hands when the 3GS launched.
3. Support UMA and force all smartphones to support it. This probably would not have been possible...even Tmobile implementation of this is weak (no 3G phone has UMA through Tmobile).

There is a lot ATT could have done. Blaming customers is not the way to go.

[STC1709]

and this is why I refuse to get an iphone because i HATE ATT with a passion, ****** company, ****** service, ****** CS..

please come to verizon

[gmfeier]

Well it is and it isn't.

Here in south florida, we have the best Wireless cell network in the country. We were fully 850 MHz several months ago, and consistently have 1.5 Mbps + download speed. Calls don't get dropped on the iPhone, cell coverage is not spotty at all, and I have used it a lot from Port ST. Lucie down to south miami.

Now i'm not making any excuses for AT&T because there are still problems and some places are just really bad. But its not bad everywhere. And if AT&T would model the rest of the country on what they did in South Florida there would be 90% less problems then what people have now.

Pretty much the same here in Cary, NC. Just an occasional slowdown in download speeds during the evening rush hour, otherwise perfect.

[Ksg89]

All I can say is QQ more. I believe AT&T pretty much 100%, their network isn't up to scratch for the iPhone deal imho, Its hard to manage and keep all cell towers in the US capable of supporting massive amounts of data. Implementing new technology early holds you back if you don't fully upgrade when new development come around, this is what i believe is happening to AT&T, they slacked a bit in supporting data and 3G because they don't want to have to do that. Apple came along and they seen a huge potential market, they went for it. MMS cant be enabled on all iPhones unless ALL towers support it. (some towers would have only been gprs and try sending a 300k mms on that, be waiting forever) You would be pi**ed off if mms was enabled for all phones, yet you cant send or receive those messages because your local tower uses outdated GSM. (Sorry for the messy reply but some people just don't understand why. Of course if you don't like AT&T just move)

[Slurpy2k8]

I like how quickly and easily some people here are giving AT&T credit, that they're 'turning a new leaf'. What a bunch of ********. I'm supposed to congratulate At&T because they're about the enable MMS, on a phone, in 2009? Or is it because they haven't even yet set a date for tethering, and will have it available 'something in the future'?? Absolutely mind-blowing.

You people act as if they posted this video out of the goodness of their hearts or something. You think this idea wasn't brought up in a boardroom meeting, as something they could do that might improve their image? It was a simple emperical decision that is supposed to help the bottom line and justify their pitiful lack of services with some fancy animations that mean nothing. There's no new 'leaf-turning' here.

[MikePA]

The American mobile telecommunications industry started to fall behind many, many years ago.

Exactly why it's yet something else he needs to apologize for.

[dragossh]

Europe keeps on being brought up. Guess what? They do have a better infrastructure but they also have a lower customer density as well on average and most of their nokia phones are either dumb phones or smart phones that are too damn hard to use and have crippled browsers.

There are also cultural differences. Most Europeans are probably not streaming cat videos from Youtube or twittering about the minutia of their boring little lives like Americans seem to do.

Actually Europeans also have the iPhone and a lot of other easy to use smartphones. And I'd guess we are streaming cat videos from YouTube and twittering about our lives.

[BKroll1223]

I still do not understand what ATT is thinking/doing.

Their network is still a mess, no amount of Seth "The Blogger" videos is going to convince us otherwise. ATT could have done numerous things since the iphone 3g was launched...instead they waited for their network to totally fall apart before doing anything.

What they could of done right when they knew they had a mega hit with the iPhone 3G

1. Build out network (duh...they are finally doing that now)
2. Fast track in home/business femtocell. ATT is last to the game with this and it is STILL not out, even though it has been in testing since January. Would have been nice to have this in customers hands when the 3GS launched.
3. Support UMA and force all smartphones to support it. This probably would not have been possible...even Tmobile implementation of this is weak (no 3G phone has UMA through Tmobile).

There is a lot ATT could have done. Blaming customers is not the way to go.

With what capitol? It seems that many people forget how deep in the crapper AT&T was when the iPhone was first released. The iPhone alone has saved AT&T from the abyss financially. Now that they're investing in network infrastructure, everyone's whining that it's not happening fast enough - as if someone snaps a finger and tens of thousands of cell towers get erected and/or upgraded over night.

I'm not defending AT&T; and I'm not a big fan either. As far as I'm concerned, the features that the iPhone offer offset the service issues that I have had.

I'm not so sure that if Apple had chosen a different US carrier the situation would be different. The iPhone has been driving the cell phone market since it was announced, and while AT&T is getting tarred and feathered publicly over the network demand, other carriers are quietly upgrading and bolstering their infrastructure. When AT&T's exclusivity is up, some other carrier (probably Verizon) is going to come in like a knight in shining armor and look like the hero.

That's just my $.02. Flame away.....

[tpm1999]

With what capitol? It seems that many people forget how deep in the crapper AT&T was when the iPhone was first released. The iPhone alone has saved AT&T from the abyss financially. Now that they're investing in network infrastructure, everyone's whining that it's not happening fast enough - as if someone snaps a finger and tens of thousands of cell towers get erected and/or upgraded over night.

I'm not defending AT&T; and I'm not a big fan either. As far as I'm concerned, the features that the iPhone offer offset the service issues that I have had.

I'm not so sure that if Apple had chosen a different US carrier the situation would be different. The iPhone has been driving the cell phone market since it was announced, and while AT&T is getting tarred and feathered publicly over the network demand, other carriers are quietly upgrading and bolstering their infrastructure. When AT&T's exclusivity is up, some other carrier (probably Verizon) is going to come in like a knight in shining armor and look like the hero.

That's just my $.02. Flame away.....


I actually totally agree. Apple could have used the money from the iPhone 2G and the initial money from the 3G...but instead they waited until Q1/Q2 of this year to start getting serious about it. Way too late.

When the Verizon iPhone launches with all the latest features (instead of having to wait like ATT) on the day it is released, they will be hailed as a hero...and rightfully so. They are planning for the future when they have the iPhone...instead of just sitting on their hands and making mea culpa videos.

[hindmost]

I like how quickly and easily some people here are giving AT&T credit, that they're 'turning a new leaf'. What a bunch of ********. I'm supposed to congratulate At&T because they're about the enable MMS, on a phone, in 2009? Or is it because they haven't even yet set a date for tethering, and will have it available 'something in the future'?? Absolutely mind-blowing.

You people act as if they posted this video out of the goodness of their hearts or something. You think this idea wasn't brought up in a boardroom meeting, as something they could do that might improve their image? It was a simple emperical decision that is supposed to help the bottom line and justify their pitiful lack of services with some fancy animations that mean nothing. There's no new 'leaf-turning' here.

You are exactly right! 'Seth the Blogger dude' does not exist as an actual human being. AT&T had their ad agency tasked to get out the message in an effort to stem a tide of bad commentary being spread mainly via the internet. Their ad agency taking the lead (always copy success) from Apple commercials concluded that iPhone users are mainly younger Mac users and must be a class of grungy, scruffy nerds (Hi, I'm a Mac). Thus, the creation of 'Seth'. Except they didn't get it. We all see Mac commercials as humorous and a parody. AT&T tried to sell 'Seth' as real. Thus, we see it for what it is......as hollow, fake and mocking of our intelligence. 'Nuff said.

[macshill]

AT&T and Apple’s iPhone Need an Open Marriage
http://www.pcworld.com/article/171495/atandt_and_apples_iphone_need_an_open_marriage.html

With a second -- or even third -- carrier, iPhone customers would be able to choose their own network, and the current load on AT&T’s infrastructure would be reduced. This could improve service for iPhone customers who stick with AT&T.

Also:

An Open Marriage Would Be Profitable… for Apple.

[Chasmo]

AT&T our point is simply this, when we signed up to use yours service you told us you were ready. SImply put you were not. Sure the iPhone blew previous sales out of the water, but also simply put, that is not our problem. You should have done more, earlier. Yes you are working on the problem. And yes SOME markets have seen improvement, but the fact remains you promised EVERY, not some, customer service. Stop pointing the finger at us the user, all we did is say yeah we will use AT&T, the fact you couldn't handle it is your fault not ours. Stop blaming and start fixing in EVERY market. You say the most bars in the most places, that money on those comercials should have gone to even more upgrades, especially since you are saying you can't handle what you have, stop looing for more, and start doing more. The cell companies do a lot of playing with their customers, unlimited data, oh did we say that we meant up to a few GB(thats not unlimited), few dropped calls, oh we meant if no others were using their phones, unlimited data again, oh we meant as long as you were not SMSing, thats more... We are not lost to those facts, we are really mad at the service you have given, you made promises you didn't keep, should we have to pay for those, you broke our contracts in doing so.

Time to face the piper.

[neeshman]

I like how quickly and easily some people here are giving AT&T credit, that they're 'turning a new leaf'. What a bunch of ********. I'm supposed to congratulate At&T because they're about the enable MMS, on a phone, in 2009? Or is it because they haven't even yet set a date for tethering, and will have it available 'something in the future'?? Absolutely mind-blowing.

You people act as if they posted this video out of the goodness of their hearts or something. You think this idea wasn't brought up in a boardroom meeting, as something they could do that might improve their image? It was a simple emperical decision that is supposed to help the bottom line and justify their pitiful lack of services with some fancy animations that mean nothing. There's no new 'leaf-turning' here.

WOOHOO! You are spot on.We sure do have a lot of people defending a company that overcharges on services that they don't even fully deliver on.

Perhaps they will engineer an iPhone that is shaped like a sex toy, that way you can just walk into an AT&T Outlet where they will bend you over and violate you two ways from sunday right then and there.

[paola105]

September 25th- two days before my birthday. Happy early birthday present?

[BeyondtheTech]

Do you think AT&T will be ready?

What if we all did something on our iPhones at exactly the 12PM noon, Eastern Time on September 25?

Choose a photo or video.
Begin to send it via MMS to another iPhone.
While sending, hit the Home button and immediately launch a data-intensive app, anything from Safari loading a web page, to watching a video on YouTube.
You think AT&T's network can handle it?

[DELLsFan]

I live in San Diego, CA; and I haven't noticed any of the problems that have been in the news lately about 3G bandwidth issues.
Joseph Elwell.

Take a vacation to Las Vegas and get back to me. Misery loves company. :mad:

[mattwolfmatt]

Cut your hair.

[Bubba Satori]

Do you think AT&T will be ready?

What if we all did something on our iPhones at exactly the 12PM noon, Eastern Time on September 25?

Choose a photo or video.
Begin to send it via MMS to another iPhone.
While sending, hit the Home button and immediately launch a data-intensive app, anything from Safari loading a web page, to watching a video on YouTube.
You think AT&T's network can handle it?

No, that's what all the pr spin is about.

[Lershac]

Lets just say for round numbers discussion:

1. AT&T wireless profit margin is 10%. This is what the parent company makes.

2. Every iphone is $100/mo to the company.

3. There are 10 Million Iphones on ATT (their figure).

4. Ever Iphone has a 24 month contract, and it will be thrown away at the end of that time.

So thats $100*.10*10,000,000*24=2.4 Billion Dollars that the company sees as a guaranteed profit stream over the next two years.

This is on a revenue stream of 24 Billion dollars. JUST for the iphones. Remember, by their own numbers that iphones are 1/7th their subscriber base. Just to be pessimistic lets say that all the rest of their phones add up to be equal the iphone revenue stream.

Thats $48 B

Yes they tossed 38Billion at the network infrastructure in the last two years. I FARKING DAMN WELL EXPECT THEM TO! Network infrastructure maintenance and expansion had better be in the top two or three line items of cost for a company that sells their network infrastructure as their business.

And this network is certainly more than a two year investment.

