AT&T FAIL in lower Manhattan -- again and again (1 Viewer)

[Ted Todorov]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveF

 

[DaveF]

Interesting.

 

[Sam Posten]

Great analysis Ted, I think you are on the right track. Arbitrage indeed!

 

[Ted Todorov]

I shouldn't speak too soon, but the first three work days of 2010 there has been a BIG improvement in my lower Manhattan service -- and this is a time of year where last year AT&T was just dying after everyone fired up their Xmas gift iPhones. I just ran a test using the SpeedTest.net iPhone App and my best down speed we 1.9Mbps -- not bad at all, faster than my Verizon DSL at home... Lets see if it keeps up.

Of course AT&T's recent "we have finished upgrading to 7.2Mbps, too bad we don't have the backhaul" announcement was a joke. Call us when you do have the backhaul...and have turned on the promised in 2009 tethering.

 

[Ted Todorov]

http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2010/06/28/atandt-announces-completion-of-3g-enhancement-project-in-new-york-city/


I see this as bad news -- there has been a slow deterioration since the service jump in the beginning of the year. And with waves of new iPad and iPhone customers coming on board, things will go downhill fast if AT&T is dumb enough to think that's its job in Manhattan/NYC is done.


Maybe they are planning for the day iPhone exclusivity ends and two thirds of the users leave for other carriers. Yup, that may be the only way to finally fix AT&T's network.


AT&T -- detached from reality.

 

[Sam Posten]

Marco sez it really is better.

http://www.marco.org/751562428


Every time I've been in Manhattan (Mostly a circuit between Penn Station, Apple Store, B&H and the Javitts) in the last year I've had good to great service.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ted Todorov

http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2010/06/28/atandt-announces-completion-of-3g-enhancement-project-in-new-york-city/


I see this as bad news -- there has been a slow deterioration since the service jump in the beginning of the year. And with waves of new iPad and iPhone customers coming on board, things will go downhill fast if AT&T is dumb enough to think that's its job in Manhattan/NYC is done.


Maybe they are planning for the day iPhone exclusivity ends and two thirds of the users leave for other carriers. Yup, that may be the only way to finally fix AT&T's network.


AT&T -- detached from reality.

Looks like I was right to assume the worst. AT&T in lower Manhattan is becoming awful again. Service dropping out altogether multiple times a day. Even when it seems to be stable at full bars it isn't really working -- I just had to retry 3 times over 30minutes to get one lousy text message out. Total disaster. And this is before the Christmas iPad/iPhone rush which anecdotal evidence suggests will be huge.


Right in time for Verizon getting the iPhone early next year. If AT&T doesn't get their crap together yesterday, the exodus to Verizon in NYC is going to be epic.

WAKE UP, AT&T!

 

[Sam Posten]

Think this will get their attention?


http://www.9to5mac.com/40546/consumer-reports-absolutely-destroys-att

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

At the bottom of the brief article, the writer wonders about this:


[SIZE= 12px]"2. Chicken or the Egg? Is AT&T’s network so bad because it is the sole supplier of the data-hungry iPhone? Or the flip side: How insane is it that the iPhone has had the kind of success it has had only being available on the nation’s worst network."[/SIZE]


Well, I don't have the article handy now, but I recently came across some other article w/ a study that showed that Verizon's average smartphone user actually had significantly higher data usage than the average AT&T smartphone user (something like 200MB/month vs 150MB/month), which probably makes sense especially of late w/ Android smartphones doing Flash, etc. Of course, that may also be true at least in places like NYC (and SF) where AT&T customers have a harder time getting solid, consistent data access -- I wonder how much NYC/SF/etc areas drag down the average for AT&T.


_Man_

 

[Ted Todorov]

I do believe that AT&T has the fastest network nationwide -- it would be hard not to, because Verizon's CDMA is slower than GSM-3G by definition, and T-Mobile has a much smaller footprint.


The problem is that AT&T has continually failed in NYC & SF where 95%+ of the press and opinion makers are. They have an excuse for SF (Very hard to get permits for new towers, blah, blah -- though even there Verizon seems to have had the foresight to get those hard to obtain towers). AT&T has no excuse for NYC, and to me it points to either stupidity at the top or deep corporate disfunction -- underlings lying to upper management that NYC has been "fixed" and upper management being gullible enough to believe it. That or they genuinely don't understand network capacity is a moving target.

 

[Carlo_M]

AT&T's rep isn't so hot in L.A. as well. So if you piss off L.A., NYC and SF...well I guess you can't be too surprised when you're loudly criticized on the web and in the press.

 

[DaveF]

Going to NYC on vacation next month. Staying near Times Square. Will my AT&T iPhone be usable? (thanks)

 

[Ted Todorov]

Going to NYC on vacation next month. Staying near Times Square. Will my AT&T iPhone be usable? (thanks)

Yes, you will do fine -- nothing to worry about.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Dave,


I live just outside of NYC. I go into the city

often and never have any problems with my AT&T service.


In fact, AT&T has recently done a lot of upgrading

to city service over the past year.

 

[Carlo_M]

Good to hear re: NYC. I hope they do the same for Los Angeles. Recently I used a friend's Verizon iPhone in my apartment complex and in the park near my house. In areas where I get 1 or 2 bars (or no signal at all) her iPhone got 4-5 bars and no dropped calls.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

It all depends on your area.


For instance, here in central NJ, I get a much better

signal on my AT&T iphone than my brother's VERIZON

iPhone.

 

[DaveF]

Thx. Good to hear.


Related to iPhones and the Big Apple: any recommended apps / sites for understanding the subway system? My wife is finding that NYC's subway system is a terrible mess compared to DC's; needlessly difficult to determine routes to get from A to B.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Dave,


You got me on a good day.


I recommend: City Transit, a $2.99 app which

I use all the time when in the city.


There is also one called New York Subway map

which is free, but I have not tested. It gets good

reviews on iTunes.


If you have free time, contact me. Would be happy

to meet you. I am usually off on a Sunday/Monday

if you want to do sightseeing. Not holding you to it

as I know you are on vacation.

 

[DaveF]

Ron - sent you a PM

 

[Ted Todorov]

iTrans NYC is great! Total life saver -- aside from an excellent map, it has the actual subway schedule (life saver for off-peak riding), plus all up to date service alerts. Maybe there are others as good, but I doubt it.