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AT&T Nervous About Upcoming iPhone MMS Launch?

cantthinkofone said:
Absolutely ridiculous their network can't handle a few pictures and videos from iphones.
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I know it sucks for us as iPhone owners, but comments like this are probably leveled out of willful ignorance of the situation. The problem with the iPhone is that we are far more interested in these multimedia activities, such as browsing the web or using something like MMS, than any other type of phone user out there. iPhone users are going to be taking much more photographs and sending much more photographs than any other type of phone user. Now the fact that there are so many iPhone users comes into play, combined with a spike when the feature first becomes available, and AT&T really does have a legitimate hurdle to overcome.
 
Verizon vs AT&T

zephyr313 said:
If you've had both... you know Verizon is a much better experience.

I travel a ton, throughout the US and overseas. Verizon works almost everywhere...
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As you say Verizon works overseas by giving you a GSM phone for there. Not a good solution if you use a smartphone and half your data is stuck back on your "home" phone.

Research has shown that iPhone users use the internet to a much greater extent than any other users. Hence Verizon would likely be in the same boat if they had the iPhone exclusively. It's well know that Verizon severely limits the capabilities of phones that it allows on its network. Those limitations protect their bandwidth.

The real issue with AT&T is investment. As someone else said, some manager got a huge bonus for figuring out how to "do more with less". The result is a network that can't really handle the load. That same management mentality is at work at Verizon (if not more so since they are more profitable), they just limited capabilities rather than expose their network. Ever wonder WHY Verizon and Apple did not make a deal. I am willing to bet it was because Verizon wanted to neuter the phone's capabilities.
 
Let's Compare

MMS Text = 1k (Usually 100 bytes or less. Let's round up to 1k for argument's sake.)

MMS Picture = 1mb (Most photos are probably less than 1mb, but again let's round up to 1mb)

MMS Video = 10mb (Let's assume a 60 sec quick clip)


Video is going to kill the network. Apple is actually doing everyone a disservice by releasing an application before the infrastructure is ready.
 
If iPhone sends full size images

Then it makes sense that ATT will feel a world of hurt on Friday.

If however the iPhone "dumbs down" the image size for MMS distribution, the files shouldn't be any worse than the cheesy MMS pictures and videos that folks have been sharing for years.
I suspect that Apple in its stubborn demand for quality may send full size images.
If high quality, full-rez images and video will slam the network, I am going to be royally ticked if I can't make a phone call because somebody's video of a dog on a skateboard took down the network.
 
Everyone needs to coordinate routine times to send a lot of message, crash the network, then call ATT (at the same time) to demand money off your bill because of the constant crashes.
 
I thought a fun thing to do, would be to start a contest to see how fast iPhone users could send 100 million images.

Just have a website where you enter how many images you have sent.
 
Well duh!

As has been stated over and over and... AT&T's 3G network is already incapable of handling calls + txt + data. Adding the demands of MMS to the mix will only make service worse.

As predicted, this will be a mess.

I cant imagine Apple being too happy about AT&T's role in all of this. At what point does Apple do something different? And what can they even do?

As the owner of every iteration of iPhone since the original launch, I've grown completely fed up with AT&T. Granted, I didn't have high expectations going in. And the original iPhone kept us hidden from the woe of their 3G network. But once the iPhone 3G went live, AT&T's inadequacies immediately became apparent.

What a mess... :(
 
I have a good idea to not crash the network due to everyone wanting to play with their shiny new toy all at once:

AT&T could have avoided it all by having it enabled since day 1! :mad:

There is no reason to make some of the most forward thinking technology consumers anticipate technology that has been around forever!
 
Is AT&T really so bad? I've been happy with O2 here in the UK. When mms first started they sent txts with settings and helpful advice and such.
 
NoExpectations said:
MMS Text = 1k (Usually 100 bytes or less. Let's round up to 1k for argument's sake.)

MMS Picture = 1mb (Most photos are probably less than 1mb, but again let's round up to 1mb)

MMS Video = 10mb (Let's assume a 60 sec quick clip)


Video is going to kill the network. Apple is actually doing everyone a disservice by releasing an application before the infrastructure is ready.
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Isn't Apple's fault. Sprint can handle MMS pretty decent from my experience. If it is Apple's fault, we have to go back to when they picked AT&T in the first place.
 
