Between the Lines

Larry Dignan, Andrew Nusca and Rachel King

Are you a mobile broadband hog? Should that be your problem?

By Sam Diaz | October 7, 2009, 10:48am PDT

Should mobile broadband be preserved, much the same way people are interested in conserving energy and saving the environment?

During a keynote speech at CTIA, AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega spoke about the state of the wireless industry and the trends that we’re seeing in mobile. For the most part, he focused on growth in things like investments, data usage and the projections for coming years.

But he also chimed in with a message that we’ve all heard repeatedly - some people are mobile bandwidth hogs and, unless the broadband is better managed, a few heavy users will crowd out other users who want to connect, as well.

In his speech, de la Vega noted that, among AT&T smartphone users, the top 3 percent of the users are using 40 percent of the data. But, unlike fiber, which has a much greater capacity (25 million mbps) than even the forthcoming 4G LTE broadband capacity (100 mpbs). That means that the broadband needs to be managed so that everyone can take advantage of it.

I’ve heard this before but still have a hard time coming to grips with it.

Specifically to AT&T, I have issues with a company that has gained so much through its lucrative exclusivity with Apple and the iPhone. AT&T continues to sell the iPhone and sign up new customers for an unlimited data plan - but then cries about its network being stretched thin.

What did you expect? Your partner there - Apple - is pushing apps of all kinds, music streaming, video, online gaming and now VoIP. Of course it’s stretched thin. Now, you’re facing a data crunch. The network was ill-equipped before and now, as more and more people are being exposed to the things that can be done over the mobile network, you want to highlight the heavy users as the bad guys? That’s not very fair.

The mobile carriers are offering unlimited data plans to get those customers to sign those two-year contracts. Now, it sounds like they don’t want us to use them. If I stream Pandora all day or catch NFL Mobile video clips on Sunday afternoons or upload photos to share with my Facebook friends, I shouldn’t have to worry about being labeled a mobile broadband hog. I pay my bill every month for unlimited usage. Repeat: unlimited.

If AT&T or any other carrier is feeling the pinch, then it probably needs to fast-forward its plan to increase capacity. Don’t expect me to pay for an unlimited access plan and then feel bad about using it.

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Topics

Mobile, Broadband, AT&T Corp., Mobile Broadband, Advertising & Promotion, Broadband Internet, Network Technology, Wireless And Mobility, Telecommunications, Marketing, Networking, Sam Diaz

Sam has been a technology and business blogger for more than 18 years.

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We all have to agree that the focus effort is towards the wrong direction.

jkuhn266 5th Jan 2010

If AT&T, and even Verizon took all the determination, funding, and focus that they are putting into slamming each other into actually trying to improve their services, and trying to win customers that way, the problem of not enough resources for all users, including heavy, would not be anywhere near as bad as it is. See, this is the smaller companies chance to focus on improving their networks, and, in turn, making their business more appealing to customers than the childish ones that have to sling mud to make themselves look better. We all know that truly good business is where the company strives to keep their customers happy by providing quality service. That's how things advance. People compete to make something better to win over customers. I also believe that you should get what you are told you're supposed to be getting. If they say unlimited, then it should be unlimited. They could truly provide virtually unlimited to every customer if they really tried to improve, but they don't.

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Well, if I am a light user, I DO NOT want to pay for the hogs that drive up

DonnieBoy 7th Oct 2009

costs for the carriers. I want a dirt cheap plan,
that will immediately throttle me if I start
hogging, or, possibly give me the option to pay
more if I want to keep on hogging.

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Then purchase the "Limited plan" rather than the "UNLIMITED Plan"

invmgr@... 7th Oct 2009

It should cost less.

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I may very well be...but...

ths40 7th Oct 2009

...I'm also paying Verizon USD$60.00 per month for Unlimited Mobile Broadband service. And yes...it IS unlimited. I am "grandfathered in" to the unlimiterd plan, because I have had it from day 1.

I use my LG enV Touch as a tether to my laptop, and iPaq 210 PDA, to access the Internet, Google Maps, E-mail, and my SlingBox. And I use it a lot, with no apologies.

