A bunch of readers are telling us AT&T and Alcatel Lucent have fixed the issues with HSUPA (high speed uploads) and their iPhone 4’s a positively racing up the information superhighway again. Not everyone in every place seems so lucky, however, as our good friend @TCPJ_Mickey, still seems to be chugging along sub-100 in Arizona.

You know what this means, right? Speed test!

We use speedtest.net’s app [iTunes link] but whatever your choice of measure, post where you are and what your upload speeds look like today and we’ll see if we can figure out if AT&T really is giving more Mbps in more places.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in, sorry to Mickey!]

Has AT&T fixed HSUPA upload speeds in your area? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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In addition to the 3.2 million iPhones AT&T activated on their network last quarter they also switched on 400-500K iPad 3G. What’s more:

It’s “surprising” how many business customers are approaching AT&T about the iPad.

Business Insider quips that Microsoft should look out, but given the profit share Apple has taken on iPhone and the low margins of typical PC hardware, what damage they may not do to unit sales they may well do to revenue.

What’s also interesting is that iPad users are consuming more data than iPhone users though less than 3G laptop users and 75-80% are on the unlimited 2GB plan.

[Business Insider]

AT&T Activates 400-500K iPads 3G in Q3, using more data than iPhone is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Hot on the heels of Apple’s 8.4 million iPhones sold in Q3, AT&T announces a record-breaking 3.2 million of those were activated on their network. Their churn levels were lower than ever as well, 1.01 percent postpaid churn and 1.29 percent total churn, and the all-important ARPU (average monthly revenues per subscriber) up 3.4 percent.

On June 24, AT&T began offering iPhone 4, the most powerful iPhone yet. Preorder sales of iPhone 4 were 10 times higher than the first day of preordering for iPhone 3GS a year earlier. For the full second quarter, AT&T iPhone activations totaled 3.2 million, the most quarterly iPhone activations ever. Approximately 27 percent of those activations were for customers who were new to AT&T.

27 percent new to AT&T, going into the 4th year of exclusivity? Yeah, that’s probably why they stick with that “I hate you, don’t leave me” borderline relationship with Apple.

And all this with iPhone 4 demand still exceeding Apple’s supply, and the white iPhone 4 still waiting on a limited, late July launch.

[Business Wire via TechCrunch]

AT&T activates 3.2 million iPhones in Q3 is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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AT&T appears to be down in at least parts of North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee right now, but luckily TiPb readers still have land lines to light up our alert lines. We’re not sure whether it’s voice, data, or both as we’re getting lots of different reports. If you’re having a problem with your iPhone on AT&T, let us know where you are, what kind of service outages you’re experiencing, and if you’ve heard anything from AT&T.

[Thanks Roger and everyone who sent this in!]

AT&T outage in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Wired has a great article up detailing the borderline relationship between Apple and AT&T, how both feel the other has failed them, and how both just can’t leave.

The two corporations have argued about almost everything. Jobs has been apoplectic about the state of AT&T’s network and what he views as its slow-footed upgrade efforts almost since launch day three years ago. One Apple source says that Jobs has discussed dropping AT&T at least half a dozen times.

AT&T executives aren’t so crazy about Jobs, either. They complain that Apple hasn’t accepted its fair share of the blame. They say — and Apple sources confirm — that the software running the iPhone’s main radio, known as the baseband, was full of bugs and contributed to the much-decried dropped calls. What’s more, Apple had chosen to source the radio from Infineon, whose hardware was used widely in Europe but rarely in the US, where cell towers are placed farther apart and reception is therefore less forgiving.

There are lots of zingers, threats of escalating to Steve Jobs, threats of Jobs screaming at AT&T CEO de la Vega, and threats to go to Verizon. Scott Forstall and an Apple team reportedly examined the Verizon option from a technology point of view, and collaborated on that hybrid Qualcomm GSM/CDMA chip we heard about back during CES.

For their part, AT&T is spending billions, building out their network, while at the same time capping data and introducing tiers that seem comfortable now but will become a huge constraint as LTE/4G and wireless video and other data-heavy technologies take off.

Check out the full article via the link below. Well worth the read.

[Wired, thanks Doug and everyone who sent this in!]

Apple and AT&T: network problems and the Verizon option is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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The class action lawsuit against AT&T’s US iPhone exclusivity has been certified, which means a judge thinks it meets the legal requirements to go forward. If you remember back, The crux of suit states that customer contracts are 2 years, but the AT&T exclusivity is 5 years — so customers were falsely lured to AT&T for 5 years, not 2 — if they want to keep iPhones, that is. The lawsuit seeks to include all current AT&T iPhone customers.

Now, whether or not that original 5 year exclusivity has changed over the past few years is anyone’s guess — the only people who know that for sure are the AT&T and Apple higher ups that sign the contracts. In this day and age, contracts change constantly.

