AT&T Fail! USA MMS coming Sept. 25th

Satcomer

Satcomer

In Geostationary Orbit
Well AT&T gets one step closer to stop discriminating on iPhone Users and have announced MMS on September 25th. So us USA AT&T iPhone customers may get features that were on phones back in the 1990's. One other thing AT&T allows the BlackBerry on 3G but not for the iPhone which is allowed Wifi only.

In my book AT&T has Failed the iPhone and discriminates against it at every turn they can.

Lastly I know in most other countries you have no such restrictions and i want you to know I envy that state your cell technology is in, way ahead of the USA! We here all know that to be true in the US but are to stubborn to admit it.
 
MMS? Does anyone actually use that?
What next, WAP or paid ringtones? :p
At least AT&T isn't charging 1,90 euros per minute (over $ 2,50) for calling US unlike the Irish iPhone carrier O2 does.
 
I hear O2 rakes people over the coals for almost everything (except SMS like we get raked over here). Is that true?
 
Lastly I know in most other countries you have no such restrictions and i want you to know I envy that state your cell technology is in, way ahead of the USA! We here all know that to be true in the US but are to stubborn to admit it.
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I hear O2 rakes people over the coals for almost everything (except SMS like we get raked over here). Is that true?
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Wait... you take AT&T to task for not supplying MMS (which is a crap technology anyway, and there are plenty of workarounds for it on the iPhone), say that you envy the other countries for their wireless plans, then turn around and admit that other countries "rake people over the coals" as well?

I'm not getting your point... are you dissatisfied with AT&T here in the states, and dissatisfied with the carriers in other nations as well? Or are you now pleased with AT&T and dissatisfied with other nations' carriers? Or still hate AT&T but are pleased with other nations' carriers?

How does delaying the rollout of MMS on the iPhone make AT&T "discriminate against it at every turn they can"? MMS is but one feature of the iPhone... do you have other problems with AT&T and the iPhone, or is MMS the only thing?

MMS, as you said, has been on cell phones since the 1990s... but so has the simple game "Snake." So have black and white screens. So have low-quality ringtones. So have text-based web browsers. Are you arguing that every feature available to cell phones since the 1990s should be included on the iPhone? Even if it's an antiquated technology?

You linked to a NY Times article that outlines the network troubles people are experiencing with the iPhone on AT&T's network. The article claims that iPhone users use 10 times the network capacity as other smartphones. By linking to this article and lambasting AT&T for whatever reason, are you arguing that other carrier's networks are better suited to handle 10 times the amount of network activity? Do you think Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, or any other carrier's network is somehow "beefier" and better suited to handle the data?

So us USA AT&T iPhone customers may get features that were on phones back in the 1990's.
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Yay. I just can't wait to play snake again, surf the web in a text-based browser, have to go back to paying for my ringtones instead of making them myself for free, staring at a black and white screen, and sending ultra-low res MMS pictures and sounds to my friends instead of using email and the "cloud" to share my media. Ooh, yeah, and my iPhone is WAAAAY to small. I'd rather carry a brick around in my car, just like the phones of the 1990s.

My computer in 1990 had a floppy drive. Should I flip out over the lack of one on my current computer? It also had a dot-matrix printer. Damn these ink jets! Oh yeah, I remember my G4 in 1999 had a built-in modem... I'm going to take Apple to task for removing that damn piece of antiquated technology!

Woo hoo. I can't wait.
 
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ElDiabloConCaca said:
Wait... you take AT&T to task for not supplying MMS (which is a crap technology anyway, and there are plenty of workarounds for it on the iPhone), say that you envy the other countries for their wireless plans, then turn around and admit that other countries "rake people over the coals" as well?
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Well there is the case of AT&T allowing the SingPlayer application to Wifi only for the iPhone but for the BlackBerry it is allowed WiFi & 3G (I thought I wrote this all out before but erased this part of it).

