Mac Fangirl

iPhone owners and those who want an iPhone are stuck with one carrier: AT&T.

Turns out there are myriad reasons why AT&T has drawn the ire of consumers, not just recently, but for decades. Let’s start with AT&T’s negative impact on the newest iPhone model.

Read Four Reasons Why iPhone Owners Hate AT&T.

Because AT&T has not yet made improvements to its network, it will become a weakness for the new iPhone 3G S. In other words, the feature-rich iPhone whose monicker includes “S” for Speed, will not be able to utilize the faster HSDPA network that can obtain speeds as fast as 7.2 Mbps because AT&T is behind the infrastructure curve on this one. AT&T is not due to begin working on this network technology until later this year and may take as long as 2011 to complete it.

Here you have a device that’s capable of operating on a network at the 7.2 Mbps speed, but the carrier just isn’t up to speed.

And because AT&T is “finalizing internal system upgrades” the long-awaited features, MMS and tethering (using your iPhone as a modem) won’t be available until perhaps later this year. At&T is reportedly reconfiguring its data plan to include the tethering capability, for anywhere between $60 and $70 per month. And this doesn’t include Text Messages. Charming, isn’t it.

Now, let’s turn to the App Store. AT&T has it’s tentacles in some of the apps’ features also. Skype and SlingPlayer for iPhone are limited to working over Wi-Fi because AT&T’s 3G network can’t handle the strain.

This post would be remiss if it didn’t include some mention of, or at least a link to, some of AT&T’s most egregious acts in the recent past, such as warrantless spying on ordinary Americans.

Here’s what Free Press is trying to do about it.

Tell Washington, Free My Phone!

New “smart” phones have set the stage for the future of a mobile Internet. But companies like AT&T and Verizon are getting in the way by shackling open and innovative devices to closed networks. The FCC and Congress must step in to protect consumers and foster innovation. We demand:

The freedom to choose any phone on any network.

The freedom to choose among many carriers in a competitive, low-cost marketplace.

The freedom to access any Web content, applications or services we want through our phones.