AT&T's 3G coverage

At work we have a Samsung Moment on loan from Sprint for Testing. I'm checking to see if it will be an acceptable replacement for my Blackberry 8330. So far it looks like it will do everything I need and more.

I started the Last.FM app just for fun and up comes a AT&T 3G network ad.

This is pretty funny because I had a AT&T 3G card and plan before switching to Sprint 3G through work.
On AT&T would regularly get 3-5Mbps in Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Salt Lake City.
Service anywhere in-between? EDG/GPRS at 128Kbps. On Sprint I get 3Mbps to 400Kbps in most areas.

This is not to say Sprint is perfect. So far as pure coverage my AT&T card worked everywhere. I know of several areas where I have no Sprint voice or data coverage and I have OK AT&T voice coverage and low speed data. The difference is I can drive 5 minutes to leave the dead zone to get 3G speeds on Sprint. I have to travel to a major metro to get 3G on AT&T.

Verizon's depiction of AT&T's 3G coverage matches my experience.

¶ 12:48 PM 0 comments

Does the FCC understand the Internet?

The FCC recently released the Notice Of Proposed Rulemaking for Network Neutrality.
I just started reading it, but section 14 on page 5 caught my eye (emphasis mine):

The rules we propose today address users’ ability to access the Internet and are not
intended to regulate the Internet itself or create a different Internet experience from the one that users
have come to expect. Instead, our proposals attempt to build on existing policies (discussed below) that
have contributed to the Internet’s openness without imposing conditions that might diminish innovation
or network investment. We seek to create a balanced framework that gives consumers and providers of
Internet access, content, services, and applications the predictability and clarity they need going forward
while retaining our ability to respond flexibly to new challenges.

This proposal is, in fact, a proposal to regulate the Internet. A computer that is “accessing the internet” is part of the internet. This proposal does not regulate the flow of information between your eyes and your computer screen. It regulates the flow of traffic between your computer or router, a node on the internet, and the rest of the internet.
This is perhaps a pedantic point, but it shows that the FCC is still thinking with shades of cable access or telephone (CO->Handset) while they try to ensure internet consumer node equality.
¶ 6:26 PM 0 comments