The iPhone 3GS has been a huge hit for AT&T, and although they aren't saying how many customers they've stolen from other carriers, AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph De La Vega said they had "hundreds of thousands" of pre-orders.
That puts a lot of pressure on AT&T's network (which we
reviewed recently), but the carrier is ready for it, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said. They're doing three major things to improve their coverage and speeds, one of which will have a huge positive effect on coverage in cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
That major upgrade is known as "3G on 850 Mhz." In busy cities, some dropped calls and signal problems come because the 1900 Mhz airwaves that AT&T mostly uses for 3G are totally saturated - they're trying to cram too many iPhones into too little space.
Across much of the country, though, AT&T also owns big blocks of spectrum in the older 850 band, which was once used for AT&T and its predecessors' older TDMA service. Verizon Wireless is the other big 850 Mhz carrier. AT&T has been refitting their 850 Mhz equipment for 3G. As 3G 850 comes on throughout the rest of this year, the effect will be like going from having 100 people crammed into a conference room, to having the same population in a spacious ballroom.
This map from
Mountain Wireless gives you an incomplete picture of where AT&T has 850 Mhz spectrum. (AT&T is also getting some 850 Mhz spectrum from Alltel in the red areas on
this map.) AT&T has already turned on 850 Mhz 3G in some cities. But two notorious AT&T weak spots, New York and San Francisco, are getting the 850 treatment over the next several months, and the improvement may be a big deal.
"The 850, when it's turned on in individual markets, people notice a big difference," Siegel said.
AT&T's second coverage move is to add 2100 cell sites and to beef up the backhaul (wired Internet connections) on their cell sites to accommodate the additional iPhone traffic, Siegel said.
We've also written before about AT&T's upcoming 3G
upgrade to HSDPA 7.2, which is happening incrementally between the end of this year and 2011. The iPhone 3GS is currently AT&T's only phone to support HSDPA 7.2, which offers download speeds about twice as fast as their current HSDPA 3.6 system. Internet speeds on smartphones are further limited by the phone's processing power, so we don't know yet what effect that upgrade will have on the 3GS. AT&T has a test 7.2 network running in Chicago right now, but it's not open to the public, Siegel said.
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June 23, 2009 9:28 PM
This post title should be: "AT&T: iPhone Coverage Better, Faster, Soon, Maybe. But don't hold your breath, you guys are starting to look pretty blue!"
Month's since I've had AT&T service in San Francisco: 11
Month's of service with less than 25% dropped calls: 0
Months since AT&T told me they'd get that cell tower in my neighborhood working again: 11
June 23, 2009 10:10 PM
3 g data service in Philadelphia has really got worse since 3gs has been introduced. 3g data is intermittent or slow. ATT needs to fix asap these issues.
June 24, 2009 8:58 AM
I'm sure that AT&T will eventually work the bugs out, given some time.
June 24, 2009 11:36 AM
Re: David in SF's comments -- ditto.
Supposedly the national digital TV conversion (delayed by some months)
plays into this, as AT&T was waiting for Frisco's Sutro Tower analog TV
antenna slots to free up for more 3G 850mHz and/or backhaul.
Fortunately, the iPhone is amazing enough to make up for things
like unworkable 3G inside San Francisco buildings on hills, etc.
by having built-in WiFi. Granted, it will be nice not to dash
for a window or a door (or a flat spot with line of sight to
a cell tower when in a car) when the iPhone rings ..
It's certainly a neat trick how AT&T got early 3G adopters to pay for
their stuttering San Francisco 3G rollout upfront.
June 24, 2009 11:50 AM
AT&T fix your service or as soon as verizon gets the iphone i am gone for good!!! LA Pasadena COvina areas!!
June 24, 2009 3:45 PM
Did any other iPhone 3g users in Washington, DC notice a dramatic decline in the quality of the network beginning about 2-3 months ago? I live in an English basement, and for the first 3-4 months I had the phone, service was fine, then around the time I heard about the migration to 850, suddenly my phone was regularly "searching" for signal, calls are not delivered to my handset, etc. To whom at AT&T do I direct questions about this subject?
