Watch this hand, not THIS hand! (… or the “AT&T shuffle”)
Watch the free Wi-Fi, not the 3G network….
AT&T’s free Wi-Fi access for AT&T broadband and wireless customers is set up on the north side of Times Square on Seventh Avenue between 45th and 47th Streets.
The program is, of course, designed to relieve data congestion on AT&T’s network, using Wi-Fi as a substitute.
If all goes well, AT&T may expand its free Wi-Fi offering to other cities, according to CNN.
San Francisco, anyone…? 
The traffic in densely populated areas like New York and San Francisco has caused problems such as dropped calls and slow access over 3G. If you think about it, this really does not make sense. Why not Los Angeles…? Why not Chicago…? Could the monitoring of transactions in financial centers by government in areas like San Francisco (Folsom Street AT&T interface with the NSA) and New York (undisclosed location? ) be overloading the network or creating bottlenecks?
AT&T has also been using more than 20,000 Wi-Fi hot spots, throughout the U.S. (PAID? If so, big deal…!) to offload some of its traffic. CNN says, “The company has offered free Wi-Fi access to its smartphone subscribers in the hopes that customers will use the Wi-Fi network when it’s available rather than the slower 3G network.”
So, AT&T customers, especially iPhone customers, is this what you are really paying for? An odious contract that allows some relief of pain, through Wi-Fi, in one limited location…? (Note added May 27, 2010: … or subsidizing New Yorkers? )
Or were you really paying for good 3G coverage…?
(Note added June 8, 2010: Steve Jobs had trouble getting a 3G cellular connection during his iPhone 4 demonstration in San Francisco, yesterday, after 570 WiFi connections in the room pretty well “tied up” WiFi availability. (Note added June 13, 2010: At least this is how it looked to ME, and to someone who tweeted a quip about hoping that there were no AT&T reps in the audience.) AT&T’s “free WiFi” (for how long?) plan in New York City (other places?) will not only mask the problems with 3G connectivity (a lot of people neither know nor care how they are connected, unless the bill is too high, and they have to pay it themselves), BUT the free WiFi will allow the wonderful VIDEOCONFERENCING CAPABILITIES of iPhone 4 to be used more widely in New York City! Enjoy it, New Yorkers! The rest of AT&T’s customers are paying for it! The people of New York City deserve some good things after all they have been through, except for the Wall Streeters and some other members of the financial community, many of whom probably deserve prison sentences….)
Changing topics, but only very slightly, to Net Neutrality….
According to an email message from savetheinternet.com:
“Congress just sold you out to Comcast, Verizon and AT&T.”
“74 House Democrats and 37 Senate Republicans have signed industry-written letters telling the FCC to abandon efforts to protect Internet users and stop big companies from blocking Internet traffic.”
“The nasty little secret that everybody knows? Almost every one of these representatives has accepted massive contributions from the phone and cable lobby. Now the industry is demanding a return on its investment.”
(Note added May 27, 2010: As you can tell by the non-partisan nature of the “sell-out,” this issue is really about money and power, and not about one political party or the other being “the good guys.”)
I encourage you to read the article on savetheinternet.com and to decide whether to participate in its grassroots movement.
The future of the Net as we know it is at stake.
(Note added May 27, 2010: An afterthought: If telecommunications companies take over control of the Internet, they would also take over control of the news. I think that we have enough examples of corporate “news” to understand what that would mean. So, it looks like, in addition to the Second and Fourth Amendments being “under siege,” we can add the First Amendment as well. I wonder if the traditional “Press” understands that Net Neutrality is necessary to ensure its existence. And I wonder whether members of Congress who oppose Net Neutrality understand that they are selling more than their votes, they are selling fundamental principles upon which the United States was founded….)
-Bill at
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