AT&T having wireless data issues today?
by Chris Ziegler 
posted Aug 14th 2007 at 2:41PM
We're getting reports that AT&T customers have gone without their precious bits and bytes for at least part of the day today. It's unclear what the problem is or how widespread it may be, but it seems that folks in a number of metropolitan areas are unable to connect or are suffering with unusually slow data rates. Anyone out there notice anything fishy?[Thanks, Michael K.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt @ Aug 14th 2007 3:00PM
Im in Los Angeles and nothing is wrong here, my phone went on the internet as normal, to tell you the truth it seemed a little faster.
yoyo @ Aug 14th 2007 2:52PM
unusually slow? isn't that the norm on edge...
everlastinggenie @ Aug 14th 2007 2:53PM
"unusually slow data rates"
Wow...how much slower could EDGE go
mike168 @ Aug 14th 2007 2:56PM
It was down for about an hour earlier in TX. Everything's back to normal now.
yoyo @ Aug 14th 2007 2:57PM
everything back to normal now... everything back to aol speeds... lol
Brandon @ Aug 14th 2007 3:04PM
Another iPhone is coming...
John Wydra @ Aug 14th 2007 3:15PM
I'm in the Clevleand, Ohio area and I haven't noticed anything. But that might be because I really haven't had fast service to begin with.
Used both @ Aug 14th 2007 3:45PM
Yes, I've had a couple of instances of "Could not connect to EDGE" on my iPhone, and I usually don't.
Ryan @ Aug 14th 2007 4:43PM
Nothing wrong apparent in Charlotte, NC
Compared to my nextel phone I had EDGE is fast. Until I experience quicker speeds I don't know what I'm missing... and all is fine with me.
yoyo @ Aug 14th 2007 5:00PM
until you get off your cingular phone ignorance is bliss. try jumping on someone's cdma evdo phone and then you'll know what you're missing.
Hub @ Aug 15th 2007 8:48PM
@yoyo,
No offense but I had CDMA (SPRINT) for years before switching to AT&T and the failures are similar. There are no perfect carriers with perfect coverage. I have found that Sprint Sucks proportionally to AT&T. Just my two cents.......
brandon @ Aug 14th 2007 6:29PM
While I'm not going to say ignorance is bliss ... since we all know cingular's edge sucks bad, I am going to say that until you have used Sprint or used a CingulAT phone on UTMS/3G you have no idea how bad we as customers of a CingulAT Edge network are getting raked over the coals on our monthly data charges. We are definitely overcharged compared to the UTMS enabled customers...
That's the reason I don't own an iPhone. Be dammed if I'm going to buy a phone that's stuck with Edge data and no chance of bumping up to 3G if CingulAT ever upgrades the network here in Denver.
Used both @ Aug 14th 2007 3:48PM
Birmingham, AL here. Same thing.
Albert @ Aug 14th 2007 4:04PM
Had Data Connection refused on the blackberries
GarciaM25 @ Aug 15th 2007 10:23PM
i love it how you Verizon jerks are always TRYING to bash AT&T, but where else but North America can you find such ignorant companies as those still using CDMA??? why don't we go back to the stone age and fire up the analog signals once again! oooh, EVDO, fast, still worse signal projection compared with GSM - you know, the system the REST of the world uses! Europe and Asia laugh at you all harder than i do though....
elgee02 @ Aug 14th 2007 8:46PM
CDMA is newer than GSM, technically.
CDMA has better voice quality and building penetration than GSM.
EVDO spanks the pants off EDGE and both Sprint and VZW have solid EVDO coverage in around 240 US cities.
Facts are facts and EDGE sucks no matter which way you slice it.
everlastinggenie @ Aug 14th 2007 10:49PM
but that still does not give Verizon the right to SEVERLY overcharge for Data. Sprint has a more powerful network and is MUCH cheaper. Im on SERO so its even cheaper. And Sprint at least realizes that customers like variety and since we can use SIM cards..they like to actually release new phones. Verizon on the other hand ignores that and decided to release the same phone in different colors! Thats why I left Verizon, and i promised my self i wouldnt go back to CDMA but SERO was just to damn cheap and i got the MOgul for 113 so...:)
yoyo @ Aug 14th 2007 11:31PM
Arguing that GSM is a world standard(i agree) in no way justifies you over spending for you crappy EDGE network and under support 3G/HSDPA network. You have to live in the world in which you live so to speak, the USof A and here GSM is not king. And the companies that do use GSM has piss poor networks.
