AT&T Admits To FCC Its Network Unprepared For iPhone And iPad

AT&T officially filed with the FCC yesterday seeking approval for their acquisition of T-Mobile. Among the many reasons they gave, one that stood out was an admission that the current state of their network cannot handle the onslaught of iPhones, iPads, and other new smartphones and tablets. Thus, the T-Mobile acquisition is necessary to ensure an improved and stable network for customers. This may explain the controversy starting in February when new devices on the network seemed to have HSUPA intentionally disabled.

"A smartphone generates 24 times the mobile data traffic of a conventional wireless phone, and the explosively popular iPad and similar tablet devices can generate traffic comparable to or even greater than a smartphone. AT&T's mobile data volumes surged by a staggering 8,000% from 2007 to 2010, and as a result, AT&T faces network capacity constraints more severe than those of any other wireless provider," reads the filing statement.

AT&T then goes on to say that the T-Mobile deal "will thus benefit consumers by reducing the number of dropped and blocked calls, increasing data speeds, improving in-building coverage, and dramatically expanding deployment of next-generation mobile technology."

This surely explains why a bunch of new HSPA+ devices including the HTC Inspire 4G, Atrix 4G, and the Samsung Focus experience data speed throttling. The first device we reported experiencing capped data speeds was the HTC Inspire 4G. AT&T must have been trying to cover up their network deficiencies by claiming that the device was not enabled for HSUPA upload speeds, when the HSPA+ chipset of the device supports HSUPA. And most recently it happened again with the Samsung Focus.

[via Business Insider]