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

[kb22783]

With ya' 100%

I'm not sure if any of this has been said before. If it has I apologize.

I made what turned out to be the mistake of buying a first generation iPhone in January 2008. I say mistake because my download speeds have been getting slower and slower since last fall when AT&T started switching their towers to 3G to support the rapid growth. It has hit the point where using the phone for anything data related is almost impossible away from wifi, due to constant timeouts. I thought perhaps my problems were with my actual phone, but when I did a warranty exchange that proved me wrong. I live in the suburbs halfway between Los Angeles and San Bernardino, Which is not exactly the middle of nowhere. In the last couple of weeks it has reached the point that Visual Voicemail doesn't work at least 50% of the time.

To add further insult to injury I find out this June that I will not -ever- be getting MMS. I no longer receive viewmymessage.com links, which means I am no longer even aware that someone sent me a message. This fact is making me really popular with my friends, who now think the iPhone is a total piece of crap. They literally laugh at me.

To recap:
- I will not be getting MMS.
- I no longer receive viewmymessage.com links.
- My data access, which used to be decently fast, is now completely unusable.

At this point I effectively have a Motorola Razr with an iPod taped to the back. Great.

You want something to throw at an AT&T executive? There's an app for that.

As far as I can tell, this is just ATT's subtle little way of saying "get your a^s into the nearest ATT store and drop as much money as we can get you to on the 3Gs and a data plan that will cost almost 25% more than our original plans on the first gen were." Thanks ATT for paying so much attention to your loyal customer base. Really? Not even a rebate? Oh no, I get it, the rebate comes in loss of network. Gotcha...

 

[kdarling]

You choose to launch what will OBVIOUSLY be the biggest revolution to the mobile world and it never occurs to you that hmmmm....maybe we should address the infrastructure BEFORE we implement the hardware.

To be a little fair, ATT did have to waste a few months' effort on upgrading their systems for faster EDGE speeds for the first iPhone before it launched. (Otherwise it would've been really pitiful to use.)

I say "waste", because that time and money could've been spent on their 3G buildup instead. Insider rumors say they weren't happy about diverting resources.

 

[2pacy]

Can't belive that this is really happening on the 21st century and in USA...

Thank God we have much better "highways" in Europe since years to support the "huge" amount of data an MMS can generate xD

 

[phillipduran]

Wait - he said it was a highway ...

It IS a big truck then.

LIES! Its a series of tubes.

 

[MorphingDragon]

at AT&T.

SHUUUUNNNNNN!!!

 

[nateo200]

Wouldn't it be great if cell phone carriers in the US acted like other carriers in Europe and Oh idk the rest of the fricken world including developing countrys! Oh yeah it would be great if they weren't a bunch of corrupt money whoring businesses too! Seriously when you really think about it the way a cellphone company makes its rediculous amount of money a year from customers is really corrupt indeed. I mean I just got billed a $400 data bill from Verizon wireless even though I haven't used any data other than checking my messaging usage which is free of charge. Do you go to the store and buy a thing of milk only to come back to the store and have the manager say "That will be $600" because they added fine print to the milk carton saying "Purchasing our milk and coming back for more before 2 weeks will break your contract". Seriously if cellphone company's followed the KISS (keep it simple stupid) rule life would be grand. When you go over your text's, data, minutes whatever, NOTIFY the customer of this and even better cut off the service, or how about providing the priority feature of any handset (that is TALKING for God's sake) the best reliability. Gosh I'm sick of cellular carriers and there bull ****. And its funny because AT&T, and Verizon are sitting on a huge chunk of cash offering **** service that could be better. And don't talk about bandwidth issues, Ive got a pretty solid understanding on how a network works and I can say that with 19 BILLION DOLLARs that $19,000,000,000 they should be working there asses off putting up sites. /rant

 

[butterfly0fdoom]

Simply put, this video is a poor excuse for PR spin and a worse attempt at damage control from a company that cares more about reputation than responsibility.

I think the negativity in general surrounding this stems from people's desires to just complain. I've used AT&T in its various incarnations for the past 8 years now; I never used data until I had an iPhone. I'm sure that's the case for most people. And I'm pretty sure AT&T never foresaw the kind of demand all the forms of iPhone would have on their network. AT&T has been making updates; now they're being public about it. And it's not a case of "Voila! New cell towers! New cell frequencies! Instant and easy!". There's so much red tape and other circumstances that by the time they can somewhat catch up, they're caught off-guard again. As many have pointed out, even if the iPhone were being offered on Verizon instead, this problem would still occur, but for Verizon instead. It doesn't matter how much money AT&T invests into its network; it takes TIME. And frankly, they don't really have time to their advantage; neither would Verizon, let alone Sprint or T-Mobile. So stop playing armchair CEO and take a chill pill. First you people complain about price drops in an industry where price drops always occur (Was there any backlash when Verizon lowered the price of the Storm? No. Or when Cingular lowered the price of the RAZR? No.). Then you complain about contract terms when those contract terms are what enable the subsized prices of the iPhone (And thanks to you people, AT&T now has insignificantly less money to earmark for network improvements. Nice one there.). And now you talk as though you know how the industry operates? You might know how a network works. But do you know how a telecom works? I mean, I certainly don't. I know enough to realize that all this complaining really does no good. You don't want price drops? Nice try there. You don't like contracts? Then give up your subsidies. You think AT&T is just sitting on their asses doing nothing? Really now?

