[This article was written in July 2008 - speeds are somewhat better as of Aug 2009 but I'm convinced that AT&T voice service is getting worse - dropped calls etc.] Doing some informal 3G speed testing of my iPhone 3G here in the republic of Boulder. I positioned myself under the main cellphone antenna array in the center of downtown boulder. This should ensure me the best signal and 3G speed in the whole of city. I ran a little online speed test and here are my results. Resultant speeds were 250kbps and 259kbps. And the purpose of 3G is ???!!!!! So it appears that 3G in Boulder is piss poor, not much quicker than Edge. Web pages seem to load a little faster but as far as the promised 1.2Mbps I'd say At&t need to get cracking and jack up the speed. I still can't stream AOL radio over 3G and 3G at my house that's just 1.5 miles from this tower is almost none existent.


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MyLittlePortal.com is Richard's personal blog. Richard is a video producer and Drupal web developer who lives in Boulder, Colorado USA. 

September 29, 2009 - 10:26pm
I've had the same terrible problems as all the others here. Had Spring for ten + years and rarely had problems with it. AT&T's coverage map on their website showed a huge blanket of 3G coverage everywhere in Boulder County, and yet in most places I couldn't get 3G, and in some places, only a poor EDGE signal, or dropped calls on a non-existent EDGE signal. Sign me up a for a class action lawsuit against AT&T. They've totally misrepresented their product.
On the upside, today I noticed a lot more 3G as I drove around town. Anyone else notice this? It's nice to see an improvement, if only a slight one.
September 23, 2009 - 10:47am
I've had my Iphone for about 1 year now. over the last four months the service has gone down the toilet! I'm near the point where i'm ready to give up, sell my iphone and go back to verizon service. At least with verizon I had very little problems, and I didn't have to wait years for MMS capabilities. Apple created a perfect phone, but they shot themselves in the foot going with AT&T as their sole provider. what a waste of several hundred dollars. I could have just bought the ipod.
--seriously frustrated and severly disappointed.
September 4, 2009 - 12:04pm
I have been experiencing the same issues that have been getting continually worse over the last two months since the 3gs came out. Well over 50% of my calls are dropped, I get voicemails delivered to me hours after they are left and am rarely able to use 3G anywhere in Boulder. Since school started again and all the students are back in town I can't even make calls on Edge with 3G turned off anymore. I work in Loveland and get great 3G signal there and have none of the issues so it would appear the problem is isolated to Boulder.
If anyone knows of a class action lawsuit being filed against AT&T in Colorado like in other states I wan't in, I am tired of paying $90+ a month for cell phone service that doesn't work.
August 20, 2009 - 4:26pm
I've had the voicemail issues as well. It can take hours, even days to receive a voicemail. I'm hearing that it's because AT&T is upgrading the 3G network (to 850), but customer service won't say anything other than, "we've had no reported problems in your area" - well, consider my issues a "problem". I've reset my voicemail 2-3 times and have had tech support reset my network settings from their end. Oh, and I simply don't bother with 3G in/around Boulder - it only works on Pearl at times.
Went up to Copper Mountain and of course, you get perfect, full 3G up there (even at the top of the lift!). AT&T simply can't handle the traffic...
August 25, 2009 - 10:58pm
Aug 25th 2009 - Seem that I can't even get a decent cell phone signal in my house anymore, never mind 3G. Let's hope this shitty service does not continue for too long, come on AT&T!!!
August 5, 2009 - 11:32am
I've noticed that since the new 3.0 update and the addition of a ton more people to the network who entered via the new iPhone 3GS, my voice mails seem to be delayed by hours sometimes. Very annoying!! Come on AT&T. This has never happened before.
July 28, 2009 - 2:05pm
Try getting regular cell reception in Boulder. I get hung up on all over the city numerous timers per day. I'm regretting switching to AT&T.
August 2, 2009 - 2:46pm
i just cancelled my AT&T, i had switched over to use the iphone, and literally lost 90 percent of calls made or taken! Customer service was about as bad as it could have been. Imagine dropping the call to Customer service at least 4 times before they treated me like shit!