For months now, AT&T and Apple have been battling the community over whether or not high usage apps should be allowed to stream over 3G. On the plus side, it means people would be able to view their media wherever they get 3G coverage, but it comes with the fact that the network gets overloaded from all the demand. Just recently, AT&T started allowing VoIP apps to take advantage of 3G connectivity, signaling there were more changes to come in terms of streaming over the network; this wasn't such a bad prediction, as just earlier, the carrier announced that it is now allowing the SlingPlayer iPhone app to stream wirelessly.
According to the NY Times, AT&T has been testing the SlingPlayer app over 3G since mid-December last year, and has alerted both Sling Media and Apple that the app runs well over its wireless network. This is fantastic news for customers, as it means that they'll now be able to watch their media wherever they go, instead of just when they're connected to a WiFi signal. While this is well and good for now, it's unclear as to whether or not this will lead to an increased rate of dropped calls for customers; both Sling Media and AT&T are determined that this won't happen, as the SlingPlayer iPhone app adjusts its picture quality to fit the network capability.
AT&T saw some trouble a while back when it denied SlingPlayer to run via 3G, as it was more than happy to let other media distributors (such as the Major League Baseball app) stream video over their wireless network. Thankfully, the company seems to have seen the error of its ways, and is slowly but surely allowing apps to run regardless of how they're connected to the Internet.
This is certainly great for now, but what happens when Apple's iPad rolls around? The screen is considerably larger than an iPhone, making it perfect for viewing video, though it also means that file sizes will be much larger. Whether or not AT&T will allow streaming on both of the Apple devices is uncertain, though if they don't, expect some pretty confused and annoyed customers. The SlingPlayer update may not be available right away, so sit tight until it's ready to go.
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