The customer isn't always right. Sometimes, the customer is downright WRONG.

 

[chris27uk]

Frankly, the UK has had MMS for the best part of 10 years and it's laughable that AT&T credit themselves with the popularity of smart phones. In the UK we are able to update the telephone tower software remotely.

We may not have any 4G coverage in England but the reasons that AT&T are giving for taking so long are ludicrous, software updates to the radio towers occur in seconds in the UK. The preparation time they suggest is in all likelihood either an excuse for not having the network bandwidth, meaning the time is needed to set up additional radio stations or an excuse that the software is so badly written, that it is not maintainable. Either way extraordinary.

I am astonished that AT&T think they need to be applauded just for the investment that every company is making to maintain the quality of their network.

Chris Green,
Open Network Software.

 

[BeyondtheTech]

I think the negativity in general surrounding this stems from people's desires to just complain...So stop playing armchair CEO and take a chill pill...

I know I'm not personalizing it because some of your comments weren't even directed towards my posts, but all the complaints in general. But, I will agree I'm no CEO - and perhaps that's the problem. I don't have a MBA, a decades of corporate management experience under my belt, or even wear a suit on most days of the year. That's because most of us here are looking at things from a different perspective: the end-user perspective.

Similar in vein to a slumlord who lives in a posh apartment on the Upper East Side while her tenants of an entire floor have to share an bathroom in an unfurnished apartment with no lighting. (This scenario is actually true!) If the CEO, or even some high-level executive was experiencing excessive failure rates regarding data transmission and dropped calls, and that was his only method for dealing with day-to-day tasks at AT&T Mobility, you'd be sure he step up the game a little faster than it's taking now. Perhaps they're just too high up on a perch to notice the little guy who's funding their little daughter's trip to Paris for her international ballet recital.

 

[rjohnstone]

Frankly, the UK has had MMS for the best part of 10 years and it's laughable that AT&T credit themselves with the popularity of smart phones. In the UK we are able to update the telephone tower software remotely.

We may not have any 4G coverage in England but the reasons that AT&T are giving for taking so long are ludicrous, software updates to the radio towers occur in seconds in the UK. The preparation time they suggest is in all likelihood either an excuse for not having the network bandwidth, meaning the time is needed to set up additional radio stations or an excuse that the software is so badly written, that it is not maintainable. Either way extraordinary.

I am astonished that AT&T think they need to be applauded just for the investment that every company is making to maintain the quality of their network.

Chris Green,
Open Network Software.

MMS has been available on AT&T since 2002.

If AT&T had to manage a region the size of the UK, this would be a non issue. The UK is the size of a typical US state.

Also, it's not just a software update, they are adding towers. Tower additions take time and a boatload of permits before you can even break ground on one.

The bureaucracy involved in setting up any radio equipment in the US is insane.

Not saying AT&T is blameless for their lack of foresight, but one must understand the whole picture before bashing them too harshly.

 

[butterfly0fdoom]

I know I'm not personalizing it because some of your comments weren't even directed towards my posts, but all the complaints in general. But, I will agree I'm no CEO - and perhaps that's the problem. I don't have a MBA, a decades of corporate management experience under my belt, or even wear a suit on most days of the year. That's because most of us here are looking at things from a different perspective: the end-user perspective.

Similar in vein to a slumlord who lives in a posh apartment on the Upper East Side while her tenants of an entire floor have to share an bathroom in an unfurnished apartment with no lighting. (This scenario is actually true!) If the CEO, or even some high-level executive was experiencing excessive failure rates regarding data transmission and dropped calls, and that was his only method for dealing with day-to-day tasks at AT&T Mobility, you'd be sure he step up the game a little faster than it's taking now. Perhaps they're just too high up on a perch to notice the little guy who's funding their little daughter's trip to Paris for her international ballet recital.

Hey, guess what, I'm an end-user, too. But that doesn't mean I should only look at it from my perspective, does it? There's always more than one side to the story, and this blind self-centered perspective that most customers prefer doesn't do any good.