[rjtyork]

I told ATT to go screw themselves and canceled my service and got tmobile. I love it. No more dropped calls, better sound quality, and I have MMS already. Only downside to having tmobile is no 3G. It is handy, but it's not such a big deal because I'm always near wifi hotspots anyways. Definitely worth giving the middle finger to ATT. I just wish more people would do it so that Apple will get the message and set iPhones up to be compatible with tmobile. The worlds best phone can't be the worlds best phone with the worlds worst service provider.

[brywalker]

Lets just say for round numbers discussion:

1. AT&T wireless profit margin is 10%. This is what the parent company makes.

2. Every iphone is $100/mo to the company.

3. There are 10 Million Iphones on ATT (their figure).

4. Ever Iphone has a 24 month contract, and it will be thrown away at the end of that time.

So thats $100*.10*10,000,000*24=2.4 Billion Dollars that the company sees as a guaranteed profit stream over the next two years.

This is on a revenue stream of 24 Billion dollars. JUST for the iphones. Remember, by their own numbers that iphones are 1/7th their subscriber base. Just to be pessimistic lets say that all the rest of their phones add up to be equal the iphone revenue stream.

Thats $48 B

Yes they tossed 38Billion at the network infrastructure in the last two years. I FARKING DAMN WELL EXPECT THEM TO! Network infrastructure maintenance and expansion had better be in the top two or three line items of cost for a company that sells their network infrastructure as their business.

And this network is certainly more than a two year investment.

LOL. I wish that business was just that cut and dry. I would open a wireless carrier tomorrow.

There is A LOT involved than just cost of the network and cash stream from the plans. How about the phone costs? Do you know how much each iPhone costs AT&T?

Do you know how much it costs to run a company owned store?

Do you know how much it costs to deal with renting land and other municipal crap?

I am in an edge area. We are getting 3G within the next month. Do I piss and moan about it? Nope. Does it suck? HELL YEAH! Would it be better with any other carrier? HELL NO!

[VenusianSky]

First: "Seth the Blogger Guy"? Seriously? How about "Steven the Network Architect Guy"? I'd much rather hear what that guy has to say.


Because Steven the Network Architect Guy lacks interpersonal skills and is camera shy.

[VenusianSky]

LOL. I wish that business was just that cut and dry. I would open a wireless carrier tomorrow.


Yeah, I love how everyone here is an expert at running a Cellular Telecommunications Corporation that services millions of customers across the nation. Don't they teach that in sixth grade these days?

[Michael CM1]

I told ATT to go screw themselves and canceled my service and got tmobile. I love it. No more dropped calls, better sound quality, and I have MMS already. Only downside to having tmobile is no 3G. It is handy, but it's not such a big deal because I'm always near wifi hotspots anyways. Definitely worth giving the middle finger to ATT. I just wish more people would do it so that Apple will get the message and set iPhones up to be compatible with tmobile. The worlds best phone can't be the worlds best phone with the worlds worst service provider.

I'm no AT&T fanboy, but I don't think you or a lot of others get it. AT&T is hindered by the explosion of data use, which who really could've expected? Considering T-Mobile only has the jailbreakers on its network, it's not hindered by the extreme deluge of data usage like AT&T is. Had T-Mobile been given the iPhone, it may have been much worse.

Same deal goes with Verizon. I'm sure its network would've been slammed with traffic as well had it gotten the exclusive iPhone deal.

Apple needs to open the phone up to EVERYBODY just to shove more people onto other networks. If everybody loves Verizon so much, shoo! Go use its network. Frees up more bandwidth for me.

[Valacirca]

That would be 9/25/2013
Another flaw in a flawed video or Freudian slip???? Maybe a better indication of how long it will take them to have a good network. ;)

[JGowan]

"We have heard you. We are on it. Don't ask us anymore about it." :D

I am in an edge area. We are getting 3G within the next month. Do I piss and moan about it? Nope. Does it suck? HELL YEAH!No... that doesn't suck... that's awesome.... for you. What sucks is NOT getting 3G for at least 2 years, which is what AT&T told me a few days ago when I called to find out when I was going to be out of the 9th EDGE of Cell Hell.

[axual]

ATT should have hired a Mac Genius to do this, as opposed to Captain Nerdstein.

[EarthDawn]

Man these threads make Americans look whiney.

The video guy is just being honest.


I thought it showed more of how we LOVE to pick on people :p

[VenusianSky]

I'm no AT&T fanboy, but I don't think you or a lot of others get it. AT&T is hindered by the explosion of data use, which who really could've expected?

It was quite obvious if you think about it. Apple created a really kick ass phone that is exclusive to AT&T service. Many people left their previous provider, without doing any research on AT&T's service coverage, to get in on the iPhone. Then when they got their phone, they discovered that their service sucked. If they would have simply did some research, they could have discovered that 3G and Edge was sparse in their area. But instead, they just bash AT&T. If the Iphone would have went to Verizon, it would be the same story, excepts it would be coming from people that have excellent AT&T coverage in their area, but poor Verizon coverage.

In addition to those people, you have the MMS people. It was made clear when the iPhones came out, that they could not do MMS. Somehow, that turned into AT&T doesn't have MMS period. Again, with a tiny bit of research, they would have discovered that only the iPhone cannot do MMS. AT&T, along with Apple, were actually smart for preparing ahead of time for the spike of new customers due to the iPhone's popularity and that would lead to problems for all their customers, including the ones that have MMS-enabled phones. So they decided to make the sacrifice of not enabling MMS on the iPhone in order to upgrade the infrastructure first. Regardless of the lack of MMS, people bought the iPhone. I'm sure AT&T and Apple already knew that people would complain about not having MMS, but it was probably the best decision in the long term. Looking to the future, they knew they would eventually enable MMS on the iPhone, which would bring along new customers. It could have been worse, AT&T could have disabled internet over their networks, but they knew that would hinder sales period. MMS, being less useful than internet access, is a lesser sacrifice.

[furi0usbee]

http://www.scriptedlizard.com/files/att.png

And now a message from your spokesman...

[wikki77]

Hi guys,

Can somebody guide me how to unlock the IPhone 3G (8GB). Its firmware version is 3.0.1 and baseband version is 04.26.08

[CharBroiled20s]

Wait - he said it was a highway ...

It IS a big truck then.



I thought it was a series of tubes :rolleyes:

[CharBroiled20s]

http://www.scriptedlizard.com/files/att.png

And now a message from your spokesman...

Oh My God!

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Thats awesome.

[Iori]

I'm no AT&T fanboy, but I don't think you or a lot of others get it. AT&T is hindered by the explosion of data use, which who really could've expected? Considering T-Mobile only has the jailbreakers on its network, it's not hindered by the extreme deluge of data usage like AT&T is. Had T-Mobile been given the iPhone, it may have been much worse.

Same deal goes with Verizon. I'm sure its network would've been slammed with traffic as well had it gotten the exclusive iPhone deal.

Apple needs to open the phone up to EVERYBODY just to shove more people onto other networks. If everybody loves Verizon so much, shoo! Go use its network. Frees up more bandwidth for me.

...ATT knew this was going to happen, yet they lacked hindsight. They're trying, but that's not good enough. I live in downtown San Francisco and its very absurd that, though my wife and I are paying $200.00 for their service, we can't make phone calls within our apartment. What's the point of paying such a high monthly bill when I can't even use their service.

It's ATT for crying out loud, and worst yet is their lack of communication to their customers. :mad:

[jazz1]

Please don't give me the needle. I killed my parents but I'm an orphan. They shouldn't sell what they can't support.

[BTW]

I believe for most iPhone users and Internet users we're already aware of bandwidth limitations, so data issues are understandable. Phone reliability we are not so tolerant. Phone calls should take priority over internet data packets on their network period.

They are spending the money to upgrade their network to handle MMS traffic but that does not address the phone call reliability. MMS will put more load on the network and they'll handle it - yippie skippy!

[Full of Win]

Did this guy have a stroke? His head is canted 30 degrees to one side in almost all the shots. He looks like a dog that is puzzled by something.

as others have said - sad, very sad.

[VenusianSky]

It's ATT for crying out loud, and worst yet is their lack of communication to their customers. :mad:

Did you expect the AT&T and Apple sales reps (bottom of the corporate ladder, working on commission) to tell the customers "here, buy this iPhone but since our service coverage is insufficient in your area, you are going to have unreliable service"? Good luck selling phones that way. Do you think Verizon reps would have told their customers the same, in areas where their coverage lacks?

[todi]

Lets see AT&T charges $30 per month for a service they cannot provide but want to continue to charge you while they prepare to provide that service. Believe the law has a word for that! :cool:

[CharBroiled20s]

Yeah, I love how everyone here is an expert at running a Cellular Telecommunications Corporation that services millions of customers across the nation. Don't they teach that in sixth grade these days?

I learned how to run a national telco in 4th grade.... you must have gone to a Sheit public school :p

[bradl]

Take a vacation to Las Vegas and get back to me. Misery loves company. :mad:

I live in Las Vegas. I've had no 3G or Edge problems in any part of this town in a 90 mile radius.

BL.

[furi0usbee]

Too little, too late. I love the iPhone, I HATE at&t. I'm going to Verizon for $39.99 (they have a version of T-Mobile My Favs). I'll miss the iPhone, but it's not worth what at&t is charging me. Plus when Verizon gets them, I'll be all set with the largest coverage in the US.

My contract is up next month and on that day I'm calling at&t and telling them to cancel me.

[bigcrazyal]

Really Really Really Big Ears!

[wonderbread57]

someone's starting to panic about losing their exclusivity contract. The time can't come soon enough if you ask me.

Yep, enough with the exclusivity already. Let the market accommodate the surge in data demand.

[aristotle]

Actually Europeans also have the iPhone and a lot of other easy to use smartphones. And I'd guess we are streaming cat videos from YouTube and twittering about our lives.
Define "easy to use". Define smartphone. A lot of what I see in the European market still use clunky UIs that i would call, half-smart phones. I never suggested that nobody does any of those things but you seem to think that Europe is culturally the same as America except that they speak a different language. Europeans have a different psychology. While they might have phones that can do a number of things, that does not mean that they actually use those features. I had a phone with a camera (krzr) but I never used the camera on it.

Even assuming that I'm completely wrong about what I just wrote and you are completely right, consider this for Europe:
1. Lower density.
2. Tower infrastructure shared by companies.
3. No competing CDMA technology in Europe that could cause interference.

I would suggest you all take a look at this page:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone1.htm

Cellphone networks are divided into a series of honeycomb "cells". Each cell has a finite capacity of users. You can increase capacity by using more than one frequency band to overlap more than one cell in an area but that only increases the capacity in that areas. People need to stop trying to use their cellphone access thinking that it is just like a wired ISP. It is not supposed to be used as your dedicated link. I don't care what country you are in or how good the infrastructure is, you will eventually run out of capacity if everyone started using it at the same time.

[Iori]

Did you expect the AT&T and Apple sales reps (bottom of the corporate ladder, working on commission) to tell the customers "here, buy this iPhone but since our service coverage is insufficient in your area, you are going to have unreliable service"? Good luck selling phones that way. Do you think Verizon reps would have told their customers the same, in areas where their coverage lacks?

Um, I am aware that the sales reps have nothing to do with the unreliable service. As I stated before, I live in downtown San Francisco. If you check the "coverage map" in the ATT site, you will see that there shouldn't be no coverage lacks. I have called ATT regarding this issue, yet they keep telling me that the coverage isn't a problem. But my phone still says "searching" on top. I tried contacting them and they don't explain to me what the problem is. That is the "lack of communication" that I mentioned earlier.

My frustration is, "why can't I make a bloody phone call from my own home?" :mad:

[TalonFlyer]

What a lame response to major issues. What, networking 101 is there response! Originally, Apple went with Cingular and as I understand AT&T then help 50% of that company. Then AT&T acquired all of Cingular thereby inheriting the exclusive contract with Apple. You can't tell me that the wireless carriers didn't not know Apple's cellular production projections every step of the way. Every iPhone is required to have an unlimited data plan. You don't think that there was not a room full of statisticians crunching the numbers on network capacity.

