Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2009 > October > 02 > Entry
Sorry, iPhoners: AT&T networks not holding up at ACL
I was optimistic that the cell and data networks would hold up for Austin City Limits Festival based on what we were told on Wednesday, but if my experience so far today at Zilker Park is any indication, it’s going to be a miserable weekend for Twitterholics and mobile warriors who favor the iPhone.
AT&T’s services started off well this morning with Wi-Fi and 3G both holding steady. By noon, though, Wi-Fi was beginning to get flaky on my iPhone 3GS, working less and less. I turned off Wi-Fi and used 3G to post Twitter updates, check e-mail and upload photos. Soon, that was becoming flaky, too.
AT&T is encouraging fest-goers to rely on the Wi-Fi hotspots it has set up, but long before 2:30 p.m., when a mass of new people came into the park, they had become unusable.
By the time I set up camp for The Walkmen at the Xbox 360 stage, both networks (3G and Wi-Fi) were completely gone and even text messaging, my fallback for Twitter posts, was warning me that my texts weren’t going through.
It went on that way, with a complete lack of connectivity, until I left the park and was halfway down Barton Springs Road toward the American-Statesman building.
Every now and then, e-mails would pop through or a text would be sent successfully, or 3G would suddenly spring back to life, but I expended a big chunk of battery life simply trying to connect. If you don’t have a spare battery pack to juice up your phone, you’re going to have a hard time making it through a whole day at the fest with your iPhone still working. My advice is to turn off Wi-Fi if you can’t connect right away and maybe even 3G when you’re in a big crowd.
Not working? Try walking all the way across the park. Maybe you’ll have better luck than I did.
Bear in mind, this was early afternoon, before the big rush of people who show up for the evening headliners and who’ll further congest the data network.
It’s disappointing, to say the least. Was it too much to hope that the iPhone’s wireless carrier could keep up with the data demands of ACL weekend?
It seems, from everything I’ve seen the first day of the fest, that it was.
I wish I wasn’t having flashbacks of South by Southwest Interactive.
How are the other networks holding up? If you can read this and have info, let us know in the comments.
Below: three screens of defeat.
Permalink | Comments (42) | Post your comment Categories: ACL Festival, Austin, Internet, Phones
Comments
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By DK
October 12, 2009 10:23 AM | Link to this
ATT was terrible during ACL. Nothing was working, text messages, picture messages, WIFI, even my calls weren't going through, huge blocking. I had to borrow my friend verizon phone to make my calls. I guess verizon didn't want to take the chance like ATT did and setup to sites. I just don't get it. Is ATT trying to save money setting up only one cell site and one wifi or what? Is our iphone bills not high enough to pay for it. I also had a friend with sprint and another with Tmobile. Sprint and Tmobile had issues when ever the crowd was too big, but my friend said they were expecting that specially since they pay nearly half of my iphone bill. Anyways, I am getting out ATT now. What’s the point to have a cool phone that doesn't work. At that point I looked the most ridiculous between my friends.
By Danny
October 6, 2009 10:11 AM | Link to this
Try turning off 3g during ut games and big events the edge network is a lot less congested
By Charlotte
October 5, 2009 10:43 PM | Link to this
I was 15 miles away from ACL, and my T-Mobile phone had no service most of the weekend. I was guessing that it was somehow overflow from the AT&T people at ACL....
By antneon
October 4, 2009 11:43 PM | Link to this
AT&T's network sucked every day, and it only sucked more as each day wore on. I never had problems before 4 each day, then things stopped working. it was very frustrating. I couldn't meet up with people unless they weren't on AT&T and sending me a text.
By Eric
October 4, 2009 7:38 PM | Link to this
I just wanted to say something to the T-mobile guy. I'm sure you prolly wasn't having any problems. How many people there had T-mobile, 5 maybe? Lol just kidding.
By HAT
October 4, 2009 12:02 PM | Link to this
Our society has turned into a bunch of self-absorbed techno-Dweebs that HAS to share every SINGLE thought, experience, fart, burp, inane rumination and/or jibbering blather with every other person on the planet in REAL time. And god forbid if ANYTHING interrupts that unending flow of mental sewage for more than 3.7 femtoseconds!! Because we all know that the END of Civilization will follow shortly thereafter!!
Maybe someone should tweet that the sky IS falling!!
By TrixieMae
October 4, 2009 10:18 AM | Link to this
I had no problems with the AT&T network at all Saturday. Sent and received texts all day on my iPhone; checked my Facebook account, posted to my Facebook account. No errors or failure at any time during the day.
