Signed up to Netflix a few months ago and I can definitely say money well spent.

I wonder why they have no thought about expanding its potential and offering a discount on your service, if you allow other customers nearby to connect to it. That is, it would allow your registered phones to have priority access but could also accepts other cell calls nearby. We would still buy the hardware but AT&T could provide the owner a discount on their bill for it, $5 or $10 a month.

Good one AT&T. Even on the day before the inauguration my calls were failing. Tried make a call in the subway, no service. Surprise surprise my Verizon prepaid did not miss a beat. Worked both in the subways, even in the tunnels and was able to make or receive a call without an issue.

The interesting thing is that their 3G coverage should be superior to that of GSM. A WCDMA signal operating on 850mHz should have far superior coverage (20+ miles per base station) than a TDMA (GSM) 850mHz signal. Depending on how the base stations are configured and the equipment (boosters) used, other operators abroad achieve 60+ miles of coverage per base station on such frequencies. So I am always puzzled to see my phone have better GSM coverage than 3G in the same location.

From what I have read they are using both frequencies simultaneously (upstream/downstream) and allocating one to each. This is probably what is causing dropout issues. The frequencies are just too far apart. As you said, the 1900mHz has trouble penetrating buildings so it could cause problems if you cannot receive a (1900mhz) but can transmit at (850mHz).

If I was AT&T I would default all 3G users to 1900mhz, then switch them to 850mHz once the signal starts to weaken. Basically only using one frequency at a time per subscriber. 1900Mhz preferably for cell phones closer to the base station and in metro areas.

AT&T's 3.5G network has a lot of potential but they are stalling on both speed and coverage. Manhattan is one place where I have a number of 3G to edge issues myself. I am guessing they have a capacity issue there. Maybe it is time they start migrating everyone to 3G handset in such areas and use all of their frequencies for 3G services.

Carriers here love customizing phones. The only logic behind the added production costs / delays and disabling of features is to try to squeeze some sort of revenue out of it. Instead the consumers end up with poor performing phones with glitches. How many of the best selling phones in the world, NOKIA, are comically not even sold by carriers here.

Why don't they stick to what they know best which is processing calls and data and let the phone manufacturers do what they do best, designing and manufacturing phones.

This is ironic considering their abysmal 3G coverage. I would say fair enough if 80 to 90 percent of their network coverage was 3G enabled but this is clearly not the case. Heck, it is quite the norm to see my phone go from 3G to Edge in Metro cities let alone when in other parts of the country. When looking at their coverage maps, I would estimate that not even 20% of their network is 3G enabled.

The AT&T execs needs to take a trip overseas and look at how to successfully launch and run a national 3G network. Telstra in Australia is a good one to look at considering how large the country is yet how fast their similar 3G 850mz network runs. As well as the fact that their entire network and 98% of the population has 3G coverage.

Such moves by AT&T is why I cannot wait for LTE to come in. Up until now AT&T has not had any real competitor with WCDMA/GSM. Hence their slow rollout and slow 3G performance. Whereas Verizon will give them a run for their money on LTE.

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.

Good luck trying to use it without buffering in the east coast.

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.