You almost have to admire AT&T’s consistency. They are consistently finding new ways to screw up almost daily now.
The latest issue involves the story we covered yesterday about apps using the Google Voice service getting pulled from Apple’s App Store. In a follow-up post, we didn’t exactly go out on a limb suggesting that it was AT&T and not Apple, that was responsible for the app being pulled. After all, word is that Apple VP Phil Schiller personally ushered one of those apps, GV Mobile, through the approval process initially. And today brings word that the apps were indeed removed at AT&T’s request. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber cites a “reliable little birdie” on the news, and we’ve just heard the same thing from a source as well.
While some found it very hard to believe that AT&T would be the ones behind something like this, given that it allows Google Voice apps on other phones on its network, those kind of contradictions are nothing new when it comes to AT&T with the iPhone. It’s the same contradiction that prevents the SlingPlayer iPhone app from working on AT&T’s network, while it works just fine on other AT&T devices. And the same one that is likely to cripple a Hulu app, if it ever gets released.
It’s well known that iPhone users consume a lot more data than other smartphone users, and so all of this seems to be a case of AT&T getting more than it bargained for when it signed the exclusive deal to be the iPhone carrier in the U.S. And while you might think that it would be a nice problem to have, a number of sources have indicated to us that the iPhone’s rapid growth is what is responsible for AT&T’s network degradation over the past several months, particularly in places like San Francisco, where iPhone usage is very high.
Now just imagine the service nightmares if AT&T permitted high-use/high-bandwidth services on the device. While it has been laughably slow to roll out its official tethering option for the iPhone, I shudder to think of what it will do to the network when it does become available later this year. Of course, AT&T is expected to charge and arm and a leg for the option, in a move that is undoubtedly, at least in part, to limit the number of users who will sign up.
And that’s what it has come to for AT&T with regards to the iPhone: Restrictions, restrictions, restrictions.
AT&T is constantly promising that network upgrades are coming, but Apple keeps selling more and more iPhones. While it would never admit it, I think it’s beyond time to wonder if AT&T can handle the exclusive iPhone partnership anymore. I’m not saying that the situation would be different had it been Verizon who got the exclusive deal, I’m simply stating what is on everyone’s mind: AT&T is simply not working the way it should be for customers who are paying close to, or in excess of, $100 a month.
Certainly, losing the exclusivity would hurt the company’s bottom line, and would hit the customer base pretty hard, but losing the iPhone exclusivity may end up being a good thing for AT&T. Good in that it’s network may finally work again.
Of course, AT&T is said to be working hard to extend the exclusive deal with Apple beyond next year. But that will be a nightmare for everyone involved. We have no shortage of sources, some very close to Apple, now telling us that as mad as all of us (the customers) are with AT&T, Apple is just as mad, if not more so. Apple can speak in platitudes all it wants during earnings calls about its partnership with AT&T — behind the scenes, trust me, they hear our complaints loud and clear.
But the one hot new wireless partner that is always mentioned, Verizon (since it is the biggest network and generally considered to be more reliable), looks like it is still playing hardball. This morning it officially announced that it would be getting the Palm Pre in early 2010, and it’s playing up its RIM partnership and its own app store. That’s what you call leverage in negotiating with Apple, which it is.
Still, even the iPhone on another, smaller GSM carrier, like T-Mobile, would undoubtedly help ease some of the strain on AT&T’s network. Again, AT&T would never admit it, but the era of iPhone exclusivity may have to be ended over sheer strain. And when that happens, we may just see AT&T approving of Google Voice apps and SlingPlayer apps on the iPhone again. AT&T has painted itself into a corner, and it’s fighting hard to keep itself there, but it’s simply not a viable option anymore for any of the parties involved (Apple, the customers, and even AT&T).
When I asked for a comment from AT&T on this latest fiasco, here’s what I got:
Nope – Apple is the one who can talk about their App Store.
That would seem to suggest that AT&T is saying Apple is in complete control over all of this. But we know that’s simply not the case. Is AT&T in denial? No, I think that they think we just can’t handle the truth. And I think that truth is that they can’t handle the iPhone, anymore.
No.
Yes.
Yes.
…seriously I think AT&T sucks too, it just seemed like your commented needed a yang to it yin.
At&t is just using this as a bargaining chip to ensure they get their exclusivity agreement extended. It trumps any losses they might have in text messaging revenues from enabling Google Voice.
the more interesting angle is that Google and ATT are going head to head in places that ATT doesn’t want to see them and this will mean all-out war.
Who do you think is making more money on the iphone? Apple or AT&T?
