AT&T

iPhone 3G with 3G Enabled

iPhone 3G with 3G Disabled (EDGE only)

AT&T Wireless decided to play network games in Honolulu on Wednesday (Nov. 4). Early in the morning I called AT&T Wireless customer support and spoke with a very courteous and helpful representive trying to figure out why I did not have any voice or data access on my iPhone 3G even though I saw reasonably good signal strength and a 3G indicator on my status. We fussed about a bit turning off my iPhone while she de-authorized and then re-authorized my phone. That didn't seem to help. I performed another soft reset for good measure but that didn't seem to help. On a whim, I decided to disable 3G. Guess what, that re-enabled voice services and web browsing/email over the slower EDGE data network. Enabling 3G shut down all services again. Disabling it once more restored it. We left it at that with the rep leaving a system note to contact me at the end of the week to see how things were going.

At this point, I started checking with other AT&T users (all of whom were also iPhone users). By early afternoon all 10 people I spoke with or emailed with confirmed similar problems. They also confirmed that disabling 3G restored voice/data service.

Nearly 12 hours later, my iPhone still exhibited the same behavior. So, I ran its hidden Field Test Mode (see my blog item below about this topic)...

Find Your iPhone's Signal Strength Using the Hidden Field Test Mode

...and you can see the results at the top of this blog entry. With 3G enabled, my iPhone now indicated now service at all and the GSM Serving Cell information was literally unknown. Disabling 3G resulted in the second screenful of information. The -107 dBm signal is at the bottom of the weak signal range. But, voice calls and slow Internet access (through EDGE) was possible.

18 hours later, voice and 3G data service comes and goes with no apparent rhyme or reason if 3G is enabled. We'll see how this plays out at the 24 hour market later.

ADDENDUM: 22.5 hour mark. Service w/3G enabled appears restored. Getting -99 dBm from same spot where I got "No service" last evening and -107 dBm w/3G disabled (EDGE only)

I rarely feel pity for AT&T Wireless as I sit looking at my iPhone 3G displaying a "No Service" status because I'm in an AT&T dead zone. However, after looking at the information reported by TechCrunch in...

How The iPhone Is Blowing Everyone Else Away (In Charts)

...I can appreciate how AT&T network engineers might have been caught off guard by the immense increase in data traffic after the first non-3G iPhone was introduced in mid-2007 and then accelerated even more after the iPhone 3G became available in the summer of 2008. It looks like the EDGE-only 1st generation iPhone caused wireless data traffic to triple. Then, the iPhone 3G and the introduction of iPhone apps created an even larger increase in data usage. The result is a 4,932% increase in data traffic over a 3 year period that includes 2 years of iPhone driven growth.

Could anyone have predicted that kind of growth in wireless data use? Even I have to admit that this would have sounded far fetched back in 2005 or 2006. But, here we are today. And, though I don't actually pity AT&T Wireless, I do have some sympathy for their network engineers.

I know I said I support AT&T's decision not to rollout 3G tethering service for the iPhone until their network is robust enough to handle it. But, still reading this item in 9to5mac.com made my head ache and throb a bit in pure annoyance...

AT&T: Tethering is probably going to be a 2010 thing

9to5mac gives a rundown on the sequence of interpreations that lead many of us (including me) to believe that AT&T stated that tethering would be available by the Fall of 2009. This assumption is apparently based on assumptions and guesses.

I hope AT&T's network engineers are working on getting their network into a condition where it can support iPhone users tethering netbooks and notebooks. In the meantime, I'll guess that Verizon and Sprint MiFi sales are doing quite well and that many of those sales are to frustrated iPhone owners.

T-Mobile HTC Touch Pro2 internet sharing app

I was amused by this item in the Wall Street Journal...

IPhone Tethering Still Unavailable, AT&T Says

Why? Well, having spent much of the past year being disappointed with AT&T's wireless coverage in my area, I found that T-Mobile's 3G service is even less available than AT&T here (though its voice coverage is better). To compound the irony, my T-Mobile HTC Touch Pro2 fully supports both wired (USB) and wireless (Bluetooth) tethering but doesn't have a viable 3G network to use it with. AT&T's 3G coverage is larger here but I can't tether anything to my iPhone 3G. And, oh yes, as far as I can tell, T-Mobile doesn't charge any additional fee to tether.

But, guess what? I agree with AT&T's decision to keep tethering off the table for now. AT&T freely says that their network is ready for an onslaught of tethered iPhones. I'm not happy about the situation. But, I'd rather have a stable network ready for tethered iPhones than a slow unstable one. I just wish AT&T would give us some kind of timetable.

Yesterday, I asked...

Why Does Apple Let Vonage Make Voice Over Network Calls Over 3G But Doesn't Let Skype Do the Same Thing?

Of course, I should have asked "Why Apple & AT&T" does this. But, no matter... Based on what I could see the iTunes App Store early yesterday morning, the Vonage app was allowed to make VoIP calls over either 3G or WiFi connections while Skype for iPhone users are limited to calling only when connected to the net over WiFi.

However, the Silicon Alley Insider reports that...

iPhone VoIP Apps To Run On AT&T's 3G Network

Here's AT&T's press release on the subject...

