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Is the iPhone hurting AT&T's brand? - CNN.com

[jay0heavenly]

This is a hard question to answer...great article btw.

My $.02 is that AT&T is hurting AT&T. The iPhone brought them a boatload of business and they severely underestimated the magnitude of the iPhone on the network.

More importantly, and even more egregious is their unveiling of a faster 7.2mbps network in select cities when the 3.6 network is so dreadful. In NY, its laughable how many dropped calls I have and its a pure slap in the face that they're not diligently working on fixing the EXISTING issues before they go upgrade crazy.

If and when the iPhone is available on another carrier, I'll be on the first thing smoking heading to Verizon.

Signed,

A soon to be former customer of AT&T

[TrendyProfessional1]

This is a hard question to answer...great article btw.

My $.02 is that AT&T is hurting AT&T. The iPhone brought them a boatload of business and they severely underestimated the magnitude of the iPhone on the network.

More importantly, and even more egregious is their unveiling of a faster 7.2mbps network in select cities when the 3.6 network is so dreadful. In NY, its laughable how many dropped calls I have and its a pure slap in the face that they're not diligently working on fixing the EXISTING issues before they go upgrade crazy.

If and when the iPhone is available on another carrier, I'll be on the first thing smoking heading to Verizon.

Signed,

A soon to be former customer of AT&T

Well with AT&T's new plan I am trying to get on the first thing
smokin coming to AT&T and the iphone from VZW.....

[WhoKnos]

This is a hard question to answer...great article btw.

My $.02 is that AT&T is hurting AT&T. The iPhone brought them a boatload of business and they severely underestimated the magnitude of the iPhone on the network.

More importantly, and even more egregious is their unveiling of a faster 7.2mbps network in select cities when the 3.6 network is so dreadful. In NY, its laughable how many dropped calls I have and its a pure slap in the face that they're not diligently working on fixing the EXISTING issues before they go upgrade crazy.

If and when the iPhone is available on another carrier, I'll be on the first thing smoking heading to Verizon.

Signed,

A soon to be former customer of AT&T

I completely agree. The iphone is why I came to att from verizon. I would not hesitate to go back to verizon. I will have to compare prices of family plans when my contract is up with att.

[dwaynewilliams#WN]

I don't see how the iphone would hurt any carrier. The iphone has done nothing but bring more business to AT&T. The iphone would bring big business to any carrier. It will be interesting to see the iphone on another carrier. I anticipate that the other carrieres will also have issues with the iphone. But right now, the iphone is the most sought after device on the market. A carrier would make a big mistake to not try to get it.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[dragasoni]

I don't think it's hurting AT&T either, I'm sure it's brought them a lot of new customers. I've been wanting the iPhone myself for quite some time. But the deal break for me is AT&T, the plan cost, and the touch screen keyboard. I bought an iPod touch back in May, and I've been playing with it for a while. I like it a lot, but I can type so much better on my 8330. Plus I like to surf the web while listening to talk radio with the iheartradio app. On the iPod touch I can't do that. I shouldn't have to jailbreak the device to gain abilities most other phones have!

That being said, I have a year left in my contract with the Curve. I truly don't know if I'll get the Tour or iPhone next fall. I'm leaning toward the BB at this point.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[berryjd]

From what the article says it sounds more like ATT hurts the iPhone more than the iPhone hurts ATT. A lot of people go to ATT to get the iPhone. I've never heard of anyone getting an iPhone so they can get on ATT's network.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Dr_Strangelove]

Great article, but I don't think that the iPhone is hurting AT&T anymore than it's own network issues have. The iPhone has brought to the surface the "white elephant" that AT&T has always swept under the rug, the fact that they have serious network issues that need addressed. This has forced AT&T to add capacity and improve the network, which can only be a good thing.

Apple and AT&T needed each other, Apple needed a carrier that would bend over and let them have their way with them and AT&T desperately needed a new "thing" to attract customers.

As far as the iPhone and Verizon, I wouldn't hold my breath. Apple and Verizon would not make as good bedfellows because they both are fanatically intent on having control over their devices/service. It would take a huge shift in corporate thinking to allow an Apple device on VZW. Add to that the fact that even if Apple did make a CDMA iPhone, limitations of that technology as it exits currently would lead to as many issues if not more than exist on the AT&T network.

[stuaw11]

I dont think it was a "white elephant" at all. I dont think ANY carrier couldve handled the numbers the iphone brought in or data usage. Without the iphone there probably would be no huge issues, seeing as its the most heavily used data device in the world. More data traffic comes from the iphones on ATT than any other in the USA. I dont think any carrier couldve predicted how hard the iphone would hit their network.

