AT&T finds slow upload speed culprit, incoming fix

By Andrew Lyle, 13

As Neowin reported yesterday, AT&T was throttling users upload speeds on their smartphones and 3G dongles. AT&T identified the culprit for the slow speeds as being Alcatel-Lucent hardware. The slow speeds affected more than 20 cities across the United States yesterday, with users upload speed throttled to 100kbps.

The identified equipment, which isn't present in all markets, was falling back to non-HSUPA upload speeds “under certain conditions” says an AT&T spokesperson. The company claims that this only affected “less than two percent” of its users and only in certain areas. 

AT&T says they are currently working on a software fix for the slow upload speeds in their reply to the slow speeds,
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.”

Comments (13)

Reply
Xenosion Reply

While I am curious what these "certain conditions" are, I am glad AT&T for once seem to be on the ball.

PeterKD Reply

Xenosion said,
While I am curious what these "certain conditions" are, I am glad AT&T for once seem to be on the ball.

just a software glitch in the terminals im sure.

ozzmannt Reply

Xenosion said,
While I am curious what these "certain conditions" are, I am glad AT&T for once seem to be on the ball.

Certain conditions: User has AT&T service and believes it's good lol

dvb2000 Reply

I'm sure they were "stunned" to find that bug, no doubt anyone uploading more that (say) 50k was accidentally throttled by the bug.

+Cupcakes Reply

Ohh definitely nice! Glad to hear they're resolving this rather quickly.

SkinAddict Reply

"This impacts less than two percent of our wireless customer base."... and 97% of our Smartphone and Aircard base.

LOL.

Xenosion Reply

vaximily said,
"This impacts less than two percent of our wireless customer base."... and 97% of our Smartphone and Aircard base.

LOL.


That is an interesting take. lol

waruikoohii Reply

vaximily said,
"This impacts less than two percent of our wireless customer base."... and 97% of our Smartphone and Aircard base.

LOL.

Assuming 100% of Smartphone users are in areas serviced by only Alcatel-Lucent gear.

Singh400 Reply

**** me, why do I get the impression that AT&T are a shoddy outfit of a company?

LiquidSolstice Reply

Singh400 said,
**** me, why do I get the impression that AT&T are a shoddy outfit of a company?

Where have you been for the past five years? @_@

Buttus Reply

with all the bad press they've gotten about the Iphone 4, they're happy to have something that they can fix!

zagor Reply

Well, at least they are not suggesting users to hold their phones differently.

TuneUp Utilities Reply

I think the fact that AT&T admitted there was a glitch and started fixing it immediately was a smart move. Aren't you glad to know that this was a software problem, and not a cap on iPhone upload transmissions?