AT&T Tackles MMS Frustrations ‘Head On’ – via YouTube Video
Apparently AT&T has heard all the ‘discussion ‘ on the web about MMS for the iPhone “ and wanted to respond, wanted to ‘take what ‘s being said head-on ‘. So they ‘ve done so by way of a YouTube video, with ‘Seth the blogger guy ‘.
It would be awfully hard not to hear the discussion on MMS for the iPhone “ and of course that ‘s a very tame word to use for this. I ‘ve watched the video a few times now and have some quick reactions to it
Here are some of the things that caught my attention during the 3 minute video:
We ‘re proud and we ‘re proud that in many ways we ‘ve enabled the smartphone revolution.
That strikes me as an unfortunate choice of words “ as many iPhone users have had moments of wanting to start a revolution while waiting so long for MMS and tethering (which is not mentioned at all in the video). It also seems to me that you might not want to emphasize your pride in your ahievements at a time where customer surveys clearly show that having to use AT&T is what iPhone users dislike most about the iPhone.
Wireless usage has been growing over 300% each year
This was a stat that was mentioned during a sort of ‘cry me a river ‘ stretch of the video, where Seth explained how data usage has exploded and why there is so much strain on the network. I have to say, my instant reaction is ‘So what? ‘. Ever since the iPhone hit the stores, we ‘ve known that it gets used more heavily than any other mobile device before it. There has also been research around for years showing that internet access and data consumption would increasingly be shifting more to mobile devices. So AT&T should have had ample time to be preparing for all of this. Why talk about this as if it sort of hit them out of the blue?
There ‘s a mention somewhere about how they ‘ve been ‘working for months ‘ to support this launch. Again I have to say that ‘So what? ‘ springs to mind. They should ‘ve been working for years on it.
Smartphones typically use a lot more data than regular phones
Duh. Yes, I think all of us know this well by now. And iPhone use a shedload more data than other smartphones. We know that too.
We wanted to make sure that when we launch the experience is great we wanted to get it right
We ‘re working around the clock to enhance and expand our network to meet these challenges
The bottom line is this “ we have heard you, we are on it
OK, it ‘s hard not to like the sound of those last three lines. The sentiment is great “ they ‘re trying very hard, going flat-out, and so on. But they also must know that the time for talking “ about how hard it is for networks to cope and how hard they ‘re working and whatever else “ is over by now. Now they just have to deliver. Deliver MMS, and tethering as well, and better voice and data coverage in areas that have caused people to ditch the iPhone because of poor coverage.
The video ends with a screen that encourages all of us to keep the conversation going, and offers Twitter and Facebook details for AT&T.
Check out the full video HERE. Then let us know what you think of AT&T ‘s reaching out in this video. Did this give you a greater understanding of what they ‘re up against? Make you feel more patient about things? As always, we ‘re keen to hear your thoughts.
They should have been working on the towers since they launched the first generations of iPhones.
All my posts are being auto-deleted. What Jay said but better detailed.
aflorence – sorry for the aggro with deleted comments. There are a series of words that are 'blacklisted' by the Intense Debate comments system – they include terms like cash, mortgage, lots of casino / gambling terms, and lots of ED type terms. I don't know of any other reason your comments would be getting auto-deleted. It's definitely not any of us doing it as moderators.
Although I'm relatively new to the iPhone (got it in July) the major reason for my delay – besides a current contract with Alltel/Verizon – is being required to have AT&T as a carrier: I've been anti-AT&T for years. My tech-yearning finally got the best of me, and I love the iPhone! MMS isn't my top choice of service, since I've never been a big text user. Through a little research I hear (Lifehacker.com) tethering can work and it IS cool.
I'm also not a big user of SMS – and I'm not too fussed, in terms of my won usage, about MMS or tethering. I do feel as if it is an important thing for AT&T to get right though, to show their real commitment and ability to handle the iPhone going forward.
I'm also not a big user of SMS – and I'm not too fussed, in terms of my own usage, about MMS or tethering. I do feel as if it is an important thing for AT&T to get right though, to show their real commitment and ability to handle the iPhone going forward.
i'm shocked to find out that the iPhone handles MMS difrently than every other phone on At&t's network. <sarcasm>
Honestly, what "Seth the blogger guy"(LOL) said is all true for the most part, but I hate the presentation of it. They really did NOT have to go all nerdy and use so many technical phrases. To me it seems that this video really was made to try to confuse the common folk. Use as many big words as possible and they wont understand it. haha Well every cell company out there is spending billions of dollars continually upgrading their networks, and every company is facing heavy bandwith loads on their networks. But also every other major provider out there has smartphones capable of internet browsing, email, apps, MMS, etc. And also most other AT&T phones support MMS. So why just the restriction of MMS on iphones? Did they think that iphone users would just go so crazy snapping photos and sending them nonstop that it would flood their network? I'm just not buying it. I honestly believe that there was something else behind them not having it enabled yet. What about you?
I agree that it did feel a little like an attempt to go all 'blinded by science' on us. But I do buy the part about iPhone being a 'special case' in these areas. I think throughout it's three generations, iPhone users have been proven to be much, much heavier users of everything on their phones – much bigger users of a mobile browser, of mobile apps. Even mobile uploads to YouTube went up by some huge %age after just a couple weeks of the 3GS launching. And I do believe that once MMS is out on the iPhone for a bit, we'll end up seeing stats that say the usage rate is ginormous compared to other smartphones as well.
It will be interesting to see if all this preparation and investment and talk lead to the network handling it well.
Sorry, I don't mean to be the pompous asshole who talks down to everyone but… seriously? "blinded by science". Even if you didn't understand all the words he was using you could infer their meaning.
If this video was over your head, you need to pull your head out of your ass and go back to school.
Sorry, I don't mean to be the pompous asshole who talks down to everyone but… seriously? "blinded by science". Even if you didn't understand all the words he was using you could infer their meaning.
If this video was over your head, you need to pull your head out of your ass and go back to school.
Hell, they broke it down for you with traffic metaphors and pretty pictures in the background. What else do you want? Puppets or something?
Wow – where did that come from? My use of the phrase 'blinded by science' was mostly in jest. I think the point was more that there are a large number of iPhone users who neither understand, nor want to understand, how the 'information superhighway' flows or what work goes into making it flow. They just want MMS, and tethering. I think that's probably what both Shobizz and I were referencing. I'm pretty sure neither of us found the video to be over our head. Oh, and I am certain I understood all the words, and did not need to infer a meaning anywhere, thanks.