AT&T May Not Be Ready For 4G

As wireless carriers roll out their so-called 4G networks across U.S., customers await the lightening fast speeds that all the glitzy ad campaigns have promised. But the reality may be a huge let-down for early adopters.

PCWorld recently found that some AT&T customers using Motorola's Atrix 4G on AT&T's 4G network were experiencing download speeds that were slower than 3G. The reason for this, Wired reports, is because AT&T had not yet enabled the Atrix to download at the speeds it was capable of.

AT&T "isn't ready to flip the switch to turn on '4G' networks, even though it's already selling 4G phones," Wired concludes.

"The concept of 4G is a joke now," Gartner Research VP Phil Redman told Wired. "At the highest level, it's supposed to be a technology standard, but it's nothing but marketing now. If and when 4G-standardized technology is actually decided upon and released, we've been inundated with this jargon for so long we may not even recognize it."

Indeed, carriers have flagrantly ignored the definition of "4G" when branding their new high-speed networks. Back in November, the AP reported that T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T were each touting their own "4G" networks, some of which didn't actually qualify as such, according to the International Telecommunications Union's standards. By December the ITU had altered its interpretation of "4G" to incorporate previously substandard technologies.

So before you splurge on that 4G handset you've been eyeing, know that it might not deliver the speeds you're hoping for.

Comments

[Nobody78]

02:43 PM on 04/01/2011

All carriers are lying. Every carriers has a commercial that says they have the fastest 3G service. I was taught in school that there could only be one fastest. Time for a good ole nationwide class action lawsuit.

[edejan]

12:20 PM on 04/01/2011

Is "fibbing" the new word for "lying"?

[TheOuroborus]

01:28 AM on 04/01/2011

2G, 3G, 4G, 1,000,000G... it doesn't matter. No bars at my house. You can have a Ferrari sitting in your driveway, but if you're out of gas, it's just an really expensive pile of metal.

[General Public]

10:23 PM on 03/31/2011

AT&T might be liars, but one piece of public domain clipart they made decades ago, known as the Dobbshead, is my avatar image here, the one next to every comment I make and on my profile page. That piece of public domain clipart, the Dobbshead, produced by AT&T, eventually spawned a religion worshiping it, the Church of the SubGenius. It is said to be a graven image of the Saint of Sales, J. R. "Bob" Dobbs, a rather jovial half-wit with a pipe, a grin, and a lot of slack. In recent years, the Dobbshead was copyrighted by The SubGenius Foundation, Inc., despite being put into the public domain for use by anyone several decades ago, in a catalog of images AT&T provided for free to anyone who wanted to advertise their business in the Yellow Pages. This image became famous because one of the co-founders of the Church of the SubGenius, Dr. Philo Drummond, was an AT&T employee in 1979 and discovered it in their clipart catalog. This quickly resulted in the creation of a new religion worshiping this image, mostly through the work of Philo Drummond's best friend, Rev. Ivan Stang, and I am an ordained minister in this religion, the Church of the SubGenius. Praise "Bob", and praise AT&T for inventing him! And down with the SubGenius Foundation, Inc., which copyrighted this image that was public domain drawn by employees of AT&T! AT&T created "Bob" Dobbs!

[Mister Grumpy]

10:23 PM on 03/31/2011

AT&T isn't lying............. they're just telling everyone their version of the truth............ much like what the GOP does...........

[Madmac]

08:52 PM on 03/31/2011

at&t and the TRUTH? LOL!

[Nobody78]

02:44 PM on 04/01/2011

More like Corporations and the TRUTH? LOL!

[DracoGem]

08:30 PM on 03/31/2011

I agree with Charlie Sanderson about the dropped calls issue. Perhaps AT&T should improve their 3G and DSL services first before they hype 4G, because if either are not up to hyped-snuff they shouldn't go blindly into another alternative territory because not only will their old somewhat unsolved problems be present there but the new problems will be even worse and be a much harder nut to crack.

[MikeyJaii]

08:27 PM on 03/31/2011

Tell me, I'm not a customer or ever had used AT&T but tell me how is their service?

[Charlie Sanderson]

06:31 PM on 03/31/2011

I wish that att would just offer a phone service that didn't drop calls three or four times a call!!!

[beherenow54]

07:08 PM on 03/31/2011

They're going to, if they can, and it will be called T-Mobile.

[talos72]

06:25 PM on 03/31/2011

Here is your Lamborghini, but you can only drive it 10 mph...no go play!

[Madmac]

06:22 PM on 03/31/2011

AT

[eptjevi]

05:50 PM on 03/31/2011

I work in telecom, all of these companies are lying... No 4G yet sorry.. in the future it is coming but not here yet. ;)

[MyIrishEyes]

05:57 PM on 03/31/2011

I retired from T and I know that you are correct!

[traveler291]

06:44 PM on 03/31/2011

true, and all the providers are making false statements. in order to be 4g compliant, all providers must be 4g compliant. the reason? seamless handoff. not all providers are 4g compliant, thus no 4g provider is compliant.

[HamburgerTime]

05:45 PM on 03/31/2011

They're not even ready for 3G.

[buckhunter3]

05:39 PM on 03/31/2011

I reside in Henderson, NV and Verizon recently installed some smaller antennas throughout our development --- on some street lights -- wow, talk about good coverage all of a sudden!! Perfect... My wife has ATand T and it is always in and out, dropped calls etc. She is bailing out when her contract is up.

[Don Hotchkiss]

05:22 PM on 03/31/2011

ATT Wireless is the worst of the worst. They have never really been at the top but they have consistently been at the bottom. I had an ATT call from Arkansas which promptly ended in a dropped call. We always worry when our kids call - something wrong, need something? It took 8 more dropped calls to find out why she was calling. It's totally unacceptable for a company this big to dwell in the cellar of mediocrity and poor service. All these years and they still have not discovered what business and service really means. The best thing that whould happen to ATT is having the FCC take away their license. But then, who would we have to complain about?

[Tinsdale]

06:51 PM on 03/31/2011

Have to agree. AT&T is the absolute worst!

I wonder what it is like to work for AT&T, if you are not at the "C" level?

I know what it is like to be an AT&T customer: Ugh!..!@#$%^!.....!

[beherenow54]

07:12 PM on 03/31/2011

Your scenario is possibly why they want T-Mobile so much.