As we surmised,
the issues folks were seeing in terms of uploads on the AT&T wireless network were not a newly instituted upload cap, but rather a problem on their network. In this case, AT&T made sure to point the finger at a bug in Alcatel-Lucent's 3G base station hardware that slowed uploads for any device that supports HSUPA. Unfortunately, however, AT&T noted that a fix isn't here yet.
The issue is reducing upload speeds from the normally expected about 1Mbps to around 100kbps or less, a factor of 10. However, it appears to be regional in nature, not affecting the entire country. Here's what AT&T said:
“AT&T and Alcatel-Lucent jointly identified a software defect — triggered under certain conditions – that impacted uplink performance for Laptop Connect and smartphone customers using 3G HSUPA-capable wireless devices in markets with Alcatel-Lucent equipment. This impacts less than two percent of our wireless customer base. While Alcatel-Lucent develops the appropriate software fix, we are providing normal 3G uplink speeds and consistent performance for affected customers with HSUPA-capable devices.”
Based on the number of complaints it's unclear that only two percent of customers are being affected. At any rate, even if it is an Alcatel-Lucent problem, it's still going to cast a bad light on AT&T, and the iPhone 4, too (a large number of complaints came from iPhone 4 users, who probably feel snakebit right about now).
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