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New York, 2:58 AM
Thu Dec 10
71 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Killjoy Killjoy
    12/09/09

    In reply to AT&T CEO Admits AT&T Sucks. Solution: Charge More Money.
    "The users are the problem" hints at quite the paradigm, doesn't it? Namely, that users exist for the benefit of the system. Personally I think systems exist for the benefit of their users, and a system that doesn't is of little use.
     Reply
    Killjoy was starred Killjoy was unstarred
    Image of Astigmatism Astigmatism
    12/09/09

    @Killjoy: ++
     Reply
    Astigmatism was starred Astigmatism was unstarred
    Image of Astigmatism Astigmatism
    12/09/09

    In reply to AT&T CEO Admits AT&T Sucks. Solution: Charge More Money.
    My 3G has had software fritzes recently, such that Apple generously offered me a new 3GS, for only the low, low, subsidized price, if only I'd sign a new 2-year contract with AT&T. No way in hell I took that offer. My contract is up on July 18; I'm counting down the days until I can ditch those assholes and switch back to Verizon.

    It's a pity as I adore the phone itself, but I'm sick as all hell of worrying about calls dropping, data service cuts, etc.; when I was on Verizon I always thought it sucked b/c of the limited phone selection, but the past 18 months have taught me and a couple million other people that it's the network that really counts. When Cingular ran those "fewest dropped calls" ads a couple years back, I remember thinking that I'd never experienced a dropped call in my life, and wondered if it was really a problem. Ironically, now that I'm with AT&T nee Cingular, it's a constant of my existence.

    I think AT&T is going to have a mass exodus next year, and hope they go broke because of it. But as a 27-year fan of Apple, I only hope they have a backup plan when they start to lose all of that business.
     Reply
    Astigmatism was starred Astigmatism was unstarred
    Image of Navin R Johnson Navin R Johnson
    12/09/09

    In reply to AT&T CEO Admits AT&T Sucks. Solution: Charge More Money.
    below the "highest-scoring provider."

    Which is...? Verizon?
     Reply
    Navin R Johnson was starred Navin R Johnson was unstarred
    Image of Slinkytech Slinkytech
    12/09/09

    In reply to AT&T CEO Admits AT&T Sucks. Solution: Charge More Money.
    "Can you hear me now? . . . What's that? Oh, I'm the verizon guy? . . . Hello, hello, AT&T? Are you there? I think they're call was just dropped. Guess they can't hear me now."
     Reply
    Slinkytech was starred Slinkytech was unstarred
    Image of not_a_virus.exe.vbs not_a_virus.exe.vbs
    12/09/09

    In reply to AT&T CEO Admits AT&T Sucks. Solution: Charge More Money.
    What have they been doing with the millions they get from iPhone sales and the monthly service?

    Weed?
     Reply
    not_a_virus.exe.vbs was starred not_a_virus.exe.vbs was unstarred
    Image of AmphetamineCrown AmphetamineCrown
    12/09/09

    @not_a_virus.exe.vbs: They invested $38B in their wireless network in the past two years, and planned investment for the next two is on par with that.
     Reply
    AmphetamineCrown was starred AmphetamineCrown was unstarred
    Image of NorwoodIsMyHero NorwoodIsMyHero
    12/09/09

    @not_a_virus.exe.vbs: It's probably relevant to remember that it took large mergers for Verizon to become as large as it is. Buying Alltel was key in vaulting Verizon into a commanding lead in the coverage battle.

    As AmphetamineCrown pointed out AT&T has invested heavily in the last two years in expanding and making better their coverage. If there was another provider interested in being bought out you can bet AT&T would be all over it.
     Reply
    NorwoodIsMyHero was starred NorwoodIsMyHero was unstarred
    Image of frigg frigg
    12/09/09

    In reply to AT&T CEO Admits AT&T Sucks. Solution: Charge More Money.
    By incentives, he doesn't mean charge more money. He probably means the phone will start giving you little electric shocks or something beyond a certain bandwidth.
     Reply
    frigg was starred frigg was unstarred
    Image of archercc archercc
    12/09/09

    In reply to AT&T CEO Admits AT&T Sucks. Solution: Charge More Money.
    While their CS is, well, the suck I stuck with Sprint because, while supposedly outdated, their network just works.

    Thank god for Google for actually putting some effort into a mobile phone platform. I have a feeling with the pace they are going with the OS releases and the market that Android will probably ring the death bell for Windows Mobile. Microsoft doesnt own the marketplace like they do on computers so they were mistaken to think they can just sit on a crappy, old OS.
     Reply
    archercc was starred archercc was unstarred
    Image of something_unique_and_descriptive something_unique_and_descriptive
    12/09/09

    @archercc: Windows Mobile is too ingrained in the corporate and commercial markets to die. It might disappear from the consumer market but it's going to be a long time before there's anything that can replace it completely.
     Reply
    something_unique_and_descriptive was starred something_unique_and_descriptive was unstarred
    Image of archercc archercc
    12/09/09

    @something_unique_and_descripti...: Im seeing it die. RIM is one big nail in the coffin and other OS'es supporting Exchange Active Sync is another.
     Reply
    archercc was starred archercc was unstarred
    Image of charles.plush charles.plush
    12/09/09

    @archercc: sorry mate..but RIM is really only super popular in the US. Winmo and symbian are more popular in the rest of the world, just look at the amount of Winmo phones that get released in parts other than the US. in the US it is dropping from consumers, but internationally many companies are switching to Winmo FROM RIM to help cut costs.
     Reply
    NorwoodIsMyHero approved this comment charles.plush was starred charles.plush was unstarred
    Image of NorwoodIsMyHero NorwoodIsMyHero
    12/09/09

    @charles.plush: I approve this comment simply for the "sorry mate...". That and also the fact that I think he's actually making a good point regarding international Winmo usage.
     Reply
    NorwoodIsMyHero was starred NorwoodIsMyHero was unstarred
    Image of something_unique_and_descriptive something_unique_and_descriptive
    12/09/09

    @archercc: It's not Exchange that will keep WinMo alive, it's the sheer number of super-niche uses it's been adapted to, the sort of things that were developed out of a specific need which was not met on any platform, now it's met on WinMo nobody's going to bother with another platform. The market for handheld devices with built in parking ticket printers is fairly limited and since all of the software used has been written for WinMo, nobody is going to release a device running Android, not because it's technically impossible but because no one would buy them since there would be no software, and until there's hardware nobody's going to write the software.

    If you want an idea of how big MS is in the commercial space, go to an Apple store. Those little handheld card scanners they carry around... those are running a version of Windows Mobile. You have to assume that Apple would have gone with anyone other than Microsoft if there was anyone other than Microsoft... there wasn't and still isn't.
     Reply
    something_unique_and_descriptive was starred something_unique_and_descriptive was unstarred
    Image of AmphetamineCrown AmphetamineCrown
    12/09/09

    In reply to AT&T CEO Admits AT&T Sucks. Solution: Charge More Money.
    Oddly, it isn't just AT&T's favorite stat. It is pretty much consistent across the Internet. See the presentations given to the FCC here: [www.openinternet.gov]

    1% use 20% of the capacity, 5% use 50%, 20% use 80% (Cable Labs). 1% create 20% of traffic, 10% create 60% (Cisco). 1% use 17%, 5% use 41%, 10% use 57% (AT&T landline).
     Reply
    AmphetamineCrown was starred AmphetamineCrown was unstarred
    Image of PinoSarpedon PinoSarpedon
    12/09/09

    @AmphetamineCrown: The problem is that ATT is delusional enough to think that these stats are static.

    That 3% using 40% of data are called early adopters, meaning that soon everyone will be consuming just as much and those early adopters and those early adopters will have moved on to consume even more data.

    That stat is just a red herring used by ATT to divert attention away from the fact that their 3G network sucks. Every day there will be more people using apps on more smartphones. Embrace the future and upgrade the networks!
     Reply
    something_unique_and_descriptive approved this comment PinoSarpedon was starred PinoSarpedon was unstarred
    Image of AmphetamineCrown AmphetamineCrown
    12/09/09

    @PinoSarpedon: I think the fact that the statistics cited aren't early adopter statistics kinda cuts against your point. The Cable Labs stats are for Cable Internet subs generally. The Cisco stats are Internet wide. The AT&T stats have to do with their MPLS network, not their radio network.

