A good point

[Seadog]

I saw this posted and thought it amusing.

Who would have thought that AT&T’s network could withstand the force of 1.7 million new iPhone 4s (minus the international sales)? AT&T customers, apparently. Across blogs, forums, and discussion threads, users are speculating that AT&T may be throttling network bandwidth—particularly upload speeds—due to the increased load that the iPhone 4 demands of it. The carrier has yet to respond to requests for comment, but a quick couple of tests in Chicago with Speedtest.net Speed Test in Chicago show a healthy upload speed during peak traffic hours of about 1Mbps. Look on the bright side: maybe it’s a good thing after all that FaceTime doesn’t work over 3G—yet

I doubt that all the complainers about AT&T service have any concept about what such a dump of new users does to their system. And everyone of them is calling friends just to say "Guess what I just got."

 

[muyoso]

How many of those 1.7 million iPhone 4's were from people who owned a previous iPhone or other AT&T phone? AT&T is a horrible cell company, made worse by the number of iphones and ipads.

 

[Itzxdjx]

About 800,000 where returning customers! In a new customer from tmobile I still have my tmobile line also. And everyone that told my AT&T has great service lied. The 3G not so much of a problem great coverage in RI. I have never had dropped calls on tmobile. I have not had one from AT&T yet either. But my girlfiend gets one daily. And there more expansive than tmobile. And Tmobile going to have faster 3G soon, iPhone 5.. Tmobile bound lol

 

[Seadog]

Even with a previous acount, a new phone is going to be taken for trial runs above normal usage, and activation procedures. The problem with every cell phone company is that they vary highly according to location. I was a fan of AT&T, but when they got bought out by Cingular, I was glad that I became part of Alltel. Now I am part of Verizon, but I do not have as much good to say about them as I did Alltel. None of the companies have been terribly bad, nor have they been terrific. I have been unique in my experience, since I have gone from analoq to digital to 3G from the same store location. And I have gone through three cell phone companies without changing numbers or anything. The phone companies are in a flux created by the major changes in consumer attitudes and usage.