Comments on: Wondering Out Loud: The AT&T Network

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 04:25:47 +0000

I agree with the "blackberrys are slow" sentiment. I use mine with the Sprint 3G network in the south bay, and on the phone it's barely usable. I more frequently use my blackberry in tethering mode, connecting my computer to the internet via bluetooth to the blackberry.

In that mode, the speeds are great.

The phone makes a big difference.

By: Pat Daddona

Pat Daddona — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 03:19:28 +0000

I just uploaded my one and only Youtube performance onto my LG. Not the most exciting phone around but on 3G and the video and sound are quite good. Go figure!

By: Programmer Helper

Programmer Helper — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:41:38 +0000

Prior to that launch I could download and use streaming services. Now, not at all. I am lucky if my exchange email pull doesn’t take 2 minutes for a handful of messages.

By: karun

karun — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 03:20:21 +0000

With the iPhone, Apple released a couple of firmware upgrades to improve network performance – it was all tied to how the device network stack interacted with the ATT network.

Check for firmware upgrades for your Blackberry – also they may have a new youtube viewer app which improves video download performance.

By: SW

SW — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:12:31 +0000

There are a number of explanations, traffic shaping not the most likely in my opinion.

The different devices could well be using different protocols and bit rates, but differences in client application implementations (either the YT app on the device or even the video codec) or the network stack on the device can result in huge differences in performance.

Compare the speed various platforms can request and display a complex web page (iphone vs S60 vs Android) for a similar examples.

There are many options for device optimisations, most devices are pretty poor.

By: Seth

Seth — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:26:39 +0000

Streaming video on YouTube works just fine here on AT&T’s 3G arizona network. There is a prompt that it has to switch to WAP for video streaming, however, but downloads in a flash and streams clean the entire time (when 3G network up, as it on occasion goes down for the whole southwest, yet another story). That said, believe iPhone has YouTube app which is optimized for AT&T network and YouTube and probably can’t hurt and can only help as far as rapid delivery is concerned.

By: Bobby

Bobby — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:56:08 +0000

I’m convinced that Blackberrys just suck. I’ve had a Curve for a couple years-no wifi btw, what’s up with that? and my daughter has had an iPhone 3G for about 4 months and there is absolutely no comparison. The Edge network makes the Blackberry useless, and as far as it goes for a phone it’s aweful. The audio fidelity is almost unusable, not like my daughters iPhone which sounds great, and the network connections is terrible. I can’t wait until our contract resets in April, iPhone for me and no looking back.

By: Noah

Noah — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:05:49 +0000

Wonder what a network speed test at the dinner table would have shown. http://i.dslr.net/iphone_speedtest.html or http://www.dslreports.com/mspeed

I would also wonder about your comment re: getting kicked off of 3G to go to E. Could be a radio issue in the phone -- I've heard the old "go to Airplane mode and then back again" trick to re-establish strong connection with 3G network - especially if you're traveling a lot. Doesn't seem it should be necessary, but...

By: Tom Nocera

Tom Nocera — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:47:22 +0000

John,
A solution to the limitations of the current 3G bandwidth is being implemented by Clearwire. That company, backed by Steve Case, is at work setting up a new 4G network. I understand Clearwire's 4G network is already up and running in Seattle with other cities to come online soon.

By: Ben Ortega

Ben Ortega — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:41:59 +0000

Carriers use partitioning in their networks for handling top paying customers vs. low level payers. Nothing new here.

RIM/BB probably decided to go with the 4th class transport option vs. 1st class, thus your experience is worse.

It could also come down to the fact that you bought a crappy phone. yeah I'm an iPhone 2.5G user and I have zero complaints about network availability...well that's not true..I have no signal at home but my wifi covers me.

Throw the BB away and get an iPhone.