Comments on: Official: AT&T Prevented SlingMedia Player from Running on 3G

By: Joe G former Verizon user

Joe G former Verizon user — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:11:05 +0000

I’m sorry I gave up on Verizon,I was able to view my Slingbox on my Laptop using their broadband cards. Apple should take the App off their site instead of allowing people to download it at $30. a pop,only to find out it is worthless on the 3G phones.

By: sircutbreaker

sircutbreaker — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:20:29 +0000

just jailbreak the phone….

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:31:20 +0000

Wouldn’t YouTube be the same thing? They allow that!!! How much of a kickback does AT&T get to allow that…which would also cripple the network if all iPhone users use it at the same time. But, they don’t…and they wouldn’t all use then slingbox app at the same time either. This is just AT&T stopping something now that THEY plan on offering in some form later…for a fee I’m sure.

By: redbeard

redbeard — Thu, 14 May 2009 10:59:09 +0000

If anybody thinks that we can’t get nice streaming LIVE television right now on the iphone, you need to go install the free app called “France 24″. It’s a 24 hour French news station that has an English feed that streams over 3g better than anything else I’ve ever seen, it works amazingly well, try it out, it’s free!

I’ve ben wondering why other stations aren’t making similar apps, maybe that’s what we’ll have to wait for? I’d be happy with about ten of the big ones, comedy central, discovery channel, speed channel, stuff like that.. Although I’d still rather have everything, don’t they get live streaming tv in South Korea on all cell phones? Found it >> http://www.teleclick.ca/2006/03/south-korean-cell-phone-users-get-free-mobile-tv/

Why are we so behind other countries?

By: K

Thu, 14 May 2009 05:42:16 +0000

@ mike, icebike, john, steve

Amen

To the rest of you, go cry and watch TV on some other netwok. Sling is not being allowed to run on 3G with the iphone end of story.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 14 May 2009 02:24:34 +0000

@Mike:

What false advertising? AT&T calls it “Unlimited Data because it currently IS. Guess what? You have unlimited data! Go ahead and use 20GB or 30GB next month and see what happens to your bill – nothing. They will not bill you any more than anyone else because it’s in your contract and because they don’t have to worry about most people ever coming close to using that much.

So, why can AT&T currently offer unlimited data? Umm… because they block apps like Sling Player from being used by millions of people so ALL OF US can keep unlimited data!

If they allowed every useless couch potato to watch TV all day from everyhere, they’d have to stop offering unlimited data to sane people who have work to do.

If you used Sling on 3G and AT&T cut you off, then you’d have a case. But since there ISN’T Sling on 3G, you continue having unlimited data and have NO case.

It’s not complicated.

I hope no one in this Sling crowd ever considers practicing law.

By: Duh

Duh — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:04:23 +0000

Um first poster… Pist is spelled “pissed”. Orb over 3g comes in handy every once in awhile. Worth the 9.99. Certainly not worth any more than that let alone tripple and no 3g access. Thank you apple and AT&T for not allowing sling on 3g to interfere with my orb 3g signal LOL!!! Ok gotta get back to wheel of fortune for my train ride home.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 13 May 2009 23:31:02 +0000

icebike, I understand what you say. And I even agree that at&t has limitations on their network. I do understand that. It is obvious to everyone. What is a shame and discredits at&t in my eyes is the UNLIMITED selling point. Why do they continue to sell their service with that sales pitch? I boggles the mind. How can they get away with it? How can they NOT be sued? How can they win the argument? It is clearly false advertising? Why doesn’t a judge give a cease and desist order on the unlimited plans?

By: icebike

icebike — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:01:39 +0000

@John:

Yeah, the double standard is pretty odd. I'd like to see the explanation for that.

It still does not rise to the level of an actionable act.

By: icebike

icebike — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:58:16 +0000

@Mike:

ATT did exactly what every other ISP did in selling you an unlimited plan on a shared network, and it has withstood the court challenges everywhere.

You failed to read the fine print. http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/legal/service-agreement.jsp?qtermsKey=postpaidServiceAgreement&qtermsName=Service+Agreement

It is PATENTLY OBVIOUS to the most casual observer that it is physically impossible to serve high-bandwidth streaming video to 17million iPhone users at the same time.

No carrier has this. You wouldn't want to pay for the the network that could do this. There isn't enough radio spectrum to handle it.

Its a shared resource. You don't have a dedicated pipe running to your phone. No carrier in the world provides that.

Every cell tower can service only so many phones at once. The entire system is built around the fact that people are on for a little while and off for the vast majority of the time.

Even browsing the web, your traffic is bursty. The url request goes out, the page comes in, and there is no persistent connection or continuous data transfer while you read the page. Other users get a chance to use those same tower channels while you read.

Streaming of ANYTHING is totally different. It occupies a transmitter for a long time. But music and even YouTube is pretty low bandwidth. However, Streaming Plus HighBandwidth is really abusive of other users on a shared network.

Someday we may have networks with the bandwidth to handle this, but today is not that day.