Apple, AT&T get sued for misleading 3G claims, again
by Donald Melanson 
posted Mar 20th 2009 at 1:58PM
Is there a better way to ring in the first day of spring than with another lawsuit aimed at Apple and AT&T? Probably, but apparently not for Damone Dickerson, who has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey that again takes aim at the pair over allegedly misleading claims about 3G speeds. According to Dickerson, he has only be able to connect to the 3G network a "fraction of the time," and when he was able to connect it did not provide "full and continual service." As a result, he's leveled a whole host of charges against the two companies, which he hopes will result in them changing their advertising and, of course, allow him to "recover compensatory, statutory and punitive damages." No word from Apple or AT&T, naturally, but Apple has recently asked that a similar case in New York be dismissed.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jben @ Mar 20th 2009 2:08PM
Can anyone say "30 day return policy?"
WhatADouche @ Mar 20th 2009 2:35PM
I agree with JBen but at the same time American consumers will believe anything a commercial tells them to believe. We've all seen the claims of AT&Ts so-called speedy 3G network but in truth it's buckling under all of the traffic; especially in major markets like the metro NYC area. It'll be intersting to see the outcome of this suit although I'm not sure why Apple is included as a defendant.
Jack @ Mar 20th 2009 2:44PM
^^ Because Apple is part of the blame. The chipset in the iphone 3G is garabe and Apple knows it. There is no excuse for them to still be supply the device with that problem. The problem was know last summer before the device launched. Apple never corrected it.
Meh @ Mar 20th 2009 3:13PM
I take issue with AT&T claiming they have the fastest 3G network when Verizon's EVDO-Rev A has faster speeds. Every time I see that commercial I can't believe they are getting away with that bold-face-lie and i'm glad someone is doing something about it.
zephxiii @ Mar 20th 2009 4:18PM
I wouldn't go so far to make claims like that. Technically by specification AT&T's is faster. But we all know that doesn't mean crap due to backhaul and congestion constraints in the real world. On top of that, speeds between carrier can vary from site to site, why? Because THAT IS the nature of wireless.
Might look at this:
http://www.mobilespeedtest.com/bandwidthmeter/average.php?myisp=Verizon&myspeed=10089
hg @ Mar 20th 2009 3:39PM
Thanks bro! You just gave me more hope! I as well am going to file a lawsuit...however I think class action would be more appropriate.
Hammad @ Mar 20th 2009 3:39PM
Thanks bro for giving me hope! Im going to file suit as well!
Cingulair @ Mar 22nd 2009 9:18AM
I think the whole thing is idiotic. At&t has alot of people that use their service. Businesses that use the network for information transfer in the form of data between devices and their network, as well as consumers. Verizon has traffic but nowhere near as much. Plus, who else in the U.S. gives you true voice and data simultaneously? I'm not saying that they should be able to lie but, I don't have the issues that he's suing over. The only issue that I would have is a lack of 3G. How hard is it to allocate two networks in the same spectrum space? No one knows at the moment but At&t.
If he has that big of a problem it's cheaper to use the 30 day return policy and run to Verizon or Sprint. Do they always have the speeds that they claim? NO!! I know Verizon customers that drop calls often and can't always hear me now. Are they being sued? No, people go off on At&t for stupid stuff. Don't like their claims and service performance use the 30 days and move on. The money they are spending for this suit is holding up my 3G expansion. Geezzz!!! At this rate, they'll never get the whole U.S. covered so that they can cut off Edge/GSM.
Cinguliar @ Mar 20th 2009 8:37PM
Verizon has more customers than AT&T, so what data are you using to state that Verizon has nowhere near as much traffic as AT&T? The difference in AT&T and Verizon is that Verizon has more towers and bandwidth in the majority of areas where it competes with AT&T. That and their are confirmed issues with the IPhone3G that was supposedly fixed in a patch. Remember Verizon first passed on the IPhone for these reasons along with a number of others (arguments over customer service control, profit sharing, etc.). On top of that the first IPhone lacked 3g because it simply wasn't ready to go. Apple may be the wiz at marketing and interfaces, but they still make a terrible phone when you look at it based on its merrits as a phone. The IPhone will peak with 3.0 unless Apple opens up to other carriers.
