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CNN Applauds Fact That AT&T Now Sucks Less
But a Fast LTE Network Doesn't Cure What Ails Company

With AT&T recently winning a slew of awards naming their LTE network the fastest in the nation, we've officially come a long way from 2009 when the company's network was the butt of jokes everywhere, having crumbled under the weight of the company's then exclusive iPhone offering. With LTE speed awards freshly in tow, CNN/Money crows that AT&T "isn't nearly as bad as you think," and that the network improvements the company has made over the last five years are "nothing short of remarkable."

The piece does note that things may change as people actually use the fledgling network:

quote:
"AT&T has to be just tickled pink about all these studies, but this could be a short-term phenomenon," said Ken Rehbehn, a telecommunications analyst at Yankee Group.

Rehbehn notes it's not quite as simple as "more users, slower network." Different speeds also have to do with network plumbing, policy decisions, a company's investment in backhaul, the number of cell sites it has, network capacity, and how effective a company is at deploying new technologies like small cells. Still, network congestion is a major factor that AT&T will likely soon face.


While author David Goldman does point out that Verizon still seems to take top place in connection reliability in those same studies, he fails to mention that regardless of LTE speeds, AT&T still ranks last or close to last in nearly every customer satisfaction study. That problem is traditionally related to customer support, not top average network speeds.

Faster LTE speeds also don't change the fact that AT&T is one of the more obnoxious telecom companies when it comes to using sleazy tactics to get what they want. Nor do their LTE awards magically change AT&T's tendency to unapologetically engage in anti-consumer behavior (like blocking video chat across their network, or imposing completely nonsensical fees).

So yes, AT&T's network does officially suck much less than it did just a few years ago, but as a whole company, AT&T still has miles to go if it wants to fix its notoriously poor public image.
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Twaddle
@sbcglobal.net

Twaddle

Anon

Unacceptable and despicable

If one pays for Internet connectivity for "data" transfer then there should be no restrictions on what that data is (illegal stuff excepted). Blocking sites like video chats isn't part of the game but unfortunately the cringing violets that are entrusted with protecting the American public are too busy falling all over themselves to keep ATT/VERIZON more than happy. Magically there is no network impact if using an ATT solution rather than a solution that does not add revenue to ATT. Weird science indeed!

Mike
Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA

Mike

Mod

What about load volume?

I recall when the Verizon iPhone appeared, it was a mass exodus.

cork1958
Cork
Premium Member
join:2000-02-26

cork1958

Premium Member

Might suck less, but......

Both AT&T and Verizon still suck to the max, regardless!!
en103
join:2011-05-02

en103

Member

Re: Might suck less, but......

The overall wireless service is fine....

It's the:

1. Cost
2. Bureaucracy (if you switch devices, your plan may change, you can't use your device as it is expected to - right out of the box, tethering extra, caps, roaming, overages, etc.
3. Bloatware/spyware/snooping
4. I should be paid to give AT&T/VZW/NSA my metrics - not the other way around.
elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72 to cork1958

Member

to cork1958
One thing I noticed is that once the ATT LTE networks lit up in my area (Buffalo) the HSPA speeds took a tank. My mrs phone if she is lucky (Nexus 4) can get 3 Mbps where before it was 7+, which TBH is more than adequate, but I can assume that they robbed peter to pay paul on backhaul to make their numbers look better. And pings on HSPA are ALL over the place. Maybe they are doing traffic shaping too, but whatever the case the service went down without the price doing the same...

I just upgraded my iphone on Verizon and I can tell you the lowly Evdo network was rock solid, 100% of the time and the iphone 5 on LTE is a vampire on battery.

I have also seen both ATT and Verizon signal go DOWN on 3G networks in the last few months so methinks they are skimming the 3G coverage down as more people move to LTE. This is a BIG problem for prepaid as their bread and butter is on non-LTE (which I call 3G but whatever)

Anyone else seeing this signal phenomenon?

In any case dealing w/ ATT is like the death star and Verizon is like wookies--theyre big, you cant always understand them, but ultimately they are your friend. I always feel on ATT that they will turn around at any time and do something drastic or draconian.I wish verizon would allow newer phones on prepaid (without flashing gymnastics) and they would start to take that market.

MovieLover76
join:2009-09-11
Cherry Hill, NJ
(Software) pfSense
Asus RT-AC68
Asus RT-AC66

2 edits

MovieLover76

Member

Re: Might suck less, but......

Actually I saw the exact opposite, LTE was lit up a couple months ago in my area, I hadn't been following the deployment announcements because I was using a nexus 4, which doesn't have LTE anyway but I started to notice my internet being noticeably faster, did a few speed tests and my normal 2- 3 mbps shot up to 5 - 7 mbps and the pings dropped.

It occurred to me that they must have done some upgrades in the area, I checked the coverage maps and low and behold LTE had been deployed, I suspect the improvement in HSPA+ speeds where partially due to a backhaul upgrade and partially due to users with LTE phones getting off the HSPA+ network.

LTE and HSPA+ run on completely different spectrum, HSPA+ is 850/1900 and LTE is 700 and in a few areas 1700, so the signal quality should not be effected at all. They can't just skim spectrum or anything off of 3G. Are you comparing it on the same phone over the last few months? signal bars are practically meaningless, you need the db reading and even that isn't a reliable way to compare signal if you've switched phones because one phone may get better reception than the other.

The only possibility is maybe in areas where it wasn't easy to upgrade backhaul they are instead prioritizing LTE network traffic over HSPA+ over the backhaul. The two networks compete for bandwidth at that point.

Maybe the difference is simply that they upgraded the backhaul at towers around me and not sufficiently in buffalo.

saq_mi
@airadvantage.net

saq_mi

Anon

ATT still sucks

I work for ATT and have a free, no-limits smartphone on their service. It has sucked, still sucks and probably will always suck, at least in my area. I was loyal for nearly 15 years, took the plunge to vzw 2 years ago and have been happy ever since.
If you see how ATT builds their sites and compare that to VZW, you could appreciate that ATT service even works. The "just make it fit, just make it work" attitude from ATT can be demoralizing. VZW really has a class act and class service reliability, from the nuts and bolts standpoint.

MovieLover76
join:2009-09-11
Cherry Hill, NJ
(Software) pfSense
Asus RT-AC68
Asus RT-AC66

MovieLover76

Member

Re: ATT still sucks

It must really suck in your area, I get a free AT&T service from work, I just pay if I want something better than a free phone at upgrade time. I was an personal AT&T customer and left around 2009 because of how bad it sucked switched to Verizon, but eventually took the work phone since it's free, AT&T is much better than it used to be I'll say that, and it's still not Verizon. But the difference isn't worth $100 a month to me (free vs Verizon) lol.
Terabit
join:2008-12-19

Terabit

Member

Ignoring the issue

It never was just about the network with AT&T, their customer service and monopolistic corporate policy is the Big Problem.

For example, they will chase you to the ends of the earth for a 0.10 balance. However, have the attitude of yet "what's the big deal" when they increase the 'administration fees' by 0.61 cents per month and per line.

nonamesleft
join:2011-11-07
Manitowoc, WI

nonamesleft

Member

New ATT slogan should be:

ReThink Impossible!