It's not like we're in korea here rocking with 18megs of hsdpa love. That's not your or my reality. So please stop clinging to the is GSM as a world standard thing. It does you no good what-so-ever.
GarciaM25 @ Aug 14th 2007 11:41PM
yoyo, you are too funny.... so basically you're saying that since nearly every other civilized region in the world has GSM operating in full swing amd the US is lacking in GSM potential, we should "give up" on GSM technology development? that's like giving up on competing with the Japanese in auto manufacturing because they grew superior - tell Ford and Chevy to close up shop and see what kind of response you get.... moron....
yoyo @ Aug 15th 2007 12:02AM
@Garcia
You completely missed my point Garcia. In fact you completely breezed over the fact that I gave GSM props in places like Korea where it lives up to it's potential.
But that does you no good here. You don't live in Korea and you don't live in Europe where in some cases you can get speeds up to 8 megs with GSM. You live in the USA where EDGE (i mean it's like freaking aol) is predominant and HSDPA is fleeting and under supported in the spots where you can find it.
So if you think buying a GSM phone will somehow encourage ATT or T-Mobile to all of the sudden properly support some kind of high speed technology then so be it. But the only thing that is influencing them to upgrade at all is the fact that EVDO by Sprint and Verizon is much faster here in the USA even though the theoretical speeds of GSM could be much faster on a properly (this is key) supported network.
So therefore, since i live in a country where CDMA is king with data I choose CDMA. I don't choose GSM because it's king in Europe or Asia. Back to my original point - it's all about where you live.
And no I don't buy american cars because I live in usa. It's obvious in many cases they build inferior cars (but they are getting better...) so therefore I currently own two japanese cars becuase they are better products in the country where i live.
My gosh just give a CDMA phone with full EVDO a try ... I guarantee it will change your perception of the price value you pay your provider. And for the record I am not a Verizon fan boy... more of a Sprint one due to their incredible prices and generally faster EVDO network.
elgee02 @ Aug 15th 2007 4:53PM
@ everlastinggenie:
No, Sprint's network is NOT more powerful than VZW's seeing as though they use the SAME exact technology.
And if Verizon Wireless is the one who "severely" overcharges for data while Sprint is the savior with their not-available-to-most-new-customers SERO plans with cheaper data, why do you think Sprint continues to have horrible churn and fewer gross adds every quarter compared to VZW?
Explain that one wise guy.
willie @ Aug 14th 2007 8:57PM
In southern Louisiana and 3G data network went down from aprox 12:07 - 1:49 for the times i couldn't access my exchange server. But all seems good now. No faster no slower. Just works again
mas90guru @ Aug 14th 2007 9:51PM
My Blackberry was down from about noon to 4pm here in Connecticut. Its possible that the data came up earlier but my BB didn't auto-reconnect. I only noticed it was back after manually re-booting the phone.
VZW Brotha @ Aug 15th 2007 11:54PM
Right on elgee...i get so sick of hearing ppl complain about Verizon this and verizon that...pls just stop it..if Verizon sucked so bad they wouldn't kick the crap outta Sprint if it was just purely based off of data. Verizon's data is much better for the most part, but overall it's prolly bout the same. You know what's the deciding factor. People get better service and get treated better thru Verizon. Period. Sprint treats there customers like crap and regardless of how good your network is and how cheap it is, the bottom line is that real people who need their wireless service for dependability and overall high speed to communicate choose Verizon. You can make the excuse about the crippling, the Verizon UI, and the high prices, but tell me if why Verizon has been at the top of the wireless mountain for a very long time and even if they weren't in the top spot they were in second. Sprint hasn't been competition to anyone or anything for years and they know that. They are trying to change their perception but we'll see if it pays off.