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Bad AT$T for not knowing it's towers are under powered.

Good article, excellent explanation of the (MW) problem and what was done to correct it. Unfortunately, there will always be "something else" to piss and moan about right around the corner. It is funny that despite the number of 3G phones around the world that all probably experienced this same problem, only the iPhone users made a big stink about it and the media picked up on it. Why haven't we been reading about Nokia, Samsung, Sony/Ericsson, etc. users complaining?

Aug 28, 08 - 01:50 pm Comment from: MacDave

"Why haven't we been reading about Nokia, Samsung, Sony/Ericsson, etc. users complaining?"

Because the are not expected to "just work". They are expected to be pieces of mediocre crap and one is expected to just deal with it.

"The problem was only evident when a critical mass of phones all acted in concert to run a given cell tower out of power,". Ok, you need to power up those towers because there is going to be a lot more iPhones sucking the life out of them!

The "critical mass" or tsunami is rising!

Aug 28, 08 - 01:56 pm Comment from: January 24, 1984

Apple sets a higher bar.

"Why haven't we been reading about Nokia, Samsung, Sony/Ericsson, etc. users complaining?"

Because 98% of the mobile Web surfers are using iPhones since Apple iPhones actually allow users to access the Web productively.

So, when you sell 3 million iPhones in the first month and they all go online and hit the towers for data...

Ballmer states the the Windows software is adequate that runs the Nokia, Samsung, Sony/Ericsson, etc. smart phones. If the bar is set low so is the expectations.

so this is just due to a zillion iphones on a single tower? how can there be that many in once single area......and, this is also asuming that all the iphones are running 3G. I use my 3G iphone, but i keep it on edge until i want to browse, since 3G kills the battery.

Daniel Eran Dilger nails this stuff time after time... cool dude.

Aug 28, 08 - 02:19 pm Comment from: dd

I also keep mine on Edge unless I either:
a) Really need the speed, which I typically don't, or
b) Want to talk on the phone AND surf/send email.

Well it looks like I was wrong about the recall. No man is exempt from making misjudgments and that includes R2 (as great of a man as he is).

If you do say so yourself.

Aug 28, 08 - 04:07 pm Comment from: Think

@that many iphones?

Do you know how many phones a single 3G tower can handle?

Neither do I.

So If you are on the outside edge of town on the last 3G tower, you probably have very few users on it.

If you are downtown in a large city, you have people walking around that can be more more dense than cars, plus buildings that are 40 to 80 stories high adding to the amount of users in the same vertical space.

After a college football game in town, it very common to overload the cell towers around the stadium.

I also keep mine on EDGE unless I decide to drive an hour to 3G coverage. Even then I'll keep it on EDGE unless I want faster browsing. EDGE browsing on my iPhone is faster than browsing on my old job's stupid crackberry.

Would the surge at half-time have melted the towers if iPhone 3G had been released shortly before Super Bowl Sunday?

wrong, it's a WORLDWIDE problem!!

You fanbois are really annoying. It's never Apple's fault is it? So now it's a problem with AT&T;'s towers? I really doubt that! Here in the UK we have been using 3G phones for some time now. Any "tower overloading" issue would have shown up long ago. My wife's brand new iPhone 3G is still having problems with the network and that includes telephone conversations. At the moment when she has a network connectivity problem I can test the network with my Nokia. Guess what, the Nokia always works.

Come on Apple sort this out!

"“It is not the network that is fault but the interaction of the bad power control algorithm in 2.0 and 2.0.1 software and the network that is at fault. "

Summary: Apple screwed the pooch in the iPhone software.

That's why the tens of millions of other 3G phones in daily use on AT&T;'s networks, in service since 2004, haven't been causing problems.

Plain English meet ATT Engineer:

PE: That's why the tens of millions of other 3G phones in daily use on AT&T;'s networks, in service since 2004, haven't been causing problems.

ATTE: Because 98% of the mobile Web surfers are using iPhones since Apple iPhones actually allow users to access the Web productively.

So, when you sell 3 million iPhones in the first month and they all go online and hit the towers for data...

@mindpower
You neglected to state whether your wife's phone had been update to 2.0.2 or if she does a lot of data downloading so your rant doesn't really mean squat, does it?

"ATTE: Because 98% of the mobile Web surfers are using iPhones since Apple iPhones actually allow users to access the Web productively."

So you're saying 90% of 3G phone users were not making phone calls (which are just data after all) or using the email features of their phones (Just data) or using the somewhat crappy browser (again data).Is ATT pushing software updates for other phones? No.

It's clear now there was a software problem in the handset. Get over it.

really a very clarified post !
i got my cell under <a href="http://www.mobilerainbow.co.uk/upgrade-mobile-phones.asp">mobile upgrades<.a> last time now its time to upgrade it again so going to throw away this phone to the provider and get back a new one.