Deconstructing AT&T’s Claims About the iPhone

Unlike the other wireless carriers, which primarily use advertisements to claim how well their networks work, AT&T pitches both reliability and speed. AT&T claims to operate the nation’s fastest 3G network. See http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/specials/iPhone.jsp?WT.srch=1. The carrier claims the following bit rate delivery speeds: “typical download speeds of 700 Kbps—1.7 Mbps;” and “typical upload speeds of 500 Kbps—1.2 Mbps.” See http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/why/technology/3g-umts.jsp.

AT&T’s claims about transmission speeds remind me of the claimed distance coverage of Family Radio Service transceivers, the next generation of Citizens Band radios. Uniden claims my transceivers will provide service for “up to twelve miles.” Yeah, right. I am lucky to get one and one-half miles.

So what bitrates do AT&T 3G subscribers actually get? Wall Street Journal columnist Wall Mossberg measured the 3G iPhone bitrates at not terribly blazing 200-500 kbps.
See http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20080708/newer-faster-cheaper-iphone-3g/.

The good news about AT&T’s suspect bitrates claim lies in the apparent strategy to pitch something more than service reliability. The bad news lies in the overstatement and the reality that U.S. wireless carriers comparatively lag carriers in many other nations. But of course that would require consumers, regulators and legislatures to question the claims of carriers, something "obviously" best left to the marketplace.