iPhone 3G Owners Are Using Less Internet Than AT&T Expected: Blame Crappy Service (AAPL, T)

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iphone-turtle.jpgApple's (AAPL) new iPhone 3G is supposedly twice as fast as the old one, and its new App Store opens up all kinds of neat new mobile Internet services like baseball video and free streaming radio. Yet AT&T says iPhone 3G users are using less bandwidth than they anticipated.

The carrier expected a 5x growth in data consumption over the old iPhone, but it's been closer to a 3x jump, AT&T (T) CTO John Donovan said this morning at a Goldman Sachs investor conference, Moconews notes.

Not surprising to us: In our experience, AT&T's 3G service for the iPhone has been anything but impressive -- so slow and unreliable that we've found ourselves forcing the phone to use AT&T's slower "EDGE" network just to keep a steady Internet connection. Add to that the legions of iPhone 3G owners who've turned 3G off to keep the phone's battery life at acceptable levels -- and the vast number of people who live outside AT&T's 3G network area -- and it's easy to see how iPhone 3G data usage has been underwhelming.

So who gets the blame: Apple for a hardware defect, or AT&T for a network problem? We don't know. But we can guess: We've had a better 3G and battery experience with Apple's iPhone 2.1 software update, which rolled out last Friday. So that strongly suggests that the issue was on Apple's end.

In the meantime, we remind you of this video, which accurately shows the difference between Apple's pretend 3G iPhone experience and the real thing.

See Also:
Where Apple's New iPhone Doesn't Help: AT&T's 3G Dead Zones
Here's What iPhone 3G Owners Are Complaining About
Verizon: Don't Blame Us For Your Flaky iPhone!
Apple's iPhone 3G A Month Later: Excellent, But Not Euphoric



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31 Comments

AJ said:
Well that is a 30 second not 2 minute commercial.

For what I use my 3G for (a lot of things), it works great. Really, I still prefer most of my web browsing (including email) on my MacBook.

I think the prevalence of wifi in the US, at least in the places that I go, is partly to blame. I don't need to use 3G anywhere there is wifi available, which is everywhere that I work, pretty much all restaurants I go to, my home, my friends homes, etc. The only place I've found myself using 3g is on the road in my car (not whilst driving of course) or on public transportation.

Thambone, good point, but AT&T knows that, and the first iPhone had wifi too.

Aviv (URL) said:
Boo Hoo. Get a Blackberry.

Aviv, why would I want a BlackBerry and their inferior Web browser and app/gaming platform?

dig said:
slow news day?
after the 2.1 upgrade things are like night and day ... everything is working as it should, and i'm here in nyc as well.

Dig, that's what we said. What's your point?

Karthik (URL) said:
I think the title should be blame crappy battery life (AAPL) and 3g reception service (T)

Aviv (URL) said:
Look Dan. I genuinely appreciate your ability to attempt and cover all grounds when approaching an Apple post. But, whining about AT&T's 3G network, or Apple's iPhone performance, especially after software update 2.1 is genuinely unfounded.

I have previously said that "Given that they [Apple] had to counter in all facets of the iPhone’s software and hardware, as well as multiple cellular networks around the world, while simultaneously delivering a software update [2.1] to all users (globally), Apple has delivered as promised this time."

The thought of a knowledgeable writer such as yourself (still) complaining about poor performance, simply means that you've been swept up by the rest of the Apple users who whine at the mere thought of imperfection. When, in fact Apple is just a company.

Disclaimer: I won a modest stake in the company and I have my own beliefs about how the stock is doing and will do.

However, anybody who can seperate themselves from the company's culture (While love it at the same time) -- is who should be writing about Apple. If you cannot seem to differentiate culture from business and performance (Revenue) -- then everything is just a far cry and a wish.

The whining about iPhone 3G performance, or AT&T's 3G networks is irrelevant at this point. I think you'll find more success in putting Apple's ability to recover in a positive light (instead of showcasing the network speeds).


Aviv (URL) said:
"Disclaimer: I meant I OWN a modest stake in the company and I have my own beliefs about how the stock is doing and will do."

Oh great. So next time you ask me "slow news day?" I should assume "slow stock day?"

I was responding to something an AT&T executive said at an investor conference today -- offering a possible explanation for something that surprised one of Apple's partners. No "whining" here.

I've never been as disappointed with an Apple product in my life -- I've owned at least a dozen Macs and four iPods -- than with the iPhone 3G's performance. And as I note, it's much better after 2.1 upgrade.

parv said:
Does it not also depend on the availability of wifi. I always use wifi instead of 3g. In the UK there is not much free wifi.

