Is AT&T Throttling Some iPhone 4 Uploads?

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This is my upload speed.

Is AT&T Throttling Some iPhone 4 Uploads?

A group of users on the MacRumors forum have noticed that their upload rates on their iPhone 4s have dropped dramatically in the last week. One of the major updates to the new model was the inclusion of HSUPA chip to boost upload speeds. Now users across NYC, Central Jersey, Boston, Orlando, Seattle, South Jersey/Philly, Columbus, Cleveland, West Houston, Phoenix, Northern Colorado, St. Paul/Minesota, Suffolk County/Long Island, Quad Cities, South Jersey, Denver, Detroit Metro, Cincinnati (whew, big list) are reporting that they were getting over 1MBps are now not able to pass 100 KBps uploads.

It doesn’t seem to be hitting everyone within those regions, and it seems to hit at random time periods. Some users are complaining of it now constantly being that low, others are saying that it fluctuates.

Right now, there’s no official word from AT&T, but I don’t particularly think this is anything nefarious from AT&T. I’m getting 3-4MBps down/1.2MBps up in Indianapolis, so obviously they’re not hitting everyone. This could be due to unusually heavy traffic due to the holiday weekend, especially in major urban area.

We’d love to hear if you’re hitting these issues or not. You can use the free speed test app from speedtest.net, and tell us if you’re limited to 100KBps, or you’re getting full advantage of the HSUPA chip. I’m not quite ready to sharpen my pitchforks and storm AT&T’s head office about this yet. Let’s see some more data points first.

Just out of curiosity, does this problem show up with WiFi?

I know it's a stupid question, but I figured I'd ask.

Just did the test myself. Works fine over Wi-Fi. 870kbps download, 210kbps upload. Something is definitely wonky since I was getting much faster uploads when I first got my iPhone.

Edit: Just did a few more tests. 1461kbps download, 324 upload. A little bit better, but still slower than launch day.

Edit 2: Did some more tests in different parts of my apartment. Upload speeds are around 700-900kbps. So I suppose Irvine is unaffected

Oh GOD NO! They MIGHT be throttling speeds on the network so everyone can have access! How dare they! Lets all boycott!!!!!

Someone call the Waaaaaaaaaaambulance....

Lets hope the cable companies and other internet providers don't get wind of this. Oh, wait....

My upload seems lower than normal. Will be interested to see if AT&T responds officially to this. Not surprised they haven't yet though due to the holidays.

Some iPhone 4 users have experienced slow upload speeds on the AT&T network, but the issue is not a result of intentional bandwidth throttling by the U.S. carrier, AppleInsider has learned.

Users across the U.S. have reported upload speeds of around 100Kbps, well below the capabilities of the HSPA-capable iPhone 4. The issue has affected users in a number of major metropolitan areas across the country, including New York and Los Angeles.

While some speculated the problems were a result of bandwidth throttling by AT&T, that is not said to be the case. Instead, AppleInsider has been led to believe that the issues are a result of an unintentional software glitch related to High-Speed Uplink Packet Access in some sections of the country. When working properly, HSUPA can allow uplink speeds of 5.76Mbit/s.


AppleInsider | AT&T not throttling iPhone 4 upload bandwidth

Looks like your typical case of crying over spilt milk. It's really sad how uppity people get when even the slightest thing goes wrong with their toys.

Kash said:

Looks like your typical case of crying over spilt milk. It's really sad how uppity people get when even the slightest thing goes wrong with their toys.

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Funny that....

Ugh, well there goes my class action lawsuit dreams for being psychologically damaged by this.

Kash said:

Looks like your typical case of crying over spilt milk. It's really sad how uppity people get when even the slightest thing goes wrong with their toys.

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baggss said:

Funny that....

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Come on now.. In all fairness, when a mobile provider advertises speeds on their 3G network as being "x" and you wind up with "y" on a constant basis, and you are only ever given excuses rather than a change in price on your bill to reflect the obvious contractual cock ups... then I'd say there's a problem.

I know that the speed problems don't always affect everyone, but if it is affecting enough people to warrant said company doing an restructuring on their network, then let them step up to the plate I say. After all, they can more than afford it, with the prices they've been charging for years.

Ok, so they're not throttling anything, but they're also not living up to their advertised upload or download speeds, which is what people pay so much money for in the first place. If it's just a temporary thing, at best, then they should send users a notice about it. It's the right thing to do. "We're working on a problem which might cause etc etc.. "

I don't get the defense standpoint some of you take for these companies at all. Our business is in their best interests, and if they can't follow through with simple customer satisfaction then why do business ? Is it because they're the only company with the iPhone right now ? I'm guessing that is a big reason.

Doug

Edit: And yes, I know that ATT are claiming the problem is related to an software glitch, but my point still stands as it is. They haven't commented on the problem because I'm assuming that they're only guessing the problem is software related. But hey.. .at least tell people before hand that you know there's an issue and are working on it. Why be (IMO) sneaky by waiting for people to finally complain ? I guess that's just how most business' are run these days though. Shame that.

Doug b said:

I don't get the defense standpoint some of you take for these companies at all. Our business is in their best interests, and if they can't follow through with simple customer satisfaction then why do business ? Is it because they're the only company with the iPhone right now ? I'm guessing that is a big reason.

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Why do people always have to assume the company is purposely doing something wrong or trying to be evil on purpose?

That's pretty much how AT&T was portrayed in this situation until the truth came out. I'm pretty sure if we look hard enough, you make mistakes too, and I bet sometimes they're not things you can fix immediately, but you try.

schweb said:

Why do people always have to assume the company is purposely doing something wrong or trying to be evil on purpose?

That's pretty much how AT&T was portrayed in this situation until the truth came out. I'm pretty sure if we look hard enough, you make mistakes too, and I bet sometimes they're not things you can fix immediately, but you try.

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I think you'll find though, that no one actually accused ATT of throttling the network speeds. Not here at least. In the original post, there was no accusation, but rather a simple question : " IS ATT throttling, and not: "ATT IS throttling". I hope you don't find that to be playing on semantics, because it's the truth, and I took it as such when I read it.

The reason for the question was to make other people aware of the problem in order to gain some insight, and not to just say "ATT is ripping us off".

Now let's talk more about this whole me making mistakes thing... that's just crazy talk !

Doug