When AT&T announced that losing exclusivity of the iPhone wouldn't materially affect their revenues my first thought was, "I'll be patient - where's the punchline?"  AT&T's very public problems concerning coverage and capacity have iPhone users incensed and clamoring over the possibility of switching carriers to get improved service. 

But AT&T doesn't have to lose those customers, nor does it have to invest additional billions in network capacity to meet future needs.  They just need to make one simple change.  One inexpensive, easy, can't-believe-they-haven't-already-done-this change. 

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I hear and read complaints every day about the coverage problems that vex cell phone users.  Judging by the vitriolic tenor of the comments it’s safe to say that most of them – especially in Los Angeles, where I live and hear them first-hand – could be a little happier. 

The vast majority of complaints appear to be aimed squarely at AT&T and I’m certainly not about to defend them; as an avid iPhone user I’ve had more than my share of dropped calls and connections that just time out.  That said, having a little experience in building systems adds a great deal of perspective so while I’m not going to defend the carriers it’s important to see both sides of the coin. 

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Excuse me while I shake my head to make sure that I’ve read this right.  AT&T, blasted regularly in the news and on blogs far and wide with complaints about their lousy network coverage and underestimated data capacity (largely due to the runaway success of the iPhone) has a solution at hand and is ignoring it.  No, check that, they’re not ignoring it… they’re saying that they’ve got it and don’t want to use it. 

Their solution,  the recently announced availability of a long-awaited device which would vastly improve coverage while simultaneously offloading traffic from their network onto a channel that they don’t even pay for, will be squandered and barely taken up by the very people that need it most – and who are probably complaining the loudest about dropped calls and busy networks.

How is this possible?  Could a corporation smart enough to get an exclusive distribution agreement for the iPhone and to let Apple, a company known for its marketing genius, take the lead in marketing it, really be this stupid?  It appears so.  Here’s why…

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OK, maybe this hasn’t been a pot-boiling cliffhanger, but I’ll have you know that more than a few people have asked me that very question lately.  In my last post I promised to embark – and report – on a quest for the zero-minute month.  Through the magic of some cool new technologies I was determined to get my monthly cell phone “anytime” minutes down to a bare minimum, if not completely zero. 

How’d it go?  Well (my old journalism  professor would admonish me for “burying the lead” here) but I got pretty close.  The goal wasn’t to stop talking on the phone, or to stop using the cell phone, but rather to incorporate the use of some readily available technologies and services into my daily routine to minimize the use of AT&T’s anytime minutes on my plan. 

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