I am pretty sure Apple is making the most profit margins on each of your $2500 iphones.
Bloggers should start doing what is obligatory in Europe, when advertising phones, you have to state the minimum price over the whole 2-year contract. Thus iphone has a minimum price of $2000 over the two years!
More money: AT&T off of the contracts. Higher margins? Probably Apple with the subsidy. There’s no doubt they get a sweet deal, but I think the situation with an exclusive carrier is becoming untenable.
Since AT&T has an exclusivity, I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple received upwards $1000 per iphone sold on AT&Ts network!
Sure, that leaves $1000 revenue for AT&T, but then if you think AT&T is making the most profit, you would be considering that for each $1000 that they take in, AT&T spends less than $150 to build-out their network.
$150 is the cost to manufacture an iphone. So Apple is in fact making $850 profit per iphone. Thus a totally insane 566% profit margin on each iphone sold! It is completely amazing and totally unhead of.
Since Apple is most likely outsourcing most of the R&D on the iphone to Foxconn in Taiwan (see, recent story about development phone being stolen, likely by a corporate spy), you cannot argue that Apple deserves all that ridiculous 566% profit margin per iphone to cover R&D, marketing or support. With all the freak apple fanboys on the web raving non stop about the iphone, Apple is getting mostly free viral advertising.
Your numbers are all made up.
$150 is the iSupply-esque cost. It doesn’t factor in Develope cost, marketing cost, retail cost etc.
Also if you read Apple’s financial report, you will find the $1000 revenue per unit is obscenely exaggerated. (By calculate the difference between GAAP revenue and Non- GAAP revenue, which pretty much all due to iPhone’s 24 months long revenue realization.)
Development cost is outsourced to Foxconn in Taiwan. And it’s a fixed cost no matter how many phones are sold.
Where in the Apple financial report does it say exactly how much Apple is making per iphone sold on AT&T’s network?
@Charbax
You have a particularly curious idea of the word “outsource”
I don’t think it means what you think it means.
Also Apple most certainly didn’t outsource iPhone’s developement to Foxconn or whatever. The only thing Foxconn is good at is EMS, sure, Apple relies on them heavily for gadegt production and accordingly relies on them to fix issues in the manufacturing process. But iPhone is not designed there, not engineered there, most importantly not powered by Foxconn’s software.
About iPhones APU estimate, it’s too much of a hussle. The consensus among analysts lies between $550 to $600. Considering AT&T sold half of the total 26.5M units to date. Your $1000 price tag is just rediculous.
Foxconn is good at many more things than you think.
For Apple not to let all the engineers local at Foxconn do all the work to implement features, would be a basic waste of time and money. Foxconn, Quanta and other Taiwanese companies do most of Apple’s work on design and electronic engineering. Then slaves in China do the manufacturing work.
Fact is no analyst really can know how much money Apple is getting for the iphone on AT&T unless leaks at Apple or AT&T release the real numbers. This is an EXCLUSIVE distribution deal, that means all kinds of other aspects are put into play. It’s a marketing, buzz, viral blog freakout insane acitivities, AT&T buys the whole package at the telecom industry’s record price per phone. If AT&T is paying +$100, +$200 or +$300 bonus on whatever Apple initially asked per phone, it’s all up to when and how AT&T is signing those exclusivity deals with Apple.
@Charbax
No, Foxconn Quanta Compal etc. have the ability to do many things, they do offer ODM besides OEM.
But their own design & engineering are not “good” enough for Apple. Look at all those bland notebooks!
And yes, no analyst knows the exact number, but the estimation IS good enough to rebuttal your outlandish guess.
Your $1000 number just goes against reality.
Glad to see you backpedaling to +$300 subsidy or whatever. Mind you the revenue sharing model when Apple initially launched iPhone is long gone.
God I love this post. Someone had to say it. ATT can’t handle the iPhone alone.
In most other countries in the world, pre-paid plans are the predominant way people use mobile phones. It’s only in the USA that nearly 90% of consumers still are using 2-year contract plans.
The average pre-paid mobile usage for Chinese mobile phone users is $6 per month! Average cell phone payments per month in USA is over $50! Do you really think that the Chinese are using 10x less mobile telephony than American consumers are? Do you really think that the Chinese cell phone network is 10x worse than in the USA?
It’s the same technology. Voice is voice. And if you want to talk about 3G HSDPA data plans. In Europe the average data plan is less than $20 per month and is not charged over a 2-year contract but only needs to be paid monthly as a monthly pre-paid unlimited data service on a SIM card!
China is not a fair comparison as its primary concern, as you mentioned, is voice. Here we are concerned with data. A better benchmark would be Japan and select European nations (”Europe” is too wide a swatch for any meaning).