ATT has only had just over a year to improve. Thats a VERY short time in comparison to how many upgrades need to be made. I think people underestimate the difficulty of beefing up a network. Its not an overnight job. Erecting towers takes time due to local governments and their fight against more "eyesore" towers. Adding backhaul takes time and lots of $$ (which ATT does have).

Ill agree in another year from now if nothing has changed, but the 3g iphone (both iterations) have only been out what a year and a few months. give it some time for ATT to catch up to the demand. I think people are a little to hard on ATT and want too much instant gratification. No one couldve predicted the almost 10 million data-hungy iphones being used on ATT

[digital_cataclysm]

One of the better written articles delving into the iPhone/AT&T relationship and reporting on the limitations the network is experiencing.

Overall, I think the article reflects a majority of opinion here as well- that AT&T's problem is with AT&T, and the iPhone has been both a needed cash bost, while at the same time underlining the need for faster, better network infrastructure.

I've seen articles stating that the iPhone accounts for as much as 80% of the data being carried over AT&T's network, and amounts to somewhere around 40% of cellular data usage worldwide.
Those are staggering figures, and points to two things immediately:

1- AT&T has little option to spend a lot of schmolies in upgrading their network to handle the volume and curtail the outages that current customers are dealing with. As the article mentions, the exclusivity contract AT&T has been enjoying now with the iPhone has probably managed to KEEP a lot of consumers attached to their iPhones, despite the annoyances.
Should that go away, and OTHER carriers begin to offer the iPhone, with AT&T not working to fix network or customer issues in a speedy manner - I can see people moving away from AT&T in droves.

2- Other carriers (such as the rumored Verizon talks) who may want to include the iPhone in their own roster, should be looking at their own networks and asking themselves, "can we handle the amount of data usage the iPhone has been showing, with better reliability than what consumers are able to expect from AT&T right now?"
If NOT - then some major upgrades may have to be taken on their part as well.

One interesting aspect that the iPhone has done, especially in the U.S. Marketplace I've observed, is to exemplify how critical the need is for faster 4G technology networks. Other parts of the world have been enjoying true 4G speeds for quite some time now.
The U.S. On the other hand is badly behind, and this just serves to further bring that out into the light.
The good thing is, maybe now carriers will be hustling a bit more to get technologys such as LTE to a broader userbase - to expand 4G services to their customers sooner than later.

[Duvi]

I guess I saw something else in this article that no one has mentioned yet... Customers/Consumers are plain STUPID! No ands, ifs or buts about it. Nearly half switched only for the iPhone, then want to complain about service being crappy? Does that seriously make sense to anyone? Those who switched to bad service kiss me where the sun don't shine.

No carrier and I mean no carrier in the U.S. would have handled the iPhone like AT&T. I may even go as far as saying North America and/or Europe as well. When Youtube uploads soar 400% in a few days from when the 3GS is released, you can only imagine how much the network is being taxed. In my opinion, AT&T had no choice, but to accept the iPhone deal. This is the first time AT&T's churn has been less than Verizon's.

I've had all carriers and I've had more dropped calls than with AT&T. I live in NJ/NY area and a lot of people in the NYC area now seem to be complaining about service, yet I've never experienced one single dropped call there.

One thing I can't wait for is for another carrier to get it so I can get some breathing room. Even with slow speeds I received in NYC, it's faster than my Sprint Pre & Tour. Forget about the other two carriers, they are even slower from my experience.

[Branta]

More importantly, and even more egregious is their unveiling of a faster 7.2mbps network in select cities when the 3.6 network is so dreadful. In NY, its laughable how many dropped calls I have and its a pure slap in the face that they're not diligently working on fixing the EXISTING issues before they go upgrade crazy.

You seem to have overlooked one simple fact. Network/Bandwidth upgrade is exactly what is required to mitigate the inadequate quality of service. The iphone is the world's biggest data hog, it imposes massive almost obscene demands on a network and the only solution is to improve bandwidth and capacity within each cell.

Each cellular channel has a finite capacity (time slots) for the number of phones it can service at any moment. Increasing the data rate will get more traffic into the available slots and release capacity for another device. Although it will help, simply doubling the network bandwidth is probably inadequate. The real need is more like an order of magnitude but that is unachievable on today's installed technology.

The other option would be to limit the supply of high traffic devices. Commercial greed says the networks won't do this.

[Username00089]

If Verizon actually picks up this phone (which they shouldn't), the same
crying and moaning about Verizon's data network will persist.

Imagine if this goes through:

http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2009/10...ocking-iphone/