This New York Times article by Randall Stross claims the iPhone is responsible for the AT&T network reception. In short, the iPhone is to blame, specifically bad hardware. AT&T’s network is just fine, and isn’t the worst in the nation, in fact it is the best. Or so the article claims. They also claim AT&T is taking the blame for Apple, even though it isn’t AT&T’s fault.
Roger Entner, senior vice president for telecommunications research at Nielsen, said the iPhone’s “air interface,” the electronics in the phone that connect it to the cell towers, had shortcomings that “affect both voice and data.” He said that in the eyes of the consumer, “the iPhone has the nimbus of infallibility, ergo, it’s AT&T’s fault.” AT&T does not publicly defend itself because it will not criticize Apple under any circumstances, he said
All of this is contrary to last year’s cell phone satisfaction survey, where AT&T’s network fell in last place. AT&T even recently acknowledged that service in a few major U.S. cities (namely New York and San Francisco) has been poor, and that they are working to resolve the problem. AT&T has not blamed Apple for any of the problems.
It should come as no surprise that my internet hero, John Gruber, has torn this piece apart. Gruber infers that this article’s sources are industry shills trying to make AT&T look good.
Gruber:
So on the one hand we have the simple theory that AT&T’s network stinks, especially in large metro areas, and extra-especially in New York City and San Francisco.
On the other hand, we have the theory that AT&T’s network is just fine because two network consulting companies say so, even though a Consumer Reports customer survey says otherwise, and it is the iPhone that is flawed, but the flaws are for some reason worse on AT&T than other carriers around the world, and just happen to be worse still in some cities than others, and Apple has been unwilling and/or unable to address these flaws in three model years.
I know which theory I’d put my money on.
Another one of my internet heros, Daniel Eran Dilger, also tears Stross a new one.
Dilger:
This doesn’t mean the iPhone is completely perfect and cannot be improved upon. I reported last year about how Apple and AT&T were working together to deliver updates that improve the reliability and efficiency of its mobile 3G communications. The iPhone continues to evolve and improve.
However, for Strauss to suggest that the iPhone is primarily to blame for AT&T’s problematic service is either grossly ignorant and incompetent, or an intentional effort to mislead his Times readers. The iPhone is working in scores of other countries without similar problems comparable to AT&T’s issues in the United States. At the same time, other data-heavy cell phones on AT&T’s network have reported similar problems, including RIM’s BlackBerry models.
If the New York Times wants to stop looking like an illegitimate rag, it has to stop publishing the one-sided garbage Randall Stross accumulates as he salvages propaganda treasure from the trash receptacles filled up by various industry shills on his route. Shame on Stross, the Times, and his illegitimate sources, starting with Entner.
First off, let’s all agree that AT&T is a really crappy network. Second, this has to be the crappiest piece of “journalism” I’ve seen the New York Times put out in years. It should be retracted for sheer dumbassery. Stross should apologize. Anyone not familiar with Apple, or the tech industry in general, would take Stross for his word. And he is lying.
Continue reading:
- Everything New Apple Just Announced (Septembe
- Apple Watch Pre-Order
- Apple Research Kit launches with 5 Apps
- Apple TV now only $69
TAGS:
