AT&T 3G Networks Grows While Quality Goes Downhill

I have my iPhone set up as a AT&T GoPhone. The highest data plan for that is 100mb. It works great, used it for about 2 months now, used only about 15mb all together. For basic web surfing, email and Twitter, I wouldn’t download anything Youtube or whatever. Its EDGE anyway. But if I’m at the grocery store or something, no wifi around EDGE works if I need to look something up.

I completely agree that AT&T 3G sucks. The only reason I am will AT&T is for my iPhone. and where I live, it’s EDGE only with no plans for 3G from what I can tell. and were I work I get no signal unless I go outside. I’ve call AT&T support about that and was told “yeah, you have to go outside” So now I get to carry 2 phones. Thanks, AT&T

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The article loses credibility because of a poor example. Saying that

“My sister-in-law owns an iPod Touch. She uses her local wireless network to do all of her networking needs. And thus far, the need for any 3G access has never been something that she has found herself wishing for.”

She has an iPod touch thus no access to the 3G network. If she had an iPhone and only used a wifi network for all her “networking needs”, then going on to say

“that AT&T is using the iPhone merely as a delivery vehicle to selling their expensive and often, SLOW data plans to users who really do not need them.”

would make a lot more sense, but she doesn’t have one thus a poor example.

Imagine you have a go-phone. I had a go-phone for not even a week and AT&T gave my number to someone and I was called constantly from Progressive about some person with the name “Rachel Fox”! Thanks for the $300 down the drain!

I agree whole heartedly. I had an 1st gen iPhone on the Edge network and upgraded to the 3G version only to be terribly disappointed with the speed of the so-called fast 3G network. In my anecdotally evidenced life, 3G is no faster than Edge. Certainly not nearly as fast as my broadband connection at home. I was led to believe that 3G is wicked fast and that is just a lie.

While I like the 3G iPhone, I feel like I have been duped into getting the more expensive service for the newer phone and am not receiving any benefit for that investment. In fact I am backward a bit as I now have to pay for SMS, which came with the standard iPhone plan for free.

As far as I am concerned, AT&T’s 3G network is… meh. If you have a 1st gen iPhone and are thinking about upgrading, there are some reasons to, but the data plan is only going to be more expensive and less inclusive. It’s just a hit you have to take if you want the new phone.

[...] AT&T 3G network continues to grow, even though the quality is going downhill [...]

Well, I’ve been considering moving up to a “semi” smart phone. I’m strictly voice at this point on a very old Nokia. I don’t ever use testing, prefering to just make phone calls. I don’t make a lot of those either. But I like the idea of being able to read my email if I’m stuck in traffic, or otherwise not at home where my wif network is. So I checked the cost of a data plan, and determined that with a true smart phone like the iPhone, it adds $30 per month to my bill. I’ve learned that I don’t really need the fuul data plan to just access email and an occassional google search, so I’ve looked at the LG VU which uses Medianet and is only$15 per month. i also considered a phone with WIFI, but that’s really not going to work unless I find myself at Borders, McDonalds or Starbucks, 3 places I rarely visit. i was also told that WIFI wasn’t going to be any faster than 3G here in the Chicago area. But in talking to friends and relatives nearly all are completely satisfied with 3 G, so I don’t understand all the negative comments about 3G.

M. Free: The big issue for myself anyway, is the fact that while other carriers are able to provide 3G at sustainable speeds for the price being asked, AT&T has really dropped the ball as each year it is getting slower as more people are signing on. Sort of like Cable Internet, for a half-baked example.

3G itself, is on its way out anyway as carriers such as Sprint begin rolling out 4G. But in the end, the speed is only an issue for those using data intensive applications. A well maintained 3G network like you might see with Verizon, is plenty for most folks.

Yeah, check out this screenshot I took of a network speed test .. I was outside in an open area in New York City…not near any obstructions… http://www.flickr.com/photos/ezra_goldschlager/3429174585/