Category: Cellphones

Hey AT&T–What’s The Deal At Fenway?

I was astounded that as soon as I walked into the ballpark my data service (and possibly my phone service) disappeared.

We spent the weekend in Boston watching the Phils play the Red Sox at Fenway. I was astounded that as soon as I walked into the ballpark my data service (and possibly my phone service) disappeared. This happened Saturday and Sunday though we sat in different parts of the ballpark both days.

The limitations of the 3G network were readily apparent at Boston’s Fenway Park during a Red Sox game last week. Signal was consistently 4 bars, but the data network was totally non-responsive.

That’s my story… except it was written in 2008 and posted on Gigaom.

This is a long standing problem. Here’s another person with the exact same complaint as mine from Apple’s website.

You know what’s interesting… I was at Fenway Park in Boston yesterday. I had full bars on 3G, completely max’d signal as far as the phone was concerned. And with all of that signal, I could not get to a single web site or even send a text message. I kept getting errors sending data as well as timeout errors when trying to hit a web site.

It’s from July 2008 and, again, my story exactly.

More recently commenter writing about the iPad ban at Yankee Stadium added this about Fenway.

when I’m in my seats at Fenway Park with my iPhone, I get NO service. Not even EDGE.

Even a voice cell call from Stef went directly to voicemail while I was at Fenway. I got notice of the call only after we were walking back down Brookline Ave.

It seems difficult to believe at&t doesn’t know this exists. How could they not?

Recently at&t announced they were eliminating their “all you can eat” data plans for the iPhone. Maybe a nice gesture would be for them to stop signing new customers until they built a network that could handle the ones they’re collecting money for now.

Call me frustrated.

More On AT&T’s Less Data Plan

These are bandwidth hungry applications. You can’t use Netflix for iPhone on a regular basis and expect to stay within the new monthly caps.

Apple is kicking off their annual developers conference, aka WWDC. As is usually the case Steve Jobs is presenting. I’m letting Twitter keep me updated.

Before getting to the new iPhone (very impressive hardware improvements) Jobs talked about some new apps, specifically Farmville (ugh) and Netflix.

This is exactly what I was talking about in my earlier post. These are bandwidth hungry applications. You can’t use Netflix for iPhone on a regular basis and expect to stay within the new monthly caps.

NY Times: Download an hour-long TV show to a smartphone or tablet and you’ve used 550 megabytes, or well over a quarter of your monthly allotment. Streaming a two-hour movie from Netflix consumes 300 megabytes.

By the way, I have no idea why an hour long TV show uses nearly twice as much data as a two hour movie. The numbers aren’t as important as the general concept: Bandwidth drives innovation.

at&t’s New Data Pricing Is Bad For Us All

In their discussion of the new plans they talk about average monthly usage. That would be OK if they billed on average monthly usage. They don’t.

Last week at&t announced a new tiered plan for pricing data to smartphones like my iPhone. All you can eat data plans are gone. Two news plans emerge at 200Mb and 2Gb per month. Both cost less than the old unlimited model.

My plan is grandfathered in. Phew!

First a note about some at&t hanky panky. In their discussion of the new plans they talk about average monthly usage. That would be OK if they billed on average monthly usage. They don’t. My monthly average usage has been under their new cap, but I still have two months above it!

An at&t customer who fits in their new criteria might still have to pay overage charges even while averaging below the limit. Under their new plan I would. And, of course, unlike nearly everything else in this world the price per byte of data goes up as you use more under at&t’s new rate structure.

This change is bad for innovation which is bad for the consumer. I was about to lay out my reasons when I read Free Press Policy Counsel M. Chris Riley’s statement:

“While AT&T asserts that its high-end 2 GB cap will only impact the heaviest users, the fact is that today’s heavy user is tomorrow’s average user. Internet overcharging schemes like the one AT&T proposes will discourage innovative new uses and stifle healthy growth in the mobile broadband economy.

Devices like the iPhone or one of the killer Android phones or any still to-be-seen hardware are all still in the serendipitous stage. Much of what you get from them is a surprise until you actually get it! New methods and technologies are constantly being introduced. I didn’t buy my phone thinking it would be how I watch baseball or listen to NPR or guide my car, but it does all those things and more.

I expect it to do even more in the future though I have no idea what that might be!

Smartphones are transformational devices. We need to nurture their use, not stifle it. Unfortunately at&t’s plan does just that!