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Darren Waters

Making the pipes faster

  • Darren Waters
  • 16 Mar 09, 18:12 GMT

One of the most common complaints echoing around SXSW this year is regarding iPhone use.

Unsurprisingly, given the background of many of the attendees there are a lot of iPhone users at the festival and many people have been complaining of poor reception and very slow 3G speeds.

I've heard from two sources who have now told me that AT&T hurriedly despatched two engineers to Austin after it was discovered iPhone data usage was accounting for 90% of network capacity in the area.

Apparantly, AT&T were in the midst of upgrading the network here anywhere and we caught on the hop by the sudden surge in data usage.

Stacey Higginbotham from GigaOm got the of the problem yesterday.

A statement from AT&T to GigaOm said: "To accommodate unprecedented demand for mobile data and voice applications at SXSW, we are actively working this afternoon to add capacity to our cell sites serving downtown Austin."

Unprecendented demand? It might be unprecendented but did AT&T not think that 10,000 geeks in one space at the same time might have some impact on its network?

As SF author William Gibson : "The future is already here. It's just not very evenly distributed."


Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    Are we really talking 'iPhone' here - or as the press release says "mobile data and voice applications"? In other words; a whole plethora of smartphones, PDAs, netbooks, laptops and, of course, the odd Blackberry and iPhone?

    Is the term 'iphone' becoming the de-facto term for any data-capable phone? If so, will Apple ride the wave, or crash the party, Psion 'Netbook' style, in defence of their brand name?

    There is life outside the iPhone (and Blackberry, for that matter) - maybe you need to borrow a phrase from the Radio Times and quickly add the footer: "Other data-enabled devices are available"

    Complain about this comment (Comment number 1)

  • Comment number 2.

    This is the ATT suits overruling the geeks, and putting network capacity where it is useful 24/365 - not just for the duration of some show.

    And in my book the suits are right.

    Yes, these first-movers have some influence; for instance there are a group of churnalists and teenage scribblers hanging on their every word.

    But in reality they are a tiny minority, and their influence over the buying patterns of the millions of ordinary subscribers is sensibly nil.

    Complain about this comment (Comment number 2)

  • Comment number 3.

    Oh dear the geekz couldn't get online quick enough or have their emails pushed the them in a timely manner.

    If I didn't live in the real world I'd be sooooo full of nerd rage at this travesty right now....

    Complain about this comment (Comment number 3)

  • Comment number 4.

    Kudos to AT&T for responding so quickly to a change in needs from their customer base, great customer service.

    Was the traffic spike perhaps due to 大象传媒 journos twittering!!

    Complain about this comment (Comment number 4)

  • Comment number 5.

    I'd like to echo the sentiments of the first poster.

    Did the non-iPhone users get good download speeds?
    Or is this yet another example of the 大象传媒s less than subtle love-in with Apple?

    Complain about this comment (Comment number 5)

  • Comment number 6.

    No. 1 and No. 5:
    As far as I am aware, the iPhone is only available on AT&T in America (Please correct me if I am wrong!) Thusly other smart phones that can connect to different providers would not be suffering the same issues.

    Complain about this comment (Comment number 6)

 

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