But AT&T 3G is Terrible!
No sign of an apology for how bad AT&T's 3G is then?
Pity they didn't invest their iPhone profits in building out a decent 3G network...........
The US may be number one in wireless broadband, but to stay on top it needs more spectrum and less regulation. That's the opinion of a pair of AT&T execs speaking Tuesday at the CTIA Wireless 2010 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T Wireless, was unabashed in his assertion that the US is the top …
What's he smoking?
There may be a lot of customers downloading farts but we're still stuck here with phones released in Europe becoming available a year later in the US and vendor data plans that cost $70-$100 per month ... when you can get a connection. Mobile phones service in the US sucks - I drive from the office into town on the Interstate and I can guarantee that I'll lose the call at the I-12/I-10 junction ... it's been that way for years.
"crowd that the US has 117 million 3G subscribers, edging out number-two Japan's 110 million"
Indeed, but the US population is 307 million, Japans population is 127 million. As a percentage then, the US is around 35%? Japan is at almost 100%. Sure, it's easy for him to say "we have 7 million more 3G users than Japan" but by penetration, Japan are way ahead.
Tell him to come back when around 280 million Americans have 3G (although by then, Japan will probably be 100% 5G!)
Oh, come on! The US is still squabbling internally about whether it should provide all its own people with basic health care of third-world standards. Then again, Aust. Govts (all of them) have been drooling over the hope of getting a more US-like system so they could gouge the saved healthcare money into their own slush finds for decades, so I guess that does represent US leadership in a way.
Back on topic: "Regulation might scare away investors". Where as non-regulation will swallow up their money like it did in the banking sector. That was a real great experience for everyone. Yeah.
"CEO Randall Stephenson, speaking after de la Vega, offered the thoroughly unsurprising opinion that the spectrum release should be "unencumbered by regulation.""
Let us f@#k everyone in the a$$ and take all of the money and no one gets hurt. Oh and don't expect us to produce anything of value for all of the money we pillage out of your pockets.
'PC Magazine also reported that AT&T's chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson, speaking after de la Vega, offered the thoroughly unsurprising opinion that the spectrum release should be "unencumbered by regulation."'
Oh, Randall, you mean like "Free Range Spectrum", not that artificially grown stuff that can live without Royalty Payments ...
Mine's the one with the Ultraviolet Catastrophe in the pocket ...
One thing that could account for the absurdly high figures is that the fact that many people in Japan including myself carry around two or more cellphones with them at any given time. Also, a significant portion of elementary school students do have cellphones, of which most are likely 3G (although I don't have any numbers to back this statement up with).
These idiots are just talking up potential investment. Anybody outside the circle knows that the US is so backward when it comes to mobile broadband: crappy phones, expensive data plans, even voice plans are archaic (what other developed country still charges you to receive calls?)
When AT&T and others get less greedy and give us a more European model (yeah, right!) they may well pile on users!