Article Suggests iPhone is to Blame for AT&T's Network Failures

[bbplayer5]

I totally agree.

And while it's possible Verizon has an advantage in overall 3G coverage, recent Apple ads seem to suggest Verizon's weakest link, the inability to be on the phone and get on the internet at the same time, which is a true AT&T advantage whether it's 3G or 2.5G. You can't check that restaurant location while chatting with a friend you're meeting on Verizon. You have to hang up, get online, then call them back. Apple's new commercials are slick and point that out, but interestingly do not mention Verizon.

This is what leads me to believe there will be a Verizon iPhone soon.

Verizon attacked AT&T more than Apple.

Exclusivity and popularity and the U.S.'s terrible cell phone infrastructure in general is the main problem, not AT&T.

Spoken like a true Apple fanboi. Lets be real. I have never once wanted to check my phone while in a call. Mainly because its really not that important to me, or I already have a computer around. The instances I would need to check something would be in a car, yet, I wouldnt want to check in a car.

Not to mention when I owned an iPhone, I often was unable to do anything on the network while in a call. It simply didnt work unless I was on wifi. Sure it sounds great on paper, but its not a foolproof at&t feature.

Would that really make or break a cell company for you anyway?? Lets be real here. Verizon is dominating AT&T in the marketing right now, just face the fact.

 

[Evangelion]

The point is that your beast has serious technical flaws which causes problems for entire network.

Such as?

Sure, it could be said that iPhone causes AT&T's network to burst at the seams. But that's not because iPhone has a "technical flaws", quite the opposite. The iPhone is the first phone that is actually actively used for those net-features operators have advertized for years. It's the first phone people use to actively surf the web.

The problem is not caused by "technical problems" in iPhone, it's caused by the fact that AT&T's network is unable to handle all those people actually USING their iPhones for web-browsing and the like.

Remember: web-connected phones were advertised as the future of cell-phone-service and cell-phones in general. Well, future is here, today, and AT&T is failing to keep up.

Technical flaw my ass.

 

[iPhoneNYC]

ATT is just pathetic. With carriers around the globe why is it only ATT who complains? One suspects that upper management is last in brain cell use just like the company ranks in customer satisfaction. The sooner ATT has some Verizon competition with the iPhone the better it will be for all users.

 

[Starflyer]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

A possible answer to Gruber's question: maybe it's because AT&T has a much higher percentage of iPhone users? This explanation would be consistent with the observation that AT&T 3G service tend to be poor in New York and San Francisco, where everyone and their moms seem to have iPhones

That is Gruber's point. It's not faulty hardware as the article suggests, it's the network.

 

[nefan65]

I hope the iPhone DOES go to Verizon. Then when Verizon starts having issues, people can start spouting off how terrible Verizon is...lol. Verizon already sucks in my area, so I could care less...

Oh, and don't know if anyone saw this: [http://mobile.engadget.com/2009/12/13/verizon-down-in-midwest-and-california/]

LOL...Pretty funny...Ironic. Do they have a map for that? LMAO.

 

[NoExpectations]

Verizon stinks...even more than AT&T

Verizon is slower, does not offer concurrent voice and data (anyone who says that this is not really a useful feature clearly does not use the iPhone the way it was meant to be....and is probably a Verizon employee trying to defend their company), costs more, and is a control freak.

No thanks.

 

[NoExpectations]

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That is Gruber's point. It's not faulty hardware as the article suggests, it's the network.

The why aren't all the Blackberry, Nokia, and Palm users as irate as the iPhone users?

 

[speedriff]

B.s.

If AT&T spent it's profits from the massive iPhone sales on infrastructure instead of B.S. advertising campaigns they wouldn't have a problem. It is so typical of todays corporate mindset. We have a problem and we don't want to spend the money to fix it as it may affect our bonuses. Solution: A nationwide advertising campaign that tells everyone we have the least amount of dropped calls (Bullsh*t) and the best 3g coverage. Hey if we say it enough, a lot of people will believe it. Sadly, it seems to work. People however, are starting to wake up to this nonsense and the sooner the better..
I tried AT&T again last May and the service was HORRIBLE. I cancelled and they actually triple billed me. I disputed the charges even circling the calls on the bill where they had tripled charged me. They still refused to take it off. They sent bill collectors after me even while my bill was being disputed. I had to use my attorney to threaten them for billing fraud to get them off my back. All of a sudden they got apologetic and removed all charges. No thanks, I will NEVER do business with them again. They have terrible service and they are corrupt thieves. If I was someone who didn't have the luxury of an attorney I would have had my credit ruined by these incompetent idiots.

 

[Evangelion]

The why aren't all the Blackberry, Nokia, and Palm users as irate as the iPhone users?