The way to free this up would be via more transparency and liquidity; up front net present value of contracts should be disclosed when phones are advertised. Perhaps if the telcos were deregulated just a tad to allow for more sideways competition it would force an end to exclusive contracts.
Well I gave you the European examples. UK, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, France, all have much better call phone prices. You aren’t forced onto 2-year contracts. In fact, in Europe, the share of pre-paid plans is more than 50% of the whole cell phone usage!
And data plans are as I said much better in Europe. Here in Denmark there are 4 different HSDPA networks and 5-6 different providers competing on the monthly pre-paid only data plans for SIM cards.
Thus my next $200 Android phone bought for Europe, will have a data-only SIM card plan, and pre-paid only. And will let me use unlimited VOIP and IM directly on the data-only $20 HSDPA plans, on Google Voice, Skype, SIP instead of Voice and SMS plans.
This comment is 100% BS. In the UK:
1) 24-month contract is the norm for new contracts
2) Prepay is 50% of the market, granted, but doesn’t include a phone subsidy. iPhone with prepay? Sure, hand in £538 (that’s about $870, by the way)
3) HTC Magic costs £380 unlocked, HTC Hero about £450.
If you only know about Denmark (and I seriously doubt your claims hold even there) don’t claim you talk about “Europe”.
You can get plenty of smartphones for £100 or £200 to use on pre-paid plans. Just cause the iphone is a huge scam, does not in any way prove that the whole telecom industry worldwide is as much of a scam.
Same in the US so what’s your point now??
@Arnav,
US wireless services are not regulated. There are some legacy regulations on wireline, but most of those have been removed over the last 30 years.
It is lame to try to compare US to China, how much do they make in China? do you not think that has anything to do with what they charge? Employees are the most expensive part of ALL business!
Do you want or expect employees in the US to work for the same income levels as they do in China?
Pricing works on what the market will bear, we charge as much as we can for apartments period, 2 years ago we were increasing rents as things were going well, now we are reducing rents as things are worse.
Sure salaries are not the same. But the hardware and infrastructure of the cell phone network is the same. You simply cannot justify that cell hone voice minutes can be more than 10x cheaper in China (more than, cause nobody is signing contract plans in China, all cell phone usage is pre-paid)
Income per capita is higher in certain European countries, yet we have cheaper cell phone network prices.
Yes, no body is signing any minimum fee plan.
But a lot of subscribers are post-paid, it’s just pay as you go.
actually, the cost per minute is significantly cheaper in the US compared to Europe (compare some plans and do the math). and nobody here is “forced” into 2-year agreements. A customer is free to pay the retail price from any vendor and use it on any network (as long as it’s compatible) with a month-to-month plan. even with something like the iphone.
Sure, and pay $599 for the unlocked phone. Good deal, for a piece of plastic junk that costs $150 to manufacture.
@Charbax
And Chinese pay about $700 a pop for a blackmarket one.
I’d have to say your standpoint sure is a moving target.
Let’s wait and see. May the best WIN
Your middle name is now “The Hammer”, go get’em.
iPhones are for lazy little hipsters and what not. Maybe they should use their phones less and not suck up valuable bandwidth that other people need
What do the non-lazy hipsters use then?
hahhaha
pay phones.
If you have a valid contract, you can use any bandwidth that the contract entitles you to use. If AT&T wants to curtail usage, they need to develop an appropriate plan that limits usage, and start selling that plan instead.
I am a Google Voice user and 100% Apple customer EXCEPT iPhone due to all of the AT&T issues…this just makes one more excuse for me to wait for exclusivity to expire and hopefully another carrier to get the iPhone.
I would like to know why AT and T is given the ability to decide what goes on my iPod Touch. Apparently Apple bows down to AT and T because of the iPhone deal and the iPod touch purchasers are subject to AT and T’s whim. Does Apple remember that the iPod came before the iPhone and was probably THE reason for their amazing turnaround?
…and UK iPhone users have to put up with restrictions because AT&T don’t want them in the store (assuming O2 aren’t also evil)
Admittedly we can’t get Google Voice in the UK yet but we can’t use slingplayer or skype on 3G because of these daft limitations
sure you can. jailbreak iphone–>cydia–> pay $2–> download “3G Unrestrictor”.
I am the exact same. I love my macbookpro and ipod 5th gen but the restrictions on the app store and blackouts on the att network in my area is what made me buy my pre.