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Good for you! Take advantage! Just don't moan if it goes slower! (NT)

No More Microsoft Software Ever! 7th Oct 2009

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Problem is that he makes everyone else slower

georgeou 8th Oct 2009

Problem is that he makes everyone else slower. He
can essentially hog a quarter of all the network's
capacity.

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Stop the iPhone envy, it's not a monopoly, there are plenty of other phones

T1Oracle 7th Oct 2009

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HUH? Did you leave a talkback to the wrong blog?

invmgr@... 7th Oct 2009

This one was about Mobile network bandwidth, or lack thereof. Possibly mentioning the ipones surge in sales contributing to ATT's already bottlenecked throughput.

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Read the blog

T1Oracle 7th Oct 2009

"I have issues with a company that has gained so much through its lucrative exclusivity with Apple and the iPhone." Sounds like envy. So what if AT&T has the iPhone, get something else if you don't like their network.

They made a smart business move and now the reap the benefits. This is completely fair because the iPhone does have competitors.

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You missed the point

SamDiaz 7th Oct 2009

The point of that statement is that an AT&T exec was the one on stage basically talking about the strain that heavy data users are putting on their network. But Apple/AT&T haven't stopped selling data-heavy iPhone apps or unlimited data service placs, either. If the data network is strained, it's because AT&T keeps leaving the door open for more and more people to use it continuously.

They did cut the deal and can reap all the benefits they want. But they need to use some of those "benefits" to prepare for a flood of data usage. Don't sell us something, collect the monthly bill for the usage and then whine about how we're using it too much.

Give me a king-sized break...

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You must not use a smart phone on the AT&T network.

No More Microsoft Software Ever! 7th Oct 2009

Otherwise you would know their is no problem. Reads more like AT&T 'pre-apologizing' for slowdowns. Although they have been building up their network furiously.

I ain't got no problem. And I don't want AT&T to 'limit' my use either. I pay for unlimited.

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Android

epcraig 7th Oct 2009

Never heard anything from T-mobile that I use too much bandwidth, although I think I use a lot.
I need gmail and Google maps and I watch movie trailers a bit.
AT&T gets to find out that iPhone users will desert them as soon as they can. That ought to solve their bandwidth hog problem.

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I'm not so sure. I used TMO with my BB Pearl. Unlimited data. Cost 5 $ less

No More Microsoft Software Ever! 7th Oct 2009

Not much of a savings. But with AT&T I can travel from SFO to LAX with no outage or dropped calls.

I think I have the better deal now (No, I don't work for AT&T or Apple).

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RE: Are you a mobile broadband hog? Should that be your problem?

Al_nyc 7th Oct 2009

Is this Ralph serious? Sounds like a lame excuse for not having enough capacity. If you sell it, you should have the product you are selling. If their system has reached capacity, they should stop selling the service.
I wonder if someone told him how stupid his idea sounded before he put that out in public?

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RE: Are you a mobile broadband hog? Should that be your problem?

Vahidm 7th Oct 2009

Which part of "unlimited data plan" does the CEO of AT&T not understand?

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Unlimited has nothing to do with speed.

No More Microsoft Software Ever! 7th Oct 2009

Do you ever get a message 'GB limit exceeded'? Then quit your moaning. Go to another provider.

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Unlimited has nothing to do with speed?

davagain 7th Oct 2009

To a certain extent that is true, but if the
slowdown becomes dramatic enough, it becomes a
limit on usage, even if its not labeled as such.

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RE: Are you a mobile broadband hog? Should that be your problem?

FrankleeMiDeer 7th Oct 2009

Thanks for the warning. I've been very satisfied with my Verizon Mobile Internet. 9.99 per month, unlimited data, no problems.

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The problem is the "Unlimited" plan

jorjitop 7th Oct 2009

While it might sound attractive to users, it is a logically unsound idea. All resources should have limits. And those resources should be distributed according to some marginal pricing process.

This applies to healthcare and oil consumption as well. Bandwidth, even fixed using fibre optics, does have a cost of implementation and maintenance, and its use should be correctly priced.

It would appear that ATT has mispriced their mobile access, and should change their available plans. The transition for current users should be grandfathered, but any costs for using their service should be factored in by potential new iPhone acquirors.