Because

a) maybe they are on other networks

b) maybe they don't use their phones as much as iPhone-users do

c) maybe they, like PC-users, are more willing to accept crappy user-experience

 

[MavsX]

AT&T can't keep up with the saturation of data from iPhone users.

If exclusivity were with Verizon, the same issue would be occurring, and might even be worse.

exactly. no one seems to grasp this. If Verizon had the iPhone, people would be bashing their network for the last 2 years..and at&t would be looking like the network that everyone wanted

 

[Maury]

This claim is obviously bogus.

For one thing, the iPhone works fine on all three major networks here in Canada. When I sat "fine" I really mean "almost constant 4-bar or better 3G connections".

Furthermore, the "air interface" Apple uses is whoever's chipset they have in the box. The same one that's used by other cell phones that don't have problems either.

I'm always amazed that these analyst's are so completely ignorant of basic technology. After all, they're presenting themselves as experts and millions of dollars are being traded on their say-so.

Maury

 

[iriejedi]

solution

iPhones for all wireless providers - spread the burden around - then let service be driven by competition - and not neglected because we have the coolest phone no need to invest in infrastructure attitude of ATT

AT&T can't keep up with the saturation of data from iPhone users.

If exclusivity were with Verizon, the same issue would be occurring, and might even be worse.

 

[MavsX]

The why aren't all the Blackberry, Nokia, and Palm users as irate as the iPhone users?

i've read that the blackberrys data that is sent/received gets compressed, where as the iPhone's isn't. I remember reading that for every 1 iPhone, that would be the same has having 20 blackberrys...so that could contribute to the iPhone sucking up all the bandwidth, and why people complain about at&t.

i have an iPhone, and i dont think its that bad. my voice quality is good, the browsing the web is decent. I mean 3G really isn't that fast. It doesn't matter whether its at&t or verizon, 3G is slow at best. Its like dial up. So yeah....

 

[Sabenth]

Yoget pots and string spring to mind. iPhone is sold all over the globe and yet all we hear is the American network at&t cant handle the network stress. Use tin foil might work better .

 

[Bubba Satori]

Unpossible !

 

[guzhogi]

A possible answer to Gruber's question: maybe it's because AT&T has a much higher percentage of iPhone users? This explanation would be consistent with the observation that AT&T 3G service tend to be poor in New York and San Francisco, where everyone and their moms seem to have iPhones

Personally, I think it's both AT&T & the iPhone's fault. Compared to other countries, AT&T's service is fairly poor. I heard that in Australia, you can get a 50 Mbps fiber connection throughout the whole country/continent. Can AT&T say the same? That's one of the many problems of America: they been so far ahead of everybody else in technology, they've been resting on its laurels for too long while everyone else has been improving infrastructure, making it even better than America's.

As for the iPhone, remember the US got the iPhone so it probably has the largest share. Plus, in areas like New York & San Francisco where the population & density is pretty high, I don't care how good the infrastructure is, that's a lot of demand.

 

[*LTD*]

That's enough baloney to make a sandwich.

I guess I get great reception and performance on the Rogers network . . . because something's really wrong with the iPhone hardware. LOL.

 

[fuzzy76]

Sadly, this is true.

I know for a fact (got told by a guy that worked there) that the largest norwegian network owner (Telenor) became aware of the problem as soon as imported iPhones (first gen) started appearing in their network, but luckily they were too few to cause serious problems.

They frantically upgraded ALL their base stations before the iPhone 3G launch in Norway in order to handle all the garbage and bogus packets. That's why the network feels fine now, but if they hadn't done the upgrade, the entire network would've suffered when the number of iPhones in the network increased.

So I guess the severity of this problem would depend on who manufactured the base stations and how the actual firmware deals with bad traffic.

 

[aeaglex07]

It's AT&T's fault. Its their network LOL. They sell the iphone and the access to their network. They need to fix their network, its not like they didnt know the iPhone was gonna hog bandwidth. their data pricing clarifies this LOL... either way they werent prepared which says a lot about their business practices.

 

[tkatz]

More of the same...

I live up in Westchest (about 45 mins north of NYC) and work in the city.

When the iPhone was just a rumor, I had a BlackJack on AT&T. The phone was a piece of junk but supported 3G and tethering. Up in Westchester I would get lousy signal, but when I did, I had excellent 3G data service (granted IE on it sucked but tethered use was fine). While traveling down to the city, service would start to drop off as I passed south of White Plains. I could be in my office in mid-town and have full bars of 3G but unable to pull up a page even using the phones IE browser, let alone trying to do anything while tethered.

Having used the iPhone since the original model came out, its just been more of the same. I get 1-3 bars at home and really good 3G (I haven't done speeds tests but the network is very responsive) whereas in my office I'll have a full bars of 3G and most of the time unable to pull up a single page.

