AT&T's Network Crumbles At Coachella > With all due respect Karl

With all due respect Karl

i think it was spot on.

reply to Selenia
There probably weren't enough restrooms either, but it's another chance to bash ATT for not spending a fortune so that people can tweet and post to facebook. Oh the humanity.

reply to Selenia
You're blaming the customer for wanting to use the service for which they've paid.

While I agree that this situation is very much an outlier, AT&T still has capacity issues. In Detroit, whenever there is a large convention at Cobo, or a hockey game at JLA or a baseball game, the entire 3G network flames out. And if the crowd size is large enough, the 2.5G network soon follows and you can't even send text messages. This affects everyone in the downtown area, not just those attending events.

We're not talking hundreds of thousands of people here, the last attendance figure for a weekday baseball game was about 16,000. While that represents a rather large bump in users, it's not like this is a surprise to AT&T. These are large structures that don't move, have been there for a long time and are widely known to attract tens of thousands of people in short bursts of time. So much so, that AT&T ADVERTISES in all but one of these structures.

AT&T has a very long way to go on its upgrade path. It's the "shouldda been" network.

Sorry if I gave the impression that I think AT&T doesn't have problems in certain areas. Every provider does, sometimes to a craptacular proportion. In this case, we're talking about an actual spectrum crunch. It's an extreme situation. I think what AT&T did before with the CoWs to address such an issue was great, but I wouldn't expect it for every event. I do feel sorry for you guys in Detroit and Chicago though. The 3G network works great in the Northeast, where available. EDGE works fine in most places it covers, with a few minor iffy areas(slow connectivity during congested times, but still works).
--
The new Sony rootkit-Using the ability to remove features you paid for. What's next? Boycott Sony products »[Rant] ps3 update = no more Linux

reply to Selenia

You are right, which even further validates my point(sorry for the misinfo on UMTS channel bandwidth). Spectrum congestion occurs much easier with UMTS. If this is a real issue in ones area, then they should consider EVDO. It's just the nature of the technology, or at least it was at this event(I am not speaking for all AT&T problems, by any means).
--
The new Sony rootkit-Using the ability to remove features you paid for. What's next? Boycott Sony products »[Rant] ps3 update = no more Linux

reply to Selenia
I think the crux of the problem is that AT&T has applied a very minimal performance and capacity standard when constructing their network.

Normally, 3G is acceptable in Detroit and it's fantastic in Toledo, Ohio. Ditto for the areas of Florida I frequent.

I think it's unfortunate that the frequency allocations are not based upon anything more than a bidding war and/or lottery. Part of AT&T's problem is that they are rife with PCS frequencies. Those work, but not so well when you apply a minimal performance standard.

AT&T uses all 1900, in my area. I don't think performance is an issue, particularly if you have LoS. Wall penetration is the worst thing about it. VZ has 850 here and not enough towers for good RF coverage. AT&T actually has them beat there on 1900, go figure.
--
The new Sony rootkit-Using the ability to remove features you paid for. What's next? Boycott Sony products »[Rant] ps3 update = no more Linux

reply to clickie
It's like the roadway to Coachella. You've paid for a vehicle, taxes, insurance, gas, etc., but your sitting in rush hour traffic. Why can't I drive my car at 50 miles/hr?

It's just common sense. You could spend the money to build 24 lanes so traffic would move smoothly no matter what, but it wouldn't be cost effective. Any network will have congested periods and things can be done to alleviate those problems, but you don't build a 24 lane freeway to Coachella because the traffic is bad during the festival.

reply to Selenia
Well said. The people complaining about this probably also can't understand why service doesn't work after a natural disaster either.
--
"Don't steal. The government hates competition."
Beyond AM. Beyond FM. XM

reply to Goldman

reply to Goldman
Your posts makes to much sense and will probably just be ignored.

It's just like peope who decend upon Best Buy on black friday to buy something cheap and then freak out when they don't have thousands to sell everybody.
--
My Blog. Because I desperately need the acknowledgement of others.

Visit the Judd Family website to see my kids!

reply to Goldman

reply to Selenia
The channels are much larger, which is actually a mixed blessing.

1. Large channels = large capacity + data rates (EVDO Rev A hits 3.1Mbps, HSPA hits 14.4 - HSPA+ hits 21Mbps - just not really deployed)

2. On the bad side - having GSM + HSPA 'is' the problem. carriers have ~40MHz of spectrum. Cutting over 2 channels of HSPA consumes half of the total available spectrum. GSM users still exist, and still consume spectrum for voice / data.

3. EVDO's data only ensures that a clobbered data network won't kill voice/sms. Not so on GSM/HSPA

4. EVDO is not growing much (well, except possibly in the US only) CDMA global stats (522,155,000 CDMA, vs 4.3 billion on GSM/HSPA)
--
Canada = Hollywood North

reply to Dennis
I still remember the fist fight at a CompUSA a few years back. All I went in for was a 512mb centon USB drive for like $10.

There was a fist fight in back for the Xbox 360's at the time. I think the cops hauled out quite a few in handcuffs. By the time Saint Louis County was done they had arrested 13, and already hauled off 10 in a van.

All for a Xbox 360 that was like $199 or something crazy like that. that place went from looking decent to dystroyed in 10 min.

And keep in mind this was just 30 minutes after midnight.
--
If you have a topic in the direct forum please reply to it or a post of mine, I get a notification when you do this.
Koetting Ford, Granite City, illinois... YOU'RE FIRED!!

reply to clickie

reply to FBGuy

reply to clickie
Hmmmm.. I was at the Country Fest in Cadott WI last summer.. I have both ATT and Sprint... damn AT&T for not having 3G coverage there, just Edge, and damn Sprint for having NO coverage at all... I mean, they should BOTH know better than there was going to be thousands of people in a remote area of the country where service normally doesn't really occur and damn them for not providing it.