Everyone should have known well in advance what the impact would be to the network. AT&T over promised and under delivered to save a few bucks. There is a cultural mentality at work inside AT&T that has been there for years. Once a wonderful company now riddled with outdated systems, poor management and no regard for customers. I have a 20 year history with AT&T at all business levels and the problems are the same. They actually straight out lie to you on the phone, go ahead and try to prove anything they say. They are the 1600 pound gorilla and the customer never wins.

My iPhone is a excellent product. The AT&T service is horrible and I have not received what I paid for. Dropped calls, slow data 90% of the time and one of the most expensive mobile plans out there. Two year without MMS, tethering, stable calls and data throughput anywhere near spec.

MMS, a little late and not much fanfare. What about tethering, what about dropped calls. What about paying your wireless bill in cash and not getting a fee because you paid cash. I used to joke about this and now with AT&T the joke is on me.

Apple often makes good decisions. While it appears that they were wrong in this case, I would suspect that they were also sold a bill of goods with Cingular and AT&T about what and when they could deliver.

I for one think there should be a class action lawsuit filed against AT&T for breach of contract relating to service, or lack thereof. Any aggressive lawyers out there willing to take it on? Sign me up and I'll be in front of the line.

How about this, just get Autonet (AutoNetMobile.com) for you car and use Skype from the iPhone. Not a perfect solution, but you would save 60%.

You see, all our ranting still does nothing and for the blogger geek saying they are listening, just one more case of them lying to your virtual face.

A less than happy AT&T customer.

[NoExpectations]

....go buy your new blackberry and leave AT&T......more capacity for the rest of us and less crying that we have to read about.

I know that AT&T has had some local problems in the NY-NJ and San Fran area....but everywhere else appears to be fine.

After AT&T upgrades their network, do you really think that Verizon's network is going to be better? Verizon is stuck on 20th century technology (CDMA). Anyone who thinks that they will have a 4G network rolled out nationally by mid 2010 is living in a dream world.

[segfaultdotorg]

Dear Apple and AT&T,

When will the iPhone 2G support MMS?
When will there be 3G service in rural areas?
When will there be decent service (2 or 3G) at my office, which is on the main thoroughfare of a small town?
Why is it that, if I want an iPhone 3G, I have to sign up for the more expensive 3G data plan, even though there is no 3G service in my area?
Why is Apple still with AT&T, when it appears that Verizon provides superior coverage on the whole?

Regards,
segfaultdotorg

[donlphi]

Seth then addresses the broader investments AT&T has made in its network, totaling $38 billion over the past two years, to increase capacity and deploy coverage based on the 3g-coverage-improvements-in-new-york-city-and-other-markets 850 MHz spectrum, which offers improved capacity and in-building coverage.

One thing Seth forgot to mention was how AT&T is going to pass that cost along to their existing customers.

Here is how the script MIGHT have looked...

SETH: And for only $40 a month, you will be able to share video, voice memos, and pictures with your friends and family. Enjoy [insert cheesy smile & more blank stare]

On a side note... It would be interesting if AT&T made standard text messaging free and only charged for MMS only. I could deal with that. Unfortunately it won't happen.

[compuguy1088]

"We have heard you. We are on it. Don't ask us anymore about it." :D

No... that doesn't suck... that's awesome.... for you. What sucks is NOT getting 3G for at least 2 years, which is what AT&T told me a few days ago when I called to find out when I was going to be out of the 9th EDGE of Cell Hell.

Personally I've been using a 2g phone with edge for the past 2 years. It isn't too bad, though recently it seems they are allocating more bandwidth towards HSPDA traffic. (Washington D.C. area)

[compuguy1088]

Um, I am aware that the sales reps have nothing to do with the unreliable service. As I stated before, I live in downtown San Francisco. If you check the "coverage map" in the ATT site, you will see that there shouldn't be no coverage lacks. I have called ATT regarding this issue, yet they keep telling me that the coverage isn't a problem. But my phone still says "searching" on top. I tried contacting them and they don't explain to me what the problem is. That is the "lack of communication" that I mentioned earlier.

My frustration is, "why can't I make a bloody phone call from my own home?" :mad:

I would guess, that the area you are in IS COVERED, but overloaded. If there are not enought slots in your "cell" the phone will either grab onto a weaker signal (a tower farther away, for example), or have no signal. I saw this when I was at a World Series game last year. My iphone only had two bars, and could not even make a call. A few weeks ago I went to a game at that same stadium, I had nearly full bars, and no trouble making calls. This is an example where the provider has coverage, but not enough slots for everyone to connect (aka. network overload).

[Neotyguy40]

There HAS to be a a reason for Apple to go with AT&T instead of Verizon...

Verizon would've known that the iPhone would be extremely successful, and I bet they would've taken it in.

I just don't understand, what would be so bad about Verizon that Apple goes with AT&T?

[compuguy1088]

There HAS to be a a reason for Apple to go with AT&T instead of Verizon...

Verizon would've known that the iPhone would be extremely successful, and I bet they would've taken it in.

I just don't understand, what would be so bad about Verizon that Apple goes with AT&T?

I bet if they went with verizon, they would be experiencing the same problems as AT&T. IF they went with t-mobile, *laughs* they would of been down a river with no paddle!

Note: I should note that coverage is great with AT&T in my neighborhood, but really atrocious with Verizon (one bar compared to 5 bars!).

[ppdix]

:eek:

[onfire4g05]

How is spending $17 Billion sucking? I want to see how much Verizon or T-Mobile has spent.

Sprint doesn't count on the fact that their network is near nada in many areas (you have to roam) and there network works because people are fleeing in an Exodus.

Instead of investing money in 3G, which is becoming a dated technology, Verizon has decided to spend that money on their new 4G network which is supposedly supposed to be ready next year in places.

And I've been with Verizion for just over a year, and while everyone complains about not getting any reception at my work and having dropped calls all the time while on AT&T, I've been happily on Verizion without such issues. Moreover, these people only have basic phone without data or anything else. I'd take Verizon over AT&T any day after all the junk I've heard about AT&T and their horrible service. Who cares if I have an iPhone if I can't even use it in 50% of the places I want to use or the reception is bad.

If Verizon doesn't get the iPhone next year I've thought about switching to AT&T (my contract with Verizon will be over then), but since I've heard everyone complaining about their bad service and seen it firsthand, I won't be switching -- EVEN if it magically get's better between now and then. Unless Verizon's service suddenly becomes bad (which I honestly doubt), I won't be switching anytime in the next 3+ years -- iPhone or not.

[Thunder82]

If Verizon doesn't get the iPhone next year I've thought about switching to AT&T

I understand people have dreams, but you Verizon people have pretty lofty ones if you think a CDMA iPhone will ever be released. In 5 years, when Verizons LTE network is completely built-out, then maybe you'll see something.

[island]

No AT&T issues on my end - Fairfield County, CT - Full 3G everywhere

[michael31986]

i live in NJ and i will admit that when i got the 3G iphone last summer 3G was very shady, but now its great and i very very rarely get dropped calls. Also iphone will not go to Verizon until they go to 4G lte or w/e its called. apple will not make just one type of phone a cdma for verizon, when the rest of the world is using the same gsm iphones.

[andy721]

AT&T will crash when September 25th comes, but they already rolled out the MMS do that jailbreak MMS wap setting trick, give it a try now and you'll see what I mean. If not then they haven't got to your account yet.

[hfletcher]

I feel sorry for all you at&t customers... I don't know how bad it really is but from all the forum posts it seems like a dire situation.
Here in the UK o2 seem to have everything sorted. No 3G problems or anything like that, not that i've come across anyway. But in the majority of places we have less density of users because we don't have many huge cities (apart from London, etc). But for anyone to say that we have 'crippled smartphones' in europe, people use them all the time, and I bet that we use just as much data per iPhone as you do in the US..

[butterfly0fdoom]

Instead of investing money in 3G, which is becoming a dated technology, Verizon has decided to spend that money on their new 4G network which is supposedly supposed to be ready next year in places.

Again, (this statement validated by someone else) Verizon could get 3G rolled out more quickly at a lower cost because EV-DO is a modification of CDMA2000; AT&T and T-Mobile were later to the game because UTMS has to be deployed alongside GSM. In turn, Verizon can focus on getting 4G out earlier than AT&T and T-Mobile can. But 3G is hardly outdated; Ericsson is still developing extensions of EDGE (which is a 2.5G technology). And if you think Verizon's 4G network is going to be as widespread and reliable as their 2G/3G network, you're horribly mistaken.

[psingh01]

Can't blame AT&T for sucking, the problem is the exclusive contract they have. The only people that like are Apple and AT&T. It's never in the interest of the consumer and this is why.

[ThunderSkunk]

The alien-puppeteer who's pulling this corpses strings needs to find the one that controls the eyebrows and neck. And give that thing a haircut. And quit bumping the string for the dangling hand, cause it's unsettling. This guy is the creepiest mofo I've seen chosen to represent a giant, faceless corporation, and that puts him in the running for creepiest mofo I have ever seen ever. Holy ****!

And nice excuse AT&T. "We WOULD do it, but it's just so much, like, you know, work. It's much more profitable to bill you top dollar, and provide you with weak or incomplete service for as long as possible til someone actually sues us over it."

This is the last AT&T contract I will ever sign.

[TXCraig]

If AT&T's network is so bogged down with smart phones using all that data, why is every other commercial on TV is that guy hawking the AT&T broadband network card? Shouldn't they STOP taking on new customers and get their network upgraded BEFORE adding anymore 3G data customers? Especially laptop network cards?

[Bubba Satori]

There HAS to be a a reason for Apple to go with AT&T instead of Verizon...

Verizon would've known that the iPhone would be extremely successful, and I bet they would've taken it in.

I just don't understand, what would be so bad about Verizon that Apple goes with AT&T?

AT&T was willing to bend over more to be associated with the slim and hip of the world.

[Sehnsucht]

AT&T was willing to bend over more to be associated with the slim and hip of the world.

:rolleyes:

[Justind]

I heard that when a person tilts there head while speaking it most likely means they are lying.

[sommls]

Have any of you worked for a Fortune 100 company for more than a month or so? I thought so: there are a reasonable number of people here who realize that the wasted internal powerpoint time alone is enough to fix a significant fraction of ATT's network problems.

So what does it say that management tries to solve the problem by putting up what they consider a stereotypical technogeek to hawk solutions on YouTube? Someone who's having a worse hair day than me (that's going some, I'm over 50)? To inform the public that the 1's and 0's consumed by smartphones significantly exceeds that for phones engaged in audio transmission alone?

Sorry, this is just a badly calculated marketing statement and not much more.

I'll be just as cynical as the people who approved this approach: could we please build a better network or let the Apple exclusivity quietly expire?

[kdarling]

Verizon would've known that the iPhone would be extremely successful, and I bet they would've taken it in.

Verizon could not know it would be successful, especially since Apple's history with phones and PDAs was not very good.

Verizon never got to see the iPhone. They only knew that Apple wanted to do their own phone. The only other semi-Apple related "iPod" phone, the ROKR, had just come out and was not selling well.

Apple also wanted extra money for it. Apple didn't want to let it be sold in other stores like Best Buy or Walmart. Apple didn't want to share warranty decisions with Verizon. Apple didn't want it open to apps.

Overall, it's easy to understand why Verizon would say no to something that sounded so vague and consumer unfriendly.

I just don't understand, what would be so bad about Verizon that Apple goes with AT&T?

Nothing wrong with Verizon at all. That's why Apple tried to go with Verizon for almost a year. Finally they gave up and went along with ATT's lengthy exclusivity demand.

In return, ATT was willing to do a couple of odd things. First, they gave each customer's monthly subsidy allotment to Apple (aka "revenue sharing") for the first year. Second, they were willing to sell a model with no 3G, something Verizon would've objected to.

