While your points are very valid, AT&T has made some serious bank with the iPhone. Millions of new subscribers, rates and fees for new customers and clients that never had a need for a data plan, etc. have all added up to money in their pockets. While certainly the immediate increase in network demand has been enormous for AT&T, they have had plenty of time to add more towers and improve on their overall service. This recent news suggests AT&T has been researching the population density of iPhone users and adjusting their service accordingly, but why did they wait over two years to adjust? Perhaps the downturn in the economy is resulting in more fiscal conservatism and growth from corporations, perhaps AT&T wants to invest in their upcoming 4G network, who knows. It seems apparent that with AT&T's decision on holding off MMS for the iPhone that they are concerned with network drain, otherwise any intelligent corporation would not hold off on a profitable service (depending on how AT&T decides to charge customers for MMS). In all, it seems obvious that the 5 year road map for the iPhone wasn't thought out 100%. Apple surely kept many aspects of their product "secret" (as they tend to do) from AT&T and AT&T most definitely kept a few cards up their sleeves, in the end, the customers lost (somewhat) while two companies raked in cash.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
AT&T Announces 850 MHz 3G Coverage Improvements in New York City and Other Markets
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
While your points are very valid, AT&T has made some serious bank with the iPhone. Millions of new subscribers, rates and fees for new customers and clients that never had a need for a data plan, etc. have all added up to money in their pockets. While certainly the immediate increase in network demand has been enormous for AT&T, they have had plenty of time to add more towers and improve on their overall service. This recent news suggests AT&T has been researching the population density of iPhone users and adjusting their service accordingly, but why did they wait over two years to adjust? Perhaps the downturn in the economy is resulting in more fiscal conservatism and growth from corporations, perhaps AT&T wants to invest in their upcoming 4G network, who knows. It seems apparent that with AT&T's decision on holding off MMS for the iPhone that they are concerned with network drain, otherwise any intelligent corporation would not hold off on a profitable service (depending on how AT&T decides to charge customers for MMS). In all, it seems obvious that the 5 year road map for the iPhone wasn't thought out 100%. Apple surely kept many aspects of their product "secret" (as they tend to do) from AT&T and AT&T most definitely kept a few cards up their sleeves, in the end, the customers lost (somewhat) while two companies raked in cash.
The problem is that everybody is questioning whether AT&T is raking in the cash.
It must kill the people at Apple to read comments like this. To spend so much time and effort to make such a cool little device, only to have the experience ruined by another organization.
AT&T service still blows in the Wall Street area. My Verizon envy continues
yup. I'm jumping to Verizon very soon. The iPhone is just a toy in NYC.
Wow, reading all these comments makes me glad that I don't live in the US. We still get your amazing inventions like the iPhone but don't have to suffer through your horrible cell phone infrastructure. I love my iPhone and I've never had a dropped call in my life ever
hmmm...I'd say never. T-Mobile has it though
Yeah but T-Mobile uses 1900 and 2100MHz only....That's like mounting a bunch of wifi access points on towers and expecting to get solid coverage inside. This is good to hear since I'm sick of verizon's ******** and switching hopefully soon. *sigh...but there 3G Coverage will never compare to verizon's EVDO even if 3G is better its much more difficult to put up node B's to offer UMTS services than it is to upgrade an existing CDMA network to EVDO. Still EDGE isn't all that bad....
I'm not sure if you can. From what I know many carriers will switch what frequency they use on there nodes for certain services depending on priority's, area, network traffic, ect. Generally however the higher the frequency the shorter the range but the more speed and capacity you get, so I'm guessing 1900 will still be used but if you get a bunch of ass holes hogging bandwidth on 1900 it might switch to 850 to ease the pain up on AT&T. BTW, I'm pretty sure AT&T has been adding in the 850 overlay in allot of places for a while now.....In short you shouldn't need to worry about what frequency your using for your 3G connection unless you have a geniune interest in this crap like me
Well AT&T in my imho is suffering from bandwidth issues more so than actual structure. Every consumer buys there little toys like the iPhone with unlimited data expecting it to work like magic because lets face it none of them half any experience running a home wifi network let alone a multimillion dollar cellular network spanning accross the entire US. You really can't put all the blame on AT&T other than being stupid for offering literally an "all you can eat buffet" for data". Imagine this you open up your homes wifi and say its free, pretty soon you have 400 people using your internet and it slows down, they start freaking out and as much as you try telling them "this is what happens when 400 people use one wifi connection" they won't listen, that's basically how AT&T is right now.
Joke
AT&T Service is nothing more than a joke in Knoxville, TN. You have to be in the major part of the city to be inside the 3G footprint, and the switch from 3G to edge and vice versa is anything but but easy. If you're in an EDGE area, and you enter a area that you KNOW has full 3G service, the phone will not switch to 3G until you a.) Turn the phone off and on and force it to rescan or b.) go to the settings and turn 3G "off", then back "on". Either way, it's completely ridiculous. When I leave my house, I can't go 5 miles in ANY direction without encountering a deadspot/dropped call. And I think it's just a problem with the handoffs. I can have 1 bar, drop the call, then return to full service. Strange. Any thoughts out there in iPhone land?!?
AT&T Service is nothing more than a joke in Knoxville, TN. You have to be in the major part of the city to be inside the 3G footprint, and the switch from 3G to edge and vice versa is anything but but easy. If you're in an EDGE area, and you enter a area that you KNOW has full 3G service, the phone will not switch to 3G until you a.) Turn the phone off and on and force it to rescan or b.) go to the settings and turn 3G "off", then back "on". Either way, it's completely ridiculous. When I leave my house, I can't go 5 miles in ANY direction without encountering a deadspot/dropped call. And I think it's just a problem with the handoffs. I can have 1 bar, drop the call, then return to full service. Strange. Any thoughts out there in iPhone land?!?
AT&T has been doing some serious improvements here in Broomfield Colorado. I could never get 3G in my house. Suddenly as of Thursday, I can get it all over my house including the basement. That's 5 stars in my basement! I'm pretty happy right now. It still drops calls in my basement however but that even happened when I was with Sprint.
With AT&T at 850Mhz, is it possible to offer WCMDA at lower frequencies? According to:
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/27816.php
it is possible to have WCDMA running at 700Mhz, and then maybe T-Mobile could use 1900Mhz in the centres for extra capacity.
And I wonder with the speculation that the Iphone will double in sales next year if AT&T is going to get worse before it gets better
Verizon EV-DO is MUCH MUCH MUCH spottier than 3G is in Bloomington. I used to have a Verizon EVDO Modem for my uMBP & I use the iPhone every day.
GO hewzierz