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Re-activateRight on schedule, iPhone users will tomorrow finally be able to send text messages with photos or video clips attached to them. Starting at 10 a.m. EST, AT&T, the exclusive carrier for Apple's smart phones, will begin sending text messages to groups of iPhone users, informing them that they now have the multimedia messaging (MMS) capability that has long been available to users of many other phones. As MMS Day approaches, some AT&T insiders have been fretting that AT&T's network won't be able to handle the predicted 40 percent surge in network traffic.
After all, it was concerns over network load that delayed MMS on the iPhone for so long. In spite of the inability to send MMS messages, iPhone users are notably heavy data users. The average iPhone owner, for example, downloads 500 megabytes (MB) of data per month, compared to 140 MB for most other smart-phone users. The main culprit: The data demands of downloading third-party applications from Apple's well-stocked App Store, as well as social-networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter that continuously tap AT&T's data network for updates.
Facing a groundswell of complaints from users about network slowdowns, outages, and overall sub-par service, and despite the fretting from some AT&T staffers, the carrier insists it's been buttressing its network infrastructure by adding more cell towers, improving the flow of data traffic flow, and routing some traffic to the 850 MHz spectrum, which purportedly provides better coverage inside buildings.
iPhone users: Do you plan to use MMS once it's up and running? If you do, let us know how it worked for you. —Mike Gikas
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