Lots of apps means lots of data.
(Credit: Matt Hickey)
There’s been a lot of talk lately of AT&T customers–especially iPhone users–getting fed up with the quality of service they’re getting with AT&T. Issues include dropped calls, shoddy coverage, and slow data speeds. People are upset that they have a fancy device that loses much of its usefulness when the network drops out. I can feel their pain.
Indeed, I saw the effect myself this last weekend. The Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), one of the world’s largest gaming conventions, took place in Seattle, where I live. Thousands of the world’s nerdiest nerds were here, and, as you’d expect, many were using iPhones, meaning many were using AT&T’s 3G service.
PAX, which opened Friday, also had a handy guide on expojunkie.com for convention goers made especially for the iPhone. It featured maps, agendas, and other quick reference information to make PAX a better experience. The side effect was thousands of visitors using Seattle’s 3G coverage at the same time–in addition to the thousands of locals who already use it. Service slowed to a crawl.
By Saturday, the service was back up-to-speed for most of Seattle. AT&T may have hit a switch and turned on more towers. It has a team that monitors areas with major events and tweaks the network when one causes problems. Whatever the company did fixed it.
The blessing and the curse
But here’s the question: what are we to expect from AT&T when Apple sells millions of units of a revolutionary product that depends on its network and then provides millions of apps that put a huge burden on the same network? Do we really expect AT&T to be able to handle that much data?
Out of the frying pan…
You can find many entries in online forums where people cry, “Forget AT&T, I’m going to Verizon!” or something equally angry. But they’re not getting the big picture: by switching you’ll lose your beloved iPhone, but you’ll also be on a network which, if it gets the iPhone soon as rumored, could end up having the exact same problems AT&T is now, perhaps even worse.
AT&T: We’re working around the clock
I don’t think so. Especially considering that iPhone users are sticking around day after day. AT&T spokesman Seth Bloom, the company’s “Blogger Guy,” says the buffet is ordering more prime rib and mashed potatoes–to the tune of $17 billion to $18 billion this year alone.
He also says AT&T expects that 3G network capacity will match the growing user demand for data soon. “Crews are working around the clock to implement more than 1,900 new cell towers nation wide and doubling its fiber backbone to take up the rising customer volume,” he told me over instant message.