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I think some statistics need to be posted. What is the average GB per month

No More Microsoft Software Ever! 7th Oct 2009

per user? I know mine is only 12GB per month (using internet, email, text messaging). Not so much I think.

What IS the network setup for? How much do YOU use per month? Are these folks actually complaining about speed (therefor not affecting their 'unlimited data')?

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I'm always wary about arguments based on "Should"...

davagain 7th Oct 2009

jorjitop wrote: resources should have limits...
resources should be distributed according to
some marginal pricing process...
etc.

jorjitop, when you build or buy a cell phone
company (perhaps named jorjitopco), you are
free to choose the pricing policy you "should"
offer to your customers. ATT has clearly made
a business decision, a bet, whatever you want
to call it, that the average user is not going
to use so much bandwidth that the company goes
broke providing it. The company is either
right or wrong. Time will tell. That's a call
for ATT, its shareholders and its directors to
make. Not you. Not me. There are way more
than enough backseat drivers in this country.

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Sorry, but 'unlimited' means 'unlimited'

No More Microsoft Software Ever! 7th Oct 2009

It does not mean it will always be the fastest, however. Cell networks need to improve, as AT&T has been doing for the past 3 years.

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just getting what you paid for

Mectron 7th Oct 2009

if a plan is advertised as unlimited. i should be able to have full speed 24/7.

This is the operators who are trying to NOT deliver the service peoples have paid for.

the cell phone industry the most most crooked industry (just bellow the entertaiment).

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And what did you pay for?

otaddy 8th Oct 2009

I agree that they shouldnt be able to advertise "unlimited" plans and there have already been lawsuits against the carriers for this.

But where in the contract does it guarantee throughput speed? All they mention is a minimum average.

You dont really think you can get full throughput speeds all the time do you?

Even if the carriers wanted to give that to you they couldnt due to basic physics and the fact that it is a mobile network.

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I think the success of the iPhone has accelerated a debate...

davagain 7th Oct 2009

... that is coming anyway. The net-neutrality
crowd is certainly related to the unlimited-
use-as-a-natural-right crowd. I believe that
the internet is a commercial resource,
increasingly funded by private investment
rather than government. There is nothing wrong
with companies giving preferential treatment to
customers willing to pay more for it. I use
lots of bandwidth on my desktop because my plan
is unlimited and it is fun to do so. If I paid
for my usage, I would have to prioritize my
spending of my data. Depending on the pricing
scheme I may also have to decide how much speed
to buy. Right now, wired bandwidth is dirt
cheap, with wireless not far behind.

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100Mbps?

ferricoxide 7th Oct 2009

That's not *exactly* accurate. That might be the rate that can be had to a given cell tower. It isn't (or at least shouldn't in a competently run network) going to be the rate limit on backhauls. The backhauls should be fibre connected back to the telco's links to the core networks which, again, won't be limited to 100Mbps.

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4xMIMO LTE on 20 MHz is 300 Mbps

georgeou 8th Oct 2009

4xMIMO LTE on 20 MHz is 300 Mbps, but that's using 4
radios/antennas on the base station and the clients.
That may not be feasible and actual implementation will
be 2xMIMO which cuts theoretical bandwidth in half.

More importantly, these figures are based on the most
aggressive encoding schemes and it's only possible with
maximum signal to noise ratio. If you're inside a home
or car with a smaller antenna, you've already lost 10
dBm so you'd have to be very close to the tower or use
an external fixed antenna. Real world speeds with real
world SNR could be as bad as 1/8th or even 1/16th the
performance and this is exactly how Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
works. It's all just physics and every technology
faces the same engineering tradeoffs and constraints.

Realistically speaking, the wired (or wireless)
backhaul may not need to be as fast as the theoretical
best on the wireless segment because the wired segment
multiplexes much more efficiently and it doesn't suffer
a distance trade off.

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Nice summary George!

otaddy 8th Oct 2009

The real challenge in getting this deployed will be getting fiber to all of the cellsites...this is a time consuming process.

Another challenge will be in clearing the spectrum of interference. The FCC has poorly managed the spectrum and there are all sorts of wireless microphones, etc out there that can interfere with LTE signals.

