The Truth About AT&T's Network

This great chart (click to enlarge) gives a detailed picture of data speed by wireless carrier. It shows exactly how horrible AT&T's (T) network really is. "Thank you for choosing AT&T".

In some cases, you don't really have a choice. This is also interesting within the context of the increasing pressure from government on monopoly like practices which allow AT&T to do all sorts of things to its customers and not invest in its network.

Comments

[Rodent:]

At least the ease and fun gadgets of the I phone make up for the lack of service in my area 29906

Jul 07 02:20 AM

[misteri:]

What is the chart about? Meaning did they test one spot in each region? 100? 1000? How long was the test? a day?
Since there seems to be 3 vendors in each region, what monopoly like practices are you talking about?
More internet bullshit.

Jul 07 03:02 AM

[dave in boston:]

The truth is you forgot about T-mobile (3G in some areas) and have no basis for comparison with VZ and Sprint. T-mobile has 3G UMTS in some of these areas, but no iPhones. Look anywhere (research please) and you'll find that iPhone creates more internet traffic than any other cell phone data device: by a large margin. With 50,000+ applications, every day is an experiment. There is definitely room for improvement but I don't see reports of networks going off the air under load. These iPhone applications don't need blazing speeds so the table above is basically irrelevant. VZ and Sprint have no iPhones or associated network loading, and their network is incompatible with the iPhone UMTS / GSM hardware. Perhaps the Obama admin should force Apple to sell iPhone through T-mobile so you'll see what happens. Perhaps another bailout?????

Jul 07 07:39 AM

[dave in boston:]

John perhaps your trade office experience could help provide some additional insight. According to my understanding, one of the indicators of "monopoly-like" practices is a trend towards reduced value to the consumer. After all, a monopoly can charge whatever they want right? OK, with this in mind, why not look at the monthly subscriber cost per minute of voice use and MB of data use: for iPhone versus other smart phones on the market: for example the Storm or Pre. This result will help you and your readers understand the dynamics a bit more before forming opinions.

Jul 07 08:41 AM

[User 123757:]

why no T-Mobile? chart not very relevant without

Jul 07 11:58 AM

[bigger picture:]

att has always lagged their comepitiors in network technology, speeds and service. Why the die-hards for the big old bohemoth?

Jul 07 12:09 PM

[dave in boston:]

Bigger picture: The situation it is actually the exact opposite. AT&T is ahead of the curve and the effects of dramatic increase in mobile data from 3rd party applications are being seen in their network before the others. The others haven't exposed themselves to a device and application store anywhere near the scale of the exposure AT&T has from iPhone + app store: yet. Sprint and VZ 3G technology is behind AT&T + T-mobile and is losing ground fast. An iPhone + app store would push their networks over the cliff: and they'd need LTE or WIMAX to keep up.

Jul 07 12:21 PM

[vsnbs:]

Dave you make a great point. The last info I found said that the iphone is creating over half of all the mobile internet traffic all by itself. It can not be all bad if AT&T is handling more data on one phone model than all of the other competitors are combined.

iphonehelp.in/2009/02/.../

Jul 07 03:50 PM

[Steve20423:]

My company switched from Verizon to AT&T and we may have a lower bill but we have a poorer communications network now than before.
More bars in more places my Arse. Who cares if my phone will work in Indonesia it barely works in parts of NH and GA!

Jul 07 04:24 PM

[dave in boston:]

vsnbs: I also found an informative report linked below. Perhaps John can check my numbers, but my findings say iPhone service and plans are likely the best mobile data value there is: for example:

* iPhone has 8% worldwide market share yet contributes 43-65% web traffic: in the US it's up in the 60% range
* RIM has 17% worldwide market share yet contributes only 3-9% web traffic

If most data rate plans are similar (which they are in the US), then iPhone subscribers are getting 10-14X as much data for their money. Perhaps the monopoly argument is based upon something else, but subscriber value certainly doesn't seem to be in indicator.

metrics.admob.com/wp-c...

Jul 07 06:03 PM