I suspect as more people are using their phones they're just finding these issues. They've always been there. Sure they're probably getting worse as there are more people "using" their devices but, the problem has been there.

Funny enough, everyone up where I live always touted how great Verizon was compared to AT&T until a few months ago. Where I live, Verizon drops calls constantly, and while AT&T isn't "great" it works, doesn't drop as often, and gets good data rates even with weak 3G signal.

 

[ctt1wbw]

Verizon is slower, does not offer concurrent voice and data (anyone who says that this is not really a useful feature clearly does not use the iPhone the way it was meant to be....and is probably a Verizon employee trying to defend their company), costs more, and is a control freak.

No thanks.

Exactly. When you can look something up on Safari or send a text or something while still talking on the phone, that's a great way to get business done. In my line of work, I get service calls via text message and I'm always doing this.

 

[Maury]

When the iPhone came out it was supposed to change the cell phone industry forever,

It did, obviously.

"Feature phones" that used to sell for hundreds of dollars, like the RAZR, are now given away free because no one will pay money for anything other than an iPhone. My daughter's free phone was a model that used to be $199 before Telus got the iPhone two months ago.

As a result, all of the major handset makers are on the ropes as they slit their throats trying to lower prices in a race to the bottom. Sony-Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia are all handing out one bad report after another, and all freely point to Apple as the cause of their problems. Some of these reports basically suggest they have no idea how to compete, and the companies are just going to go after the low end instead. Good luck with that.

Meanwhile Apple sits pretty at the exact same price point they started at, in spite of component costs falling so their margins are widening out. It's hardly surprising they account for something like half of all the profit in the entire industry. There have been a few attempts to break their stranglehold, like the Pre, but they turned out to be exactly what everyone expected: pale imitations of the overall experience (which includes iTunes, et all).

Moreover, the AppStore has utterly changed the software world, forever. Apple sells more applications than music (just stop and think about that for a moment). Other companies attempted to break in here too, but their attempts have been utterly pathetic so far (go to the RIM version some time). And I'm not talking about the "mobile software" world, I mean everything. When Apple does an AppStore for the AppleTV...

So while the former "big three" are going bankrupt, and RIM and Android are copying last year's earth-shattering market change, Apple is busy working on the next thing they're going to turn upside down. We've seen this before: when the iPod was introduced everyone dismissed it, but then when it went vertical everyone got desperate and started cloning it. But it was too late, Apple was already moving onto the next product, and no one ever caught up. I'd argue the Zune is a better music player than the iPod, but who cares? That's SOOO 2000-and-late.

Really, if you don't think the iPhone changed everything, I don't think you're really looking very carefully. Seriously, the entire industry is upside down.

Maury

 

[diamond.g]

Exactly. When you can look something up on Safari or send a text or something while still talking on the phone, that's a great way to get business done. In my line of work, I get service calls via text message and I'm always doing this.

I love that my phone calls don't go straight to voicemail. But it still stinks when I visit the outer banks and can only get EDGE...

 

[Maury]

Spoken like a true Apple fanboi. Lets be real. I have never once wanted to check my phone while in a call.

That's right, Apple is completely clueless and spent millions of dollars on this ad because they have no idea what they're talking about.

We all know how poor Apple's ads are. After all, they went from almost bankrupt to 10th largest company in the world in the last 6 years, so clearly they don't know what they're doing.

Maury

 

[TraceyS/FL]

I live up in Westchest (about 45 mins north of NYC) and work in the city.

When the iPhone was just a rumor, I had a BlackJack on AT&T. The phone was a piece of junk but supported 3G and tethering. Up in Westchester I would get lousy signal, but when I did, I had excellent 3G data service (granted IE on it sucked but tethered use was fine). While traveling down to the city, service would start to drop off as I passed south of White Plains. I could be in my office in mid-town and have full bars of 3G but unable to pull up a page even using the phones IE browser, let alone trying to do anything while tethered.

Having used the iPhone since the original model came out, its just been more of the same. I get 1-3 bars at home and really good 3G (I haven't done speeds tests but the network is very responsive) whereas in my office I'll have a full bars of 3G and most of the time unable to pull up a single page.

That is what i thought i'd heard/read - that AT&T coverage in NYC & SF wasn't that hot BEFORE the iPhone. So how can that be blamed on the iPhone?

Please take notice that i am a Verizon user in FL. It doesn't impact me - but while the iPhone might have some issues, i'm not thinking the 30% call drop rate in NYC can be related to JUST the iPhone usage.

Dunno..... having an alternate carrier can't HURT at all, and here is hoping there is one sooner than later.

ETA: And, in the 3 years i've had a smart phone - there has probably only been ONE TIME i have wanted to check something online while on a call. And I don't work for Verizon either it's a non-issue for me. Maybe it would be an issue if i could do it, but i can't now, so no biggie.