I mean, I'm affected by all the network stuffs, too. I'm still using my original iPhone (somewhat because I'm too... "stubborn" to get a 3G), and I can't get EDGE in a lot of places anymore and can only get GPRS because of AT&T's prioritizing of UTMS at the expense of GSM. Now, I haven't had any of the dropped call problems at all over the past 8 years, and I'm pretty sure there's a lot of people on that boat (and don't say you hear more people complaining than not; content people tend to not say anything while the discontent tend to be very vocal). But like I said, it takes time for the investments in the network to actually manifest into improvements; by the time they nearly catch up, Apple unleashes a new iPhone that breaks sales records and has AT&T scrambling to catch up again (now, they could always try to catch up and go beyond, but with them working on getting LTE ready for testing and deployment, their resources are rather scattered, wouldn't you say?).

 

[BeyondtheTech]

...don't say you hear more people complaining than not; content people tend to not say anything while the discontent tend to be very vocal...

How true... Bad news travels fast. Good news is precious and is usually kept to themselves. I still think the video was more on retaining brand and image. Why else do you think it took this long and after this much pent-up outrage? If they were monitoring it and keeping their end-users in the loop all along, they wouldn't have had to go and pull Milton with his red stapler from the basement just to make a video blog.

But, I guess it's just like the rest of the economy. They all were drinking the Kool Aid until the sugar rush ended and a wave of reality finally hits them in the face.

 

[flyingscott]

(Stepping up on soap box)

I really hate to bring this post back to the top, but I just wasted the past 30mins sifting through these posts... I guess I am just shocked how insane some people are, and how out of touch some are when it comes to the complexities of cellular networks - or just networks in general.

Obviously a good majority of the people posting have never been involved in a minor launch of any product, solution, network, website, etc... Frankly, you should all be astounded that any of it works at all.

I don't love (or even particularity like) AT&T... but as a rational person, who has experienced a lot, I can say that AT&T wants this to work WAY more than you ever did.

(Stepping off of soap box)

 

[TuckBodi]

(Stepping up on soap box)

I really hate to bring this post back to the top, but I just wasted the past 30mins sifting through these posts... I guess I am just shocked how insane some people are, and how out of touch some are when it comes to the complexities of cellular networks - or just networks in general.

Obviously a good majority of the people posting have never been involved in a minor launch of any product, solution, network, website, etc... Frankly, you should all be astounded that any of it works at all.

I don't love (or even particularity like) AT&T... but as a rational person, who has experienced a lot, I can say that AT&T wants this to work WAY more than you ever did.

(Stepping off of soap box)

I just wish they'd stop slamming that commercial of theirs "least dropped calls" down my throat as I experience about a half dozen daily. One time I was even on the phone talking to someone when the commercial came on and as if by queue, the call dropped. Sure, I know it's their network being overloaded but when I call them and they blame it on me or my trees or my phone....give me a break, they're just lying bottom feeders. I just want my reception back from when I signed my contract with them and they signed with me.

 

[TalonFlyer]

I would agree, BUT!

(Stepping up on soap box)

I really hate to bring this post back to the top, but I just wasted the past 30mins sifting through these posts... I guess I am just shocked how insane some people are, and how out of touch some are when it comes to the complexities of cellular networks - or just networks in general.

Obviously a good majority of the people posting have never been involved in a minor launch of any product, solution, network, website, etc... Frankly, you should all be astounded that any of it works at all.

I don't love (or even particularity like) AT&T... but as a rational person, who has experienced a lot, I can say that AT&T wants this to work WAY more than you ever did.

(Stepping off of soap box)

I don't think we are out of touch. On the contrary, for the price we are paying and the fact that we must take the data service, we should have the services as advertised and they should work. It has been over two years and there are still major issues. These issues are much more that just growing pains with the technology. That argument went out the window after 6 months. Now it's just plain poor service, poor planning and a total disregard for the customer. There is a cancer within AT&T and until they realize this nothing will change. Trust me, AT&T had to work very hard for me to develop what is not just my opinion, but the opinion of a huge segment of the users and yes, the more technically savvy user may have a stronger opinion. That may be because we know the obstacles are much more management than technical.

 

[flyingscott]

...That may be because we know the obstacles are much more management than technical.

This is exactly what I was preaching too... I don't think you even have a concept of the issues AT&T has/had to tackle. Don't sit back and play armchair quarterback.

I sympathize with you... I switched (like a lemming) to AT&T from Verizon when the iPhone came out. The cost for 2 phones is around 200 bucks a month... which is a lot. And there have been growing pains. But it's far better than any other smartphone out there, IMHO.

But again, don't be so one sided because you're upset. Trust me, they want this resolved more than you do... and if it were easy, we wouldn't be talking.

I think many like to assume that this all could have been averted with better planning... but I'm telling you, its just not the case... the factors involved would make you nauseous - both on a business and technical end. A lot of you are way too black and white about it... the levels of gray are endless in this one.

 

[butterfly0fdoom]

That may be because we know the obstacles are much more management than technical.

Actually, I think there are more technical, federal, and logistical obstacles than there are management obstacles.

 

[diamond.g]

So people on HoFo seem to be reporting that they are turning on MMS regionally, as some users in Texas are seeing MMs while some of us aren't.