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Article Suggests iPhone is to Blame for AT&T's Network Failures

Sunday December 13, 2009 10:08 pm PST by Arnold Kim
A NY Times article suggests that the iPhone may be to blame for AT&T's network failures. Despite the fact that AT&T fell last on the list of Consumer Reports' latest annual cell phone satisfaction survey, the author claims that independent data suggests that AT&T may have "the superior network nationwide". Meanwhile, the iPhone, itself, may be contributing to the performance problems by causing interference that affect both its voice and data services.

Roger Entner, senior vice president for telecommunications research at Nielsen, said the iPhone's "air interface," the electronics in the phone that connect it to the cell towers, had shortcomings that "affect both voice and data." He said that in the eyes of the consumer, "the iPhone has the nimbus of infallibility, ergo, it's AT&T's fault." AT&T does not publicly defend itself because it will not criticize Apple under any circumstances, he said

AT&T has recently acknowledged that service in some major U.S. cities have been performing below standards and claims that AT&T is working on it. At no time has AT&T publicly blamed Apple for any issues.

John Gruber, however, questions the objectivity of the article as well as the "independent" sources of data, but also raises the most convincing argument against this probability:

If it's the iPhone's fault, not AT&T's, why aren't iPhone users around the world having the same problems as those here in the U.S.?

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