All Articles Tagged AT&T

AT&T, following the the reversal of their no-VoIP-over-3G policy, still has nothing new to offer with regards to iPhone tethering. Quotes the Wall Street Journal:

An spokesman for the wireless carrier, however, said that tethering remains unavailable and stuck with the company’s prior statement: “Whenever we offer new features, we want to offer the best possible customer experience. For tethering, we need to do some additional fine tuning to our systems and networks so that we do deliver a great experience.”

While international iPhone users have been able to connect their computers to the internet using the iPhone’s 3G network, via Bluetooth or USB tethering since the launch of iPhone 3.0 in June, for US iPhone users, no news remains bad news.

Then again, if you’re already complaining about poor AT&T signal, probably the last thing you want is every iPhone user on your tower trying to suck down 5GB of torrents… right?

Editor-in-chief Dieter Bohn is live and on the scene at CTIA, and so TiPb will be covering AT&T’s Raphael de la Vega Keynote. (And we hope to hear more about their new Skype-friendly, VoIP over 3G policy). The action starts at 12:30pm ET, 9:30am PT, so bookmark this page, and join in live!

What does AT&T’s announcement today, regarding a change of policy to allow VoIP applications like Skype to operate over the 3G network mean for Google Voice in the App Store and SlingPlayer over 3G?

Nothing.

Not to rain on our many commenters and emailers parades, but AT&T’s VoIP policy has nothing to do with either of those apps because:

1. Google Voice was rejected/is still under review by Apple, not by AT&T. All parties have clearly stated AT&T has played and is playing absolutely no role in keeping Google Voice out of the App Store. That ball is still firmly in Apple’s court, and it will take movement from them, and them alone, to bring it to the App Store when — and if — they decide to pull the trigger.

2. SlingPlayer sends your home TV video over 3G, and clearly has nothing to do with VoIP. AT&T has a distinct and separate policy forbidding the use of apps like SlingPlayer on their 3G network. Unless and until AT&T changes that second, specific policy as well, no SlingPlayer over 3G for you. (And seriously, given AT&T is dropping 30% of calls in NYC as well, does anyone think their network could survive even more traffic at this point?)

So there you go. You’re getting VoIP from AT&T and Apple, no more, no less. Scratch that off the list, and if they’ve given an inch, and you hunger for a mile, keep the armor on and re-focus your battle on the next two (or more) targets.

Following up on a rumor earlier today that AT&T would be announcing a new, friendlier policy towards Skype and Google Voice, Skype President Josh Silverman posted on the official Skype blog, saying “Good move, AT&T”:

All of us at Skype applaud today’s announcement by AT&T (in an FCC filing to be published shortly) that it’ll open up its 3G network to Internet calling applications such as Skype. It’s the right step for AT&T, Apple, millions of mobile Skype users and the Internet itself.

Silverman reveals that 10% of all iPhone and iPod touch devices have downloaded the Skype app (which makes roughly 5 million installs, if our math is right), and while they give AT&T the requisite kudos, Silverman states that it’s the government and industry regulation that should ensure open networks — in line with the FCC’s recent move to establish “net neutrality“.

Of course, AT&T announcements and Skype enthusiasm are one thing, let’s see how long it takes to get Skype 3G into the App Store.

(And, of course, that still leaves Google Voice)

The Washington Post is rumormongering that AT&T might just officially announce support for Skype and Google Voice on their 3G network at this week’s CTIA show, and that they will run on Apple’s iPhone.

Normally Apple and Apple alone tends to speak about what’s coming to the iPhone, so we’d dismiss this outright except for the fact that Google Voice has been an increasing thorn in Apple’s otherwise incredibly successful iPhone side as of late, especially among industry watchers, tech pundits, and… the FCC. So, getting AT&T to slide it into a CTIA announcement might just let Apple get everyone off their lawn, without having to publicly eat any crow.

AT&T has declined comment, but Smartphone Experts has editor-in-chief Dieter Bohn and fearless CrackBerry.com leader Kevin Michaluk live at CTIA this week, and TiPb has asked them to keep their ears peeled, and fingers at the ready, should anything come of this.

So, AT&T iPhone users, you’ve had MMS for a week now. The initial blush has hopefully faded, and it’s either become something you use a lot, a little, or not at all.

So, which is it? Let us know in the poll above, and if then drop a comment below and tell us how it compares to other MMS implementations you’ve used.

According to a Gizmodo reader who took his iPhone to the Apple Store Genius Bar due to issues with dropped calls, he was told a 30% failure rate in New York City is normal.

Now, we all know AT&T’s network crumbles beneath the weight of the iPhone (and suspect any other single network might as well), but it’s not often we get numbers to go with it.

AT&T claims to be improving their network and adding more frequency, but with a fail rate that high, New Yorkers will believe it when their calls stop dropping.

It’s time for some good old forum action. From the Forums is a great way to see what all of the current hot topics are on the TiPb forums. In order to create any new threads of your own or reply to any of the existing threads, you must be a registered member. Becoming a member is a simple process that will only take a few minutes out of your day, so if you have not already already done so, head on over and register now.

If you are a AT&T customer, we are pretty sure you are well aware that MMS has finally been activated on our IPhones. Well… for most of us that is. Some of you are still having issues getting it working. Stop by the official AT&T MMS threadand let us know how your experience has been so far.

This next thread was started by DBlanco and he thinks the iPhone is a perfect device. While many of you would agree with this there’s an equal amount of you who would disagree. Stop by the thread for yourself and speak your mind. My feeling is, yes the iPhone is a great device but no single device is 100% perfect. There is always room for improvement.

This thread was a started a while back by Erika78 and she wants to know why you decided to leave your previous phone and make the jump to iPhone? With our forums growing by the day this is one of those threads that will never die. Join in on the conversation and let us know why you left your old device.

Have some iPhone tips and tricks that you’d like to share? Perhaps you are in need of some general help? This is the forum you need to visit. That is the place to find answers to your iPhone questions along with all the tips and tricks you can imagine.

See you on the forums!

AT&T finally launched MMS for the iPhone last Friday, and you’ve had the whole weekend to use, abuse, or ignore it. So, how is it? Love it, like it, avoid it like the plague? Huge fan, hype fried, frustrated by network issues, or just couldn’t care less? Let us know!

Boy Genius is reporting that AT&T MMS seems to be down for some users in some states, and what’s more:

a quick call to AT&T’s customer care line revealed that there is a known latency issue with MMS in all states with no estimated time of repair.

So how about it? Are you experiencing any delays in sending or receiving MMS? Any outages? Either way, let us know where you are, and how long you’ve been having the problem.