Crappy data service AGAIN in SW DC

[otterboydc]

Once again, data service in and around my office at 5th and E SW in Washington DC is crappy and intermittent.  This has been going on at least since July 25 (and is a repeat of similar problems several times over the last few months).  My iPhone claims to have 4 or 5 bars and 3G, but any attempt to use data services is useless about 90% of the time.  Then I'll get a burst of data, then it goes away again.  And, to top it all off, sometimes, my phone just loses the signal all together for severl minutes.  Anyone else having similar problems in the area?

[ash4884]

I'm having the exact same problem! For me it only started at the end of last week. I live in that area and find it ridiculous that my phone might as well be shut off as it is useless to try and make calls or send texts when at my apartment. 

[otterboydc]

I spoke to technical support this morning, they have dozens of towers down in the area, and are "upgrading" towers in the Northeast.  The down towers MAY be back in service this week.  this is inexcusable.  the day the iPhone 5 comes out, I'll go try my luck with Verizon.  Although all these criminals suck.

[NetSoftDeveloper]

Exactly symptoms as described but in the LA area ... started about a week ago -- bars but no reliable data.  Something must be going on that is not localized to any one area which coincides with last week's AT&T 4G service announcements.

Are they re-apportioning bandwidth from 3G users to 4G so that the 4G launch will not fall flat?  Effectively crippling 3G as incentive for upgrades/revenue?  Driving customers into their local outlet for problem resolution creating an upsell opportunity?

[EdgeOfGlory]

I googled AT&T service in the DC area and this thread came up so I might as well add on to it.  I am on business working in Wheaton right outside of the Metro station here.  It doesn't matter if I'm outside with a clear view of the sky, inside my office building or in an area restaurant, the service is intermittent and downright awful.  I have now had five dropped business calls this week which is embarassing and have no streaming capabilities with YouTube or any of my other music services.  I have an iPhone 4 and may get one dropped call a WEEK in Boston and nnnneeevvveeeeerrr any 3g connection issues.  Here it is the exact opposite.  

Whoever set the 3g network up in this area should be ashamed of themselves.  It's been this way ever since I began travelling to the area over the last six months but now decided to post about it since the issue seems to have gotten WORSE, not better.  I was also in downtown DC near the White House just last night and even in the late evening around 10 PM the service isn't much better.  I don't know how the locals deal with it down here, I would have dropped AT&T long ago if I lived here full time.  You get zero out of 10 stars.  

[RedSoxFan1012]

I spoke with customer service over the weekend and they said the tower in the SW had been down since July 26th and would be repaired August 2nd or 3rd. Needless to say, the phone still isn't working. So incredibly frustrating. 

[SassyTinks]

I'm from Texas and visiting Boston. I'm staying near the harbor (zip 02210) haven't had service since last night around 9:30pm (8-3-11 and its 3:29pm (8-4-11). Don't know what to do... so I'm kind of stuck in the hotel- until the towers start to work and the network gets together.... I have no phone.... =(

[willzzz88]

If it's near the White House it maybe due to a AT&T/All Carrier DAS (Distributed Anntanna System) and other remote baseband cell sites (remote cell site to increase cell site density to increase capacity by 400%+ backhauled by fiber).

I have a feeling something has to do with a massive capacity upgrade in the DC area.

That and the fact that SIMPLY DUE TO THE GSM/UMTS/HSPA+ technology AT&T uses AT&T has 10x the amount of INTERNATIONAL ROAMING TRAFFIC on it's heavily populated DC to Boston North-East network amongst other places (There is a Global GRX node in DC in the Equinix Ashburn, VA DC).

AT&T knows the capacity problem and is boosting capacity massively, in order to execute this project this requires things going up and down all the time because their switching to ALL-IP backhaul and modernizing the network (4G+ and LTE).

Same thing happened in NYC when that upgrade happened a couple of months ago and people were "complaining" there. Just be patient people.

If it's something THAT CRITICAL maybe you should use some form of a land-line!?

I don't have specifics but I understand the technicals.