AT&T Extends VOIP to 3G Network for iPhone

So, what does this mean? I'm not exactly sure since apps like Vonage's apparently already have the permission and ability to do so. And, the press release doesn't indicate any time frame for this change.

As usual, I ask AT&T, where's the 3G tethering service for the iPhone?

Windows Mobile 6.5 launches tomorrow (Tuesday, Oct. 6) and AT&T announced two old-new phones for the occasion...

AT&T and HTC Debut HTC Tilt 2 and HTC Pure Windows Phones

The HTC Tilt 2 is sold as the Touch Pro2 by other carriers. It has a big 3.6 inch LCD, 3 megapixel camera and slide out QWERTY keyboard. AT&T, like T-Mobile priced it high at $299.99 after a $50 mail-in-rebate ($349.99 at the register).

The HTC Pure is sold as the Touch Diamond2 by other carriers. It is a touch-only deviced (no physical keyboard), 3.2 inch LCD and a 5 megapixel camera. It is priced at $149.99 after a $50 mail-in-rebate ($199.99 at the register).

You can probably guess which one AT&T is trying to push towards their customers. AT&T says that the Pure is available now on their website. But, I don't see it there at the moment. They say that the Tilt 2 will be available in the following weeks.

Web screen segment courtesy of AT&T

So, let's say you have an extremely weak AT&T wireless cell phone signal somewhere important (like your home or office) and would like to actually make a phone call with your AT&T phone (what a concept!). What do you think AT&T solution for you might be? How about paying more for a service (making cell phone calls) that you already pay for? Yep, that's the ticket according Mashable and Engadget...

AT&T Offers $150 Adapter to Improve Service Quality

AT&T's 3G MicroCell does unlimited calling, but it ain't cheap

The MicroCell hardware will set you back $150. And, depending on your wired broadband situation, you can pay nothing (if you subscribe to both AT&T's landline phone and Internet services) to $20 per month ($240 per year in addition to your existing cell phone fees).

So, let's say I was willing to pay for the AT&T MicroCell. What would be next? Well, as you can see from the message above, it is not available yet in my area.

Here's a much cheaper solution to a weak AT&T wireless signal.

- First, stop giving out your AT&T cell phone number
- Second, get a Google Voice account (free)
- Route calls from Google Voice to both your cell phone and your landline home phone (assuming you have one).

That's it! You're done. Now calls to your Google Voice number will reach you on your cell phone when you have a signal. And, since it rings your home phone too, you can answer your calls on that phone when you are home. You can use Google Voice's custom schedule to manage which phone your calls get routed to for specific days and times during the day. Nice!

AT&T 3G MicroCell (product page)

Yesterday, AT&T finally announced...

An Update on iPhone MMS for our Mobility Customers

MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) lets you send audio, photos, and short video clips as easily as you send text messasges. The iPhone is pretty much the only smartphone in the U.S. that doesn't have this feature. Others phones (even ones on AT&T's network) have had this feature for years. iPhone 3G and 3GS owners will gain the feature (presumably for an additional cost) on September 25.

But, you know what? I have absolutely zero interest in this MMS service. But, I would like to have a 3G wireless tethering option to let me use my iPhone 3G as a wireless modem for my netbook when out and about. So, I tweeted the following message to AT&T:

FYI @ATTNews I don't care about MMS. But, I do care about iPhone tethering. Any news on that service?

Here's the tweet response (direct message) that I received from AT&T:

ATTNews: Tethering could exponentially increase traffic on the network, we need to ensure current upgrades are in place.

My interpretation is that AT&T is a long ways away from making this feature available to their U.S. based iPhone customers. FYI: Phone companies in other countries already provide tethering to their iPhone customers.

Reading through this New York Times article...

Customers Angered as iPhones Overload AT&T

...you can pick up the main points pretty easily:

- iPhone users use a lot more wireless data than users of other phone models
- AT&T's wireless network is unable to meet this demand
- Voice services are affected adversely too
- 34% of non-iPhone owners said they did not buy an iPhone because of AT&T's poor reputation
- Mobile data traffic is expected to double every year through 2013

I had an amusing but possibly reasonable idea after reading this: Losing exclusive rights to the iPhone in 2010 may be the best thing that ever happened to AT&T. If, for example, Verizon begins selling the iPhone on their network, AT&T's network load would drop tremendously as, possibly, millions of current iPhone using AT&T customers switch over to Verizon. AT&T's network should start feeling faster and more reliable when that happens. And, if Verizon has early growing pains as they absorb millions of new iPhone toting customers, AT&T may start looking good as their network finally matures after three years of dealing with iPhone users. Splitting iPhone customers between AT&T and Verizon would allow both firms' networks to grow at a slower pace than having all the wireless data hungry iPhone users on a single carrier. A Verizon iPhone might be the best thing that ever happend to AT&T :-)

Do you have a feature phone with a data plan? If you are thinking about upgrading your phone to a smartphone, you might want to do so before September 6 according to this The Boy Genius Report item...

AT&T to require smartphone data plans starting September 6th

Here are the two main points to be aware of according to TBGR and the internal document they quote from:

1. Customers purchasing a new smartphone or upgrading to a smartphone on or after September 6 must have a data plan.

2. Customers who have or buy a smartphone before September 6 without a data plan are grandfathered and can continue using a smartphone without a data plan.