    This, in some ways, is the essence of net neutrality. If you look at all of those presentations, you see that they all note congestion issues and the need to adopt means of addressing congestion. By and large, they all seem to advocate deep packet inspection to determine packet latency priority and honoring quality of service requirements through gateways from provider to provider. They are quite interesting. All packets are not the same.
     Reply
    AmphetamineCrown was starred AmphetamineCrown was unstarred
    Image of weatherman weatherman
    12/09/09

    In reply to AT&T CEO Admits AT&T Sucks. Solution: Charge More Money.
    Attention NY and SF residents; you now have the legal justification to unlock your iphone and move to another network without penalty.
     Reply
    weatherman was starred weatherman was unstarred
    Image of AmphetamineCrown AmphetamineCrown
    12/09/09

    @weatherman: Not really, since cell phone service has always been on a best efforts basis.
     Reply
    AmphetamineCrown was starred AmphetamineCrown was unstarred
    Image of BeyondtheTech BeyondtheTech
    12/09/09

    In reply to AT&T CEO Admits AT&T Sucks. Solution: Charge More Money.
    I need to develop an "AT&T exclusivity countdown clock" app. Shame we really can't pinpoint the date, but I'm sure the same month that most of AT&T's problems will be fixed will be the moment that iPhone subscribers will be leaving in droves.
     Reply
    BeyondtheTech was starred BeyondtheTech was unstarred
    Image of AmphetamineCrown AmphetamineCrown
    12/09/09

    @BeyondtheTech: AT&T's problems would be fixed if iPhone users left in droves. Basically, the iPhone seems to be the cause of a lot of the congestion on the network. I hear a lot about people saying "move to T-Mobile," but the reality is that if any significant number of iPhone subs did that, it would crush T-Mobile's network and they'd all be worse off.
     Reply
    AmphetamineCrown was starred AmphetamineCrown was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    12/09/09

    In reply to AT&T CEO Admits AT&T Sucks. Solution: Charge More Money.
    A pay-per-byte plan is one great way to get people to leave AT&T. Plus, there's no way they can implement it on existing users without it being a "materially adverse change", which permits people to leave without paying an ETF.

    Good idea there, de la Vega.
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
    Image of vmspionage vmspionage
    12/09/09

    @OMG! Ponies!: Leave AT&T? Yea right! Unless Verizon gets an iPhone I don't see the fanboys ever leaving.
     Reply
    Monty promoted this comment vmspionage was starred vmspionage was unstarred
    Image of Rainer Thomas Paskiewicz Rainer Thomas Paskiewicz
    12/09/09

    @OMG! Ponies!: Hell, I'd jailbreak and head to the EVIL V if this happened.
     Reply
    AmphetamineCrown promoted this comment Rainer Thomas Paskiewicz was starred Rainer Thomas Paskiewicz was unstarred
    Image of Monty Monty
    12/09/09

    @vmspionage: As long as the iPhone is exclusive to AT&T, you are probably correct that they will continue to hold a sizable percentage of the market. The question is how long Apple will remain with a company that keeps staining Steve Jobs' fine knitted laundry.
     Reply
    Monty was starred Monty was unstarred
    Image of AmphetamineCrown AmphetamineCrown
    12/09/09

    @Rainer Thomas Paskiewicz: Where your jailbroken phone wouldn't work at all. Good plan.
     Reply
    AmphetamineCrown was starred AmphetamineCrown was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    12/09/09

    @Rainer Thomas Paskiewicz: I think you'd have to go to T-Mobile if you want a working iPhone not tied to AT&T.
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
    Image of w0ng3r w0ng3r
    12/09/09

    @OMG! Ponies!: Or people could you know, get a Droid at the big V and sell their iphone!

    /troll bait *hides*
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! promoted this comment w0ng3r was starred w0ng3r was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    12/09/09

    @w0ng3r: Actually, that would be the time for Microsoft to release a ZunePhone, exclusive to Verizon, complete with ZunePass compatibility.
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
    Image of w0ng3r w0ng3r
    12/09/09

    @OMG! Ponies!: As much as I love my zune 80 and zune hd, a zune phone would seem like an extremely late entry into the smartphone market, that and it would be competing against winmo7 (or whatever iteration of winmo is out by then)

    That and the inevitable increase of android's market share and the unlikelyhood of a decent app store for the zunephone
     Reply
    w0ng3r was starred w0ng3r was unstarred
    Image of travisco_nabisco travisco_nabisco
    12/09/09