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Amazing

wright_is 8th Oct 2009

If they can't support an all-you-can-eat buffet they shouldn't offer it...

If the users were restricted to 5MB a month and they started using 5GB a week, then I could understand the problme. But if they have a flatrate and they are using it as a flatrate, they need to update their infrastructure or stop selling flatrate contracts...

T-Mobile don't seem to be complaining about their iPhone customers hogging bandwidth and I haven't noticed any slow down.

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RE: Are you a mobile broadband hog? Should that be your problem?

EricP_KY 8th Oct 2009

I agree 100%, especially since AT&T now requires all new smartphones to have a data plan. I just got the new HTC Pure (sweet WinMo phone, BTW) through AT&T to replace my old, worn-out phone, and had to get the $30 Personal PDA plan with unlimited data. I didn't have a data plan before (wasn't required), but now that I have to pay for it, you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be using it. Only downside to using it a lot is that it really sucks the battery life quickly...but hey, that's the breaks! All I can say is that AT&T better be using that extra $30 every month to get their network capable of handling all the data usage...

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Even if you're grandfathered in, they did have terms of usage

georgeou 8th Oct 2009

Even if you're grandfathered in, they did have terms of
usage. They do have applications (high bandwidth) that
they restrict.

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correct, thats why there were lawsuits

otaddy 8th Oct 2009

The carriers had "UNLIMITED" in big print but read the fine print and you will see that there was a limit to the amount of data you could pull each month.

That's why there were lawsuits--and rightfully so.

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salesman love unlimited plan, engineers do not

otaddy 8th Oct 2009

Those of us who engineer networks for the carriers cringe every time an "unlimited" (but actually limited) plan comes out.

With traditional voice you can almost get away with it (except at football games,etc) since people can only talk so much and there is a limit to how many simultaneous calls you can have.

But with data, there is no limit, users will always want more and with higher throughput.

Even with fiber to the cellsite, the radio resources are scarce and can never accomodate unlimited anything.

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I can't cry for the mobile providers

wolf_z 8th Oct 2009

They have raked in obscene profits for years and deliberately under-provisioned their networks. Besides, it isn't *network* congestion they're worried about, it's *tower* congestion. A fiber-optic cable is a very fat pipe indeed.

Time for the mobile providers to get off their lazy butts and be innovative. You know, pack more data into a given bandwidth, find clever new dodges and encoding schemes for signals, that sort of thing?

Bleh. A pox on their houses.

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Deliberately under-provisioned?

otaddy 8th Oct 2009

And your proof of this is...?

And LTE isnt innovative enough for you? Oh and keep in mind that the govt has been the one holding up carriers access to their LTE spectrum.

Again, sales oversells and offers unsustainable unlimited plans...then engineers like me are stuck with fixing the problem. It takes time to add capacity to a network. But to say they deliberately under provison is dishonest.

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RE: Are you a mobile broadband hog? Should that be your problem?

wizard57m@... 8th Oct 2009

I've had my Samsung BlackJack PDA/Smartphone
since Dec 2006, with an "unlimited" data plan,
biggest complaint is lack of 3G speed in my
hometown, but you can bet I use all I can use!
Not so much for "apps" or streaming media, but
for email and web browsing I use all I can.

The only thing I wonder about is have we all
forgotten what AOL, MSN, Earthlink, etc. did
with their "unlimited" dialup access plans back
in the middle to late 1990s? They all sold us
plans labeled "unlimited", but when users began
leaving their connections up 24/7/365 via a second phone line, all of a sudden "unlimited" took on a whole new definition! I remember AOL
would send a "system modal message" every 46 minutes to make sure someone was at the keyboard to click "OK" or the connection would be dropped...which many found easy ways of auto-responding to! Is something similar in the future for mobile "unlimited" data?
I wouldn't be surprised.
Wiz {;-)

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No, because Vodafone has no 3G

peter_erskine@... 10th Oct 2009

A chance would be a fine thing! In this part of Essex the best you can get from Vodafone dongles is 4kB/s on 2G. There is no 3G available. (Also none from 3 or Orange).