AT&T activated 3.1 million iPhones last quarter, 1 million non-phones
By Paul Miller 
posted January 28th 2010 11:44AM
posted January 28th 2010 11:44AM
While Verizon suffers a bit on paper, primarily thanks to a spendy Alltel merger, AT&T has some pretty good news to report on the "money" front. AT&T's $3 billion in earnings are up 26% over the year ago quarter, and particularly hot on the wireless front with 3.1 million iPhone activations, 2.7 million new wireless customers, and 1 million non-phone devices like e-book readers. While the 2.7 million bests the 2.2 million newbies at Verizon Wireless, AT&T gained less customers on contract thanks to its any-device-goes ways, so it's hard to say who's really in the best position here. Still, with devices like the Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader and now iPad in its fold, AT&T is clearly the go-to for getting your not-a-phone onto the internet. Now if only it could do it, um, well.
...and a preemptive 50 iPads
@skyblaze
i knew someone had to say it :P
@skyblaze
Freaking iPad took almost all the web space already!!!
@skyblaze
For now on the iPad shall be known as MaxiPad....
@PlatinumSkeet
Maxipad will be know as the successor to the Ipad. Expect it sometime next year lol
doesnt it take more than $3b to improve a network? i just said improve guys...
its called sarcasm btw!
@PlatinumSkeet just what the doctor ordered, apple scented tampons...
@skyblaze and the add on will be "wings" , ipad w/ wings
@skyblaze
lol
With all that money... how about increasing capacity instead of partnering with Apple for new devices?
Ya know. Everyone keeps bitching about ATTs coverage. Why not just churn to another wireless carrier to show ATT their coverage sucks. Hit em in the wallet. Do you all stay for the iPhone? Is it THAT important? Try an Android OS phone, its of the same quality if not better.
Just sayin. Put your money where your mouth is.
@Xtole
The 3GS does not operate on other US carriers. Either will the iPad.
If it was an option. people would have left by now. Much in the same way AT&T is back to their pre-breakup ways, they have managed to secure another monopoly to keep their profits up and service levels down. Shame on apple really..
@Xtole Sadly, when I buy a $300 device, I like to be able to continue using it after 24 months.
@beckhams777
I'm actually ONLY using At&t Because of iPhone exclusivity.
@choclat
Do network stress increase of over 4000% since the iPhone 3G mean anything to you
I bet it means a hell lot to AT&T who has to keep up their network a hundred times more than Verizon needs to.
You would think that they might use some of that money to upgrade their network....
... instead my guess is that they will just continue to sit on it as long as their exclusive iPhone contract holds out.
Executive somewhere deep in the bowls of AT&T headquarters: "you guys ain't goin' no where... no matter how bad our service is"
@Hazdaz
Their service really isn't that bad. I've been on AT&T for ... about a decade now. Sometimes I have trouble connecting a call, but I work next to an MRI machine ... I can't expect much wireless technology to work. I can only remember a handful of dropped calls.
The trouble isn't AT&T so much as the 3G iPhone. It has obvious trouble switching a call from 3G to Edge when the phone starts requesting data while you're on a call, or if you lose a 3G signal. Other phones on AT&T, on a call at the same time, do not drop a call. If it were a tower or backend issue, the physically adjacent phone probably would drop the call at the same time.
AT&T has more geographic coverage than Verizon, a practically identical number of subscribers, and AT&T's Edge 2G network is as fast as Verizon's 3G network. Engadget did a bandwidth test about a year ago and showed this ... in the height of iPhone 3GS pandemonium. Others have reported similar results. AT&T is faster ... and if you're not using an iPhone 3G or 3GS, you rarely experience dropped calls.
And whether or not AT&T's subscribers are on contract or not, what does that matter? Where will they bring their GSM device if they want 3G speed and nationwide coverage? T-Mobile barely exists outside of Silicon Valley, and even there their 3G network is fledgling. AT&T is not the perfect network, but it's the best of the North American networks. It's time to stop being Verizon marketing tools.
@James Sonne
I actually thought Verizon's Marketing was.....kickass and not so much Luke Wilson douchey
@Dustin
You miss the point ... the point is to get the information yourself instead of buying into whichever advertisement campaign.
AT&T's commercials are just sad, though.
@James Sonne
"The trouble isn't AT&T so much as the 3G iPhone."
I have the 1st iPhone still and the wife has a 3G and they both have a hell of a time staying on a network in Chicago. So, I blame AT&T. They drop calls constantly and run into either no data or bottleneck speeds every day...multiple times. So, the phones I like just fine - the network serving them needs improvement in Chicago at least.
@James Sonne
"Get the information yourself"???
How about your stop trolling for AT&T and stop making excuses for their shit service.
I don't have an iPhone, and yet I have had AT&T for a few years now, and their service flat out sucks. I can be with my GF (who has Verizon), and there has not been one time where I had service and she didn't. Yet there are plenty of times where the opposite is true.
I fully realize that coverage is heavily dependent on geography, but if one carrier can cover and area very well, there is nothing but excuses as to why another carrier can't... especially one that is making money hand-over-fist like AT&T has been the past few quarters.
@Hazdaz
And I have the opposite experience. There are wide swaths of my geographic area that AT&T covers but which is left totally vacant by Verizon. Why does your experience take precedent over mine?
The quantifiable fact of the matter is that Verizon's 3G is comparable to AT&T's 2G, other situational variables aside.
