It Ain't Easy

Generally, I'm the first person to tell the cable companies and cellular carriers that they should all go climb into a well used porta-potty and roll down a hill.  The service they provide does not in any way shape or form match the money we pay for it.  But this Wired article by Fred Vogelstein on the rocky relationship between Apple and AT&T (aptly described by Vogelstein as a loveless celebrity marriage) elicited a begrudged modicum of sympathy for AT&T.  This wireless stuff is hard.  Bringing YouTube to millions of wandering devices at once is hard.  Connecting two people more than three thousand miles apart while simultaneously making sure you're both still connected to the internet is hard.  It's even harder to do that millions of times a day for tens of millions of people.  And to make it easier, these companies would have to spend a lot of money.  Which is also hard.  So for all of you out there that think that the iPhone coming to Verizon is going to be the best thing EVAR.  Think again.  The fact remains that our consumption of wireless bandwidth in this country is going to continue to swiftly outpace the carriers' ability—and desire--to provide it.