Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2010 > October > 09 > Entry
ACL for iPhone owners: our troubles begin again (UPDATED)
SECOND UPDATE: (11 p.m., Saturday): The Austin Cap Mac User Group adds a new wrinkle to the situation by telling readers that AT&T was blocked from setting up Wi-Fi hotspots at ACL Fest, which seems to make sense given that Clear 4G had a stage at the festival this year and AT&T didn’t.
Cap Mac blames the fest itself for the iPhone/AT&T network headaches, but given that AT&T’s 3G network seemed hobbled even before the full crush of people showed up, that Clear’s Wi-Fi networks didn’t compensate and that the festival itself doesn’t provide its own Wi-Fi (like, say, South by Southwest does at the Austin Convention Center to ease the pain), I’d say there’s plenty of blame to go around.
UPDATE (8 p.m., Saturday): You won’t find any surprises in it, but AT&T has released an official statesman about the connectivity situation at Austin City Limits Fest. Spokesman Mike Barger sent us this from the company:
“We have taken steps to increase network capacity around ACL this weekend, however, some customers may see sporadic network congestion due to the large crowds. We are on the ground in Austin and our network engineers continue to monitor network performance.”
End of update. Original entry from Friday night follows:
Another year, another Austin City Limits Festival, another set of data woes for iPhone users.
Just as with last year’s festival, ACL’s first day was marred by extremely erratic 3G service and practically non-existent Wi-Fi for the many who own iPhones. On the AMD Stage side of the fest where I spent most of my time, 3G service would appear for a few minutes, disappear entirely, revert to EDGE and then come back to 3G in the space of a half hour or so. Texting seemed to work most of the time except when 3G and EDGE were gone entirely and my iPhone 3GS was searching for service.
A not uncommon sight was seeing iPhone users trying to reload Web pages under no-network conditions or griping about their inability to connect with friends they’d planned to meet up with inside the Zilker Park grounds.
Meanwhile, BlackBerry users tapped away at their e-mail, Verizon and Sprint users seemed to have fewer problems (I saw some Tweets, when I was able to connect, saying that 3G for Sprint was struggling, but 4G was holding up well). Michael Barnes, a fellow iPhone user, reported on Twitter that he was able to catch some Wi-Fi at the sports tent where football was being broadcast, but said later that the Wi-Fi got spottier at the day went on.
I was never able to connect to the Clear Wi-Fi network, although to be fair I never got close to the side of the park with that stage.
Since AT&T doesn’t have a stage at this year’s festival, some wondered aloud to me if the company wasn’t putting their best efforts behind ensuring wireless connectivity for its iPhone customers at the fest.
One thing’s clear, though: it will probably get worse. It’s expected that there’ll be many more festgoers at ACL on Saturday and Sunday. If you have an iPhone, have a backup plan since you won’t likely have consistent data service once you’re in the park.
What were your experiences at the fest trying to get online? Should people just put their smart phones away and enjoy the music or should paying customers expect to be able to get online, even with thousands of phone users competing for bandwidth?
Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment Categories: ACL Festival, Austin, Internet, Phones
Comments
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By Incredible
October 11, 2010 2:22 PM | Link to this
I'm pretty new to this whole smartphone thing, so I haven't figured out how to use everything on it yet (apps, etc.).
However, my last contract with T-Mobile had long expired and I realized it was time for a new phone. I was intrigued by the iPhone and T-Mobile didn't really have any phones I liked. So, the choice was between Verizon and AT&T. I chose Verizon (HTC Incredible phone) because I'd heard from friends about AT&T's coverage issues and I couldn't be happier with my choice. The phone itself is probably as close to an iPhone as anything, and I had ZERO trouble at ACL with reception, even for web, etc., although I was primarily concerned with just being able to get in touch with friends.
By henri
October 11, 2010 1:03 PM | Link to this
Very disappointing for us as well. Because of the lack of coverage, I could not use the handy ACLFest App in my iphone and my battery was drained from trying halfway through the day. I couldn't text to meet up with friends, (including one who was in town only for the festival so we NEVER GOT TO SEE EACH OTHER) use the map and the schedule in the app, or take any pics. Fortunately we didn't have to worry about sitters or the like, but it still made a mark on the weekend.
By just the facts
October 11, 2010 10:43 AM | Link to this
I had no problem getting a good connection at ACL, with my 4G phone. It also works at the UT football, when others can't get a signal.
By Omar Gallaga
October 10, 2010 7:42 PM | Link to this
John, I was pretty sure the "C3 Presents" comment was a joke when I approved it.
By John
October 10, 2010 5:06 PM | Link to this
"C3 Presents", you're not fooling anyone. Go troll elsewhere. And if Austin 360 was smart, you would be banned from this site.
By C3 Presents
October 10, 2010 1:42 PM | Link to this
Omar, such negative comments about ACL are unwelcome. ACL brings in 30 billion dollars to the local economy every year. If you don't like it then just don't go.
While we realize that the pretentiousness of iPhone owners signficantly overlaps with the pretentiousness of ACL attendees (we considered making it a requirement that all attendees owned an iPhone), we care even more about making money and Clear was a sponsor, AT&T was not.
So if we were to allow you to complain, you should complain about Clear not letting AT&T set up additional capacity on site. But you're not allowed to complain, so just dont go.
By Allen
October 10, 2010 10:19 AM | Link to this
You would think after all of these years AT&T would be able to manage the demand. This is embarrasing. We depend on these devices to remain in touch with our families. Omar your question at the end of "....enjoy the music" is appreciated and laughable! It sounds like a customer service alternative from the local computer company. We have become quite comfortable at listening to music, watching football in the tent and relying on our iPhones (when they have connectivity). On a sidenote... Clear Wi-fi was OK on Friday and deteriorated to worthless yesterday. Great marketing.
By schnee
October 9, 2010 4:01 PM | Link to this
ATT failed both my iPhone GS and my wife's non-smartphone. We missed crucial voice calls from the sitter and couldn't reliably text. I'm not even talking data here.
Coverage began fine, but by the afternoon, Zilker became part of the 3% of America that AT&T doesn't cover.
The Clear wifi worked ok for a while, but it too got swamped.
Probably best to just enjoy the music.
By Nick
October 8, 2010 11:25 PM | Link to this
This is why I got rid of my Iphone and went to the Verizon network. I have the Droid now and had no problems at all with my service today. I would also like to point out that the ACL application for my droid is one of the most useful applications i've ever used. It's a shame that a phone as technologically advanced as the Iphone is hindered by a network like AT&T.
By EVO rocker
October 8, 2010 11:25 PM | Link to this
Had a great time with my HTC EVO! Sprint rocks!
By Phil West
October 8, 2010 11:00 PM | Link to this
On an iPhone4 from the entrance area and the AMD/Honda/Zilker Beach side, got no e-mail, no geolocation capability, no Twitter/FB, and though texts worked most of the time, my wife's crucial "I'm taking the boys to the bathroom" text came a half-hour after she sent it. (Came out of Sonic Youth to find them by that point, and helped my 3-year-old, who contributed to the deplorable conditions of the porta-potty, so sorry fellow ACLers, though he wasn't the only one contributing.)