AT&T is the only reason i bought an iTouch instead of an iPhone. Carrying my Verizon phone in my other pocket is more convenient than carrying one phone (iPhone) on AT&T
hahhaha.. MG- I love how you’ve made it a personal quest to ruin AT&T. I fully support your efforts.
I came to read the comments thinking a bunch of people were going to be telling MG to get off the topic and stop hammering AT&T.
Glad to see so many agreeing with me that he could write about this every single day and it still wouldn’t be enough.
Keep up the fight, MG!!
MG hammers ATT trying to hide Apple’s shameful moves. Where is the clear evidence that this came from ATT? If it was ATT’s fault, did Apple even care to resist, or even let people know why?
You can’t handle the truth!
You guys are like little armies out to defend Apple any chance you get. Apple is evil!
To their credit, AT&T just gave me a near $600 refund on overage charges due to my rollovers expiring.
It was my fault. I wasn’t watching them (5000k) because I had automatic billing set up, so I didn’t find out until the huge charge hit my card.
10 minutes on the phone and AT&T made it go away. Just paid my normal monthly.
So frustrated with at&t right now. I am one of the people who gets Visual Voicemail notifications like two weeks later (a problem because when I have zero service the calls go to voicemail… then I never know that someone called), I am one of the people pissed by the removal of GV Mobile, and I’m really pissed with the delay I have been seeing in getting a text. It might take two or three hours sometimes for me to get a text message. Thought it might be the other carriers until I noticed my other iPhone friends would send me a message and I’d get it hours later.
I told AT&T over the phone”you are fired”… for real.
I cannot stand their services. My first cell phone was the Motorola SLVR 7. It did not take long for them to stop manufacturing it. Instead, they issued a similar phone that had no iTune capabilities.
On top of that… 5 bars… that is a load of donkey doo. Getting signal is like trying to point your cell phone in 5 different directions and it being no use. You are getting a small percentage of coverage. And that is just a reflection of the real word I have in mind. I fear if I start to cuss, I am not going to be able to stop.
twiegler once again reports from a “reliable little birdie”, a “source close to apple” and someone who says “Nope”. i ‘ve better read the comments
does ATT has any regrets about GV being pulled from the app store?
is verizon is even interested in subsidizing the iphone 3GS which is an expensive phone?
or any other company for that matter?
btw, since i don’t know how mobile networks work, can anyone describe how do data connections strain mobile network? isn’t it by itself a data network anyway?
John Gruber is a very high profile blogger and is been building up reputation for years, quite frankly I’d trust him on Apple related news than Gizmodo/Engadget/TechCrunch any day.
siegler, time to dump the iphone… the iphone is simply crippled… and quite frankly sucks.. because of that you should just switch to Android…
come on suck it up… you can do it, take a deep breath and repeat slowly after me… The G1-Overall-Experience is better then the Iphone-Experience… come on you can do it…
stop bitching about ATT just switch to Tmobile.. none of that BS and their customer service is the best of ANY company
The G1’s hardware is not super good. There are a dozen ARM Cortex A8 based Android phones coming out in the next few months, by dozens other manufacturers than just HTC, so with choice Android is going to be awesome and much cheaper. Soon there will be $100 unlocked Android phones.
agreed. have a g1. don’t like the hardware. g2 (mytouch) is much better. still prefer the iPhone though.
Or you can unlock the iPhone, get on Tmobile, and rock any Android phone out there. I find usually people who are haters:
A: Have never owned an iPhone
B: Hate AT&T and having to stick with a different phone carrier than their preference.
Bypass AT&T and the world is a beautiful place. It’s not that hard…
No.
It is Apple that jails you. It is Apple that locks you. It is Apple that tells you what you can and cannot do.
Pretending they are not the problem in the first place is childish. Screw them. You don’t NEED them.
I mean honestly I have been with ATT for years.. and they are constantly promising upgrades, they lie about best network, best customer satisfaction and all that BS…
In reality they are a bunch of lying bastards… just check consumer reports satisfaction, check how long they’ve promised network upgrade, check how other networks fare….
I have been with ATT for years.. but they are one corrupt bull$hitting company.. all about marketing and their customer service sucks majorly.
Seriously… TMobile customer support is the best customer support of any company out there. there is no US company I think that is better… while still watching their bottomline and not be too gullable… and on top of that their plans tend to be 1/3 cheaper.. at least that was the bottom line impact…
And if you use google voice, and add the GV hub number to your fav5s.. you’re talking for free… (at least until they close that loophole)
Come on, the G1 hardware and user experience sucks.
Poor AT&T haha..
I don’t even know why Apple picked AT&T.. it has always been known to drop calls all the time and bad service.
Sucks to be them.
