AT&T Helps Apple with Iphone Issues

AT&T executives, apparently feeling the heat of iPhone users' complaints about poor coverage, have reportedly been working with Apple to resolve the issues.

Since Apple's iPhone launched exclusively on AT&T's network more than two years ago, customers have been complaining about dropped calls and slow data connections, especially those in urban areas such as New York and San Francisco. However, as rumors circulate that an iPhone is production that is capable of running on Verizon Wireless--AT&T's biggest competitor, word is surfacing that AT&T is working with Apple to improve service.

AT&T executives, who had long denied there was a problem with their network, flew to Apple's campus last year to assure Apple CEO Steve Jobs that they were working to resolve the issues and instruct Apple handset designers on wireless networking, Chief Technology Officer John Donovan told the Wall Street Journal.

Apple reconfigured how the phones communicate with AT&T's cell towers, eventually reducing the load on the phones place on the networks, the Journal reported.

"They're well past networking 101, 201 or 301," said Donovan told the Journal, adding that Apple designers were now "in a Master's class."

AT&T executives also created a 100-day plan to improve network service in large cities where users had complained of poor coverage, the Journal reported.

Problems with AT&T's 3G wireless have been widely reported on blogs, Twitter feeds, and even in published reports from BusinessWeek and The New York Times. Customers all over the country have complained about dropped calls and the inability to connect to the 3G network.

CNET News writer Elinor Mills documented her frustrating experience with her iPhone in a blog post recently. The story hit a nerve among fellow iPhone users, and more than 400 comments were left on the story. Most of the comments corroborated the writer's plight. And the follow-up story on the same issue garnered at least another 300 comments from readers.

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