KenC said:
The article cited, has this quote, "The carrier anticipated a 5X growth in data consumption over the 2G iPhone, but it’s been closer to a 3X jump. When asked about post-device launch upgrades to network infrastructure due to the iPhone, Donovan said AT&T has improved everything from radios to towers and backhaul where usage surged due to overwhelming iPhone use in specific regions: “The only thing that is an emergency is the sense of urgency that we apply to it.”"

I can only assume they mean 3x increased data consumption per user? Cause if they mean in total, that hardly makes any sense.

Though, come to think of it, I don't really use my 3G iPhone more for data than my EDGE iPhone.

It's rather contradictory to say their "usage surged due to overwhelming iPhone use", when they "anticipated a 5x growth". I mean, if you anticipated it, then why would the usage be "overwhelming"?

Oh, 3x the data usage is still pretty remarkable, methinks.

hehateme said:
it was apples fault. AT&T should be forgiven.

Stanley Feldman (URL) said:
I love my new iPhone, but I blame AT&T for the crappy service. My old non-iPhone dropped calls all the time and the service with my AT&T PC Card is spotty, at best. No, the AT&T PC Card is crappy too. When I tried to get service for a faulty card, all they do is shuttle you around. After hours on the phone with AT&T and an email to Qualcomm, I have given up.

The iPhone has made me more productive and organized though.

happyhappy said:
yes, 2.1 is working better but at&t still stinks - was on the network pre-iphone and would still get reliably dropped in the craziest places - central park ny, market and geary sf, union square ny. their network is lame; apple made it lamer. have they done an update of that video with 2.1 yet?

Miles Fillman said:
Sorry to see that you live in an area with such poor signal, but obviously this isn't the norm. If it were, Apple's iPhone wouldn't be the huge hit it is. Basically the most desirable and advanced wireless on the market. By the way, have you noticed all the other companies copying it?

rattyuk said:
And let's not forget that since the 2.0 update - there has been a whole raft of OTHER things you can do with it other than just surfing the web.

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friend said:
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Blaming AT&T on the slow speed of the iPhone is wrong. I've done side-by-side comparisons throughout the NY/NJ/CT region and had a friend in Philly try it to, and got the same results. An older Samsung Blackjack, the Moto Rzr 3G, a BB curve (that only runs Edge) and the iPhone. That's four different manufactures, 3 of the phones are smart phones and one not, just for good measure, 3 of the phones are 3G and one not, again for good measure. All four, obviously on different op sys. The iPhone even after the patch still toggles funny between Edge and 3G whereas the Moto and SSBJ stay in 3G more readily. When each is on the SSBJ seems to have the weakest signal strength but it never runs into transmission problems, the Moto seems to have the best. When flipped to Edge, the BB had the best signal followed close by the other three, of the 3G flipdown to Edge, the SSBJ was the winner. while in a consistant 3G signal Connection times to resolve webpages on 3G, are now all pretty close, the iPhone was the most apt to get hung up when toggling, the SSBJ occasionally runs into what seem like op sys hangups. connection times to resolve MediaNet were by far in favor of the BB. For webmail, downloads, depending on which application is used on the SSBJ it seemed to resolve messages the fastest, but, also had the greatest tendency to crash (mostly in accessing Yahoo! mail), iPhone handled the task slow, about the same as the Moto. BB did alright, but considering it has the Push technology, who uses webmail style services on it anyhow. that to me says, the problem lies not in the AT&T network, since the other phones were accessing the same signal, it says that it's gotta be a phone issue, iPhone not communicating with the network. Now that T-mobile is rolling out 3G services more widely, i would be curious to side-by-side a few 3G t-Mobiles times.

friend said:
oh and to the guy that got a dropped call in Central Park, don't know what to tell you there, I go walking in the park almost every day and carry both a AT&T and VZW phone for work purposes and get about the same signal the entire time on both. Maybe the plate in your head is disrupting the signal. I've been back and forth with AT&T (cingular before and whatever it was before that) and VZW in the tri-state area and I have to say, unless you're in the mountains of western jersey on the PA/NY boarder or a couple of pockets upstate NY near the CT/MA boarder the signals about about the same, and I've always had a better company experiences with AT&T (via cingular especially)

Havelock (URL) said:
Smarter to turn off the WiFi to save battery life when you're out and about. You don't need it constantly polling for WiFi networks. I note a big increase, and here in SF happy to report 3G pretty reasonable.

By the way, I never found Edge to be that onerous, either. A little annoying at times, but still reasonable. In any event, the tradeoff of some battery/network suboptimal performance is more than offset by the simplicity, elegance, and usefulness of the iPhone and its applications. Have had them all, and it's simply in a different league.

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