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

[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

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]

MMS works now

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

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, 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 ...

 

[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 ...

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. 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.

 

[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?

 

[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.