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While the iPhone is rapidly becoming the new hotness as a platform for comics distribution, hold on a sec.AT&T still sucks donkey balls and swamp water as their crap network can’t keep up with the demand for bandwidth:

Not only do iPhone owners download applications, stream music and videos and browse the Web at higher rates than the average smartphone user, but the average iPhone owner can also use 10 times the network capacity used by the average smartphone user.

“They don’t even realize how much data they’re using,” said Gene Munster, a senior securities analyst with Piper Jaffray.

The result is dropped calls, spotty service, delayed text and voice messages and glacial download speeds as AT&T’s cellular network strains to meet the demand. Another result is outraged customers.


This explains why our World War game just spins and spins, doesn’t it?

1 COMMENT

  1. I noticed this as I traveled into NYC with the kids the other day…

    Up here in the wilds of Connecticut, I have no problems connecting and seeing what The Beat is up to. As I moved about in The Big Apple I noticed a distinct slowdown in service!

    How was I to find out about the goings-on with Disney and Marvel?

  2. I’ll tell you better than that: in the UK O2, over EDGE will automagically downgrade the quality of JPGS, meaning if you use an app to download and read a comic you’ll get a crappy inferior version of it. This happens both in the browser and in apps.

    -pj

  3. Key line is

    They don’t even realize how much data they’re using

    Or that it’s mostly cyber-wanking. Just a thought.

  4. Heh, it’s funny you should mention … just yesterday I wrote a whole thing about my frustration with our iPhone experience in the newspaper where I work – cross posted on my blog – the gadget itself is tops, but AT&T is so horrible that we’re just ending our contract and paying the stupid penalty and keeping the iPhone to function like an iPod Touch. If they open up to new carriers next summer like some people say, we might give it another shot, but in the meantime, it’s like having to pay extortion for something that’s just going to drive you insane anyhow. Sad truth is that the full circle of technology is not quite up to specific corners of it.

    Here’s the address for the column for the detailed rant:
    http://reversedirection.john-seven.com/?p=4831

  5. “Not only do iPhone owners download applications”

    What many reporters seem to miss is that this is only half of the picture, itouch users download more apps than iphones (but iphone users buy slight more paid apps).

  6. …and what about the iPhone’s inability to read Flash files? That’s a pain too!

    (Posted from my iPhone.)

  7. Adair’s Law of Computer Processing Power:

    Computer software is designed to exceed the system standards of established computer hardware.

    (Oh, that new version of Word? You’ll need to upgrade your operating system. Oh, that OS won’t work on your computer, you need a faster processor and more memory.)

    No problem with my Sprint Treo… yup, it’s a hand-me-down, but YouTube works, I can download PDFs, videos, and read MS files, and, most important, read The Beat on the subway.

  8. I like to imagine “They don’t even realize how much data they’re using” being shouted by a panicky businessman as he thrusts his hands up in the air and runs frantically at the press people reporting this.

  9. “…and what about the iPhone’s inability to read Flash files? That’s a pain too!”

    Adobe has FlashLite, a scaled back version of the Flash Player for phones, but Apple decided not to use it for some reason.

    However, Adobe has been working on a new mobile version of the Flash Player 10 that will have all the features found in the desktop version. The beta will be out this October for Android, Windows Mobile, Palm Pre and Symbian, but no iPhone. We will have to see Apple ends up caving to match the competition (or perhaps they already have but are being as usual being secretive and won’t make it public until it’s ready for a new iPhone).

  10. I’ve never had a problem with (carrier brand name withheld) and my (mobile phone brand name withheld). It doesn’t download applications, stream music and videos, nor browse the Web; it makes and receives phone calls.

  11. G4’s Attack of the Show had a little segment on something about this tonight. Soon, it may not even depend on the hardware you have, as the ‘cable’ companies are fighting over how much broadband to provide and how much slower internet speeds may be in the future.

    And i’m sure if one looks into it, the slowdown will also be related to how fast wireless browsing will be limited.