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AT&T's Internal Plans To Fix Their Network
Posted by Brian Lam at 3:00 AM on August 26, 2008
AT&T was calling me to set up an interview with their CTO, but all I could hear was garbled noise on my AT&T iPhone. "I can't really hear you!" I shouted, as if volume would clear the channel. It's always been like this, in my home in San Francisco.
While the howls of iPhone 3G reception issues get louder and louder, I've always wondered if it was the network's fault, as some Swedish scientists and journalists have recently suggested. Maybe it's just new AT&T customers making the bulk of the noise. From my experience, the phone isn't blameless, but the network is a major part of the issue.
The DreamCom 10 laptop is a pretty standard intel-based computer (featuring UMTS/HSDPA) with one identifiable trick up its sleeve—the ability to transform into multiple configurations for improved user comfort. With an expandable neck and an attachable dock allowing for a tipi-like biped stance, we're guessing the design is far less hunchback-inducing than our standard laptop. And if it's tough enough to withstand us bending the hell out of the hinges before we figure out all of its modes, the DreamCon 10 has some potential. [
Today I played around with a few phones using AT&T's new Video Share service, which requires UMTS HSDPA, so it's not live everywhere. New York just got it this week, LA should have it by September. If you don't know what it is, it's a way for one person to show the other person streaming video during a call. Although one-way video streaming seems less logical than two-way, I can tell you that it's fun, and it seems like it would be surprisingly useful. The lag wasn't terrible, and you can carry on the conversation in speakerphone or on Bluetooth earpiece so that you can watch the action. But you have to have the right phone. (iPhone need not apply.)
