AT&T loses mobile web users

The reliability of wireless data networks was highlighted late last week when AT&T customers lost their data connections for nine hours across much of the Southeast and Midwest of the U.S. The outage did not affect voice services, but did knock out all Edge and 3G web based services for smartphones in the region.

With a rapid uptake of web-based applications--including voice over Internet --the reliability but also coverage of 3G-type applications is increasingly under scrutiny. Google recently reported a huge increase in web-based services coming from AT&T's Apple iPhones, as users took to the easy to use web browser interface. While the services are becoming quickly popular, 3G networks are still broadly limited to the large metropolitan areas, leaving users without web access if they roam beyond city limits.

It was not a good news week for Apple and AT&T with continuing questions about exactly how many iPhones it has connected. AT&T says it has connected 2 million phones in the U.S. but Apple says it has sold 3.7 million worldwide with analysts estimating up to 750,000 may have been unlocked from the AT&T U.S.-based network. AT&T has an exclusive deal to sell the smartphones in the U.S.

For more:
- AT&T mobile data services go down Article
- Where have the missing iPhones gone? Article

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