AT&T throws out more threats against high bandwidth iPhone users
AT&T made more threatening remarks aimed at iPhone users ("Wireless data hogs") who use too much "audio and video streaming" today. AT&T Wireless CEO Ralph de la Vega told attendees at a UBS conference in New York...
Wireless data hogs who jam the airwaves by watching video on their iPhones will be put on tighter leashes, ...[AT&T] will also give high-bandwidth users incentives to "reduce or modify their usage."
Just 3 percent of "smart" phone users are consuming 40 percent of the network capacity, de la Vega said, adding that the most high-bandwidth activity is video and audio streaming. Several applications on the iPhone provide nonstop Internet radio.
De la Vega also defended the network's performance, saying testing showed that AT&T's third-generation, or 3G, network was faster than that of competitors, and that major problems are concentrated in New York and San Francisco, which are packed with smart phone users.
AT&T has already pushed iPhone Tethering back into 2010 with no hard date in sight.
In related news, UStream broadcaster got accepted into the App Store last night.
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Comments (42)
I'm from Canada and we have had net tethering pretty much right when it was announced for iPhone. I don't understand how the wealthiest country in the world can't muster up a good enough wireless network worthy of the iphone. It seems evident that if Apple switches to Verison, or an open network policy, people of the USA will be fleeing the tyranny of AT&T.
I too am from Canada, and the US isn't the wealthiest country in the world.
Just not per capita. Even then, we come out pretty high (12th). GDP per capita title goes to Luxemberg, according to the World Bank. When adjusted by purchasing power parity (factoring cost of living), US jumps to 4th (it's cheap to live here, relatively), still below Luxemberg. GDP per capita is $46716 in the US. This mean is skewed negatively, as compared to the median, due to the large poverty class in America. When people say the U.S. is the wealthiest nation, they're talking about a total GDP. In those terms, the US is still definitely the world's wealthiest nation, with China and Japan following closely thereafter. The GDP of the entire EU is only slightly larger than that of the U.S.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita
I'm from San Antonio, TX USA. And I agree, we are the wealthiest country in the world, because we just got a credit limit increase from China. We can invade another country if we wanted too. Just one mighty swipe of the card.
Canada? The land of Rogers? With a plan that includes only 2 GB data and 400 minutes for $80? Where an extra 0.5 GB costs $40 more a month?
People in Canada pay an extraordinary amount of money for fewer minutes and less data per month. Maybe we have tethering, but we certainly pay through the nose for it.
Exactly! Totally agreed with you. Canada's Rogers is the most greedy iPhone carriers in the world. Shocked to see people saying that they are proud to be iPhone user in Canada with tethering use.
Fortunately got the iPhone when it was first released and I signed up for the 5GB Bandwith special they had. 5GB makes tethering practical.
It'd be cool to do a poll of how much telephone network bandwith users consume a month.
Am I going to get nailed with ridiculous fees for using Pandora? Aren't we granted "unlimited" internet and email with the $30 we pay for mobile data through AT&T? I feel like that's a pretty hefty price already.
If they change the terms of the data contract, can I bail for free and leave AT&T for good?
Excellent point! I would have no heartache if they suddenly limited bandwidth limits and/or started penalizing the so-called "high bandwidth users", as long as it is considered a breach of contract with AT&T (unlimited data per month for $30), and we can bail from them with no early termination penalty.
That's Right!!!
We pay for an UNLIMITED monthly data plan. Unlimited means, "No limits". If I want to download 10 gigs of data this month then I will. After all, I paid for it with my Unlimited data plan.
Actually, there is a limit.
Assume 31 days per month and a 0.5 Mbit transfer rate. I call that limiting - thats less than 1 BluRay disc worth of data. And that's with compression.
Yeah, maybe this is the right time to get out of this damn contract!
that we will not tolerate the use of anything "smart" on our phones. We will not tolerate video watching and definitely not a high amount of video watching. Music is out too, unless you have it on your phone already and you purchased it with DRM. I want all the shareholders to know we're taking this ship down as fast as we can and the first step is to decrease the amount of fun we will allow on our network.
I am from singapore . I pay only 30 SGD for unlimited internet 3G access. Lot of friends does have it. I guess AT&T really sucks....
I am from singapore . I pay only 30 SGD for unlimited internet 3G access. Lot of friends does have it. I guess AT&T really sucks....
Well, first of all, recall that all US providers charge at least $30 US for 3G Internet. Then consider that many (Verizon, for one) have caps on their "unlimited" plans.
