Say it ain't so, AT&T: reports of another East Coast data network outage
By Tim Stevens 
posted Jan 6th 2009 9:19AM
posted Jan 6th 2009 9:19AM
Were you hoping to spend the day glued to your iPhone or BlackBerry, keeping an eye on our live Macworld coverage while in the office? If you've got AT&T on the East Coast, you'd better make sure your wireless data connection is operational. Just like in September we're getting a number of tips from people on the right side reporting outages and error messages when attempting to connect. Meanwhile we're not finding any issues out here in SF or Vegas, and the Midwest appears to be going strong after last week's shenanigans. We've pinged AT&T for deets, but let us know -- what're you seeing on your end?Update: We still haven't received official word either way, but by the sounds of it data is back up for at least most of you. We'll keep after AT&T for some sort of confirmation.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Seeing same issues in Chicagoland area... if they can't "deliver" my world in under 30 minutes shouldn't it be free?
No problem here in DC area. 3G working fine.
Valued Customer,
This e-mail is to inform you of a network problem that MAY affect your Mobile Data Service.
Trouble Ticket Number: TT000009359644
Severity: High
Description of Issue: Degradation of GPRS/UMTS service
Location of Issue: Northeast and surrounding areas
Start Time: Jan 06 2009 07:19 AM EST
Symptoms you MAY experience: Some customers may experience gaps in coverage or difficulty connecting to the network.
Estimated time of repair: Unknown
No data in NYC metro area. Only WIFI
mine was out for a little while I live in NYC but it is back working again i have an iphone and a fuze both functional now
I have data connection in Midtown NYC
You are right. Its working now.
I must have been the first one to report this to AT&T, because when I called (at 7:45 or so) they weren't aware of any outage. Nice!
Way to go Dave!!! Everyone owes you a big one!
Can you hear me now? Good......Go Big Red!!
I had a problem this morning as well, and I thought it was my device for some reason. I power cycled it and still had no response. I just tried it again and now I have access to the data.
no problem here outside boston
It was down in the Saint Louis area as well, but is back up for now :(
I am a witness to this crapola. I am in South Jersey....I did a soft reset on my Tilt but to no avail. I knew it was AT&Ts problem at that point.
All morning (since 6am CST or so) I've been noticing that for short periods of time I keep getting a time/date update from AT&T, usually once every minute for 8 or 10 mins. At first I thought it was my phone but then my fiance's phone started beeping with a new time update. Finally got to the point where I turned auto-time zone off. Anyone else seeing this odd issue?
Just spoke to my brother in NYC, and his iphone says "NO SERVICE" when trying to connect to 3G. AT&T sucks!
TXT is not working in Detroit Michigan!!! argh!
No problem in Lower Fairfield (CT) outside NYC
I'm in NYC and I'm not sure about download but I was uploading at 90kilobytes per/sec (tethered)
I'm using HSPA (AT&T Fuze) and if the problem is only GPRS and UMTS then I'm probably not affected
Phuck at&t. This shit is getting old. No data on my iphone 3g. Had to use my sprint phone to post this. I'm in Cali.
at&t sucks
I live and work in suburban Philadelphia and have not had any problems all day long. Remember, its technology so stuff can happen.
My push e-mail has been working fine all day here in Baltimore.
I called , and they claimed that there are 3 towers in the 48207 locations that are having problems..
Compared with either Sprint or Verizon's EVDO service, their 3G data sucks.
Even with full service there is just so much latency. If you click on a page using their 3G service you are basically waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting, then bam the page loads. Whereas with EVDO the page starts rendering almost immediately.
Negative on that. I have a Verizon BB for work and an AT&T BB for personal use. Loading the same pages at the same time consistently loads faster on AT&T.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but it was weak enough that it probably would have collapsed under its own weight soon enough, anyhow.
I have tested the 3G data service using devices such as the iphone, various htc models and blackberry. Its always the same deal. I have also used a range of equivalent phones using Verizon and Sprint EVDO rev a service. The EVDO service simply responds and fires up faster, is more stable and requires a lot less reboots to re-establish a connection. EVDO rev a streams Slingplayer and supports voip calls without any issues. This is also verified using ping tests where I have had latency as low as 113ms using the EVDO service. Something unheard of on HSDPA.
Yes, after the initial connection HSDPA is fast but establishing a connection takes almost as long as satellite / dialup internet. The fastest HSDPA service I have used is Telstra's (downunder) 14.4 mbps which craps on AT&T lmao 3.6 mbps service. Even then it's the same deal, the initial connection is just not as fast as EVDO rev a. Web links also take a while to be acknowledged, unlike EVDO.
mine was off for 3 hours this morning here in nyc, my phone worked wonderful when i was in my 1 month trial, after that they must have swuitched me to the real network lol and its been a few months of dropped calls and data outages and every time i call them a they tell me a tower is out, my phone was working perfect the other nigth and i turned it off and called them and said it wasnt working and they told me it was a cell site being worked on, i need yellowsn0w or a turbosim to test the market
@ EricC what are you talking about sprint and vzw have way better 3g.. at&t being faster is on paper and not real life.. customers and independent testing (JD Powers) has proven that.. Now you might have faster At&t where ever you live you might even have faster t mobile but you represent a small part of one market.. when was the last time sprint or vzw had a comparable outage the last 2 or 3 have been at&t
No.
Ahhh. My Treo 680 is slow on the ATT network that I just chalked the downtime up to a latency issue. :-\