Apple And AT&T's Network

Either the service has gotten better for iPhone users on the AT&T network or people are tired of complaining about it. I tend to think it the former more so than the latter. The iPad 3G has been out now for nearly three weeks and predictions of doom and gloom for the carrier didn't come to pass.We know over one million iPads have sold since launch, but the 3G model using AT&T's network just hit the streets May 1. It is estimated some 300,000 units were sold that first weekend, but that is only an estimate and I haven't been able to dig up more recent numbers. I think it is reasonable to estimate 500,000-750,000 have moved though since it launched.

I half expected the din from complaints over slow or dropped connections to reach a new high, but all seems relatively quite. The day the 3G model launched, Mike Elgan wrote a tale of woe that we can expect to come to pass for users on AT&T's network. He brings up a number of good points, but thus far, AT&T seems to be handling it fairly well. That isn't to say the experience is currently bliss. Service seems to be improving but it has room to improve further. That said, it didn't fall off a cliff as the 3G iPads came on line either.

Tethering was announced with iPhone 3.0 released in 2009, but as of yet, we've not seen that feature turned on. Today, fellow blogger Eric Zeman discussed that iPhone 4.0 has a tethering configuration screen in the latest build, though the feature still isn't enabled, mainly to keep bandwidth consumption to a low enough level so as not to crash the network.

Do you think the worst of AT&T's problems are behind it or will the increasing number of 3G iPad's being sold and the forthcoming release of the fourth generation iPhone this summer cause a tidal wave that will bring us back to the days of frequent complaints of poor service?