After promising to spend more than $2 billion in 2010 to upgrade its oft-criticized 3G network, a glimmer of hope for a modern and robust AT&T network has been kindled. In the days following that announcement, the capricious carrier has not only opened its network to 3G VoIP calls, but has today revealed that it will permit SlingPlayer to stream video over 3G.
“Just as we’ve worked with Sling Media in this instance, we look forward to collaborating with other developers so that mobile customers can access a wider, more bandwidth-sensitive, and powerful range of applications in the future,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets.
“Collaboration with developers like Sling Media ensures that all apps are optimized for our 3G network to conserve wireless spectrum and reduce the risk that an app will cause such extreme levels of congestion that they disrupt the experience of other wireless customers. Our focus continues to be on delivering the nation’s most advanced mobile broadband experience and giving our customers the widest possible array of mobile applications.”
Sling Media’s SlingPlayer Mobile product extends the functionality of the company’s Slingbox, which interfaces with a television to relay inbound programming to a player accessed over the Internet. With solutions for standard and high-definition signals, customers can privately and securely access their home television’s programming online. The SlingPlayer Mobile software for select BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, iPhone, Palm and Symbian handsets allows users to use their phone as a relay destination, rather than an in-browser player.
Unfortunately for AT&T’s iPhone users, where the SlingPlayer Mobile app is most robust, this functionality was not available unless the user was connected via WiFi. In other words, it was pretty much useless with respect to the ways most customers would want to use the product. While AT&T sent their spinners to babble about network congestion and quality of service, most held the sneaking suspicion that the company’s mobile network was simply not up to the task, a suspicion that has been tacitly validated with permission to use 3G VoIP and video coinciding with a massive network upgrade.
Sling Media, for its part, is understandably thrilled with AT&T’s sudden change of fancy: “We’re delighted with AT&T’s decision to approve the SlingPlayer Mobile app on their 3G network,” said John Gilmore, senior vice president and general manager at Sling Media. “SlingPlayer Mobile on AT&T’s 3G network gives customers the best experience possible for watching their home TV while on the go.”
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