“Analysts say AT&T’s problems would have happened on any network that carried Apple’s iPhone because of the enormous amount of data downloaded by iPhone users. Over the past three years, AT&T’s data traffic increased 5,000% because of the iPhone,” Goldman reports. “‘The challenges that AT&T has are being faced by a lot of operators around the world: Very rapidly growing usage coupled with dense populations,’ said Daniel Hays, wireless expert and partner at consultancy PRTM. ‘Would it have been different on Verizon? Probably not.'”
Goldman reports, “AT&T accurately states that it has the nation’s fastest 3G network but it “probably bit off more than it could chew,” said Doug Helmreich, program director at consultancy CFI Group. ‘Now some of their customers are paying the price.’ iPhone users in New York and San Francisco in particular have been up in arms about frequent service interruptions.”
“Verizon has had a field day at AT&T’s expense,” Goldman reports. “‘There’s a map for that’ commercials have poked fun at AT&T’s smaller 3G footprint. And that has helped Verizon take market share, according to Piper Jaffray. But studies show that AT&T’s network is actually faster than Verizon’s, and Verizon’s ad campaign may be a bit misleading.”
Read more in the full article here.
@Tired of Retards… grow up already. Calling people names must really make you feel like a big man. Some of us have lives and don’t hit the reload button on MDN all day like you apparently do.
@MDmac
Nice premises. However, WiFi is not free. And the same carriers that service wireless, are the same carriers that supply WiFi.
As usual, people are quick to dismiss something because they can’t get around their own contrived stumbling blocks.
I never suggested “free” Wi-Fi was the solution. I am saying Wi-Fi at any price is a keystone to future internet access, just as Cat-5 cable continues to serve the hardwired community. But I live in a Wi-Fi driven home using Time Capsule and Cox.
I don’t need their phone service because I use VoIP, and Sprint when I leave the house.
Wi-Fi proponents can blanket entire communities, the same way they do Universities, with linked Fibre repeaters and strategically placed wireless routers. L/Ps will keep out the leeches.
As I said, Apple could begin offering internet access tomorrow by allowing any Mobile Me customer who walks through their doors, to take advantage of their in-house Wi-Fi setup. Well what if that Wi-Fi setup existed just a couple of klicks from my home?
Furthermore, Apple could install repeaters emanating from each Apple store here in the Phoenix Metro area and blanket the entire city for what? 100 million dollars, if not less?
IIRC, the wireless repeaters in use by the carriers like AT&T and Verizon, to blanket an area have a reach of 7 Km, weigh five-pounds, and cost a pretty penny to deploy. Apple and Intel have developed the same technology using Light Peak to accomplish the same task for much less using a device that is about the size of a box of matches. Plant one every 7 Km emanating outward from the Apple store and begin offering Wi-Fi for the price of admission to Mobile Me. I leave it to Apple’s judgement on data plans.
So, no matter where I went in the Phoenix area, I would have internet access. No iPhone necessary. Just my TabletMac sending email, voice, data to the “Apple Store Node” for further distribution on the back of their Tier 2 network in North Carolina.
For ‘Darkness’ and anyone else having the unexplained semi-colon appearing after typing AT&T, this is caused by using the ampersand. Here is an explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampersand
“In SGML, XML, and HTML, the ampersand is used to introduce an SGML entity. The HTML and XML encoding for the ampersand character is the entity ‘&'[11] (pronounced “amper-amp”). This creates what is known as the ampersand problem. For instance, when putting URLs or other material containing ampersands into XML format files such as RSS files the amp; has to be added to the & or they are considered not well formed and computers will be unable to read the files correctly.”
Simply follow the ampersand with “amp;T” and it will all be good.
@sgb
That applies to any word containing an ampersand, such as R&D or M&M
@ G4Dualie,
Yes thanks, I guess I wasn’t really clear on that point. If I recall correctly, I believe it was ‘Ampar’ who explained that here at MDN a long time ago. I remember it had me flustered also.
Hello Every One,
It’s simple. Ask AT&T;when it plans to catch up with Verizon Wireless on 3G coverage. The answer is: Never! Instead, they try to change the subject to their crappy 2G network.I hope that Verizon gets the iPhone soon so I can buy one. AT&T;shareholders will get what they deserve when that announcement is made
r4i software