ElDiabloConCaca said:
I'm not getting your point... are you dissatisfied with AT&T here in the states, and dissatisfied with the carriers in other nations as well? Or are you now pleased with AT&T and dissatisfied with other nations' carriers? Or still hate AT&T but are pleased with other nations' carriers?

How does delaying the rollout of MMS on the iPhone make AT&T "discriminate against it at every turn they can"? MMS is but one feature of the iPhone... do you have other problems with AT&T and the iPhone, or is MMS the only thing?
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YES! AT&T has MMS on every other capable phone they have but not the iPhone. In my eyes AT&T is in a "love your money but hate you" frame of mind when it comes to the iPhone.

ElDiabloConCaca said:
MMS, as you said, has been on cell phones since the 1990s... but so has the simple game "Snake." So have black and white screens. So have low-quality ringtones. So have text-based web browsers. Are you arguing that every feature available to cell phones since the 1990s should be included on the iPhone? Even if it's an antiquated technology?
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When it is on all of their other phones that they sell then yes.

ElDiabloConCaca said:
Do you think Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, or any other carrier's network is somehow "beefier" and better suited to handle the data?
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Nope. All those others carriers would have almost the same network problems. The problem is the US cell phone carriers hanging onto a old cell phone technology for so long it is now biting them in their backsides. I know all the other cell carriers here must be tanking the stars that they don't have the iPhone right now.

This is a PR nightmare for AT&T and they have had at least three years to fix at least the call quality of their network instead of LYING on their commercial blitzes saying they have "more bars in more places". I know laugh at these commercials and suspect I am one of MANY.


ElDiabloConCaca said:
I can't wait.
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Smart Aleck:)
 
C'mon, old chaps! Don't start a fight here... ;) ... I guess the agreement should be this:

1.) MMS is not really a useful feature in the current paradigm of the iPhone. Steve Jobs was _right_ saying you can simply use E-Mail for sending about pictures and sounds etc.

2.) MMS was promised to come to the iPhone this summer, and September 25th is a bit late in the summer, I'd say... If you see that, around the world, it was no problem at all to add MMS to the iPhone with OS 3.0, it sounds rather strange that AT&T would have such a problem with it.
 
fryke said:
C'mon, old chaps! Don't start a fight here... ;) ... I guess the agreement should be this:
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No fighting on my part. I just think the USA wireless industry is stuck in the early Nineties and have not even upgraded their networks. There are even large swaths of the USA that have ZERO coverage!

fryke said:
MMS was promised to come to the iPhone this summer, and September 25th is a bit late in the summer, I'd say... If you see that, around the world, it was no problem at all to add MMS to the iPhone with OS 3.0, it sounds rather strange that AT&T would have such a problem with it.
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AT&T has had this problem because they haven't done any upgrades on there network until (since they were first built) and now the march of progress (in cell phones) is starting to catch up to them. They are now scrambling to "upgrade" their network because of ALL the bad publicity they are now getting. The spotlight has shined onto AT&T and most American iPhone users are waking up to the fact our cell networks can not handle the data the marketers have "promised" in all their commercials. The evidence is overwhelming.
 
Well it's Friday and I still see no MMS from AT&T (please don't laugh at me because I know you have it all the other countries). AT&T lied to us again!!!
 
The MMS update is supposed to come in the form of a "Carrier Settings" update through a downloadable system update in iTunes when you connect your iPhone and do a "Check for Updates" (the same as you would do when iPhone OS 3.0 was released). Is that what you did?

Not to mention it looks like it just went live about 30 minutes ago.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/09/quickie-atts-iphone-mms-update-is-live-in-itunes.ars

Are we jumping the gun a tad on accusations that AT&T somehow lied about this?

AT&T also, apparently, intends to do a stair-stepped roll-out of the update, as opposed to releasing it live across the US all at once. I haven't found confirmation that this will, in fact, occur, but if you don't see the update in your iTunes when you connect your iPhone, then it may be prudent to just cool off for a bit, wait it out, and try again in 2 hours.