It would be great to get the iPhone off the AT&T exclusive. Now if Tequila just didn’t come with a hangover. It sounds like it is just a matter of time; for one of them at least.
So does everyone think that when Verizon gets the iPhone that everyone can just dump AT and T and switch?
Two reasons they won’t:
1) Two-year contracts
2) CDMA
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m almost positive while I was looking for a phone upgrade on VZ’s website there are GSM phones listed now too…
I believe they are dual gsm/cdma so you can use them in other countries when you travel. but could be wrong.
nice. i like that.
Seriously I would pay double for my monthly bill if I could get it on verizon..
Would you buy a CDMA iPhone and essentially pay for your device twice?
As much as people would like to paint AT&T as evil, it has always been my belief that a lot of their actions with regards to the iPhone is driven by the fact that their network can’t handle all the iPhone traffic.
If Verizon had gotten the exclusive iPhone contract, we’d still have the same problem.
which is more or less what i said.
I am, more or less, agreeing with you.
And I fully agree with both of you.
This kind of problem is inevitable when you’re dealing with exclusivity with carriers that are still locked in a protective, reactive telecom (vs. internet) mindset.
Basically, they both suck — Verizon and AT&T. Thank Google, Grand Central, and the boat load of other crazy VOIP entrepreneurs that failed miserably before them.
I agree with all 4 of you. For me AT&T works good, but if some of the load can be put on another network I’m all for it – then maybe we’ll get tethering, MMS, GV and a few others working reasonably well.
virzon vs at&t…which of the two evil’s shall prevail?
they both suck and suck huge although i after being an at&fail customer i like verizon better.
i agree with the point about non exclusivity of the apple mobile products. something needs to change. i think for every year that i was an at&t customer i would write them a letter each month to tell them how unhappy i was with their service…and i doubt anyone read them.
bingo. the network doesn’t matter. the amount of traffic generated by the iphone is absolutely crushing and would bring any network to its knees, including verizon. with that said, att still sucks.
Apple should open iPhone to all GSM carrier. The market itself will determine the right price point. Market share will tell you which carrier has the best service.
its seems apple didn’t ask AT&T; Can you guys handle our phone?. if AT&T had a better PR team they could easily make apple look like the a-holes. MMS,Google Voice,Slingplayer & other apps are not blocked by AT&T on other phones. the simple fact is that apple IS blocking these apps on the iphone. wake the f*ck up apple fanboys.
AT&T sucked before iPhone. Why should it get better with the iPhone monopoly? Actually, the monopoly made them less motivated to do anything to improve their service!
No.
I think they need some competition! They don’t really have any motivation. I’d like to think their motivation is keeping their customers happy, but clearly it isn’t. Because, if it is, they FAIL.
hey techcrunch team!
please notice:
Apps who have been punished by AT&T also are fully functionally or available on other countries or providers which support VOIP, Tethering, Slingplayer apps, movie streamings etc!
AT&T is ruining the iPhone ON FOREIGN NETWORKS!
ive a completey free iphone, bought in an italian apple retail store. its simlock free! im using the biggest austrian provider “Mobilkom Austria A1″ which NORMALLY supports skype (voip), tethering, movie streamings etc.
but i just cant use these things cause AT&T IN THE USA BLOCKS THESE THINGS!!!
HELLO?! like “i dont like strawberries so NO ONE ON THIS FREAKING PLANET IS ALLOWED TO EAT STRAWBERRIES!”
my point too. which goes to show that ATT has nothing to do with it, the decision came from Apple.
btw tethering & skype work just fine for me
on the other hand GV is only available in the US, which kinda contradicts myself … i m confused
its not just GV, its QIK, its Skype (which only works on Wifi cause of AT&T, etc..
i dont think you can skype on 3G without a jailbreak
That’s a good point! AT&T is evil
Strawberry nut-sucker!
… are NOT fully functionally… i mean
having too many users is a good problem to have. having paying users who still pay when the service is barely working is also a cool situation. Of course apple is trying to maintain exclusivity . . . we still pay . . . for now.
http://www.trad...spx?symbol=aapl
I must say, I don’t get all of the gripping here? I have had the Iphone for 2 years now and have had NO issues with At&t, I had Verizon before and I can not recall their service, call quality being that much better.
Maybe it is due to my living in San Diego and traveling mostly in Southern CA where coverage might be better than others?
Cost, my dad pays over $100 per month for his Verizon plan in Georgia and it does not have unlimited Data so if he uses the internet too much that bill is going to go through the ROOF.
I pay $78 per month and have unlimited access to the internet which I use the hell out of, if I was on his plan with Verizon I would be broke right now!!!!
