Back in this post from March 17, I said AT&T should do a better job of watching their high-bandwidth DSL customers. Apparently the same is no different with their wireless customers, and both AT&T and their customers are suffering now. iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, and Droid users on the AT&T network have had such horrible service that many of them are paying the cancellation fees so they can move to a better nationwide carrier or any of the local carriers.
AT&T traces its network troubles back to around 2007, and though their filing with the FCC does not mention the iPhone by name, the company’s 8,000% increase in data consumption from 2007 to 2010 corresponds with the launch of the first iPhone in 2008. Smartphones, AT&T says, use 24 times more data for each user, and that doesn’t even include tablet usage.
Guess what, AT&T? Data usage isn’t going away, it won’t be decreasing anytime soon, so either beef up your network so you can repair your incredibly-damaged reputation, or decide it’s time to relinquish control of the game to companies who actually know how to play.
