Its not apple's fault, youre right.
But I dont see how we can have the capacity, when MMS is available through ALL networks and on ALL phones but iPhone. What gives.
Sending/receiving a pic from one iphone to another phone shouldnt be as heavy on the network than using Safari or downloading a movie when the 3.0 is out,,,,
The last position that I want is that of apologist for AT&T. There is a video of an interview between Walt Mossberg of the WSJ and Randall Stephenson, CEO of AT&T. (I found it on the "All Things Digital" app on the iPhone but it is probably on the WSJ web site and utube.) Mossberg bordered on patronizing. "People are buying iPhones in spite of AT&T, not because of." "You were not ready for 3G." (This thread is about AT&T not being ready for 3.0/3GS.) I felt like Mossberg was on my side and asking the right questions,
but he did not talk about arbitrary restrictions on iPhones that AT&T is not applying to other smart phones.
I felt that Stephenson was not responsive and was clearly unapologetic, but you can judge that for yourself. I learned almost nothing that I did not think that I already knew. It is clear that AT&T is behind and expects to remain behind for the forseeable future. They are trying to manage their "churn;" that is about voice quality, not data. At one point he admits that AT&T churn is higher than the industry, but trending down while the rest of the industry is flat. At another he seems to claim that he leads the industry in churn because it is going down.
Within data, they are pushing broadband cards, not smartphones. When was the last time you saw an AT&T ad for an iPhone? He claims that they intend to roll out HSDPA (3.5G cellular data) but admitted that they have not even chosen the first market yet. The 3GS is 3.5G ready but not 4G; you will need another iPhone for that. "But it is a long time to LTE 4G."
Stephenson seems to suggest that it is manpower, not money, that is the scarce resource. He is also blaming his vendors for not meeting expectation. Also that getting wireline capacity to the cell site is a limiting factor.
He said that AT&T is taking over Starbuck's WiFi from T-Mobile. I already prefer AT&T WiFi to T-Mobile WiFi but I prefer Optonline to both.