Try explaining that to a hot girl prospect when you're sharing photos
MMS shouldn't be thrilling, but the rest of the world uses it for now. It's kind of like the fax machine IMO.
Same with my wife and her mother. Grandma who lives 7 hours away wants pictures of our son "text messaged" to her cellphone. MMS makes it a lot easier for my wife to do it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SDW2001
Don't even get me started on quality of voice service. It is horrible. As I posted in another thread, AT&T is the worst cell service I've ever had, hands down. Dropped calls are constant (at least 1 every other day, usually more). Service drops in and out. Actual call quality is highly suspect most of the time. I get distortion. I often get corrupted calls...where it connects and then I hear what sounds like a F***ing alien eating a fax machine.
You know, as happy as I am to finally be getting it, I really do have to jump on the WTF Wagon here. How the hell is it possible that AT&T has been unable or unwilling to enable MMS for TWO FREAKING YEARS? I mean really...you mean to tell me that it's taken them two years to get their network ready for some goddamned picture messages---while in the meantime we've been surfing, e-mailing, gaming, downloading, etc? I just can't buy that. I can download apps from the app store under 10MB, but I can't send or receive a 1MB picture?
Don't even get me started on quality of voice service. It is horrible. As I posted in another thread, AT&T is the worst cell service I've ever had, hands down. Dropped calls are constant (at least 1 every other day, usually more). Service drops in and out. Actual call quality is highly suspect most of the time. I get distortion. I often get corrupted calls...where it connects and then I hear what sounds like a F***ing alien eating a fax machine. I get calls that don't end properly.
Oohh...and how about delayed voicemails/recent call notifications and texts? This seems to happen on regular phones as well.
Apple has to be aware of these problems. I can only assume that if the pressure gets high enough, they'll go multi-carrier next year. If so, AT&T is going to be in a world of hurt. They'll lose customers almost as fast as they got them. People like me, who will be at the end of their contracts, will bail for Verizon.
/rant
SJ came back and probably beat the person with a lead pipe who enabled MMS on the iphone and set it in motion.
Apple has to be aware of these problems. I can only assume that if the pressure gets high enough, they'll go multi-carrier next year. If so, AT&T is going to be in a world of hurt. They'll lose customers almost as fast as they got them. People like me, who will be at the end of their contracts, will bail for Verizon.
I blame Apple for this as well. They stuck us with AT&T and I know at some point they were in talks to extend their agreement with AT&T even when they knew of the problems that existed with the network; and all for the mighty buck. I hope they are listening to us to now. We want a choice!!! We're tired of dropped calls and lack of 3G signals.
I blame Apple for this as well. They stuck us with AT&T ....
It is now well-accepted that Apple had no choice if it wanted to control the UI and have a carrier agree to its terms sight-unseen. Verizon told Apple to take a hike. (And, I'd rather have ATT than Sprint or T-Mobile).
I don't think AT&T deserves as much blame and ridicule as many are giving it. AT&T is certainly to blame, but considering the circumstances I think these problems would definitely occur on any other cell network in the US.
The amount of consumption from iPhone users is astronomical. I got buddies doing 2-3GB a month, I only do about 200MB because I am on WiFi most always. Before the iPhone, These folks and I were maybe using 10MB, if even that. My point is that iPhone users consume 100's times more network capacity. I don't think anyone disputes that.
Consider that AT&T's subscriber base has increased about 25% in last two years. Long-term network infrastructure planning & investment had been generally based around sub growth. However, AT&Ts sub growth might have only been 25%, but consumption probably doubled or tripled, or more due to the iPhone. Now all of a sudden, one needs a network backbone 3X as big!
I get the sense that AT&T was in denial for some time, and tried quick and dirty fixes to its burgeoning problems instead of doing some heavy investment to get ahead of the problem. I think AT&T would be more aggressive with WiFi in urban areas to offload heavy data usage, but I have also heard that AT&T has backhaul problems so that wouldn't help much anyhow.
Technically, EDGE Phones are capable of sending MMS. However, Apple and AT&T are not supporting this on iPhone. That might sound like they're being jerks, but MMS relies on the data network. As someone who has sent an MMS over EDGE...Trust me, you don't want to. It's slow as molasses
Yet, they offered the ability to email photos over EDGE right off the bat. They offered web browsing over EDGE, even though web browsing often requires much more data than a single emailed photo. You don't see a disconnect here?
Now, when AT&T told me "late summer" I expected late summer, not "early fall"......
Septermber 25, 2009 IS NOT "late summer"
Hey, Sept 25th is late summer somewhere!
Seriously, why has it taken so long. There's nothing mysterious about MMS. My carrier (T-Mobile in the UK) have had it since early 2003. Is there something magic about MMS on the iPhone that has stopped AT&T from sorting it out?
Note to Apple: Do not announce a capability until your partner carriers are ready to support it within a "reasonable" timeframe. Apple controls MOST of the user experience? except where the carrier needs to supply part of the function
Well then that would be apples fault. They did not support it until this year. AT&T on the other hand has supported it on the rest of their phones all this time.