Manzana said:
Oh great...another big fail for AT&T? What is wrong with them? Did they ever plan on rolling out MMS? How could they not be ready for this after 2 years of iPhones? Why do they always blame iPhone and iPhone users for their network issues?
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The average iPhone user uses 10 times the amount of data that a regular smartphone user does. No carrier, not even your beloved Verizon, could handle the amount of strain that iPhone users put on AT&T's network. What WILL be interesting to see is if Apple opens the iPhone up to Verizon how long it takes for people to start complaining about Verizon's service.

I am not a proponent of AT&T, but I am sick of everyone's bitching.
 
How much incompetence does AT&T have to demonstrate before Apple let someone else try?

And while we're at it - ditto here with O2 please.
 
darkframes said:
Is AT&T really so bad? I've been happy with O2 here in the UK. When mms first started they sent txts with settings and helpful advice and such.
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Thats what I'm wondering. I wonder how many actully have an iphone, or even ATT service and say its bad? Or is it people tring to fit in and say its bad. If you dont have ATT, or even an iPhone, dont say anything about it.

I do not know. I know some like it and some don't like it, but I have Boost Mobile, so I can't say if ATT service is good or bad
 
People are so quick to attack AT&T for their shortcomings and rightfully so. They were severly underprepared and are still struggling heavily in many markets. However I am very sure that any other carrier would be struggling as well. MMS may have come out earlier for Verizon or Sprint, but since iPhone users are unique on how much data we consume, it's only logical their networks would suffer as well. There is no perfect carrier, but I for one will be happy when the mass exodus leaves AT&T. That only means more bandwidth for me.
 
djellison said:
How much incompetence does AT&T have to demonstrate before Apple let someone else try?

And while we're at it - ditto here with O2 please.
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Remember....this is Apple's decision to pick one carrier...to maximize their kickback (subsidy).

I wonder how accurate (truthful) were Apple's sales projections and BW per iPhone when they signed up AT&T. Since the APP Store wasn't even on anyone's radar, how could any carrier be prepared. It takes YEARS to plan and expand a cell network.
 
AT&T has had at least 3 months since the announcement to get things working. Even longer since they had to know it was coming.

The company has had enough bad pr over its inability to fully support the iPhone. MMS failures is just going to be another nail in the coffin.
 
ghostface147 said:
People are so quick to attack AT&T for their shortcomings and rightfully so. They were severly underprepared and are still struggling heavily in many markets. However I am very sure that any other carrier would be struggling as well. MMS may have come out earlier for Verizon or Sprint, but since iPhone users are unique on how much data we consume, it's only logical their networks would suffer as well. There is no perfect carrier, but I for one will be happy when the mass exodus leaves AT&T. That only means more bandwidth for me.
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and keep in mind it may just be the area your in. May be its time for them to fix the towers in your area or clear some trees that may be over growing around the tower.

Like you said, if the iPhone was on Verizon or sprint it will be the same situation as ATT. Plus remember your sharing the network with thousands of others that have eirther iphones, other smart phones and basic flip and slider phones.
 
Let's all send an MMS at the same time and see what happens. Maybe we can bring down the entire network.
 
The iPhone will be sending higher resolution pictures than other phones through the MMS network. It also will be sending video through the MMS network. Couple that with iPhone users' already exorbitant data usage and any network is going to be strained.

No carrier could even come close to handling the data throughput at&t is having to manage. Verizon could not handle this, they already have to cripple data services on non-iphones to reduce their network strain. Their 3G network is already proven to be slower than at&t's.

The iPhone hasn't been around that long and it's biggest modes of data usage (iTunes downloads over 3G, app downloads over 3G, youtube uploading) have been around for an even shorter time. The iPhone exploded faster than both Apple and AT&T could have predicted. Upgrading hundreds and hundreds of cell sites and nationwide infrastructure takes time. Mobile technology, particularly the iPhone, is advancing so fast it is a race to keep up for the phone companies. Verizon, so far, hasn't had to play this game to the extent at&t has.
 
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