[elgrecomac]

With regard to the original post.....What a bunch of crap. AT&T has been a 2nd rate player from the get-go with regards to the iphone. Lets not forget
1. The total screw-up when the 3G phones were sold and orders could not be placed or phones activated because their systems were failing.
2. For two years they denied their network was over-taxed then...Surprise!...they need to fix their networks in many major metropolitan areas including San Francisco and New York.
3. We continue to wait for the fixes of item 2, above, and they are not in place yet. Its all a bunch of Corp-speak.

AT&T is the weak link in the iphone. To me, it is like having a great web browser like Safari 4 on my MBP and only be able to use it on a dial-up connection.

If Apple does not offer an alternative to AT&T next year when my AT&T plan is up, I will probably migrate away and buy a Crackberry.

[dornoforpyros]

Am I the only one who thought of the Dougler from Undergrads? The Dougler!

[tennispro5023]

The fact of the matter is that no single carrier has complete, sufficient coverage. It doesn't take a genius to understand why that is. Cellular service is still somewhat young for being a large infrastructural development. It has only been a little more than a decade where cellular phones and plans have become affordable enough for nearly everyone to own one.

I hear the same explanation from many people. "I use fill in carrier name because they have the best coverage in my area". Makes sense to me. Maybe those who got blindly sucked into the iPhone should have done a little more research and reconsidered what is more important, cool phone or reliable service. The only person to blaim is Apple for making a cool phone and establishing an exclusive deal with AT&T.

For myself, it just so happens that AT&T's service has always been perfectly fine where I live. I don't recall ever having a dropped call. It was a no-brainer for me to get an iPhone.

That's is ridiculous to say. I shouldn't have to do research for a flipping cell phone service I used to have verizon and man am i upset i switch I got service EVERYWHERE! Now with AT&T I get it nowhere, and I really don't think I had to do research in this day in age i shouldn't have to go to the highest point everywhere I am just to get one bar.

[k28]

At least he got a tan :)

[Stratus Fear]

That's is ridiculous to say. I shouldn't have to do research for a flipping cell phone service I used to have verizon and man am i upset i switch I got service EVERYWHERE! Now with AT&T I get it nowhere, and I really don't think I had to do research in this day in age i shouldn't have to go to the highest point everywhere I am just to get one bar.

Yes, god forbid we be responsible consumers and do our due diligence by learning about what we're buying before we buy it. I mean, I don't know about you, but I enjoy blindly throwing my money at stuff!

[7racer]

do we get a refund check for services not offered (mms, etc) while we were paying the full internet fee?

I think that if ATT was knowing holding back features while charging customers the full rate, that we should get some kind of refund....or class action lawsuit :p

[DELLsFan]

I live in Las Vegas. I've had no 3G or Edge problems in any part of this town in a 90 mile radius.

BL.

Isn't that just hilarious!

I traveled with two separate 3G iPhones both purchased in the New England area. Both had excellent voice coverage and indicated 3G service for all of the trip, but I was lucky to be able to connect to the internet at ALL for the majority of the trip.

In town, on the strip, in hotels, the same story ... MAYBE I could connect and surf or send/receive email. Power cycled the phones more times during the vacation than I care to remember - with little to no change in service - poor, in summary.

The phones worked normally when I arrived back home. You tell ME ... I couldn't figure it out ... Whatever bummed my phones in Vegas STAYED in Vegas. Hooray for you ... but I was not impressed with AT&T there.

[MorphingDragon]

European Cellphone Companies FTW!!! :D

[bradl]

Can't blame AT&T for sucking, the problem is the exclusive contract they have. The only people that like are Apple and AT&T. It's never in the interest of the consumer and this is why.

No, it isn't the exclusivity contract ATT has that is the problem.

The problem, which has existed in the US since the mid 1990s, is the fact that the cell phone companies have been building out their own networks, and saying their own technology is the standard, instead of using the global standard that already existed since that time, which was GSM.

Since 1997, the US providers have been making their own network, and telling the phone manufacturers to make phones for their network. That way, they have you until you switch, which you'd need to buy a new phone altogether. In Europe, Australia, etc., you could take your phone with you when you go. Not so in the USA.

Case in point is with Spring in 2000. They told Nokia (biggest phone maker at the time) to "make phones solely for our network, or we will never sell your phones again!" Nokia gave them to **** off, and stopped making phones for Sprint. They still haven't to this day.

Until the US companies, exception being AT&T and T-Mobile get off their respective arses and use the standard, there will ALWAYS be these exclusivity contracts that keep you bound to them.

I happen to like AT&T. they've done me well over the past 6 years (can't say the same for Sprint, and my SO can say MUCH WORSE for Verizon). What I don't like are locked phones, as I would prefer to take my phone with me should I ever change carriers. You should not have to buy a new phone each time you switch carriers.


Isn't that just hilarious!

I traveled with two separate 3G iPhones both purchased in the New England area. Both had excellent voice coverage and indicated 3G service for all of the trip, but I was lucky to be able to connect to the internet at ALL for the majority of the trip.

In town, on the strip, in hotels, the same story ... MAYBE I could connect and surf or send/receive email. Power cycled the phones more times during the vacation than I care to remember - with little to no change in service - poor, in summary.

The phones worked normally when I arrived back home. You tell ME ... I couldn't figure it out ... Whatever bummed my phones in Vegas STAYED in Vegas. Hooray for you ... but I was not impressed with AT&T there.

Define 'in town'. I live in Summerlin, work in Summerlin, go to school at UNLV, bowl in Henderson, have relatives in Kingman and St. George, and up US-95 and I-15, I've had no degradation of service. In fact, the only places I've lost service at was going up SR-157 to Mt. Charleston, and driving through the Virgin River Gorge in Arizona. At my data center downtown (across from Fitzgeralds), I've had no problems.

In the hotels you may have issues because you're dealing with each hotel having their own power substation there and then some! But from Lake Mead to Primm to Redrock Canyon to Virgin River to Indian Springs, I haven't had a single problem.

BL.

[yudilks]

Oh the head!!!!!!.. What's with the tilting????

[Maccleduff]

Oh the head!!!!!!.. What's with the tilting????

At first he tilts one way, and then he tilts the other! :confused:

[jk000]

this guy has to be the WORST PR guy in the world. This is a big mistake by ATT

[iSamurai]

guys, do you think this guy will commit suicide after reading this thread?! :eek:

[iPhoneNYC]

ATT is the weak link in the iPhone chain. They have made a ton of money off of the iPhone but can only complain that they need extra service. In France, the courts forced Apple to give the iPhone to multiple carriers. The result: usage went from 15% to 40%. What is needed here in the US is multiple carriers. Additionally, I think other carriers would cast a better actor in their videos!

[wonderbread57]

The guy reminds me of aliens or heavenly spirits that come to earth and take the form of something we can relate with. Just pretty hilarious how blatant ATT was in their approach of calling him "the (token) blogger guy".

[vvebsta]

I really think Apple needs to abandon ship with these guys. They are scrambling to improve their network to accommodate MMS?!? How are they ever going to keep up with Apple? Apple needs someone who will get the job done. 3G is old news. If AT&T was planning for the future they would be putting in 4G networks.

*grumble grumble*

[miniConvert]

I think this was a great attempt at pacifying vocal Internet users whose complaints have so far fallen upon deaf ears.

I wish O2 in the UK would provide us with similar information about how they're bolstering their flaky data network and minute 3G footprint.

[evilguy]

That's true, but those networks were paid for using billions of Euros in public taxpayer's money... as in, massively subsidized, just like GSM was before it.

Do you really think that would be the case if Orange, Vodaphone and others had to pay for it with billions of their own money??

So if you're pi$$ed, write to your senator and ask him for a tax increase to cover the AT&T buildout!

:rolleyes:

Actually your are very far from the truth. Yes Orange, Vodafone did pay for their network with their own money.

In most European countries the telephone companies have to pay a heavy license fee to the government just to get a 3G license and further more agree to a specific network rollout with in a fixed timeframe.

In my country, Denmark, 4 licenses were sold to a price ox aprox. 190 million dollars per license and All the operators have to cover at least 80% of the population within 6 years.

Translated to US terms a company like AT&T would have to pay uncle Sam around 10 billion dollars in license fees just for the license.

Yes the GSM system was subsidized with public taxpayer money - but not the network rollout. The european governments funded the development of the GSM system and made laws so only GSM phones were allowed in the 900 Mhz spectrum thous banning every other techonology to gain momentum.

Anyway - I feel sorry for all you American iPhone users. I only get an average of 3 mbit/s of download with my local carrier... in primetime. Dropped calls? Never heard about it. MMS - worked from day one.

[PinkyMacGodess]

I'll believe it when I see it. AT&T was sketchy when I started using them about 10 years ago, but they've gotten absolutely horrendous over the last 6-12 months. So many dropped/inaudible calls and the data speeds and coverage is very pokey compared to Verizon. We'll see, but I don't have a lot of faith in them. The iPhone is the greatest mobile device ever, but it's ruined by the AT&T experience.

Ahh, but the NSA knows exactly who you call and what you say...

http://www.eff.org/files/EFF_ATT_NSA_200trans.png

And according to AT&T's site, there hasn't been an update in Michigan yet this year.

[PinkyMacGodess]

Actually your are very far from the truth. Yes Orange, Vodafone did pay for their network with their own money.

In most European countries the telephone companies have to pay a heavy license fee to the government just to get a 3G license and further more agree to a specific network rollout with in a fixed timeframe.

In my country, Denmark, 4 licenses were sold to a price ox aprox. 190 million dollars per license and All the operators have to cover at least 80% of the population within 6 years.

Translated to US terms a company like AT&T would have to pay uncle Sam around 10 billion dollars in license fees just for the license.

Yes the GSM system was subsidized with public taxpayer money - but not the network rollout. The european governments funded the development of the GSM system and made laws so only GSM phones were allowed in the 900 Mhz spectrum thous banning every other techonology to gain momentum.

Anyway - I feel sorry for all you American iPhone users. I only get an average of 3 mbit/s of download with my local carrier... in primetime. Dropped calls? Never heard about it. MMS - worked from day one.

And the cell phone companies HAVE gotten tax payers money before to expand and update their cell phone networks. They always come to congress on bended knee saying they will expand and need money for it, and then once they have the money they claim that it just can't be done and they get to keep the money. Seriously... Get money for nothing. High paid lobbyists have turned government into a cash cow for industry.

Bill Moyers did a show a few years ago about how the telco companies were given MILLIONS and perhaps BILLIONS of dollars for rural internet access and swore up and down that they could bring Gigabit speeds to mom and pop potter in rural Iowa. Well, then they said that their 'reach exceeded their grasp' and asked that they not have to return the money. Well, perish the thought, DeeCee said they could keep the money, for doing nothing.

And people wonder why our country is in such the crapper for deficits and why we don't have gigabit, or terrabit fiber to our homes. Well, we PAID for it, we just didn't get it. Thanks to lobbyists and the revolving door in DeeCee, oh, and gutless politicians...

We've paid for better phone and internet service. Paid for it and then not gotten it. The fleecing of America. It happens all the time...

[Howardchief]

Anyone going to Verizon when they get the iphone? *raises hand*

[PinkyMacGodess]

What a lame response to major issues. What, networking 101 is there response! Originally, Apple went with Cingular and as I understand AT&T then help 50% of that company. Then AT&T acquired all of Cingular thereby inheriting the exclusive contract with Apple.

The reason that Cingular and Cricket and many of the other smaller cell phone companies popped up is because of a decision by the FCC to auction off more bandwidth for 'emerging companies' that would provide 'competition' for the big guys. Many smaller companies popped out of the ground to bid on the bandwidth (So many that I can't remember them all). Many turned out to be front companies for the very big guys that weren't supposed to compete in the bidding. Now all of these smaller companies with that tasty bandwidth became just small fish for the big guys to eat through mergers. *GULP*, they are all gone.