Note to Apple: Do not announce a capability until your partner carriers are ready to support it within a "reasonable" timeframe. Apple controls MOST of the user experience? except where the carrier needs to supply part of the function
I think this was likely exactly why MMS and tethering took so long in the first place. It should have been a no brainer to include MMS, at the least, on a multimedia smart phone... the premier one at that.
It makes sense that Apple held off including it because of AT&T's whining to them that they were not ready. But with pretty much every other carrier in the world that sells the iPhone being willing and able to go live with MMS on the iPhone, I think Apple finally had enough of the snide comments from the haters about the iPhone lacking MMS and said screw AT&T, we are putting it in. They obviously put support for the carriers to enable MMS and tethering at the account level so the carriers could not support the function until they deemed they were ready...likely another concession to AT&T's inability.
I understand why Apple got in bed with AT&T to launch the iPhone. But now is the time for them to completely end any carrier exclusivity. It was necessary at first, but now the iPhone is a proven hit. Apple has no need to give exclusivity to have their requirements met. The carriers can either meet the needs or not and lose the iPhone. It is time to cut the cord to AT&T.
I am new to ATT with buying my first iPhone this summer. Overall I am content with the service, get better signal in my apt than I did with Sprint and the services work all right. Not happy about the calling plan cost, but thankfully my job gives us deals on some services including ATT, so the cost is about the same as Sprint.
But I must yell FAIL on this one!!! They said end of summer so deliver what you told your customers. If not, they should give all 3g and 3gs customers a 10% discount or something as an apology. Especally since they failed on tethering, another broken promise.
It's not like Apple called them a week before the June keynote and asked for mms and tethering, they shouldve been working on this from last year or even further back!!! This is complete bullsh@t!!! I feel like a jerk when a friend sends me an mms and I have to go to the ATT website to view the photo(s). I have to give winmo and all others users their due on this one, makes Apple look bad. I truly hope Apple gets on other carriers next year, so we can all have options.
I don't think you will ever see tethering on AT&T's network until they have a 4G solution and can better handle large amounts of traffic.
If they don't enable tethering I would think that would be somewhat leading advertising. It should not be advertised as a feature in the US since AT&T is the only carrier and they have chosen not to implement it. If they wait for a 4G network then I would think that puts Apple in a pretty tough spot even with the disclaimers of service.
Comments
Try explaining that to a hot girl prospect when you're sharing photos
MMS shouldn't be thrilling, but the rest of the world uses it for now. It's kind of like the fax machine IMO.
Same with my wife and her mother. Grandma who lives 7 hours away wants pictures of our son "text messaged" to her cellphone. MMS makes it a lot easier for my wife to do it.
Don't even get me started on quality of voice service. It is horrible. As I posted in another thread, AT&T is the worst cell service I've ever had, hands down. Dropped calls are constant (at least 1 every other day, usually more). Service drops in and out. Actual call quality is highly suspect most of the time. I get distortion. I often get corrupted calls...where it connects and then I hear what sounds like a F***ing alien eating a fax machine.
That made my drink come out of my nose....
You know, as happy as I am to finally be getting it, I really do have to jump on the WTF Wagon here. How the hell is it possible that AT&T has been unable or unwilling to enable MMS for TWO FREAKING YEARS? I mean really...you mean to tell me that it's taken them two years to get their network ready for some goddamned picture messages---while in the meantime we've been surfing, e-mailing, gaming, downloading, etc? I just can't buy that. I can download apps from the app store under 10MB, but I can't send or receive a 1MB picture?
Don't even get me started on quality of voice service. It is horrible. As I posted in another thread, AT&T is the worst cell service I've ever had, hands down. Dropped calls are constant (at least 1 every other day, usually more). Service drops in and out. Actual call quality is highly suspect most of the time. I get distortion. I often get corrupted calls...where it connects and then I hear what sounds like a F***ing alien eating a fax machine. I get calls that don't end properly.
Oohh...and how about delayed voicemails/recent call notifications and texts? This seems to happen on regular phones as well.
Apple has to be aware of these problems. I can only assume that if the pressure gets high enough, they'll go multi-carrier next year. If so, AT&T is going to be in a world of hurt. They'll lose customers almost as fast as they got them. People like me, who will be at the end of their contracts, will bail for Verizon.
/rant
SJ came back and probably beat the person with a lead pipe who enabled MMS on the iphone and set it in motion.
Apple has to be aware of these problems. I can only assume that if the pressure gets high enough, they'll go multi-carrier next year. If so, AT&T is going to be in a world of hurt. They'll lose customers almost as fast as they got them. People like me, who will be at the end of their contracts, will bail for Verizon.
I blame Apple for this as well. They stuck us with AT&T and I know at some point they were in talks to extend their agreement with AT&T even when they knew of the problems that existed with the network; and all for the mighty buck. I hope they are listening to us to now. We want a choice!!! We're tired of dropped calls and lack of 3G signals.
I blame Apple for this as well. They stuck us with AT&T ....
