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AT&T Offers Video Update on iPhone MMS and Cellular Network Issues
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Money
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.
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.
Tmobile
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 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.
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!
Because Steven the Network Architect Guy lacks interpersonal skills and is camera shy.
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'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.
"We have heard you. We are on it. Don't ask us anymore about it." 
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.
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.
And now a message from your spokesman...
Oh My God!
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Thats awesome.
That's just it...
...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.
...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.
Sounds Like The Murderer Orphan Plea To Jury
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
as others have said - sad, very sad.
It's ATT for crying out loud, and worst yet is their lack of communication to their customers.
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?
I learned how to run a national telco in 4th grade.... you must have gone to a Sheit public school
Take a vacation to Las Vegas and get back to me. Misery loves company.
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.