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iPhone Straining AT&T Network

Posted by samzenpus on from the got-an-app-for-that dept.

dangle writes "More than 20 million other smartphone users are on the AT&T network, but other phones do not drain the network the way the nine million iPhone users do. Because the average iPhone owner can use 10 times the network capacity used by the average smartphone user, dropped calls, spotty service, delayed text and voice messages and glacial download speeds are the result as AT&T's cellular network strains to meet the demand. AT&T says that the majority of the nearly $18 billion it will spend this year on its networks will be diverted into upgrades and expansions to meet the surging demands on the 3G network."

9 of 551 comments (clear)

  1. And I thought... by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All this time, I thought the iPhone was just an overhyped, overpriced smartphone that explodes. Now I see that, incredibly, it is doing some good: a major cell phone company is actually upgrading its network, after all these years of the US falling behind other parts of the world!

    --
    Palm trees and 8
    1. Re:And I thought... by sadness203 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      they'll pass the invoice to the costumer, don't worry with that.

      Yes, they'll have a good network, but the price will be twice what you could expect in other country for a contract, with the 3 years signup, and all the bullshit they can include to milk their customers.

    2. Re:And I thought... by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Let them. All current customers can quite fairly state "Change in contract terms, AT&T? That's great! No, I don't accept, and it's good that there's this lovely clause about early termination without penalty. Thanks for giving me this lovely iPhone. I'll be sure to get it jailbroken and on a network which isn't a complete pig."

      Thanks to all those who sacrificed their hard-earned for this to be made possible, though!

      Disclaimer: I'm English. Written from the perspective of a USian, apologies if I've mis(correctly)spelled some words.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
  2. Lack of bandwidth is not Apple's fault by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We get so accustomed to bad customer service and lousy throughput and high prices that it doesn't even dawn on us that the problem isn't the usage patterns of iPhone users but rather the consistently half-assed network implementations by American MOs.

    As more and more technology floats up into the Cloud, we are going to need more bandwidth to access it from anywhere. If the MOs can't keep up and implement a network that will support the kind of massive usage that is currently envisioned, there will be a massive breakdown akin to what AT&T is experiencing now.

    Don't blame the vehicles for bad roads. Blame it on the DOT.

    1. Re:Lack of bandwidth is not Apple's fault by MeanMF · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It is 100% Apple's fault for putting AT&T in a position where they don't have to compete with other carriers for iPhone business. If you were able to switch to Verizon or another carrier, you can bet AT&T would have upgraded their network a long time ago. AT&T is doing exactly as much as they have to.

    2. Re:Lack of bandwidth is not Apple's fault by mckinleyn · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Uh, this is /.
      From any ISP's perspective, most of us ARE criminals. I think we'd be hard pressed to find a single person here who HASN'T violated at least some part of copyright law.

  3. Upgrade budget by YourExperiment · · Score: 5, Insightful

    AT&T says that the majority of the nearly $18 billion it will spend this year on its networks will be diverted into upgrades and expansions to meet the surging demands on the 3G network

    Oh no! They're being forced to spend most of their network upgrade budget on upgrading their network! How will they possibly cope?

  4. Re:Take pre-emptive action by WalletBoy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Corollary: send a mirror copy of all data to fbi.gov. See if we can cause two incidents at the same time.

    That won't be necessary since if you're using AT&T a copy is automatically sent to the Feds.

  5. Three Possibilities by MBCook · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I see three possibilities. First, AT&T hasn't invested in their network enough. That's a given. Second, iPhone users are just network hogs, I don't think so.

    So that leaves us with possibility three: the iPhone is the first phone that isn't an incredible pain to use.

    I think that all other smart phones are artificially low in bandwidth usage because they're hard to use. The IE5 based browser on Windows Mobile (I know they recently improved it) in my experience was a total joke and almost unusable. The browser on BlackBerries, in fact the UI as a whole, is not designed to ease of use at all, it's "here's an empty button we can use". That only really leaves non smart phones, and even IF you had a data plan, I'm sure we all know how easy browsing with those things was.

    Basically the iPhone is the first device it's possible to easily surf the web without wanting to throw the phone into a wall.

    When you give your customers something that actually works and is usable... they use it.

    Go figure.

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