Brilliant decision by the FCC and as usual executed and became a farce. Cingular was an orphan setup in a 'feel good' moment at the FCC and was marked from the beginning for slaughter. I'm not saying it was a criminal idea but if the FCC wanted to provide 'competition', they could have put teeth in their non-compete clause and made these smaller companies able to stand on their own. Although as I remember it now, the FCC did require a waiting period before they could be bought up, and after that day, the number of shotgun marriages went up and most were history.

And I think that Apple was always with AT&T... No, it was with Cingular...

[PinkyMacGodess]

Anyone going to Verizon when they get the iphone? *raises hand*

Not going to happen. At least not very likely.

Verizon had their chance with the iPhone early on and they couldn't control it like the other equipment they sell so Apple told them to bugger off.

If there is a huge fail in this story it's the one about the overpaid Verizon exec who tried to screw Apple and how Apple screwed them back.

Could you imagine an iPhone that would support technologies from day one that Verizon would order Apple to not support? That's what Verizon does. They actually order their suppliers to cripple the phones. Nice...

[w0by]

Seth the blogger totally looks very stalkerish. Gross!

[Howardchief]

Not going to happen. At least not very likely.

Verizon had their chance with the iPhone early on and they couldn't control it like the other equipment they sell so Apple told them to bugger off.

If there is a huge fail in this story it's the one about the overpaid Verizon exec who tried to screw Apple and how Apple screwed them back.

Could you imagine an iPhone that would support technologies from day one that Verizon would order Apple to not support? That's what Verizon does. They actually order their suppliers to cripple the phones. Nice...

how about this.. who wants to move to a country with a real cell phone provider?!

[itsthenewdc]

I woke up just now to a MMS message from a friend on my iPhone. I don't know if this is a slow roll out or what..

[sellitman]

I don't see what all the fuss is. I have an original iPhone and the reception isn't any better or much worse than my company issued Verizon phone.

And Verizon EATS your unused minutes too.

Talk about greed.

[NickK1066]

I still have a Cingular hat from working with them pre-AT&T :D

There are considerable issues with having a large range of technologies in a network and it's killing them. AT&T should pick one and drive a full rollout with that single standard; get in control of the costs; optimise network performance and above all bring a great user experience to customers.

Apple, AT&T and Disney will, or have, combined forces to deliver a complete top down market player.

It would be interesting to see how many people would be fired if the control of AT&T was handed to Steve Jobs for a year.

[kdarling]

Verizon had their chance with the iPhone early on and they couldn't control it like the other equipment they sell so Apple told them to bugger off.

Nothing you said matches at all with what Verizon or Apple has said. For one thing, nobody told anyone to bugger off.

Apple wanted control over sales, warranty and subsidies (http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/01/29/verizon_passed_on_exclusive_5_year_iphone_deal.html), so Verizon kept politely putting them off for a year. Apple eventually gave up and signed an exclusive with ATT.

If there is a huge fail in this story it's the one about the overpaid Verizon exec who tried to screw Apple and how Apple screwed them back.

Okay, I'll bite. What story?

[headfuzz]

Anyway - I feel sorry for all you American iPhone users. I only get an average of 3 mbit/s of download with my local carrier... in primetime. Dropped calls? Never heard about it. MMS - worked from day one.

+1

AT&T really are a joke.

[evilguy]

And the cell phone companies HAVE gotten tax payers money before to expand and update their cell phone networks. They always come to congress on bended knee saying they will expand and need money for it, and then once they have the money they claim that it just can't be done and they get to keep the money. Seriously... Get money for nothing. High paid lobbyists have turned government into a cash cow for industry.


You have many valid arguments - but please read my posting again. The subject was European telecoms - no American.

In Europe the telecoms pay the government license fees, tax and doesn't normally receive "kick-back" from the government - its simply against the principles of the EU.

[DELLsFan]

Define 'in town'. I live in Summerlin, work in Summerlin, go to school at UNLV, bowl in Henderson, have relatives in Kingman and St. George, and up US-95 and I-15, I've had no degradation of service. In fact, the only places I've lost service at was going up SR-157 to Mt. Charleston, and driving through the Virgin River Gorge in Arizona. At my data center downtown (across from Fitzgeralds), I've had no problems.

In the hotels you may have issues because you're dealing with each hotel having their own power substation there and then some! But from Lake Mead to Primm to Redrock Canyon to Virgin River to Indian Springs, I haven't had a single problem.

BL.

Hmm ... perhaps there IS more to Las Vegas than "The Strip". ;p I was pretty much as North as the Stratosphere and as far south as the Luxor, MGM Grand, etc ... having hit just about every hotel and attraction in between ...

I considered the possibility that every hotel on the strip was utilizing some sort of data blocking device to inhibit any cellular 3G service. Considering the price these schmagoolies were charging for Wi-Fi in the rooms, it would not surprise me. However, it doesn't really explain the problems outside in between the hotels, in the malls, and onboard the monorail, etc ...

:confused:

[Chrispy]

I have noticed some network improvement over the past few weeks in areas where I usually got a bad signal. If AT&T really is making things better I'm sure as heck not going to complain. Just glad we are finally getting MMS!

[compuguy1088]

AT&T will crash when September 25th comes, but they already rolled out the MMS do that jailbreak MMS wap setting trick, give it a try now and you'll see what I mean. If not then they haven't got to your account yet.

A link to this would be nice, or even some relevant search terms. I have not heard of this "trick".

[bradl]

Hmm ... perhaps there IS more to Las Vegas than "The Strip". ;p I was pretty much as North as the Stratosphere and as far south as the Luxor, MGM Grand, etc ... having hit just about every hotel and attraction in between ...

I considered the possibility that every hotel on the strip was utilizing some sort of data blocking device to inhibit any cellular 3G service. Considering the price these schmagoolies were charging for Wi-Fi in the rooms, it would not surprise me. However, it doesn't really explain the problems outside in between the hotels, in the malls, and onboard the monorail, etc ...

:confused:

Oh yes, there is much more to Vegas than just the Strip. When you get underneath the tourist trap that it is, the 2nd big thing Las Vegas is, is a college town. So you have the college jocks coming in to party all the time.

I just did a little test for you. I'm going to assume you've been to only 4 malls in Vegas; Fashion Show, Forum Shops, and whatever Planet Hollywood renamed the Desert Passage mall in the former Aladdin casino, and Town Square.

I went shopping at the other malls (Meadows, Boulevard, Galleria at Sunset, and both outlets) on my way out of town to Kingman (via Oatman) to visit the inlaws. Full bars in every mall (Meadows is on US95 & Decatur, Boulevard on Maryland Parkway, Galleria on US95 and Sunset, Las Vegas Outlets north of the Stratosphere, and Belz on Las Vegas Blvd. & Warm Springs, just south of Town Square) Full bars in all places.

After that, went down to Laughlin on US 95, crossed the river into Bullhead City, then down to Oatman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oatman,_Arizona). Fed the burros, watched a couple guys get killed in the daily gunfight, then drove Route 66 (which Oatman is on) straight into Kingman. I had 4 bars there (dammit). But I dare Verizon to say that they have better coverage on the southwest part of Route 66.

BL.

[TJD3]

...Now, at least they're telling us what is going on. I have to compliment them on that. I hope they continue to do so.
...

Too little, too late.

[bradl]

Too little, too late.

Then sell your bloody iPhone and switch to Verizon or somewhere else. There are quite a number of us who have not had a single bloody problem with AT&T, yet a number of you think that they are the devil because of <insert useless drivel excuse here>.

Back in '91, a Band called Extreme had a song that put things very blunt:


If you don't like what you see here, get the funk out. We won't try to force feed you, get the funk out.

No-one held a gun to your head and made you sign that contract to get that iPhone. Verizon screwed up and didn't get it. Grow a pair and get over it, everybody. Their network is screwed because they CHOSE to go CDMA and pass that off as their 'standard', when there was already a global one available. They had their chance, and lost.

Also, if you think this is so easy, why haven't we seen any of your (general and plural) resumes for jobs at AT&T? It's so easy for you to moan and complain from the sidelines, but you (general and plural) don't do a bloody thing positive about it.

Get a pair, grow up, and be grateful that AT&T is doing something about it. Besides, if you're complaining about something as petty as MMS.. wait until you go without something important, like.. I dunno.. FOOD, or SHELTER. Things for you could be a LOT worse.

BL.

[brendon2020]

i don't think there's any amount of advertising AT&T can do to improve their image with iphone users, and this video is proof.

[butterfly0fdoom]

i don't think there's any amount of advertising AT&T can do to improve their image with iphone users, and this video is proof.

Sadly, the problem isn't AT&T, but the general mentality among American consumers that they know everything when they really don't (as evidenced by a lot of the sentiments on this forum).

[Ramashalanka]

Thank goodness for some more news (the iPhone C64 emulator): now we don't have to see the picture of "Seth the Blogger Guy" every time we check MacRumors.

[kdarling]

Their network is screwed because they CHOSE to go CDMA and pass that off as their 'standard', when there was already a global one available.

Hardly.

At the time that NYNEX and US West were looking into digital systems, there was no deployed GSM network in the entire world. Even when they finally put out CDMA in the USA, there were still probably only 300K GSM users worldwide.

GSM was also geared more towards dense European city environments, and for the original need to switch carrier SIMs every few hundred miles between countries.

Pre-Verizon chose the best technical standard for the USA instead: CDMA.

CDMA was the clear technical winner over TDMA, since it was expandable clear through 3G, and sure enough, a few years later the GSM community also adopted a WCDMA protocol for their 3G... and are still trying to roll out 3G long after the CDMA carriers were done and moving on to 4G.

[binaryskies]

Anyone going to Verizon when they get the iphone? *raises hand*

Me too.

Although I have to give it to AT&T. That video gave me the best laugh of the night.:D

[crackbookpro]

c'mon AT&T... that is pathetic!

[Rot'nApple]

Man, a still photo of that AT&T guy is really spooky! Or is it just me? :confused:

[kmiahali]

Apple needs to seriously weigh the pros with the cons and see that AT&T is doing them more harm than good. AT&Ts spotty service and slow data speeds destroys the whole point of the iPhone having all these amazing apps. If AT&T can't handle MMS on their networks, than they shouldn't have ever gotten the iPhone in the first place. When their contract is over, Apple should move to a more reliable company like Verizon or even T-Mobile. Anything but AT&T.

[bradl]

Apple needs to seriously weigh the pros with the cons and see that AT&T is doing them more harm than good. AT&Ts spotty service and slow data speeds destroys the whole point of the iPhone having all these amazing apps. If AT&T can't handle MMS on their networks, than they shouldn't have ever gotten the iPhone in the first place. When their contract is over, Apple should move to a more reliable company like Verizon or even T-Mobile. Anything but AT&T.

See my previous posts about Verizon, especially in Nevada and California. Reliable? Hardly, especially when their phone selection has been a joke.

I've had no problems at all with AT&T in the midwest (Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana), southern midwest (Oklahoma, Texas), Rocky Mountain region (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah), and the US West Coast (Nevada, California).

All US wireless carriers suck. IMHO, AT&T, sucks less.

BL.

[DELLsFan]

Oh yes, there is much more to Vegas than just the Strip. When you get underneath the tourist trap that it is, the 2nd big thing Las Vegas is, is a college town. So you have the college jocks coming in to party all the time.

I just did a little test for you. I'm going to assume you've been to only 4 malls in Vegas; Fashion Show, Forum Shops, and whatever Planet Hollywood renamed the Desert Passage mall in the former Aladdin casino, and Town Square.