Also, At&t got the blame for their 3G being slow & it turns out that a big part of it’s being slow was due to the processor and ram in the Iphone, they released the new 3Gs and it loads pages almost twice as fast on the SAME network.
How come no one is gripping about Apple trying to make us buy another Iphone to get fast loading internet? I have already bought 2 & now if I want faster loading internet I have to fork out the cash to buy another one!
iPhone 3Gs rocks on AT&T, and it will only get better if the whiners switch to another network.
even if they switch, they cant use apps like skype or qik on 3G cause AT&T disallows this apps on the iPhone. no matter which network.
Wait. Col. Jessep ordered the code red?
you’re goddamn right he did.
I’ve been with Verizon since the PrimeCo days. What was that mascot they had? When they came on the scene, they seemed like the progressive player, offering stuff like free call forwarding, etc. in a single package. They let you change your plan at any time you saw they had one better than the one you were on. They had a very competitive offering of phones.
These days, they have the best network in part because of all the proprietary stuff they do. Forums are filled with complaints of Verizon handcuffing the features of phones, and employing a confusing list of al a carte charges.
Still, I’ve stuck with them because my phone works when everyone else’s fails. I’ve never relied on a phone for much more than making calls. Speed dial and an address book took me into the modern age. So, I haven’t minded too much that Verizon never seems to have the breakthrough phones anymore.
If and when they get the iphone, or the iTablet, there’s going to be a real clash with Apple. There’s a reason Verizon turned them down initially. For all those waiting for that magic day when iPhone comes to Verizon, be careful what you wish for. I hope my regular phone will still work when others’ don’t . If not, my one main reason for sticking with Verizon for so many years will just go away.
Dude,
You repeat the same things so often in the same blog that it gets annoying. There isnt a page full of news here.
And it would be nice if techCrunch could be redesigned to accomodate threads.
There have been so many blogs since yesterday all about iPhone/at&t that having them together would prevent repeated content and save you trouble too. Not to mention the ease for the readers.
You come here for news?
I don’t come here to enjoy repeated information.
And least to celebrate witty comments.
Is there any chance TechCrunch and some of the other tech blogs out there might someday realize your office/cave isn’t the center of the universe? I have used Sprint, AT&T and Verizon side by side for years in the greater-Portland area and loathe using anything but one of my 3 AT&T phones, including an iPhone. Around here, my AT&T phones drop fewer calls, get much better battery life and have much faster data speeds than the other two carriers. Remember, not 10 years ago we were all excited about 54k modems and digital cell phones – you have no wire now, it will never be perfect.
Good luck trying to convince bay area people, Nick. Consider us the ones who fight at the frontlines so you don’t have to worry about issues.
Freedom isn’t free, we fight so you can surf comfortably…. and more blah.
hmmmpppffsnickersnort
oh wow. i had phones with at&fail, sprint, verizon and the worst was sprint (they are horrible. worst customer service ever), at&t, and then verizon was the best of all three but it sucked too. i don’t understand why all these providers have it in to not only gauge customers but piss us off too and then give us bad answers/no answers when we ask questions. you guys think you have it bad. canada has it worse.
AT&T: You want answers?
TechCrunch: We think we’re entitled to them.
AT&T: You want answers?!
TechCrunch: We want Google Voice on our iPhones.
AT&T: You can’t handle the iPhone with Google Voice!
Son, we operate on network that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by carriers with restrictions. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Verizon Wireless? We have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Google Voice and you curse AT&T. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what we know: That pulling Google Voice, while tragic, probably saved the network. And our existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves the network.
You don’t want the Google Voice on your iPhone. Because deep down, in places you don’t talk about at TechCrunch50, you want us protecting the network. You need us protecting that network. We use words like rate limiting, application approval and restrictions…we use these words as the backbone to a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline.
We have neither the time nor the inclination to explain ourselves to a blog who writes and profits under the blanket of the very network that we provide, then questions the manner in which we provide it. We’d prefer you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, we suggest you pick up a router and build your own network. Either way, We don’t give a damn what you think you’re entitled to.
TechCrunch: Did you order Google Voice taken down?
AT&T: We did the job you sent us to do.
TechCrunch: Did you order Google Voice taken down?
AT&T: You’re goddamn right we did.
+1000
+99999999999999999999999999
We need someone to put that voice overlay onto the real clip upload it to youtube.. it would go viral in no time…
Well done.
nice name!
Absolutely awesome
Hahahahahaha! That is the funniest comment I have ever read! I am laughing SO hard!
OMG!! classic
awesome post
GREAT!!!!!!!