My opinion? I don’t know if a court will buy this as falsely leading on customers. Most carriers don’t ever specify how long their exclusivity deals are, it’s all hearsay until they announce it. Yes, the iPhone deal is unique in length (I don’t believe any carrier has ever had an exclusive anywhere even close to the length AT&T scored with Apple), but I don’t necessarily know if I believe it misleads customers. When the first iPhone was released, the 5 year deal was already publicized, even if it was hearsay, and people still bought iPhones. And honestly, if you get an iPhone, no one’s forcing you to get another one. If you upgrade and lock yourself in, that’s pretty much your decision, your hand isn’t forced.

We’ll watch this one but I personally don’t think it will go very far.

[Engadget]

Class action lawsuit over iPhone/AT&T exclusivity gets certified — should it go to court? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Yesterday, we were concerned that AT&T might have capped iPhone 4 data upload speeds in certain areas. AT&T has responded and assures us that they have not; in fact, it’s a software problem.

You may have seen some speculation that we were somehow capping data speeds. We’re not. Here’s the deal: It’s a software issue which AT&T and Alcatel-Lucent have now jointly identified. It’s only triggered under certain conditions and has only impacted uplink performance for less than 2% of our customer base — those using Laptop Connect and smartphone customers using 3G HSUPA-capable wireless devices in markets with Alcatel-Lucent equipment. Alcatel-Lucent is developing a longer-term software fix in the coming weeks, but in the meantime we have implemented an alternative that provides normal 3G uplink speeds and consistent performance for affected customers using HSUPA-capable devices.

So the problem has been identified and a fix is in the works. Just to be clear, this is not an issue with iOS 4, but with Alcatel-Lucent’s software. More details about the alternative quick fix would have been nice, but if speeds are improving, that’s ultimately what matters.

Were you one of the ones affected by slow upload speeds? If so, have you noticed an improvement?

[AT&T - Thanks Gregg for the tip!]

AT&T comments on slow upload speeds: software issue is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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The iPhone 4 launch on June 24th was a resounding success for Apple as thousands of people lined up outside several stores in United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France and Germany to buy the much anticipated device. Analysts believe that Apple sold nearly 1.5 million iPhone 4 on day one and nearly 1 million out of these were existing iPhone users opting for an upgrade to the new device.

It implies that nearly a million old iPhones (3G, 3GS or 2G) are now liable to be discarded by their owners in some way or the other. So, if you’ve bought the new iPhone, what do you do with your old iPhone? Do you keep it, trash it, recycle it or sell it? There are plenty of options that you can pursue.

Sell it

Since the new iPhone 4 went on sale, eBay has been flooded with thousands of old iPhones (2G, 3G & 3GS) being put up for sale by their owners. Such devices fetch a handsome price ranging from $300 to $400 depending on their condition. Several companies like NextWorth, Gazelle and CashforiPhones.com buy & resell such devices. Some of them like NextWorth deal with broken and damaged devices as well.

Donate it

If you believe in charity for a noble cause, donate your old iPhone to a recycling program such as that run by Steve Glinberg, who develops educational apps like KidCalc & Math Fun. He wipes the data, restores the device back to factory settings, installed his educational apps & ships them off to teachers who requested such devices.

Skype it

Another interesting option is to install Skype on your old iPhone and use the Wi-Fi mode to make VoIP calls. So, while you can use the iPhone 4 as the phone, you can use your old iPhone as a means for making cheap calls using Skype.

Use it as a remote

Though it may sound as an unconventional use for the iPhone, there are several applications which can do this. There’s  Boxee Remote for Boxee TV, Comcast app for Comcast DVR and several other such apps.

My suggestion

Sell it for a handsome price and use that money to buy some fascinating apps on the App Store!

It appears as though AT&T has put a cap on iPhone 4 3G upload data speed in certain regions. Members of MacRumors forums are reporting that the cap seems to be at 100 kbps and the areas that are affected are:

NYC, Central Jersey, Boston, Orlando, Seattle, South Jersey/Philly, Columbus, Cleveland, West Houston, Phoenix, Northern Colorado, St. Paul/Minesota, Suffolk County/Long Island, Quad Cities, South Jersey, Denver, Detroit Metro, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Fairfax, Minneapolis

A possible explanation could be maintenance work related to HSUPA (high speed uplink), the network protocol that will bring us faster upload speeds to devices that support it, like iPhone 4. We hope to hear an official statement from AT&T soon.

I did a quick test in Denver while connected to my AT&T Microcell and got a whopping 47 kbps upload speed. Meanwhile, Jeremy is experiencing no problems in HSPA-drenched Chicago. What about you? What 3G upload speeds are you getting and where are you located?

[Gizmodo, Macrumors forums]

AT&T capping iPhone 4 data upload speeds? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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AT&T is officially selling iPhone 4 to walk-in customers starting 7am today and you know what that means, right? Lineups!

We know how fun and furious the Apple Store lineups were last week, how will AT&T’s compare? if you’re in line for an iPhone 4 at AT&T today? Did you score one? Tell us your tale and show off your pics.

[MacRumors, picture credit - Pratik]

AT&T Stores start selling iPhone 4 today, are you in line? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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