I went shopping at the other malls (Meadows, Boulevard, Galleria at Sunset, and both outlets) on my way out of town to Kingman (via Oatman) to visit the inlaws. Full bars in every mall (Meadows is on US95 & Decatur, Boulevard on Maryland Parkway, Galleria on US95 and Sunset, Las Vegas Outlets north of the Stratosphere, and Belz on Las Vegas Blvd. & Warm Springs, just south of Town Square) Full bars in all places.

After that, went down to Laughlin on US 95, crossed the river into Bullhead City, then down to Oatman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oatman,_Arizona). Fed the burros, watched a couple guys get killed in the daily gunfight, then drove Route 66 (which Oatman is on) straight into Kingman. I had 4 bars there (dammit). But I dare Verizon to say that they have better coverage on the southwest part of Route 66.

BL.

Thanks for the test ... but I never disputed the signal strength. I had what appeared to be a max signal in just about every location I visited. Voice calls were clear and connected great. I had indication of 3G service everywhere. However, the actual connection to the internet worked maybe 25% of my stay. It was bizarre. Something was amiss with my connection to AT&T's 3G service in Vegas. As soon as I got home, I was able to connect to the internet just fine.

[xDYLANx]

I'm getting an iPhone Friday, but I'm scared about having to deal with AT&T :(

[bradl]

I'm getting an iPhone Friday, but I'm scared about having to deal with AT&T :(

Honestly, there is nothing wrong with AT&T. Dealing with them is the same as dealing with any other US carrier. There really isn't a difference. Tell them what you want, and you're good to go. There might even be some specials for you if you qualify for them (see the FAN account threads in the iPhone forum).

Just be sure to do your homework (read: coverage in your area, plans, etc.) and you will be fine. If you don't want to deal with them, you can always head to the Apple Store and they will take care of you (except they really can't deal with FAN accounts, as that's only ATT's deal).

BL.

[charlituna]

Anyone going to Verizon when they get the iphone? *raises hand*

Actually no you might not. Apple is under no obligation to make phones for CDMA, which is what at the moment Version is using. so unless Verizon switches support to whatever Apple decides to use for the phones, Verizon won't be able to 'get the iphone'.

[andy721]

A link to this would be nice, or even some relevant search terms. I have not heard of this "trick".

I don't think I can post it on here people will get upset like always.

[vvebsta]

Watching that video again, I feel like its a slap in the face. making it sound like mms for iphone needs this huge restructuring, then explaining to us how a phone call works like we're 4 years old. AT&T is so far behind in the times. 4G is the next step, AT&T better get on the ball or its going to be a legacy network. Its simple if there's too much bandwidth on the network, build a better network!

[JoeG4]

Stolen off a tuaw comment:

AT&T : we are improving our 3G network!

Sprint: we are expanding our 4G network!

Honestly, I think Apple might've blown it going with AT&T instead of Sprint. If they had gone with Sprint, we'd be looking forward to an iPhone 4G in the next few months.

Instead, we're here listening to a bunch of psycopants get excited about MMS and expanded 3G coverage!

[diamond.g]

Honestly, there is nothing wrong with AT&T. Dealing with them is the same as dealing with any other US carrier. There really isn't a difference. Tell them what you want, and you're good to go. There might even be some specials for you if you qualify for them (see the FAN account threads in the iPhone forum).

Just be sure to do your homework (read: coverage in your area, plans, etc.) and you will be fine. If you don't want to deal with them, you can always head to the Apple Store and they will take care of you (except they really can't deal with FAN accounts, as that's only ATT's deal).

BL.

Apparently AT&T now charges to attach a FAN to your account...

[staticliner]

Over the past couple of years the service at my house with AT&T has progressively gotten worse. Things were great "back in the day" with my Nokia 6230 and even with the original iPhone. Currently I have the iPhone 3G and can barely make a phone call at my house. I don't think AT&T is going to magically build or improve service in the next 2 weeks. MMS will probably get delayed again and with the Facebook post about the new Nokia coming out and the statement "Yes it will have MMS at time of launch" has made me decide to just switch that number over to Verizon and pick up a BlackBerry Tour (will be delivered tomorrow).

Don't get me wrong, the iPhone is a great phone and if the service was as great as the phone I would have no reason to switch. Enough is enough though. Also, with the sale of my 3G, it should be more than enough to pay for the early termination fee.

[Bjohnson33]

And AFAIK, AT&T has screwed both its customers and its own employees with the iPhone.

I spoke to many AT&T employees who were pissed off that their store only carried 20-80 iPhone 3G and 3GS at launch and were sold out for weeks at a time, while the Apple store on the other side of the mall had hundreds in stock daily.

Initially, I thought it was because Apple was holding back and wanted to sell on their own. But, upon further inspection, AT&T was the one who held back from getting any stock.

Why?

Commission.

For every iPhone sold at an AT&T store, as well as any accessories or add-ons sold, that AT&T rep would be receiving commission for that sale. There is no commission for any Apple employee for selling and activating an iPhone (or any product in their store for that matter).

AT&T knew they were going to get the customers with every activation anyway, so why give additional monies to their own employees when it can be done for them, essentially for free? I watched the AT&T reps literally lean in front of the store and their kiosks with nothing to do but watch the neverending line of iPhone buyers wrap around the Apple store just across the hall.

You just kept the money and wasted your exclusivity time, and you know it, AT&T. Watch yourself crumble when it's all over and the iPhone becomes officially available to other carriers.

This is the first time I've heard of that. If it's true, that's a pretty bad black eye on AT&T.

[kdarling]

You know, I never thought that anyone could come up with a worse talking head than Verizon's "can you hear me now" geek.

But apparently AT&T visualizes their iPhone customers as ugly and pretentious with wrinkled clothing.

Now, if they had actually thought about the type of person who's going to see that video (e.g. people here), then they would've realized that they should've used a cute young girl instead !!

Have her cross her legs a few times, and most of the sad sacks around here would've gladly waited an extra few months for MMS, just to see more delay videos. :rolleyes:

[sziehr]

Yes this is correct, not an expert on it but that about it.

Here is a link that explains the different technology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDMA2000

So verizon did just do an update for evdo but at the same time they decided to run fiber to large chunk of towers. This will help them a lot when they go lte they will have to learn how to tune for lte for there tower density and repeTer grid. Verizon uses a lot of bounce towers in my area to keep data routed to fiber sites. Also CDMA evdo as a strong back up when lte is not working right is a good fall back option for them. CDMA also let's the handset drive the network so a tower can be brought down not by usage but by how many options are being held by using phones of the cell site. That is the core of CDMA also what keeps verizon having lowered dropped calls cause they use CDMA 1x network which was roller out what a decade ago. AT&T on the other hand is fighting the fact that utms does not work well withthere tower spread that is why so many new cell sites are needed utms goes less distance than edge or gsm. Gsm when done correctly is just as good as CDMA as far as dropped calls. What is currently happenig is the cells are slammed on AT&T with no optional holds like CDMA so when it comes time for that hard switch that the network tells the device to do lands on a no slots issue at the new site and the call goes to no mans land. Unlike CDMA there is no back up plan. Should the first choice switch over be down the orginsting hand off site holds on and goes to back up choice quickly. Each tech has benefits and issues it is all about proper implamentation which AT&T will have to ramp up there work on. I researched all this whe. I was having horrid dropped calls on my iPhone back a few months ago when I used to never ever on verizon I was surprised at the starch diffrences in tech

[butterfly0fdoom]

Stolen off a tuaw comment:

AT&T : we are improving our 3G network!

Sprint: we are expanding our 4G network!

Honestly, I think Apple might've blown it going with AT&T instead of Sprint. If they had gone with Sprint, we'd be looking forward to an iPhone 4G in the next few months.

Instead, we're here listening to a bunch of psycopants get excited about MMS and expanded 3G coverage!

Apple? Sprint? Really? CDMA and WiMax, a 2G/3G and 4G technology that almost no one else uses. Great idea there, genius.

[IDKPLZKTHX]

Just weird how every other network has been doing what they are doing for years. I guess thats what happens when you keep building on 15 year old technology :(

[hiimamac]

As I've said here or AI, AT&T is probably saying this as new features are coming that we won't have. Again, can't believe we pay for the data plan, especially text. Again, GOOGLE HOW TEXT messaging uses the packets that cost AT&T nothing but yet they continue to screw us.

Because if the high priced, over priced Tom Tom, after one yearvof using the iPhone, I jail broke it. Maybe I will get it but the gps is still off a second or two. I also have backgrounder which allows me to run apps in the background plus activity monitor, get it now, version 1.1 as apple is telling all developers to turn off memory freeing parts of the app. With it, I ac install themes and then free up memory, have five rows of icons, MLB at bat, Ns a while lot of other things. Once GV mobile starts working, I will report my iPhone doing something dump the data and text programs and get freevcalls and texting. Otherwise, will pay termination feevans gonto another provider one that offers fast speeds and data plan. AT&T is Brip off and will be until apple releases on another provider. Oh and did I mention. Have free teethering.

Also activity monitor , $2.99 at app store although I probable could have found it free at binaries. smartphones, jail broken and the newest jail break program allows you to double click an app that you haven't purchased in order to try it, but anyway, get activity monitor for sure if you have the 3G non 3GS, as it allows you to set your apps to free memory for apps after they quit. Very nice indeed and jail breaken is easy these days thanks to developers and you can really learn a lot about your iPhone.

Lasty, my favorite free app? Can remember what it's called but email me if you want to know a buzzlo11@yahoo.com as you know when you are reading a forum and can rap tip of page to go to top? Well this app, after three(3), taps, allows you go to the bottom or anywhere on the page very easy. Very very cool stuff as I use the iPhone all the time for forums and it helps tremendously.
Peace.

LOL, what a bunch of hogwash...

Do they honestly expect people to believe that iPhone MMS would cripple their network? There are far more bandwidth intensive applications for the iPhone than the occasional MMS!!!

Also the vast majority of iPhones out there are the original iPhone, which will have no MMS capability at all and the iPhone 3G, with only picture MMS and not video... PICTURE ONLY, and I'd bet my left nut that the pictures sent over MMS will be reduced in resolution, just like they are when sent by E-Mail.

I'm glad I'm not an AT&T user, thankfully Rogers handles the iPhone in Canada and MMS/Tethering has been supported from day 1 of iPhone OS 3.0 release with at no extra cost.

[mikejfrd]

blah blah blah....

Some people will never be pleased!!! If you think Verizon is so wonderful go to Verizon!!! I've had Verizon, Nextel then Sprint, and now ATT and I can say that I've had issues with all of them. There isn't a perfect cell phone provider and I'm sure if Verizon was bogged down with millions of iphones they would have the same issues as well.

By reading this forum you would think that iphone and ATT suck. The majority of these threads are people complaining about a loose button or a dropped call, and how they were so deceived about the release of MMS. Some of you geniuses think its some conspiracy or something??? lol!!! If you think you can find a better phone on a better network, THEN GO!!!

I'm not an Apple or ATT fan boy, but dear god some of you people are ridiculous!!!

[sziehr]

blah blah blah....

Some people will never be pleased!!! If you think Verizon is so wonderful go to Verizon!!! I've had Verizon, Nextel then Sprint, and now ATT and I can say that I've had issues with all of them. There isn't a perfect cell phone provider and I'm sure if Verizon was bogged down with millions of iphones they would have the same issues as well.

By reading this forum you would think that iphone and ATT suck. The majority of these threads are people complaining about a loose button or a dropped call, and how they were so deceived about the release of MMS. Some of you geniuses think its some conspiracy or something??? lol!!! If you think you can find a better phone on a better network, THEN GO!!!

I'm not an Apple or ATT fan boy, but dear god some of you people are ridiculous!!!

