ConsumerWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― Downloading videos, sending photos, and looking up directions with GPS are just a few of the cool things you can do with smartphones. So, it's no surprise smartphone sales are expected to grow 11 percent this year.

That's not necessarily "good" news for people like Stephen Yarbrough who doesn't think mobile broadband services can handle any more smartphone traffic. "The smarter the phone the dumber the connection I think," he said as he sat on his couch in San Francisco's Noe Valley waiting for his iPhone to indicate he was connected to the AT&T 3G network.

On most days, he has to stand out in the backyard to get a strong signal. And even when he has a strong connection to the 3G network, loading a YouTube video takes two tries and over a minute. "It's telling me it's too many people downloading too many things at once on a limited network," Yarbrough said.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski got the wireless industry's attention by putting it bluntly. "The biggest threat to future of mobile in America is the looming spectrum crisis," he said.

CNET Executive Editor Tom Merritt said there was a reason why he made that comment in front of the CTIA, an organization representing the wireless industry. "I feel he's trying to light a fire under people and say 'Look it's an issue, we need to pursue it.' We need to get carriers to roll out more capacity," Merritt said. Merritt believes all carriers, not just AT&T have been slow to respond to the explosive demand for bandwidth.

Bandwidth refers to the amount of data that can be sent along an electronic pathway, connecting your phone to a cell phone tower. Making a call on a cell phone uses a fairly small amount of bandwidth. But watching a video on a smartphone consumes one-hundred times that amount. Now consider, right now smartphones make up 15 percent of all cell phone use. In two years, it'll be the majority.

Merritt said, "The worst problems right now are with AT&T and iPhone, but it's not just that. As Droids and other phones come out with Verizon and Sprint they will have issues as well." It's the iPhone that accounts for half of all mobile web traffic. So it's AT&T that's often on the defensive.

Spokesperson John Britton puts the demand in perspective. "100,000 applications and 2 billion downloads in less than 2 years... That's the incredible stress put on wireless networks. We're not perfect. But, we'll get better and we'll continue to invest. We've made definite improvements in the last 45 days. We've upgraded 850 cell sites across the Bay Area. Now they broadcast on 850 MHz as well as 1900 MHz. We've doubled capacity and so the signal goes further inside buildings," Britton said.

Britton took CBS 5 into a data control center for an exclusive look at new upgrades. He said Bay Area customers should be experiencing improved quality and coverage on the 3G network. So, Stephen Yarbrough should now have an easier time sending photos to his mother using his iPhone. He said the upgrades aren't just a matter of convenience for the consumer. "As we become a more mobile society, we need a landline to make a conference call we are going to fall behind." The economy can't afford to be set back by smartphones.

In recent developments, Brand new ads from Apple show the iPhone taking advantage of AT&T's ability to use data and place calls at the same time. 

Apple is sticking up for it's sibling and partner AT&T in an ongoing and nasty fight between wireless carriers.

Verizon threw the first punch with a commercial claiming better wireless coverage.  AT&T cried foul saying the "Map for That" ad is misleading. The company filed a lawsuit and launched full page ads in the New York Times.

AT&T spokesperson John Britton won't even acknowledge Verizon by name and says these marketing efforts were planned a long time ago to highlight nationwide improvements to the 3G network.

In the Bay Area he said, "Customers should be having a better 3G experience like better coverage inside buildings. Again there are challenges, and we will continue to invest but again you should see better capacity and better signals within buildings."

He recently gave CBS 5 an exclusive look inside a San Francisco data center so our camera could shoot part of the $65-million in improvements made in response to complaints from Bay Area iphone users like San Mateo resident Kurt Lighthouse.

"They sent an email saying they improved the 3G network here on the peninsula and as far as I can tell it hasn't happened," said Lighthouse.  About a quarter of the comments posted on cbs5.com state similar issues with AT&T.
 
Britton says network improvements are ongoing and says consider the fact that about 40% of the customers using the 3G network, are iphone users.  He says the growth in smartphone use is industrywide and despite the relatively small percentage of complaints AT&T still has the fastest 3G network. While carriers battle that argument out in court and in ads, leave your comments with CBS 5. Tell us which carrier you use and what successes and problems you are having with your service.

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