It is now well-accepted that Apple had no choice if it wanted to control the UI and have a carrier agree to its terms sight-unseen. Verizon told Apple to take a hike. (And, I'd rather have ATT than Sprint or T-Mobile).
The amount of consumption from iPhone users is astronomical. I got buddies doing 2-3GB a month, I only do about 200MB because I am on WiFi most always. Before the iPhone, These folks and I were maybe using 10MB, if even that. My point is that iPhone users consume 100's times more network capacity. I don't think anyone disputes that.
Consider that AT&T's subscriber base has increased about 25% in last two years. Long-term network infrastructure planning & investment had been generally based around sub growth. However, AT&Ts sub growth might have only been 25%, but consumption probably doubled or tripled, or more due to the iPhone. Now all of a sudden, one needs a network backbone 3X as big!
I get the sense that AT&T was in denial for some time, and tried quick and dirty fixes to its burgeoning problems instead of doing some heavy investment to get ahead of the problem. I think AT&T would be more aggressive with WiFi in urban areas to offload heavy data usage, but I have also heard that AT&T has backhaul problems so that wouldn't help much anyhow.
I think my favorite part about their press release is that they have a woman holding an original iPhone (which doesn't appear to be supported).
http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=1574
Yes, what about the original iPhone.
If this is 3G only, I would like to be party to a suit to get all the original iPhone's unlocked.
A user can get any other phone unlocked, except for an iPhone.
Technically, EDGE Phones are capable of sending MMS. However, Apple and AT&T are not supporting this on iPhone. That might sound like they're being jerks, but MMS relies on the data network. As someone who has sent an MMS over EDGE...Trust me, you don't want to. It's slow as molasses
Yet, they offered the ability to email photos over EDGE right off the bat. They offered web browsing over EDGE, even though web browsing often requires much more data than a single emailed photo. You don't see a disconnect here?
Um....fall starts
September 22, 2009 at 5:18 pm EDT
exactly.
Now, when AT&T told me "late summer" I expected late summer, not "early fall"......
Septermber 25, 2009 IS NOT "late summer"
Hey, Sept 25th is late summer somewhere!
Seriously, why has it taken so long. There's nothing mysterious about MMS. My carrier (T-Mobile in the UK) have had it since early 2003. Is there something magic about MMS on the iPhone that has stopped AT&T from sorting it out?
That made my drink come out of my nose....
....sounds like a F***ing alien eating a fax machine!
Me too,
It's already working on 3.1, so I guess AT&T just let us know when Apple is going to release 3.1.
Dizzy13 how do you paste an image into this post?
Bah hah hah hah ha!!!
Ya gotta luv AT&T. They heard our chants today.
I told you that if enough of us called and demanded it, they would turn it on.
a few days late?
How about 3 years late.
Well then that would be apples fault. They did not support it until this year. AT&T on the other hand has supported it on the rest of their phones all this time.
Note to Apple: Do not announce a capability until your partner carriers are ready to support it within a "reasonable" timeframe. Apple controls MOST of the user experience? except where the carrier needs to supply part of the function
I think this was likely exactly why MMS and tethering took so long in the first place. It should have been a no brainer to include MMS, at the least, on a multimedia smart phone... the premier one at that.
It makes sense that Apple held off including it because of AT&T's whining to them that they were not ready. But with pretty much every other carrier in the world that sells the iPhone being willing and able to go live with MMS on the iPhone, I think Apple finally had enough of the snide comments from the haters about the iPhone lacking MMS and said screw AT&T, we are putting it in. They obviously put support for the carriers to enable MMS and tethering at the account level so the carriers could not support the function until they deemed they were ready...likely another concession to AT&T's inability.
I understand why Apple got in bed with AT&T to launch the iPhone. But now is the time for them to completely end any carrier exclusivity. It was necessary at first, but now the iPhone is a proven hit. Apple has no need to give exclusivity to have their requirements met. The carriers can either meet the needs or not and lose the iPhone. It is time to cut the cord to AT&T.
Dizzy13 how do you paste an image into this post?
[ img]http://domain.com/image[ /img]
But I must yell FAIL on this one!!! They said end of summer so deliver what you told your customers. If not, they should give all 3g and 3gs customers a 10% discount or something as an apology. Especally since they failed on tethering, another broken promise.
It's not like Apple called them a week before the June keynote and asked for mms and tethering, they shouldve been working on this from last year or even further back!!! This is complete bullsh@t!!! I feel like a jerk when a friend sends me an mms and I have to go to the ATT website to view the photo(s). I have to give winmo and all others users their due on this one, makes Apple look bad. I truly hope Apple gets on other carriers next year, so we can all have options.
I don't think you will ever see tethering on AT&T's network until they have a 4G solution and can better handle large amounts of traffic.
If they don't enable tethering I would think that would be somewhat leading advertising. It should not be advertised as a feature in the US since AT&T is the only carrier and they have chosen not to implement it. If they wait for a 4G network then I would think that puts Apple in a pretty tough spot even with the disclaimers of service.