By jbone
October 4, 2009 12:24 AM | Link to this
I love that sprint just dropped one mobile tower there when everyone else was dropping two. That was their way of laughing at att and verizons networks. I had no problems with sprint service at all, but my iphone buddy couldnt even get texts from me. And to all those who say "yah but At&t has all the iphones on their network so they have more traffic", they also all the money from the iphones, so shouldn't they be able to get the right gear to keep your phone working as intended?
By Brian Woodlaw
October 3, 2009 5:31 PM | Link to this
Right now the AT&T Wi-Fi is working really solid, even in the rain... So I'm not sure how this blog even got started in the first place? If you don't believe me, I dare you to whip out your iPhone and give Wi-Fi a try instead of complaining like little girls. I love you AT&T, you rock at ACL and hope you bring Wi-Fi to SXSW next year!
By KA
October 3, 2009 5:07 PM | Link to this
Stop Twittering and enjoy the music!
By Gary
October 3, 2009 12:25 PM | Link to this
I love how my neighbor complains how he doesn't have signals at the UT games. maybe if you shut your phone off while the game is on and actually watch it you will be fine.
By Rick
October 3, 2009 11:38 AM | Link to this
Worse is that ACL is taking down the entire AT&T network in neighborhoods around the venue, such as my own in Deep Eddy. Like many, my wireless is the only phone I have and even voice calls are now impossible. This would be very bad news, indeed, during an emergency.
By Danny
October 3, 2009 11:16 AM | Link to this
My Sprint blackberry Tour was kickin [naughty word] and taking names, no problems texting, getting online, or viewing my schedule.
Att is an epic fail.
By Josh
October 3, 2009 11:03 AM | Link to this
not surprising. it's att. they can't get sxsw right, they can't get UT games right, they can't get ACL right.
Yeah iphone is a data hog. But you know what? that's not new news. they've had the phone for 3 versions now, you think they would have learned that people, ya know, use it. instead of deriding your customers for using a device and service they pay for, they should have used their years of experience to learn the lesson that they need a lot of network work, and they need to bring in support for bigger events. the iphones popularity and data hog nature is absolutely no excuse.
By Josh
October 3, 2009 10:56 AM | Link to this
Why am i not surprised? every UT home game, AT&T crashes and burns anywhere on the UT campus.
I don't expect to surf or do any of that - but i do expect to get calls. This is the 3rd or 4th large event this year (not counting UT home games) that AT&T networks collapse.
At what point do they realize that they need to beef up the infrastructure downtown to accomodate a city that has MANY large events that attract people in the thousands? Apparently Sprint and other carriers get it!
By cari
October 3, 2009 10:48 AM | Link to this
Verizon was working just fine, if a little slow yesterday. No real problems at all.
By John Taylor
October 3, 2009 10:39 AM | Link to this
If you have Sprint or Nextel coverage and you have problems this weekend at ACL, please let me know and I will pass on your feedback to our engineers. We brought in a Satellite Cell on Wheels -- basically a cell tower inside of a tractor trailer. Our experience is that's sufficient, but if that's not good enough for you, please let me know so we can adjust our plans for future events.
John Taylor (john.b.taylor@sprint.com)
Public Affairs, Sprint Nextel Corp.
By ashton
October 3, 2009 10:11 AM | Link to this
everyones gotta stop *****, its not like any other us carrier has the iPhone..( the most data sucking device) like the other person said if you have over 60k people there cellular networks clearly won't be able to hold on if you know ANY thing about bandwith..my parents have the iPhone 3g and constantly get dropped calls IN THE SAME SPOT as me and I'm on the phone with my AT&T fuze and have clear call quality with 5 bars of 3g... stop bashing AT&T, if veizon had the iPhone it wouldnt be flowers and unicorns, if you say it will then your stupid..I have no problem with AT&T where ever I go, but my parents do with the iPhone so its not always AT&T but did u nerds ever think it can be the iPhone?
By JD
October 3, 2009 9:16 AM | Link to this
Does anyone have an email address for ATT Customer Service? I'd like to send this article to them.
By Chris
October 3, 2009 8:49 AM | Link to this
Get over it people! Turn off the phone and enjoy the music. You're not so important that the rest of the world wants to see what you see. If you want to share it with someone, take a picture and show them later.
I don't care who your carrier is, every radio and switching technology has limits. You want to solve the problem, disable all the iPhones, which account for the majority of traffic on AT&T's network.
