Is iPhone Design To Blame For AT&T Subscriber Woes?
Over the weekend, The New York Times quoted Roger Entner, senior vice president for telecommunications research at Nielsen, as saying the iPhone's poorly designed "air interface," or the electronics that connect the device to cell towers, is negatively affecting both voice and data throughput on the device.
Global Wireless Solutions, a Dulles, Va.-based research firm, recently tested major carriers' networks and found AT&T's data throughput to be 40 to 50 percent higher than its competitors, including Verizon, according to The New York Times report. And in research conducted in November, Root Wireless, a Bellevue, Wash.-based startup in the network monitoring space, found AT&T's average upload and download speeds to be the fastest of all four major U.S. carriers by a significant margin.
However, Root Wireless' results didn't include the iPhone because Root's networking monitoring app doesn't run on the device, so it's tough to draw any conclusions from its findings. And the sudden appearance of data that favors AT&T, at a time when it's facing growing customer unrest and increasingly pointed attacks from Verizon, seems a bit suspicious. Furthermore, as noted by The New York Times, AT&T is a customer of Global Wireless Solutions while Verizon isn't, so that too has to be taken into account.
Joe Bardwell, president and chief scientist of Connect802, a wireless solution provider in San Ramon, Calif., doesn't agree with the notion that iPhone hardware deficiencies are the source of AT&T subscribers' woes. "Cellular telephony and 3G data transport are mature engineering technologies," he said. "It would be surprising to me if a fundamental flaw existed in the iPhone cellular radio circuitry design."
Although Apple worked meticulously on the iPhone's design, user interface, and business model, Apple simply had to integrate off-the-shelf components to put the iPhone on a cellular data network, according to Bardwell. Apple didn't respond to a request for comment on whether the iPhone differs from other mobile devices in this regard.
AT&T and Verizon have been bickering in televised advertisements over which offers the most comprehensive coverage. The two carriers recently dropped false advertising lawsuits against each other, but Verizon's case was bolstered when Consumer Reports ranked Verizon first -- and AT&T dead last -- in the publication's recently published annual wireless customer satisfaction survey.
Regardless of whether AT&T's network is faster than other carriers, there are plenty of frustrated iPhone subscribers out there who aren't happy with the level of service they're getting, and Verizon is going to have a field day if AT&T doesn't fix the situation soon.