@Hazdaz
I read about a 3rd party company that drives around and dials numbers on all 4 major networks. I don't remember the exact numbers, but I recall Verizon being the best at somewhere around 98% and AT&T being number 2 at 97.2%. That's not a big jump, less than a full percent. Do you guys think the hardware in the iPhone itself could be causing some of the problems like the Razor did for awhile?
@James Sonne
I rather have a slower 3G experience than have no 3G experience at all.
My friend, who literally lives across the street from me (I can walk to his house in 15 seconds), does not get ANY service in my living room. Mind you, I get full signal on my Verizon phone.
When I say he does not get any service, I mean he doesn't get voice or 3g.
@James Sonne
It's not so much that his experience takes precedence over yours but the number of people having similar experience to his.
@James Sonne
You are the one that is claiming that it's somehow the iPhone's fault, when I don't have an iPhone and neither do any of my friends that are also on AT&T and still report the same shit service. It's the network, and in this area the network has the suck and if you ask most AT&T customers nationwide, they will say the same thing... and there have been plenty of customer surveys done in the past that back that up. Or are you going to dispute those also?
If in your individual area AT&T is somehow the better carrier, then by all means, continue to support them. But I know that there is no chance in hell that I will stick with them, and if they weren't locked into contracts (or had a phone through work), most of the people that I know would also drop AT&T.
@Hazdaz
this is so repetitive, one post about att and ppl come bashing them. a) if you dont have att, i dont know what you are doing here bashing them and b) if you have att and its really not cutting it for you ... cancel it!! it was just that simple :) . and btw, their termination fee is pretty cheap so lets not even go their saying you can't afford to. what is it, like 175 but 5 bucks cheaper for every month? hmmmm i bet you are willing to pick up 2 360 games for 120 bucks but not cancel your service for being on average 6-8 months into the contract and paying 135 for a "really shitty service" ... oh and about that phone you bought, its called craiglist, need more ideas ?
@troy786
I see the AT&T apologists are in full swing.
Congratulations for begin a shill for a multi-billion dollar company that can't even get the most basic part of their business correct.
There is no chance in hell that I am giving them any MORE of my money for the honor of terminating my service. From day one of my switch to AT&T I defended them against other carriers and simply attributed their horrible service to either temporary outages or that they were going to eventually fix the issues. Not so. I have a few months left on my contract which I can tolerate and wait for new phone prices to come down some, but no chance of sticking around after that.
@Hazdaz They have stated that they upgrading and installing new cell sites to combat the coverage problem. I on the other hand have NO problem with my coverage and i live in the LA area.
Dear AT&T, Please invest some of your profits in your crappy network.
Thanks.
Edobe
The wireless market will be a much better place when the iPhone is available on a network other than AT&T's.
That is all.
iPad is a crapget. Apple's KIRF :))
@manwithacamera
Engadget's Resident Comedian, Full of so much lawlz he is going to need an iPad to soak it up.
I'm curious where people with "bad" ATT service live.
I'm in Austin, TX and the only place I regularly have reception problems is on MoPac between two 50foot cliffs. Other than that I get good speeds and very few dropped calls.
@greezyg In places like New York where people stream music all day long.
@Ezye1313
I believe most of the tech writers live in these two cities as well and gets reported on frequently.
@greezyg
I live in St. Louis, MO and coverage is very spotty. It might seem like I have 5 bars, but then I could be on highway 270 and watch my coverage drop to one bar. My phone has a few dropped calls a week, and many times SMS texts can't go through. MMS doesn't go through the majority of the time as well.
If Verizon had the Iphone I would switch in a heartbeat.
@greezyg
Manhattan is TERRIBLE for AT&T / iPhone service. Took 10 minutes for me to check mail on several occasions!
@greezyg
I live outside Chicago and work in the city itself. Service is spotty in both areas and in between. Heck, I should be able to get full data and voice service without a hitch when standing on LaSalle, and most often data is MIA.
@greezyg
Orlando, FL has pretty crappy coverage. Especially the metro east area. I can barely get 3G out by UCF (only 15 mi from downtown), and end up with dropped calls daily. Sadly, T-mobile is even worse, and I'm not ever going back to Verizon again.
In contrast, St. Louis coverage (where I'm originally from) has awesome 3G coverage, even in the suburbs some 30 miles from downtown.
A TnT
Not mind blowing network coverage!
Must... mention.... apple....product....in....every....post.....
@thunderbollock
...this made me lol lots.
What KILLS me is that all of this good mojo for AT&T hasn't translated into decent phones. STILL no Android love.
Somewhere Luke Wilson has his arms behind his head leaning back in a chair with a smile.
On a more serious note, this underscores the fact that AT&T is going to do whatever they can....*whatever* it takes... to keep the iPhone an exclusive. Yesterday's cheaper data deal on the iPad might have been part of that. Sounds from the rumors that Verizon has a deal in place already once the exclusivity date expires. If not, AT&T will pay anything short of losing money to keep the iPhone as an exclusive device. (As much as it pains me to say that.)
Is this the first quarter where the majority of iPhones have been sold outside of the US? IIRC, it was about 50:50 for a long time.
Wow outsold the droid. Even with it's 100 millin advertisement campaign?????
So is iPhone desirable?
Guess those , there's a map for that ads didn't make a dent in AT&T sales agree?
AT&T is number one smartphone carrier on the planet.
Verizon is number one dumbphone carrier in USA agree?just look at the numbers.
@logic thinker
Eh AT&T lives off of the iPhone.