Besides, it's just MMS. I can understand the frustration with AT&T and seemingly being "lied to," but it's a multimedia message... I don't think anyone's jobs, lives, liberties, or pursuits of happiness are intrinsically being adversely affected by the lack of ability to send a low-res photo or audio clip to another mobile user.
 
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ElDiabloConCaca said:
Also some evidence that users are supposed to receive a text message when the service is available in their area. I have not received a text message, nor have I had the chance to connect my iPhone to my mini and see if the "Carrier Settings" update is available to me.
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I didn't see the update until I got home from work. However there was no test message others reported they got from AT&T. This is on my up to date (v3.1) non-jailbroken iPhone 3GS. AT&T fails again and treats us on the US eastCoast like second class customers. Then it took over 5 minutes to send a simple low resolution picture to my nephew (who is also on AT&T) with a Samsung that had MMS since he got it last year. So in my book AT&T fails yet again!
 
I got home at around 5pm CST, and the update was ready in iTunes. Installed without a hitch, and after a reboot, I'm MMSing.

I got the AT&T text message at 9pm CST, four hours later. FAIL! FAILFAILFAILFAILFAIL! Oh, wait, I really mean... big effin' deal.

I sent an MMS ad it took quite a bit longer than a regular text message, but that's to be expected... for one, it's a LOT more data to send. For two, every damn iPhone user within a 100 mile radius of me is also trying to send MMS messages just for the hell of it, which does put strain on the network.

So... AT&T "fails" at delivering MMS to you on 09-25-2009, but in actuality, they actually DID deliver working MMS to you, but you still mark it as "fail?" It seems more and more that you, my friend, may simply be impossible to please. ;)
 
Well, I guess I enjoy having a good, old-fashioned disagreement once in a while. Not meant to offend, and nothing personal. Just debate, that's all... :)
 
I *love* that particular Louis CK clip. And I'm writing this on my computer and people all around the world are going to read it. OMG. It's effing amazing! Wow!
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
So... AT&T "fails" at delivering MMS to you on 09-25-2009, but in actuality, they actually DID deliver working MMS to you, but you still mark it as "fail?" It seems more and more that you, my friend, may simply be impossible to please. ;)
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Well I did finally see the Update around 9:30 P.M. After installing and restarting I tried to send an icon sized picture to my nephew who lives in another State, three States away, and it took just over 5 minutes before my nephew got it.

The point I have been trying to make is when are the American press & people wake up to the fact that AT&T (and all the other wireless carriers) has been lying to us (i.e. "before the end of summer", OMG! AT&T WILL RELEASE MMS in September! & AT&T Network 101 & MMS Availability Update response, using a stock picture on their MMS announcement page with a girl holding an original iPhone that doesn't have MMS capability)?

It in my mind all comes down to the fact the US infrastructure in general is falling apart and it starting to look like to me that history is repeating itself. Ever heard about the real reasons the Roman empire failed? America is not quite the same but the similarities are striking.
 
If you look for similarities, you're bound to find them. There still are some similarities to the USA of the 70s to be found in today's USA, though, and quite probably much more than of the falling Roman Empire. ;)

I think the cellular networks stuff is a tad more difficult, although one can put it more simply: Who's defining the world's cellular network technology? There are few companies "in charge" of that. Nokia has been a large pusher, Ericsson. Those have taken over from the likes of Qualcomm and Motorola in my opinion. But with "the rest of the world" moving along with Nokia and Ericsson, the USA fell behind or "went off path" so to speak. The situation (for the world) has gotten better lately, which means that the USA had to take some detours. All will be well. (At least in regards to cellular tech.)

There are handset makers that actually drive the network technology by _creating_ newer network technology, and that's basically the four that I've mentioned above. Apple's a follower there, along with HTC, Microsoft, Google et al. Let's hope those don't drive Nokia & Co. out of the way, because I don't see them taking over the whole network technology stuff.
 
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