Maybe the best comment I’ve ever read…too funny!
Absolutely brilliant!
This sounds like a story for http://www.attHELL.com
I won and made AT&T fix my problem, but it took a while
V
great article MG. Can any one carrier really handle the iPhone? Also it seems that the level to which Apple is frustrated with AT&T almost gives Verizon too much leverage. Hopefully (and surely) they are looking to Sprint and T-Mobile as well (or even US Cellular – we need decent phones!
Not really sure how “probably (and surely)” made sense when I typed it…
Gotta get on a plane to go arrest Ralls.
sorry! meant to reply to Siegler!
Right on MG. Wish there were more deductive reporting this out there.
^ like
oops
Verizon + Apple – can you smell the opportunity? Or should we leave this to Google + Sprint?
If AT&T would:
- Cut out most of its useless politics-ridden middle management, redundant projects, programs, and employees, and bureaucracy
- Hire new blood that isn’t interested in a lifetime with the company but in making considerable short-medium term achievements.
- Use the new blood to improve existing internal applications, programs, information distribution/organization, and general efficiency.
then perhaps they could actually spend money on improving their technology and coverage base.
Then, if AT&T would:
- Streamline and de-convolute all public-facing documentation, options, and communications.
- Launch a PR campaign (and back it up with real changes) about the company wanting to improve the lives of its customers.
- Rework the overly anti-competitive nature.
- Treat existing customers the same or better than new ones.
- Scrap all of the new customer gimmicks that cause the end-of-contract revolving door.
- Scrap all of the false, border-line, and overly specific award/tech claims in their PR campaigns.
- Offer custom-tailored plans and options instead of off-the-shelf bundles.
- Offer new styles of service and products, like pay-per-channel TV, no email/web storage/etc. Internet, and unlocked phones.
then maybe they could finally improve their image, get and keep customers.
In other words, they need to act like a modern startup instead of some industrial revolution take over the world megacorp.
*fingers crossed for T-Mobile iPhone*
AT&T is in the process of buying T-Mobile. I read the post and just laugh, if only you knew.
Do you have any proof? I call bullshit. Troll.
Not surprised at all about AT&Ts inability to handle the iPhone. They can’t even hndle their own customers and wouldn’t know customer service if it bit them in the a*s. Tried to upgrade to 3GS by buying it outright at $699 so I wouldn’t be caught in another 2 year BS AT&T contract. AT&Ts answer….”Oh no – if you’re eligible for an early upgrade you MUST sign a new 2 year contract & the phone will cost $499.00″. Told them if I was a new customer who just walked in the store, I could get the 32 gig for $299, but since I’m a customer, I get screwed with a new 2 year contract AND an extra $200 bucks for the phone. They tried some BS line about I haven’t paid for the full subsidy on the first phone, but they miss 2 very important points….. first, they had a pissed of customer and they’ve only pissed me off more. Second, I can cancel the 2 year for $175 when (PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!) anyone other than AT&T gets the iPhone. Plus, they’ll take $5 bucks off the $175 for each month that I don’t cancel, which equals the exact minute another carrier gets the phone…. they’ll still lose their idiot subsidy. Can’t wait to see AT&T Wireless earnings tank when Apple, if they’re as smart as we know they are, blows up the exclusive contract.
that’s not true!!! if you buy at the standard rate you do not sign a 2yr or 1yr or 1month contract, there is no contract to sign
they were lying to you. if you pay full retail there is NO new contract. try again or just go to the apple store and get one and pop your SIM card in.
I have two issues with this post.
1) AT&T subsizes the iPhone enough that you can’t expect them to allow you to install software that undermines their business. AT&T is a company with a fiduciary duty to its shareholders, not to opinionated bloggers.
2) When Windoes crashes due to a third-party driver bug, I and most people I know blame Microsoft. Because its Microsoft’s chocies that ultimately lead to such unstable experiences. In a similar vein, I blame Apple for my iPhone performing crappily on AT&T’s netowrk. Apple chose to go exclusive with AT&T, and release features that AT&T’s network cannot handle. That’s not AT&T’s fault, unless you can prove that they contractually agreed to specific network improvements that they then did not deliver. Apple needs to be held accountable for its choices.
Uh… that really doesn’t make any sense. In fact, that’s probably one of the dumbest comments I’ve ever read on TechCrunch… which is saying a lot.
So let me get this straight…. you would rather your iPhone not be able download full HTML web pages??
Comparing the iPhone’s high bandwidth usage to a driver bug on Windows is spectacularly idiotic.
Seriously dude… People want more bandwidth, not less. Get a clue.
