AT&T

AT&T and Apple are always trying to improve the iPhone and the network that powers it. A couple of new features coming our way from AT&T could make the iPhone’s cellular capabilities a little bit more robust.

According to Apple Insider, the new features could arrive by year’s end and are detailed below:

* Overage alerts would notify users via push notification badges, messages, or sounds when they approach their monthly anytime minutes limit.
* New voice mail options would let users disable the custom voice mail greeting (including AT&T’s standard voice mail introduction) and allow them to skip   greetings (standard or otherwise) or other automated instructions when calling other AT&T customers.

The features are said to have been influenced by customer feedback such as the ability to disable the computerized voice instructions for leaving a wireless subscriber a voicemail. Recently, there have been community inspired efforts to get rid of said messages, luckily carriers have been listening which could explain AT&T’s continued commitment to improve iPhone usage on its network by further disabling that annoying pre-recorded intro.

Via: CNET

AT&T has delayed rolling out its MMS service to iPhone users due to concerns that their network wouldn’t be able to handle the added traffic. The wait was been long and a set date of September 25th was given by AT&T itself but there are some reports that users have MMS enabled early.

MMS (Multi Media Messaging) has been one of the few basic features lacking from the iPhone since day one and it took until Firmware 3.0 for it to even be acknowledged. Apple’s stance was that email would be an adequate substitute considering the iPhone had a robust mail client. This didn’t go over too well with some users and now, the upgrade to MMS is beginning. Two sources, Howard’s Forums and The Consumerist report that users ranging across most parts of the US already have MMS enabled. To meet the requirements, you need a carrier profile of 5.0 or 5.1 (you can view your profile under “Settings > General > About > Carrier”), however mine is the former and I have yet to receive MMS functionality.

If you can’t wait for MMS to officially come… more...

One of the biggest gripes iPhone users have had is the network powering the device: AT&T. Complaints have ranged from a slow network to having a weak signal when competitors have better coverage in that area. To ease concerns, AT&T has been upgrading its network behind the scenes and now the carrier is bringing HSPA 7.2 support to six major cities.

Almost all of AT&T’s cell sites run at a slower 3G speed despite some of the carrier’s phones having support for faster 3G standards (HSDPA) such as the iPhone. One of Apple’s marketing points for the iPhone 3GS was its enhanced speed not only in CPU clock but also in its network connection and runs at the newer 7.2 Mbps 3G standard despite AT&T not supporting those speeds yet. Thankfully, AT&T is bringing support for its faster 3G standard to six cities: Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami. AT&T is enthusiastic about its network upgrade.

“Our deployment of HSPA 7.2 and supporting backhaul connectivity will enable our customers to continue to ride the leading edge of emerging devices and thousands of mobile applications, our… more...