June 24, 2009 4:15 PM
att is a lame duck in the water. as soon as the exclusive contracts are over so will att's dominance with the iphone. people will convert in a heartbeat.
June 25, 2009 2:33 AM
From Boston, just jumped on the party train so I could get an iPhone (previously 10 year verizon customer). So far no dropped calls, but lots of echos and lousy connections. Will this also be addressed with the AT&T improvements?
June 25, 2009 10:49 AM
Where I live, up the street from Knott's Berry Farm, the service is good. In fact, I have noticed an improvement in the Edge service. Outside this area, say into Nevada or rural California, not so much.
What ever happened to the wifi boom? there is hardly any place that has it.
June 25, 2009 2:34 PM
And the retired Chairman of the Board of ATT is now the Chairman of General Motors. Go Figure!!!!
June 26, 2009 3:10 PM
If you notice your iPhone has fewer bars, you may want to take off your case. Some metal cases interfer with the signal.
July 7, 2009 8:32 AM
the phone i'm using, a Sony Ericsson w760i, also has support for HSDPA 7.2... and when its connected to a 7.2 network it displays a "H" instead of a "3G" symbol.
ATT has the best coverage where i live, and no matter where i go, I have constant 3G (not 7.2 obviously) and 5 bars. And i've never had a dropped call and my phone calls/conversations/drawn out discussions have always had the best quality of any service i've ever tried. I live in Chantilly, which is about 30 minutes from DC (we're in VA) people have actually switched from verizon to ATT and haven't regretted it yet! If they're rolling out 7.2, i'll be really happy since now i can browse the internet twice as fast!!
July 9, 2009 1:01 PM
AT&T has horrible service in NH. IPhone is great but you can't use it if the there isn't coverage. I might give up the phone because the service area is just too small. A mobile phone is just a phone if you can't be mobile. It stinks to have to stay in one spot for fear that you will lose the call.
July 23, 2009 2:23 PM
I love my iPhone but AT&T makes me miss Sprint. I have to strategically place my phone in certain areas of my office and at home so I have service. That was never an issue with Sprint. I'm really wondering if AT&T will ever fix this or they're just saying they will to keep their unhappy customers quiet. It seems like if Apple and AT&T ever parted ways and opened up to other providers it would do wonders for Apple. I can't tell you how many times I've had people look at my iPhone with envy and say "I would love to have one BUT I heard AT&T really sucks so I'll stick with my old phone."
August 10, 2009 10:15 AM
I am so frustrated with the coverage I am about to scream. We are away for the summer and service suddenly died. We were told that someone would call us today at 9 so we borrowed someone's cell. No call, no service and we're in a cabin. I called AT&T (after driving ten miles) and had the worst experience - the woman actually told me that they don't provide credit when "it's not there fault" and that they were waiting for parts for fix the tower! It's AT&T for goodness sakes! No service because of the lack of parts for three days, no idea when it'll be fixed, no idea when we'll be updated. This monopoly needs competition once again.
November 1, 2009 1:03 PM
I have had my iPhone for 10 months. I am seriously considering paying the penalty and canceling my service, and going back to Sprint, or maybe even go to Verizon.
I rely on my iPhone tremendously for my job in law enforcement, and though I adore my iPhone, I detest AT&T's service. Neverbefore have I had so many dropped calls, "no service" ( while not moving from a spot I had service in 10 seconds earlier) or watch my phone "serching for service" for over an hour.
AT&T is disappointing to the Nth degree in service coverage.
I will never again pay to have AT&T for a cellphone service provider. I encourage other people that want to buy an iPhone in my area, if they do purchase it, to jailbreak it and go to a different carrier.
AT&T may have the monopoly on the service contract with Apple, but they are Kings of a wasteland, which is vast and barren indeed.