Ready to 
AT&T, please do the right thing
Chris White
June 18, 2009 11:05 PM ET in Tech
While not everyone on Icrontic is as big an iPhone fan as I, some of the recent moves by AT&T — the only iPhone carrier in the US — has soured the experience for me and disappointed countless other iPhone users eager to receive the improvements to their favorite platform.
When iPhone OS 3.0 was announced earlier this year, iPhone users got some great news: MMS and tethering would finally be coming with the new upgrade.
The iPhone was considered one of the leading devices in terms of its media capabilities, iPod features, iTunes integration, and app expandability. Yet, the iPhone was missing one of the most important media components: Multimedia Messaging (MMS) for sending and receiving media files like pictures, music, and video the same way you send a text message.
MMS, or Multimedia Messaging Service, was first used commercially in early 2002 and is now available worldwide as part of 3G and developing 4G networks. AT&T has stated that we’ll get our hands on MMS late this summer, but until then we’re left wondering: Why the wait when other cell phones on the AT&T network already have this capability?
Tethering is another useful feature that many been very excited about. We don’t always have access to a solid WiFi network when we’re on the go with our laptops, and sometimes we need to do something that requires firing up our trusted netbooks (like downloading a file). Problem solved: Plug your iPhone into your laptop and you can access the web via your iPhone’s 3G network.
Blast back to 2009 and we now have the ability to undertake these features, but US users are stuck in a holding pattern waiting for AT&T to enable MMS and laptop tethering. There are valid reasons not to make these features available yet. Both could increase the network load and make the core experience slower for everyone. Yet, the question remains, why wasn’t AT&T prepared for this? Surely they had some indication from Apple that these features were coming and that users want them.
Tethering isn’t even a feature we expect for free. Tethering is valid service that we would need to pay extra for, and many of us are lined up to hand AT&T our money in exchange. What makes this most strange is that the infrastructure is already in place for AT&T. It’s simple — if a bit costly — to buy a 3G USB DataConnect device from AT&T and have wireless internet, just like tethering, using their network right now. My only conclusion is that the the technology is in place but not at the scale needed once iPhone customers are provided with the option. The good news is that tethering is planned for AT&T customers but no additional timeline or details have yet to be announced.
Perhaps the biggest confusion and disappointment has actually been the ability for existing, paying customers to upgrade to the new 3GS at a reasonable price. Originally customers who were eligible for a new phone were the only ones that could upgrade for the reduced $299 price for the 32GB version and everyone else was out of luck and would need to pay $499 for the privilege of getting the new hardware early.
Fortunately, AT&T realized that was a mistake and decided to treat most of their customers right. The problem is that there are still many who are getting left out on the deal. Anyone who isn’t able to upgrade before October is still going to pay the full price. However, it gets even worse for some customers. If the user is not spending $99 or above on their cell phone plan per month they are not eligible for the early upgrade.
This is bad news considering that these customers are paying the same premium on the data as any other iPhone customer. Yet if they don’t have a second line and don’t need high number of minutes and texts then they will need to throw an extra $200 at the upgrade. According to the sales rep we spoke with, there is one more caveat: You can’t simply add minutes to your plan to exceed that $99.00 cap; the eligibility is based on what you’ve paid the previous three months.
AT&T has obviously realized that customers are confused and disappointed because they’re reading and responding to customer input on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social networks with videos like this one:
While many iPhone users will be content to stay in Apple’s reality distortion field and pretend like they don’t feel taken advantage of by AT&T, many more are left wondering how much longer Apple will put up with AT&T’s crippled service as the exclusive provider of the iPhone. Until then, it’s worth letting AT&T know that you’re frustrated with the situation on Twitter, Facebook or the comments section in the YouTube video.
There is still time for AT&T to make this right for their costumers. If the subsidies are too harsh to offer the upgrade to every iPhone customer maybe they could at least meet their users half way with some sort of discount that would help build customer loyalty.
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