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AT&T 3G Upgrades Degrade 2G Signal Strength

Posted by kdawson on from the cellphone-walks-into-a-bar dept.

Timothy R. Butler writes "Much to the chagrin of owners of various 2G cell phones on AT&T Mobility's network, including the highly visible (and originally highly expensive) first-generation iPhone, we have discovered that AT&T has been quietly adjusting its network in ways that degrade 2G network performance as it has sought to build out its next-generation 3G network. Many of the phones affected, including BlackBerry devices, are still well within their two-year contract period."

3 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. Planned Obsolescence by nurb432 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Its the way people do business now.

    Sad and immoral, but true.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    1. Re:Planned Obsolescence by Grand+Facade · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not really planned obsolescence, appropriating resources for the new revenue stream forsaking existing customers.

      This to me seems worse as they are stealing services paid for by existing customers, instead of just letting their stuff expire as obsolite.

      --
      Rick B.
  2. Re:Why so serious? by Kinjin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Normally I would agree with your premise.

    "Edge users are equivalent to VHS users. The technology has moved on, you need to move on or deal with slightly degraded service"

    That isn't really a valid analogy. If VHS players suddenly couldn't fast forward, rewind, or record, and could only play some parts of a tape, then yeah. That's not the case here though.

      In this case there seems to be a large group of people still under thier original contracts. INAL but sounds like 1. Breach of contract (Degraded services) 2. Bait and switch (oh if you want it to actually work properly you need to upgrade to G3) 3. Fraud (Offering and contracting services you have no intention of providing - which is where the purposely degrading comes in)