    @Monty: In Canada you can get the iPhone on any of our networks, though I think that still tarnishes the image of Apple as even having the best cell phone network really isn't saying a lot when you look at the competition.
     Reply
    Monty promoted this comment travisco_nabisco was starred travisco_nabisco was unstarred
    Image of Monty Monty
    12/09/09

    @travisco_nabisco: I had not considered the entire cell phone industry as being an industry controlled by Mephistopheles, but your point is a good one. As someone who anxiously awaits a version of the iPod Touch which is set up for VOIP (Skype) use out of the box, I suppose I am a living example of your point.
     Reply
    Monty was starred Monty was unstarred
    Image of travisco_nabisco travisco_nabisco
    12/09/09

    @Monty: Excellent choice of analogies by referencing Mephistopheles!
     Reply
    travisco_nabisco was starred travisco_nabisco was unstarred
    Image of Killjoy Killjoy
    12/09/09

    In reply to Motorola Droid Has Been Rooted
    Nice! If the timing works out right, this'll give me a few free Christmas presents to hand out to my freshly Droided friends.
     Reply
    Killjoy was starred Killjoy was unstarred
    Image of fleebailey33 fleebailey33
    12/08/09

    In reply to Motorola Droid Has Been Rooted
    i can think of some good reasons

    WifiTether

    Ok one good reason.
     Reply
    fleebailey33 was starred fleebailey33 was unstarred
    Image of DustyButt™ DustyButt™
    12/08/09

    @fleebailey33: Yep. That's the one, but PDANet sent me an email saying the a new version is in the works and should be released next week with full features... and you don't have to root for PDANet to work.

    I like the fact that I now have a phone that doesn't need hacking to get the features I need.

    Liking the Droid... alot!
     Reply
    DustyButt™ was starred DustyButt™ was unstarred
    Image of Jack_Burton Jack_Burton
    12/07/09

    In reply to It's Time To Make Phone OSes Work On Any Phone
    WebOS, iPhone OS, and Android are all *NIX with HTML and Javascript on top. Except for Windows Mobile, most of the smartphone market has some form of *NIX / Java blend.

    VMware would really shake things up if it blurred the barriers of hardware. I don't think the carriers will go for it, though. Handset vendors won't care as much, except Apple, whose whole game is "the total user experience" anyway.
     Reply
    Jack_Burton was starred Jack_Burton was unstarred
    Image of QuarterToTomorrow QuarterToTomorrow
    12/08/09

    @Jack_Burton: While webOS and Android run on top of the Linux kernel and iPhone OS is Darwin (way waaay down), this doesn't mean they're compatible. As far as I'm aware, none of them are Posix compliant, they all run completely different toolchains and userlands, and apps are written in JavaScript on webOS, Java on Android and Objective-C on iPhone.

    (nb Java != JavaScript)
     Reply
    Jack_Burton promoted this comment QuarterToTomorrow was starred QuarterToTomorrow was unstarred
    Image of Jack_Burton Jack_Burton
    12/08/09

    @QuarterToTomorrow: I never said they were compatible, just that they had similar components in their underlying architecture. Have you ever used VMWare? It's a hardware abstraction layer that goes between the device and the host OS.

    My point is that VMWare would have less work to do as far as supporting basic I/O since it would be piping in a manner similar in all 3 OSes. They are more similar than dissimilar.
     Reply
    Jack_Burton was starred Jack_Burton was unstarred
    Image of something_unique_and_descriptive something_unique_and_descriptive
    12/07/09

    In reply to It's Time To Make Phone OSes Work On Any Phone
    As long as the devices are dependent on carrier distribution it's not going to happen. As it is right now if you want WinMo and Android, you buy two phones, they subsidize one (which locks you into a contract) and then sell you the second for additional profit.

    There are so many things f**ked the hell up with the wireless industry the ability to load your own OS barely even registers on the radar. How about we start by getting the carriers to discount service for those of us whose devices they aren't subsidizing. Once that happens buying unlocked becomes a much better value proposition, then with the carriers, and their desire for artificial market segmentation, out of the way a multi-boot smartphone might be possible.

    People from the FCC / congress, if you're reading this, make it happen.
     Reply
    something_unique_and_descriptive was starred something_unique_and_descriptive was unstarred
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