Mayday @ Mar 20th 2009 6:52PM
First off, umm, verizon is the largest wireless provider out there so they have MORE traffic yet not nearly as many issues with the data network. Second, as for the point you made for verizon's voice... They never claimed to have coverage everywhere, just the best coverage which they do. And they never claimed about having no dropped calls, just the fewest dropped calls.... which they do. When you say to someone this will work this good and this fast in this area and it rarely if ever does, than yea, that's a lawsuit waiting to happen. As for the speeds, the system att is should be the fastest but they don't have the network to support it so when it comes down to it, verizon and sprint still have faster speeds than att. So sad.
JKL @ Mar 20th 2009 8:02PM
I've had all three and Verizon's service wins hands down. Coverage is better, voice quality is better and EVDO is way faster and more responsive than AT&T's HSDPA. While I have used relatively fast HSDPA services overseas, AT&T's 3G doesn't even come close. EVDO also has much lower latency. Apple should have built a CDMA version along with their WCDMA. I can guarantee it that within the US the CDMA handset would win hands down.
If AT&T's 3g service is so great where is the two way video calling like 90% of 3G WCDMA networks overseas have had for a good 6 years now. Heck, I have not even been able to get that one way video calling to work with them.
Cingulair @ Mar 22nd 2009 9:34AM
My original point was. How many people that use Verizon give a hoot about using data. Most people that are phone geeks are going to be on At&t or T-Mobil where you can use an unlocked device. You can't really call yourself a phone fanatic and, you don't at least own an unlocked device. Or you don't have a device that has an OS outside of the carrier standard. Please!!!
Once again, I will admit At&t has alot of work to do to their network but, going over to big red is like willfully going to jail. Guaranteed 3 meals and a bed. Full enjoyment of it is not going to happen.We don't use landlines, nor do we live on our phones. But my phone works just as good as most I run across. All carriers have their glitches from time to time. That's what brought Sprint into a low place.
I'm a fanboy of the Sim card tech GSM/Edge/WCDMA at the moment. U.S. carriers have alot to be desired. Hopefully one of them will broaden their coverage and quality of service to meet overseas tech. But it just shows the state of the quality of service of all U.S. carriers service. Who would be #1 in the U.S., if At&t's network were up to overseas standards? With as many people that love the iPhone, even with less coverage At&t would be on deck. So be thankful that there are some glitches because that in the long run evens the playing field. And the proof of data usage by At&t customers can be found in the network since the iPhone 3G. My service was almost stellar. It was truly rivaling CDMA. Then came the overload.
murmermer @ Mar 20th 2009 7:07PM
I am going to sue Damone Dickerson for giving me unnecessary stress leading to depression. He caused this by making me think that Apple may go bankrupt and I will never see 3.0 on my iPhone!
Kwikit @ Mar 20th 2009 9:26PM
Well, we can hope.
DisgruntledCustomer @ Jun 15th 2009 9:38PM
****If anyone has had a similar experience, please email me at hiashhere@gmail.com.****
Here's what happened with me on my contract:
1) I had two iPhones with data plan on both of them,
2) After few months, I called customer support and discontinued one line completely and cancelled data plan on both the iPhones. For this, I paid $150 as a one time cancellation charge.
3) Next months statement didn't show any problems. I was billed ONLY minute charges on one line and no data plan charges.
4) However, the very next month, I received a very high bill. When I looked in to my bills, I started getting billed for data plan again on the one line that I had decided to keep.
5) When I called AT&T customer service and explained the situation, they said:
a) Because "the computer system" saw that I used my phone line for internet access and that I was billed at the rate of 1cent per KB, it reinstated the data plan!
b) *******Apple contract with AT&T does not allow them to let customers use iPhone without a data plan*******
I wasn't told any of this when I bought the iPhone and AT&T contract. Neither was I told this, when I made the cancellation and paid $150 towards it. This request reflects clearly in my next month's bill and I have a copy of it to prove it. When I objected, customer support agreed that someone gave me false information. But they say: "We apologize for your inconvenience, but......."
The whole point of continuing one line was based on the precondition that data plan is taken out and that I wanted to use iPhone as a regaular phone.
How does a small consumer deal with this kind of misinformation based charges levied upon by, unfortunately, a company such as AT&T ? Any suggestions, please email me at hiashhere@gmail.com. I have all the evidence with me and I am exploring all the options. After all, there is a limit to everything.