I will leave as soon as verizon gets a decent smart phone. It is about a company saying i will have coverage and then not delivering or the worst having bars but no bandwidth to back it up. I am sure you have had your issues with all providers listed but in my area verizon is king. I however would not use the services offered on there devices is why i own an iphone. The rather saddening fact is att could really do better but they CHOSE not to. Verizon has bent there customers over a barrel more times than i can count i look at my mothers bill and i am just mortified but they sadly do have the service to back up the charge. this is all regional the bits that are annoying is when you travel like i did today for 10 hours of that 6 was nothing but edge. That is if i could get edge to stay working for long enough to get the weather of the accident report. That is what is so frustrating to people the love the device so much that they come to rely on it more than they did say there nokia flip phone. I my self could not dream of going back to a day with out a smart phone in my pocket. I the Iphone has set the standard for device excellence now att needs to set the bar a touch higher than on the floor. For the record least in my area Verizon rolled out EVDO very slowly due to tower upgrades and fiber infrastructure. They did not drop a 3g network on a 2g cell site bad ATT bad now go sit in the corner lol. I mean at the end of the day it is a phone it does what you want and more it is just a scream the 2nd rate network got the top rate phone.

[thebez]

There are also cultural differences. Most Europeans are probably not streaming cat videos from Youtube or twittering about the minutia of their boring little lives like Americans seem to do.

I could care less about some stupid cat video and don't even really know what twittering is. In other words - Nice stereotype jerk.

[thebez]

I'm not sure if any of this has been said before. If it has I apologize.

I made what turned out to be the mistake of buying a first generation iPhone in January 2008. I say mistake because my download speeds have been getting slower and slower since last fall when AT&T started switching their towers to 3G to support the rapid growth. It has hit the point where using the phone for anything data related is almost impossible away from wifi, due to constant timeouts. I thought perhaps my problems were with my actual phone, but when I did a warranty exchange that proved me wrong. I live in the suburbs halfway between Los Angeles and San Bernardino, Which is not exactly the middle of nowhere. In the last couple of weeks it has reached the point that Visual Voicemail doesn't work at least 50% of the time.

To add further insult to injury I find out this June that I will not -ever- be getting MMS. I no longer receive viewmymessage.com links, which means I am no longer even aware that someone sent me a message. This fact is making me really popular with my friends, who now think the iPhone is a total piece of crap. They literally laugh at me.

To recap:
- I will not be getting MMS.
- I no longer receive viewmymessage.com links.
- My data access, which used to be decently fast, is now completely unusable.

At this point I effectively have a Motorola Razr with an iPod taped to the back. Great.

You want something to throw at an AT&T executive? There's an app for that.

http://www.geckoandfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/apple_iphone_ipod_camera.jpg

[CharBroiled20s]

You still fail to understand my point. How will iPhone users be more demanding MMS customers then non-iPhone customers ?

Link (http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/09/the_iphones_bandwidth_problem.php)

It's a data guzzler. Owners use them like minicomputers, which they are, and use them a lot. Not only do iPhone owners download applications, stream music and videos and browse the Web at higher rates than the average smartphone user, but the average iPhone owner can also use 10 times the network capacity used by the average smartphone user.

A recent Wall Street Journal article also reported that iPhone users download web data at a rate of two to four times that of other smartphone users

Yep, and AT&T saw that usage increase for the last two years... What have they done to accommodate it?..... NOT MUCH.

One would assume they'd scale up their network availability with the number of units they sell ESPECIALLY when you take into account the amount of data these new units consume and have consumed over the last 2+ years. AND DON'T EVEN PRETEND THEY DON'T KNOW THE USAGE STATS FOR THEIR OWN NETWORK!

Which says nothing of the fact that ALL OTHER MAJOR MANUFACTURERS are trying to play catch up with the iPhone.. AT&T is well aware that everyone is trying to emulate the iPhone browser experience! It stands to reason that other phones will begin to consume equivalent amounts of data....Soo.....

I take their excuses for what they are.... an admission of substandard service with a reactionary increase in availability (planned). Most multi-billion dollar corporations plan ahead to support the services they supposedly offer, but not AT&T! They'd rather "hear our complaints" and respond to them with a lame ass list of excuses brought to us by Seth the witless wonder who reminds me of a deer I struck with my car last year at 2 AM...

I'm soooooo done with you AT&T! When I can rock my sexy iPhone on ANYONE else's network you can auto-cancel my service..... I'M SO GONE!

[CharBroiled20s]

I'm not sure if any of this has been said before. If it has I apologize.

I made what turned out to be the mistake of buying a first generation iPhone in January 2008. I say mistake because my download speeds have been getting slower and slower since last fall when AT&T started switching their towers to 3G to support the rapid growth. It has hit the point where using the phone for anything data related is almost impossible away from wifi, due to constant timeouts. I thought perhaps my problems were with my actual phone, but when I did a warranty exchange that proved me wrong. I live in the suburbs halfway between Los Angeles and San Bernardino, Which is not exactly the middle of nowhere. In the last couple of weeks it has reached the point that Visual Voicemail doesn't work at least 50% of the time.

To add further insult to injury I find out this June that I will not -ever- be getting MMS. I no longer receive viewmymessage.com links, which means I am no longer even aware that someone sent me a message. This fact is making me really popular with my friends, who now think the iPhone is a total piece of crap. They literally laugh at me.

To recap:
- I will not be getting MMS.
- I no longer receive viewmymessage.com links.
- My data access, which used to be decently fast, is now completely unusable.

At this point I effectively have a Motorola Razr with an iPod taped to the back. Great.

You want something to throw at an AT&T executive? There's an app for that.

Ok, if that's all totally true then it TOTALLY BLOWS!!!!!!!

Just hack it and switch to T-Mobile (if they have good service in your area)... You'll be much happier with their phone support, their EDGE network speeds AND the cheaper bill.

Once 3.1 is released it'll be a matter of months before the jailbreak community has an MMS fix for all those on other networks (if even that long).

Good luck bud, that really really really sucks

[M!M!C]

We finally get what everyone else has? Nice

[kingtj]

I live in St. Louis, MO and I've been with AT&T since I was forced to switch to them to use my original iPhone. Now I'm on an iPhone 3G and still using AT&T ... and this entire time, I can clearly state that their service *stinks* compared to U.S. Cellular, who I had previously. To a lesser extent, they stink compared to Verizon too.

With AT&T, I get so many dropped calls while driving in the car, it's honestly rare I can finish a conversation with anybody without being hung up on at least once or twice!

Up in the Baden area (near my workplace), the reception is very spotty. It seems like some recent improvements were made, but for years up here, you'd get situations where a phone would display 4 or 5 bars of signal before you placed a call, but within 10 seconds of placing the call, would suddenly plummet to 1 bar and conversations would drop out. Currently, you still get a lot of this anyplace indoors - though it'll usually work if you stand outside.

Their data network obviously has issues as well. I've had a number of times people called and left me voicemail, and my phone never even told me I had a message waiting until at least 7-8 hours later! This is totally unacceptable because I run a side business doing on-site computer service work, and people need to get my voicemail during the day while I'm at my day job, so I can see what they need and call/schedule appointments during my lunch or other breaks.

I grudgingly put up with AT&T only because the iPhone itself is such a great device ... but the first opportunity I get to switch carriers, I'll do so. (Possibly, that will even mean moving to an "Android" platform phone - if they keep progressing with improving that product line.)


See my previous posts about Verizon, especially in Nevada and California. Reliable? Hardly, especially when their phone selection has been a joke.

I've had no problems at all with AT&T in the midwest (Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana), southern midwest (Oklahoma, Texas), Rocky Mountain region (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah), and the US West Coast (Nevada, California).

All US wireless carriers suck. IMHO, AT&T, sucks less.

BL.

[BeyondtheTech]

I spoke to many AT&T employees who were pissed off that their store only carried 20-80 iPhone 3G and 3GS at launch and were sold out for weeks at a time, while the Apple store on the other side of the mall had hundreds in stock daily.

Initially, I thought it was because Apple was holding back and wanted to sell on their own. But, upon further inspection, AT&T was the one who held back from getting any stock.

Why?

Commission.

For every iPhone sold at an AT&T store, as well as any accessories or add-ons sold, that AT&T rep would be receiving commission for that sale. There is no commission for any Apple employee for selling and activating an iPhone (or any product in their store for that matter).This is the first time I've heard of that. If it's true, that's a pretty bad black eye on AT&T.

Think about it. As AT&T Mobility is currently the exclusive wireless carrier for the iPhone in the United States, the best that each AT&T store was able to stock up for an entire month was on average less than 5% than what a corresponding Apple store had in a given week?

What possible excuse could AT&T have by not pre-purchasing at least a quarter or half of all the iPhones to be sold here in the US? The only logical conclusion is that they didn't want to.

If that's the attitude that AT&T has on their own employees, what do you really think they think about their customers?

Simply put, this video is a poor excuse for PR spin and a worse attempt at damage control from a company that cares more about reputation than responsibility.

[kb22783]

Come on now. Who is in charge of their business models? You choose to launch what will OBVIOUSLY be the biggest revolution to the mobile world and it never occurs to you that hmmmm....maybe we should address the infrastructure BEFORE we implement the hardware. What did you think? Everyone who owned an iPhone or BBerry was just going to make calls and use the music players? It's starting to get really annoying. AND, I just can't WAIT to see how MMS goes. If the network can't handle the data now (thanks blogger guy), then HOW will it handle MMS? Loves me dropped calls.

[kb22783]

I'm not sure if any of this has been said before. If it has I apologize.

I made what turned out to be the mistake of buying a first generation iPhone in January 2008. I say mistake because my download speeds have been getting slower and slower since last fall when AT&T started switching their towers to 3G to support the rapid growth. It has hit the point where using the phone for anything data related is almost impossible away from wifi, due to constant timeouts. I thought perhaps my problems were with my actual phone, but when I did a warranty exchange that proved me wrong. I live in the suburbs halfway between Los Angeles and San Bernardino, Which is not exactly the middle of nowhere. In the last couple of weeks it has reached the point that Visual Voicemail doesn't work at least 50% of the time.

To add further insult to injury I find out this June that I will not -ever- be getting MMS. I no longer receive viewmymessage.com links, which means I am no longer even aware that someone sent me a message. This fact is making me really popular with my friends, who now think the iPhone is a total piece of crap. They literally laugh at me.

To recap:
- I will not be getting MMS.
- I no longer receive viewmymessage.com links.
- My data access, which used to be decently fast, is now completely unusable.

At this point I effectively have a Motorola Razr with an iPod taped to the back. Great.

You want something to throw at an AT&T executive? There's an app for that.

http://www.geckoandfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/apple_iphone_ipod_camera.jpg

As far as I can tell, this is just ATT's subtle little way of saying "get your a^s into the nearest ATT store and drop as much money as we can get you to on the 3Gs and a data plan that will cost almost 25% more than our original plans on the first gen were." Thanks ATT for paying so much attention to your loyal customer base. Really? Not even a rebate? Oh no, I get it, the rebate comes in loss of network. Gotcha...

[kdarling]

You choose to launch what will OBVIOUSLY be the biggest revolution to the mobile world and it never occurs to you that hmmmm....maybe we should address the infrastructure BEFORE we implement the hardware.

To be a little fair, ATT did have to waste a few months' effort on upgrading their systems for faster EDGE speeds for the first iPhone before it launched. (Otherwise it would've been really pitiful to use.)

I say "waste", because that time and money could've been spent on their 3G buildup instead. Insider rumors say they weren't happy about diverting resources.

[2pacy]

Can't belive that this is really happening on the 21st century and in USA...

Thank God we have much better "highways" in Europe since years to support the "huge" amount of data an MMS can generate xD

[phillipduran]

Wait - he said it was a highway ...

It IS a big truck then.

LIES! Its a series of tubes.

[MorphingDragon]

:eek: at AT&T.

SHUUUUNNNNNN!!!