Then, recall that Singapore is a 275 square mile urban country. The US is a 3,800,000 square mile country.
That means a lot more towers per user in the US, which greatly increases the cost per user.
Someone has to pay for ATT's network upgrades and it's YOU. With ATT being Apple's preferred provider, and Apple's deep hatred and nonsupport of jail broken iPhones, what choice do you have now?
Do it AT&T, and that will be a breach of contract with all who have already paid for an unlimited data contract. Change the terms of that contract and you will have to give everyone the chance to leave with NO PENALTY. So go ahead and try because with many more options to the iPhone then when most of us signed up, there will be a plenty of us that will make our way over to another carrier.
I understand that it would be difficult for ATT to keep up with the growth of the iPhone. However, ATT needs to change their way of doing business. They need to focus on providing a top level wireless service to support the cutting edge iPhone. This phone has been on their network for years now and they still have not caught up. I find it down right sad that they can not even offer tethering, because their network is so fragile. They need to hire tech people that can build a entirely new type of network. ATT needs to simply provide a solid data pipe. I only use their service because of the iPhone. I have to give ATT a C+, because they have made some improvements. However, I think that if Apple allowed other carriers in the USA to carry the iPhone, it would force ATT to think about their service. Who knows, they might realize that telling the customer that they can not stream video on their network, is a very bad decision, rather than investing in upgrading that network to handle the demand.
Your going with a C+ for AT&T. Me personally, I'm with Consumer Reports on this one and going to give them a 66% or a solid D. But that's just me and 54,331 of Consumer Reports' close personal friends.
--Hypo
I'd only give them a "C", but only because the "C" programming lauguage was developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories (AKA AT&T).
Semper Fidelis; Proud Father (and son) of a U.S. Marine
Smart phone + Stupid network = User disaatifaction.
Why does Apple continue to boast about iPhone's wondrous features when users are hindered by ATT's crappy network? It's like buying a Ferrari but living in the Alaska bush during the spring thaw after an earth quake following an eruption in a fog at night.
It's unlimited in terms of unlimited use of data, meaning you can access the internet/data whenever you want. But in any service plan, unlimited isn't applied to the bandwidth of the service. Like your broadband/DSL service, depending on which service plan you choose, say $40/month for the 20Mbps plan, you get unlimited usage, but your bandwidth is limited to 20Mbps. I think ATT can resolve their bandwidth issue by making different plan with different bandwidth like what internet subscribers are using to control their traffic bandwidth vs. costs. In fact, every cell service should start implementing such said pricing structure.
Yes, Verizon has had a 5 GB cap on their data plans since seemingly forever, and its mighty clear that AT&T is going that way too. And it isn't "5 GB as you like it", it's 5 GB without TETHERING.
Apps aren't necessarily network efficient (some are, some suck). The 3GS chipset can certainly deliver more data in less time. And quotaless tethering via jailbreaking uses more RF bandwidth than 3G technology can handle.
AT&T doesn't have to cancel existing contracts - they'll all expire in two years or less. Just new contracts, or those without contracts, will have a cap. And sadly, you'll have no recourse - as all other providers have caps.
Guilty. I run Pandora all day and all night on my iphone... but half the time, I'm on wi-fi. I doubt ever seeing a legit Tethering system via AT&T anytime soon if they can't keep up with current demands for what they have going on right now... it's a pity.
The AT&T network is a magical place where you can surf the web while making a call!
I think that ATT should provide unlimited access for zero dollars per month. This would make ATT customers the happiest people in the world. ATT would corner the market, joy will abound, and it won't cost a cent. Hooray!!!!
The problem is that AT&T puts both voice and data on the same channel. CDMA 2000 uses EVDO to transmit data on a seperate channel from voice.
Wrong. CDMA2000 uses different transports for data and voice. It uses the same RF channel, but the protocol design doesn't permit for the multiplexing of the data protocol with the voice protocol. That's why it's only data OR voice. To get both at the same time, you need a phone that looks like two distinct devices to the network.
They could put voice on top of the data protocol (like VoIP), but the data protocol isn't designed for voice quality communications. Latency will make it choppy as hell.
Um, nope sorry. You're confusing the technology. DISCLAIMER I wrote the first 5 HLDs for QC's CDMA chips.
It is indeed voice or data by design (kinda' thought you'd get that from my premise). Voice and data travel over different channels: EVDO uses CDMA & TDMA to achieve thru-put making it impossible to use the same channel.
By design voice and data are separate (for now . . . .)