By D
October 3, 2009 8:41 AM | Link to this
You expect to surf the net while there are 60k people packed together? You clearly _CLEARLY_ have no concept of how cells work with large numbers of people using their phone. You may want to rethink the moniker Digital Savant.
By hgc
October 3, 2009 8:15 AM | Link to this
That's awful. Whats the point of going to a music festival if you can't spend every minute texting, tweeting, and updating Facebook?
By kstodd
October 3, 2009 4:59 AM | Link to this
This issue isn't limited to those at ACL today (although all the people in from out of town are surely causing usage spikes). I live at least 10 miles away from ACL and still have had issues all day long with text and internet services. Black eye for AT&T.
By Luddite
October 3, 2009 2:12 AM | Link to this
Who cares, isn't it supposed to be about enjoying the music?
By just the facts
October 3, 2009 12:26 AM | Link to this
Sprint was working well for me... better than previous years.
By Chuck Mac
October 3, 2009 12:01 AM | Link to this
Yup, ATT went down an hour before Them Crooked Vultures. All the iPhoners, me included, trying to upload pics to email or Facebook what not. However, texting was working fine when it really mattered, near the end of last sets.
By Omar Gallaga
October 2, 2009 11:52 PM | Link to this
Larry -- they have music?
By John
October 2, 2009 11:35 PM | Link to this
Honestly, ATT needs to send its management and employees to Europe where the phones with full graphic capabilities work at the Eiffel Tower, the London Bridge, and everywhere. Shame on you. Apple release the iphone to other carriers and bring on the competition. The ATT will respond.
By Me
October 2, 2009 11:28 PM | Link to this
Verizon held up just fine.
By Jim
October 2, 2009 11:06 PM | Link to this
I had no problem with Sprint all day.
By bobby
October 2, 2009 10:16 PM | Link to this
AT&T service was terrible. Wanted it to keep track of the kids and make sure they were picked up from school, etc. But not a chance after about 2pm.
By t-mobile user
October 2, 2009 9:28 PM | Link to this
My G1 seemed to do fine for phone calls, texting, and e-mail. I didn't try accessing the internet though.
By Robert
October 2, 2009 9:23 PM | Link to this
Agree with DKR, the AT&T network at football games is miserably bad. Once I get on I-35 and get about a mile away, my phone springs back to life. And I love dpb's complaint about people needing to tune out...posted on an internet board.
AT&T, get with the times.
By Bevolt
October 2, 2009 8:45 PM | Link to this
dpb..... exactly.
By Kevin
October 2, 2009 8:39 PM | Link to this
I'm not even at the festival, but live at the 360 condos. I've not been able to keep a call going for the past hour! Text messages are very sporatic. How to you spell fail? AT&T
By Jenni
October 2, 2009 8:29 PM | Link to this
My Palm Pre has not let me down. I'm jamming with Them Crooked Vultures and reporting successfully!
By Iphoner
October 2, 2009 7:15 PM | Link to this
Yup... my iPhone started off with promise this morning then rapidly went to the trash... by 6PM, it would barely make a call much less hold on to one. AT&T, with all the money y'all made as Bell, WTF!!!?? You're supposed to know WTF you're doing (certainly have the engineers to know how to do it)... or were those folks downsized...? Anyway, BUCKUP and fix the problem.
By Whitney
October 2, 2009 6:56 PM | Link to this
I've got T-Mobile and haven't had any issues. My phone doesn't do the wifi thing, but web, email, texts, blackberry messanger, and calls have all been connecting for me fine all day...
...with the exception, of course, of calling my friends with Iphones, none of whom are picking up or responding to texts.
By Larry
October 2, 2009 6:31 PM | Link to this
I guess I don't understand what the ACL Fest is all about. Here, all these years, I thought it was for listening to music, not tweeting one's narcissistic hiney off.
By DKR
October 2, 2009 5:33 PM | Link to this
Have you ever been to a UT football game? You've got a 20% chance - at best - of getting a text out on AT&T.
By dpb
October 2, 2009 5:29 PM | Link to this
Geez! How did anyone ever get along without this stuff?!? My suggestion would be to just turn the damn thing off and enjoy your time at the shows. Spend less time worrying about connecting to the outside world. What's the point?
By keith
October 2, 2009 5:21 PM | Link to this
You would think that AT&T would have learned its lesson from the same issues at SXSW. But NO! I am sure that this same thing happens at other major events as well. Not only is this frustrating for paying customers, but it is also really bad PR. Get a grip.