[nateo200]

Wouldn't it be great if cell phone carriers in the US acted like other carriers in Europe and Oh idk the rest of the fricken world including developing countrys! Oh yeah it would be great if they weren't a bunch of corrupt money whoring businesses too! Seriously when you really think about it the way a cellphone company makes its rediculous amount of money a year from customers is really corrupt indeed. I mean I just got billed a $400 data bill from Verizon wireless even though I haven't used any data other than checking my messaging usage which is free of charge. Do you go to the store and buy a thing of milk only to come back to the store and have the manager say "That will be $600" because they added fine print to the milk carton saying "Purchasing our milk and coming back for more before 2 weeks will break your contract". Seriously if cellphone company's followed the KISS (keep it simple stupid) rule life would be grand. When you go over your text's, data, minutes whatever, NOTIFY the customer of this and even better cut off the service, or how about providing the priority feature of any handset (that is TALKING for God's sake) the best reliability. Gosh I'm sick of cellular carriers and there bull ****. And its funny because AT&T, and Verizon are sitting on a huge chunk of cash offering **** service that could be better. And don't talk about bandwidth issues, Ive got a pretty solid understanding on how a network works and I can say that with 19 BILLION DOLLARs that $19,000,000,000 they should be working there asses off putting up sites. /rant

[butterfly0fdoom]

Simply put, this video is a poor excuse for PR spin and a worse attempt at damage control from a company that cares more about reputation than responsibility.

I think the negativity in general surrounding this stems from people's desires to just complain. I've used AT&T in its various incarnations for the past 8 years now; I never used data until I had an iPhone. I'm sure that's the case for most people. And I'm pretty sure AT&T never foresaw the kind of demand all the forms of iPhone would have on their network. AT&T has been making updates; now they're being public about it. And it's not a case of "Voila! New cell towers! New cell frequencies! Instant and easy!". There's so much red tape and other circumstances that by the time they can somewhat catch up, they're caught off-guard again. As many have pointed out, even if the iPhone were being offered on Verizon instead, this problem would still occur, but for Verizon instead. It doesn't matter how much money AT&T invests into its network; it takes TIME. And frankly, they don't really have time to their advantage; neither would Verizon, let alone Sprint or T-Mobile. So stop playing armchair CEO and take a chill pill. First you people complain about price drops in an industry where price drops always occur (Was there any backlash when Verizon lowered the price of the Storm? No. Or when Cingular lowered the price of the RAZR? No.). Then you complain about contract terms when those contract terms are what enable the subsized prices of the iPhone (And thanks to you people, AT&T now has insignificantly less money to earmark for network improvements. Nice one there.). And now you talk as though you know how the industry operates? You might know how a network works. But do you know how a telecom works? I mean, I certainly don't. I know enough to realize that all this complaining really does no good. You don't want price drops? Nice try there. You don't like contracts? Then give up your subsidies. You think AT&T is just sitting on their asses doing nothing? Really now?

The customer isn't always right. Sometimes, the customer is downright WRONG.

[chris27uk]

Frankly, the UK has had MMS for the best part of 10 years and it's laughable that AT&T credit themselves with the popularity of smart phones. In the UK we are able to update the telephone tower software remotely.

We may not have any 4G coverage in England but the reasons that AT&T are giving for taking so long are ludicrous, software updates to the radio towers occur in seconds in the UK. The preparation time they suggest is in all likelihood either an excuse for not having the network bandwidth, meaning the time is needed to set up additional radio stations or an excuse that the software is so badly written, that it is not maintainable. Either way extraordinary.

I am astonished that AT&T think they need to be applauded just for the investment that every company is making to maintain the quality of their network.

Chris Green,
Open Network Software.

[BeyondtheTech]

I think the negativity in general surrounding this stems from people's desires to just complain...So stop playing armchair CEO and take a chill pill...

I know I'm not personalizing it because some of your comments weren't even directed towards my posts, but all the complaints in general. But, I will agree I'm no CEO - and perhaps that's the problem. I don't have a MBA, a decades of corporate management experience under my belt, or even wear a suit on most days of the year. That's because most of us here are looking at things from a different perspective: the end-user perspective.

Similar in vein to a slumlord who lives in a posh apartment on the Upper East Side while her tenants of an entire floor have to share an bathroom in an unfurnished apartment with no lighting. (This scenario is actually true (http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/shame/Copy_of_Shame_Shame_Shame_No_Bathroom)!) If the CEO, or even some high-level executive was experiencing excessive failure rates regarding data transmission and dropped calls, and that was his only method for dealing with day-to-day tasks at AT&T Mobility, you'd be sure he step up the game a little faster than it's taking now. Perhaps they're just too high up on a perch to notice the little guy who's funding their little daughter's trip to Paris for her international ballet recital.

[rjohnstone]

Frankly, the UK has had MMS for the best part of 10 years and it's laughable that AT&T credit themselves with the popularity of smart phones. In the UK we are able to update the telephone tower software remotely.

We may not have any 4G coverage in England but the reasons that AT&T are giving for taking so long are ludicrous, software updates to the radio towers occur in seconds in the UK. The preparation time they suggest is in all likelihood either an excuse for not having the network bandwidth, meaning the time is needed to set up additional radio stations or an excuse that the software is so badly written, that it is not maintainable. Either way extraordinary.

I am astonished that AT&T think they need to be applauded just for the investment that every company is making to maintain the quality of their network.

Chris Green,
Open Network Software.
MMS has been available on AT&T since 2002.

If AT&T had to manage a region the size of the UK, this would be a non issue. The UK is the size of a typical US state.

Also, it's not just a software update, they are adding towers. Tower additions take time and a boatload of permits before you can even break ground on one.

The bureaucracy involved in setting up any radio equipment in the US is insane.

Not saying AT&T is blameless for their lack of foresight, but one must understand the whole picture before bashing them too harshly.

[butterfly0fdoom]

I know I'm not personalizing it because some of your comments weren't even directed towards my posts, but all the complaints in general. But, I will agree I'm no CEO - and perhaps that's the problem. I don't have a MBA, a decades of corporate management experience under my belt, or even wear a suit on most days of the year. That's because most of us here are looking at things from a different perspective: the end-user perspective.

Similar in vein to a slumlord who lives in a posh apartment on the Upper East Side while her tenants of an entire floor have to share an bathroom in an unfurnished apartment with no lighting. (This scenario is actually true (http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/shame/Copy_of_Shame_Shame_Shame_No_Bathroom)!) If the CEO, or even some high-level executive was experiencing excessive failure rates regarding data transmission and dropped calls, and that was his only method for dealing with day-to-day tasks at AT&T Mobility, you'd be sure he step up the game a little faster than it's taking now. Perhaps they're just too high up on a perch to notice the little guy who's funding their little daughter's trip to Paris for her international ballet recital.

Hey, guess what, I'm an end-user, too. But that doesn't mean I should only look at it from my perspective, does it? There's always more than one side to the story, and this blind self-centered perspective that most customers prefer doesn't do any good.

I mean, I'm affected by all the network stuffs, too. I'm still using my original iPhone (somewhat because I'm too... "stubborn" to get a 3G), and I can't get EDGE in a lot of places anymore and can only get GPRS because of AT&T's prioritizing of UTMS at the expense of GSM. Now, I haven't had any of the dropped call problems at all over the past 8 years, and I'm pretty sure there's a lot of people on that boat (and don't say you hear more people complaining than not; content people tend to not say anything while the discontent tend to be very vocal). But like I said, it takes time for the investments in the network to actually manifest into improvements; by the time they nearly catch up, Apple unleashes a new iPhone that breaks sales records and has AT&T scrambling to catch up again (now, they could always try to catch up and go beyond, but with them working on getting LTE ready for testing and deployment, their resources are rather scattered, wouldn't you say?).

[BeyondtheTech]

...don't say you hear more people complaining than not; content people tend to not say anything while the discontent tend to be very vocal...

How true... Bad news travels fast. Good news is precious and is usually kept to themselves. I still think the video was more on retaining brand and image. Why else do you think it took this long and after this much pent-up outrage? If they were monitoring it and keeping their end-users in the loop all along, they wouldn't have had to go and pull Milton with his red stapler from the basement just to make a video blog.

But, I guess it's just like the rest of the economy. They all were drinking the Kool Aid until the sugar rush ended and a wave of reality finally hits them in the face.

[flyingscott]

(Stepping up on soap box)

I really hate to bring this post back to the top, but I just wasted the past 30mins sifting through these posts... I guess I am just shocked how insane some people are, and how out of touch some are when it comes to the complexities of cellular networks - or just networks in general.

Obviously a good majority of the people posting have never been involved in a minor launch of any product, solution, network, website, etc... Frankly, you should all be astounded that any of it works at all.

I don't love (or even particularity like) AT&T... but as a rational person, who has experienced a lot, I can say that AT&T wants this to work WAY more than you ever did.

(Stepping off of soap box)

[TuckBodi]

(Stepping up on soap box)

I really hate to bring this post back to the top, but I just wasted the past 30mins sifting through these posts... I guess I am just shocked how insane some people are, and how out of touch some are when it comes to the complexities of cellular networks - or just networks in general.

Obviously a good majority of the people posting have never been involved in a minor launch of any product, solution, network, website, etc... Frankly, you should all be astounded that any of it works at all.

I don't love (or even particularity like) AT&T... but as a rational person, who has experienced a lot, I can say that AT&T wants this to work WAY more than you ever did.

(Stepping off of soap box)

I just wish they'd stop slamming that commercial of theirs "least dropped calls" down my throat as I experience about a half dozen daily. One time I was even on the phone talking to someone when the commercial came on and as if by queue, the call dropped. Sure, I know it's their network being overloaded but when I call them and they blame it on me or my trees or my phone....give me a break, they're just lying bottom feeders. I just want my reception back from when I signed my contract with them and they signed with me.

[TalonFlyer]

(Stepping up on soap box)

I really hate to bring this post back to the top, but I just wasted the past 30mins sifting through these posts... I guess I am just shocked how insane some people are, and how out of touch some are when it comes to the complexities of cellular networks - or just networks in general.

Obviously a good majority of the people posting have never been involved in a minor launch of any product, solution, network, website, etc... Frankly, you should all be astounded that any of it works at all.

I don't love (or even particularity like) AT&T... but as a rational person, who has experienced a lot, I can say that AT&T wants this to work WAY more than you ever did.

(Stepping off of soap box)

I don't think we are out of touch. On the contrary, for the price we are paying and the fact that we must take the data service, we should have the services as advertised and they should work. It has been over two years and there are still major issues. These issues are much more that just growing pains with the technology. That argument went out the window after 6 months. Now it's just plain poor service, poor planning and a total disregard for the customer. There is a cancer within AT&T and until they realize this nothing will change. Trust me, AT&T had to work very hard for me to develop what is not just my opinion, but the opinion of a huge segment of the users and yes, the more technically savvy user may have a stronger opinion. That may be because we know the obstacles are much more management than technical.

[flyingscott]

...That may be because we know the obstacles are much more management than technical.

This is exactly what I was preaching too... I don't think you even have a concept of the issues AT&T has/had to tackle. Don't sit back and play armchair quarterback.

I sympathize with you... I switched (like a lemming) to AT&T from Verizon when the iPhone came out. The cost for 2 phones is around 200 bucks a month... which is a lot. And there have been growing pains. But it's far better than any other smartphone out there, IMHO.

But again, don't be so one sided because you're upset. Trust me, they want this resolved more than you do... and if it were easy, we wouldn't be talking.

I think many like to assume that this all could have been averted with better planning... but I'm telling you, its just not the case... the factors involved would make you nauseous - both on a business and technical end. A lot of you are way too black and white about it... the levels of gray are endless in this one.

[butterfly0fdoom]

That may be because we know the obstacles are much more management than technical.

Actually, I think there are more technical, federal, and logistical obstacles than there are management obstacles.

[diamond.g]

So people on HoFo seem to be reporting that they are turning on MMS regionally, as some users in Texas are seeing MMs while some of us aren't.