http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 2:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/I feel vindicated in the court of geek-ic opinion. Don't want to say "I told you so" a couple of years ago but Boss you paying attention? AT&T and O2 have been "good partners" with Apple never point a finger despite being BASHED relentlessly in the press! Appreciate the what, what on this one CZ...]]>Feb 24th 2010 3:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
The manufacturer that didn't realice this was apple. Samsunf, Nokia and SE handsets dont do this.

As for the fix, it might not be as simple as reconfiguring the network. The GSM system has several channels, and one of them is the control channel, working on different frequencies. This cutting and re-establishing the connection overwhelms the control channel. It isn't the prosessing capacity or some software clitch, but the limited bandwidth of the control channel. If the handset manufacturers continue to do this, there's no way to fix it, apart from huge increase in the basestatiions]]>Feb 24th 2010 5:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
Then why not configure them to handle it? This contradicts the claim that the handsets are to blame.]]>Feb 24th 2010 8:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/AT&T suck. Period. Next! ]]>Feb 24th 2010 9:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
The control channels capacity is not the problem in these cases. It's actually the signalling capacity of the RNC's from AT&T, which control the Base Stations. This doesn't happen everywhere because of different RNC models installed around the world. AT&T's RNCs don't manage properly the signalling load, and need either to be upgraded or replaced, depending on the vendors (I think it's Ericsson in most of the network). It's clear they don't want to invest in their network anymore, with no plans to launch HSPA+, they most probably will just fine tune everything else, that is cheaper.]]>Feb 25th 2010 12:07AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Grow up]]>Feb 25th 2010 12:34AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
I think it's there fault for not noticing this problem from the beginning.. and why isn't any other carrier having this problem, if most of the latest smartphones are using this method to manage there 3g connection???]]>Feb 25th 2010 12:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 2:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 3:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
It's already been proven over and over and over again ad nauseum that the iPhone's antennas are not the problem. Stop using it as your scapegoat.]]>Feb 24th 2010 3:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/when I peeled it off it said AT&T,

did anyone else in the UK get this?
]]>Feb 24th 2010 2:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
friend of mine peeled his and it said 'loser get 3gs - from steve']]>Feb 24th 2010 2:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 2:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/"A little battery life"?

I'm almost certain that all of the complaints about the iPhone 3GS's short battery life are due to people carelessly leaving a webpage still open and active in Safari (Safari doesn't "close" if there's a webpage open; it just runs in the background), thus keeping the data connection constantly alive. So it's not just a "little" battery life.]]>Feb 24th 2010 2:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/When I had an iPhone, Safari would "forget" the web page it was on almost immediately after leaving. It was extremely annoying.
If they've fixed that, it's good to hear, but I wouldn't call people "careless" for wanting a web page to keep loading while they answer a call. I'd rather it happen in the background then have to come back and wait for it to finish loading when my call is over.
-Taylor]]>Feb 24th 2010 4:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 2:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
Yes this is true, buts shouldn't AT&T realized this already after having it on their network for years? It seems to have only taken O2 a few months to realize there was a problem, test for what it is, and find the problem. Much better initiative i think.]]>Feb 24th 2010 2:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 2:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/"Yes this is true, buts shouldn't AT&T realized this already after having it on their network for years"
AT&T probably knows, but doesn't want to make it public. It's easier to attract potential customers if they think that the "problem" of poor reception is caused simply by overloaded towers (which can be upgraded) rather than something that might be systemic.

It could also be that AT&T wants people to think there's only one major problem instead of two separate but equally major problems.]]>Feb 24th 2010 2:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 3:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/and mi dads 3G didnt have O2 sticker or ATT label either]]>Feb 24th 2010 3:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 2:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 2:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
I have never had a dropped call in my entire life here in Europe :)]]>Feb 24th 2010 2:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
What about other phones, besides the iPhone that don't drop calls all the time. I've used an HTC Pure on ATT for the last 4 months and never dropped a call, literally not one.

No matter how bad you want this to be all ATT's fault, it's not. ]]>Feb 24th 2010 2:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
Coincidently, my battery died at the same time. Odd stuff here. ]]>Feb 24th 2010 8:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 2:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/"So, are we to assume that all non-ATT and O2 customers are configured to handle this?"
What makes you think the other carriers wouldn't have similar issues? No other carrier has as many smartphones on their network as AT&T. There is just no comparison right now for the amount of data load AT&T has to bear.]]>Feb 24th 2010 2:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
I'm referring to all of Europe, basically. Their population densities are much higher than ours and you don't hear the outcry from iPhone users over there.]]>Feb 24th 2010 2:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 3:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
How about the fact that the towers only need to cover a small country. Not one that is 7 times the size of Britain...]]>Feb 24th 2010 5:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 2:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 2:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 2:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
Exactly, I mean the iphone looks cool but it's really no different than the
ipod touch. Just that it can make a call and play music "WOW". I am not trying to be a fan boy because personally I dont have a smartphone, I use a featurephone but I would not drop a penny on an iphone. Fanboys of any company are funny lol.. ]]>Feb 24th 2010 2:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 3:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
You're not seriously defending carriers, are you? One of the greediest corporate entities out there, as a whole? Oh poor carriers, only making $80/month off iPhone owners. We should all feel so sorry for them.

Shut the hell up. The App store profits go to the developers, and then to Apple. Give me one reason why carriers deserve any money from the app store, if you can. You should be thanking Apple for breaking the cycle where the carriers were able to charge for you every single thing you did on your phone. Or do you not remember what it was like in 2007?]]>Feb 24th 2010 3:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
If it were all peaches and cream to be a carrier, with dump truck loads of money being poured into your lap, like you seem to think it is, I think we'd see more competition.

]]>Feb 24th 2010 4:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
Gee, I remember 2004 when I could load any software I wanted onto my PalmOS Treo 650 and there wasn't a single thing AT&T could do about it. Windows Mobile users had the same ability. Ah, Johnny-come-latelys are so much fun.

I'm not knocking the App Store. It's been around only a quarter the time of Palm OS and has almost three times as many apps. Impresive.]]>Feb 24th 2010 6:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 10:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 2:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 2:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/no apple invented it and are going to applying for a patent in "automatically switching off data connection in capacitive multitouch mobile devices"]]>Feb 24th 2010 4:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/MMM, smell that freshness.]]>Feb 24th 2010 2:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/You guys even posted about it but everyone passed on it as if it wasn't really true.

Can we remove the blame from AT&T and O2? Hell no. They should have seen this coming and better prepared, but it was caused by mainly the iPhone since it is so widely used and now others obviously.

That being said, the networks still need to fix this. I like saving battery power and if this method on the phones doesn't hinder performance I am all for it]]>Feb 24th 2010 2:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
]]>Feb 24th 2010 2:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/Feb 24th 2010 2:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
So you are saying that the networks should be static in their approach?

If we assume that the facts of this article are true, that modern data hungry devices can save energy by terminating idle data connections, then the service providers should make an effort to make their systems compatible. What is the alternative? To remove this potentially power-saving feature from all future devices to make life easier for the service providers?




]]>Feb 24th 2010 3:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/modern-smartphone-radio-design-partly-to-blame-for-atandt-o2-netw/
I've always heard that the 2 were separate, so that even the high data traffic brought on by the iPhone doesn't explain the problems with voice calls.]]>Feb 24th 2010 2:51PM