AT&T iPhone 4 upload speed fix expected in 2-3 weeks
AT&T, Apple's exclusive wireless partner in the U.S., expects in the next few weeks to gradually fix an issue that has significantly reduced upload speeds for some iPhone 4 owners.
The company announced on Monday that it has begun rolling out a fix for a software glitch that has caused slow upload speeds for weeks. The issue lies with Alcatel Lucent equipment, and affects users of Apple's newly released iPhone 4.
According to Reuters, AT&T will be implementing the "gradual" fix over the next two to three weeks. The iPhone 4 is the only handset affected, because it is the only smartphone that uses the network's HSUPA technology.
AT&T said that users in markets with the defective software will be restricted to data speeds no greater than 384Kbps until the fix is in place. That's an improvement from previous reports from users, who said their uploads were as slow as 100Kbps.
Earlier this month, AT&T revealed the software defect was at fault for the issues. The company said the issue has affected less than 2 percent of its wireless customer base.
"AT&T and Alcatel-Lucent jointly identified a software defect -- triggered under certain conditions -- that impacted uplink performance for Laptop Connect and smartphone customers using 3G HSUPA-capable wireless devices in markets with Alcatel-Lucent equipment," the company said. As a temporary fix, they provided normal 3G uplink speeds for affected customers.
When working properly, High-Speed Uplink Packet Access can allow theoretical uplink speeds of 5.76Mbit/s. The glitch does not affect download speeds, AT&T said.
The company announced on Monday that it has begun rolling out a fix for a software glitch that has caused slow upload speeds for weeks. The issue lies with Alcatel Lucent equipment, and affects users of Apple's newly released iPhone 4.
According to Reuters, AT&T will be implementing the "gradual" fix over the next two to three weeks. The iPhone 4 is the only handset affected, because it is the only smartphone that uses the network's HSUPA technology.
AT&T said that users in markets with the defective software will be restricted to data speeds no greater than 384Kbps until the fix is in place. That's an improvement from previous reports from users, who said their uploads were as slow as 100Kbps.
Earlier this month, AT&T revealed the software defect was at fault for the issues. The company said the issue has affected less than 2 percent of its wireless customer base.
"AT&T and Alcatel-Lucent jointly identified a software defect -- triggered under certain conditions -- that impacted uplink performance for Laptop Connect and smartphone customers using 3G HSUPA-capable wireless devices in markets with Alcatel-Lucent equipment," the company said. As a temporary fix, they provided normal 3G uplink speeds for affected customers.
When working properly, High-Speed Uplink Packet Access can allow theoretical uplink speeds of 5.76Mbit/s. The glitch does not affect download speeds, AT&T said.
Comments
Come On Apple, You Can Do This... One Fix at a Time
Not Apple - as you know very well.
Don't start in again!
BTW, AT&T just so that you know as promised 7/28 is coming in two days. Hope to see the new tower that has been planned for like what (500 years
AT&T mentions that only 2% of the users have been impacted. That is totally not true. How is it possible statistically. For eg. a single tower in Chicago or NY will have at least 10000 iPhone users connected in downtown area. Now count all the metros and all the other areas that have had the software issue. It is theoritically not possible forget practically. It is a tower issue so all iPhone users should be affected. Except it and move forward.
BTW, AT&T just so that you know as promised 7/28 is coming in two days. Hope to see the new tower that has been planned for like what (500 years
IF, and I say if, it's true that only iPhone 4 users would have this problem, and if it's true that the equipment that has this problem is only in a few areas of the country right now, then it's entirely possible that it only effects 2% of the users.
The question is whether it's only affecting iPhone 4 users, as my old 3G seems to be affected along with my 3G iPad, though there are only about 500,000 3G iPad users using 3G on AT&T's network right now, from their numbers, a drop in the bucket.
BTW, you can count me among the 73% of iPhone users who are very satisfied with AT&T.
David
Not Apple - as you know very well.
Don't start in again!
Start In with what... ?
It's just good to know that Apple (as well as one of it's biggest partners - AT&T) are doing all they can to keep the fixes/improvements coming.
Ultimately, it all reflects upon the user experience for Apple's premier product, the iPhone.
BTW it does not seem very wide spread. I only heard friends of friends experiencing the problem. My guess it's NY and San Fran once again that are getting hit.
I hope next time they do more testing and all this bugs like internet upload speed, antennas problem, etc will not affect customers.
Putting on my conspiracy theory hat... What if this was intentional throttling in anticipation of the ip4?
Right. Alcatel-Lucent is letting their name be drawn into this even though it's AT&T throttling iP4 users. Not.
Bitching and conspiracy theories contribute absolutely nothing.
Start In with what... ?
It's just good to know that Apple (as well as one of it's biggest partners - AT&T) are doing all they can to keep the fixes/improvements coming.
Ultimately, it all reflects upon the user experience for Apple's premier product, the iPhone.
Uh huh.
I'm still confused by this. My 3G with iOS 4 (and without HSUPA) gets very low upload speed since this problem first occurred. So something else is happening here. I assume my iPad 3G has HSUPA, and I get under 100 KBS with that most of the time as well, but not always.
It might be that it?s affecting the upload speeds of all 3G devices, but it?s less noticeable on HSDPA devices with only 384Kbps theoretical maximum upload rate.
The iPad WiFi+3G only has HSDPA and three UMTS bands. If I recall correctly from iFixit?s breakdown it?s essentially the same Infineon and TriQuint chips used in the iPhone 3GS.
It might be that it’s affecting the upload speeds of all 3G devices, but it’s less noticeable on HSDPA devices with only 384Kbps theoretical maximum upload rate.
The iPad WiFi+3G only has HSDPA and three UMTS bands. If I recall correctly from iFixit’s breakdown it’s essentially the same Infineon and TriQuint chips used in the iPhone 3GS.
I don't know, but it's pretty noticeable on mine. Before this problem, I was uploading at over 300Kbs most of the time. Now, it's more like 50 Kbs most of the time, rising to 80 or so, and dropping to as low as 6.
Generally, the iPad does somewhat better, but not by much.
Last week-
Down 2.03 Mbps
Up 0.10 Mbps
Today-
Down 5.61 Mbps
Up 1.61 Mbps