So, let me get this straight….you’d honestly prefer that your iPhone didn’t download content-rich web pages??
Uh…People want more bandwidth. Not less.
Something tells me you don’t really own an iPhone. …If you did own an iPhone, you wouldn’t have compared the iPhone’s ability to harness the full power of the Internet to a “third-party driver bug” on Windows.
People buy the iPhone because it can easily access bandwidth.
“People buy the iPhone because it can easily access bandwidth.” .. And Apple didn’t know this when it signed an exclusive with AT&T?
I don’t care what my comment tellls *you* about my iPhone ownership. What I do know is you have shown an inability to think intelligently.
AT&T is one step away from failure and six degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon.
For the millionth time.. Name somewhere other than SF where their service sucks. People bitch about it constantly, but I’ve yet to visit anywhere where it was true. Now on the other side I can name tons of places where Verizon is worthless.
New York City, Las Vegas, Austin, Cleveland, I could go on. NYC is actually much worse than SF, in my experience.
I can vouch for Austin. Spotty coverage, at best.
Even at home (south of Austin) I’ll have 5 bars, the phone will ring, I’ll pick it up to answer and then it will drop the call.
My friends with iPhones on T-mobile in the area do not have these problems.
new york – agreed
cleveland – haven’t had many problems there
las vegas – I’ve always had good coverage there
austin – never been
sf – agreed
Las Vegas has great AT&T and Sprint coverage, and Verizon here is crap — of course, when there are huge conventions, all of them suck. I had T-Mobile too, during CES, on the strip, I could not make a call out for almost 20 mins at a time, got dropped, and kept trying again in 20 mins. I’ve not tried this yet with Verizon/AT&T but I can only guess the outcome would be the same (technical limitation).
people are voting with their wallets and AT&T can’t lose because consumers are clearly willing to pay a premium for this crap. We all bitch but then cling to our iPhones at the same time.
Even with the Pre (which is tied to the dying horse names Sprint) there isn’t a really good alternative on a good network (aka Verizon).
more importantly – when are we actually going to get a company to provide a open 3G/4G pipe? I’m all for rate limiting as long as consumers have a decent cost model to choose from but in this day, blocking access to apps is total BS.
AT&T is doing to the Mobile Internet what China has done to their internet access. Thanks for f-ing up a good thing AT&T.
AT&T is probably the only carrier that CAN handle this phone! Other carriers (lets just use Verizon) would not have nearly enough capacity, yes Verizon has the internet capacity perhaps. But they have nowhere near the combination of internet/call volume capacity to handle millions of users with the iPhone. AT&T is the only company that has deep enough pockets to pull this off. Besides, the iphone wouldn’t be able to do half as much on other carriers because they’re either not enough of their own towers (T-Mobile) or the phone would suffer features because some stuff you just cant cram into a phone like that with CDMA (Verizon,Sprint). Look what happened with the razr, it had to be made a few centimeters bigger to get on CDMA. I’m just saying!
All of the verizon phones ive played with throughout the years have seemed to be locked down by verizon. the original os and capabilities were crippled in one way or another.
i see this as being a problem for such a revolutionary device as the iphone. will verizon give apple the freedom it needs to take things to the next level…
Verizon told Apple to f-off in 2007, I think they will succumb to Apple in 2010 or 2011 (which is in the best interests of us, the consumers). They currently charge 3.99 a month subscription for a frigg’n eBay app that is free almost everywhere else. If they try that crap with the iPhone (when/if they get it) they’d be shooting themselves in the foot.
Yes They can!
the whole gv apple att verizon 4chan is just beyond awesomeness. you blogers can mess with the awesomes. beyond that level, not you to mess.
My friend is using iPhone and he is not satisfied by the service provided by AT&T. I think they should do something about it before it is too late. exbi
what?
For once, just for once think whether its actually Apple who is responsible for this act. I love it when Siegler manages to deflect the whole blame on to AT&T.
Agreed, that AT&T has been nothing less than pathetic, but painting Apple as a do-no-evil, almost angelic organization is just ludicrous. Granted that AT&T might have raised the objection to GV on data usage grounds, why can’t Apple (who have negotiated this deal for a large part of the control on the iphone ecosystem) stand firm.
If you are going to fawn over them for their minor achievements, at least have the honesty to criticize them for their major blunders
+1
Guiding principle of MG:
Above all, do no harm to Apple
Despite how bad AT&T is (and was when they signed the original agreement), Apple still is honoring these requests by AT&T. Apple is still not very honest or transparent about its actions that are not user-friendly.
It takes 2 to tango … or to yank a Google app from the App Store.