Will AT&T’s Network FAIL Hurt the iPhone?
By Lonnie Lazar (10:33 pm, Feb. 11, 2009)
Om Malik, a notable technology blogger, gave up on his iPhone Wednesday.
Citing ongoing and ultimately insurmountable frustration with AT&T’s network, Malik decided to ditch the iPhone and opt for a T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8900 for email and SMS. “I also signed up for a plain-vanilla voice service from Verizon Wireless. And I already have a 32 GB iPod Touch for surfing and music,” he said.
Admitting all that is probably not an ideal solution, Malik – wiith over 1800 friends on Facebook and nearly 20,000 followers on Twitter – found solace in the fact his new devices “can all be charged using the USB port of my Macbook, thereby obviating the need for extra chargers.”
Given that his decision rested solely on the deficiencies of AT&T’s network in the San Francisco Bay Area – ungodly stretches of time “searching” for the network, slow download speeds of web pages, problems with email, static, dropped calls and shoddy call quality – and he professed love for the iPhone, it’s a wonder he didn’t just jailbreak it.
Posted by Lonnie Lazar in News, Opinions, iPhone | Comment on this article
If you enjoyed this article:
Subscribe via RSS or email, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter
It does not matter if he were to jailbreak it… The 3G radio on the iPhone is not compatible with the T-Mobile 3G network, they use different frequencies. Of course he could always use the 3G iPhone on T-Mobile’s EDGE network, but what fun would that be….?
MSfromtheOC, on February 12th, 2009 at 6:30 am
Perhaps he didn’t jailbreak his iPhone because doing so would constitute a violation of the terms he agreed to when he purchased it. Perhaps he respects the agreements he willingly enters into, and the right of companies to set the terms of sale for their products. Perhaps he recognizes that if he doesn’t like those terms, then he can find other products to use.
I don’t know if he used his problems to get out of his contract with AT&T, which would be entirely within his (and AT&T’s) rights. But he still has an agreement with Apple. Rather than wonder why he’s not breaking his agreements, I applaud him for his integrity.
Mark, on February 12th, 2009 at 11:09 am
@Mark – and applause to you sir, for your integrity. Others legitimately question the ‘integrity’ of ‘selling’ a gadget and telling a thinking person there’s only one way to use it.
Lonnie Lazar, on February 12th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
[...] Apple could not have got Verizon signing in for this lucrative deal, like with AT&T, whose network quality has sometimes even parred users from taking up the magic [...]
Cruel Apple Strategy : Break the Firmware 3.0 | TERAOM, on March 17th, 2009 at 4:53 pm