Why I’m happy with AT&T’s EDGE Network


new-att-logo.jpgSo, this weekend I’ve been moving to a new home. I’m sure any of you that have done this can attest to how much fun it isn’t. For starters you have to move heavy things. You also have to turn off your electricity, phone, cable, internet, etc…and you have to have it hooked back up.

Well, I had my Internet scheduled to be hooked up on Saturday evening. Between the hours of 5 and 7. Of course, it’s a transfer of service, so the installer knows that we’re moving. This individual, Technician 2878, decided to show up to my house 30 minutes before he was scheduled. Of course, we weren’t home….we were at the other house…loading up stuff to move to the new location. According to the company, he then called my cell phone, and the person that answered said it was a wrong number.

yeah right.

Then, after I called and yelled at the cable company, they proceeded to try and get in touch with him for the rest of the evening…he never once answered his email, pager, or cell phone.

It sounds to me like somebody wanted to kick back a little early on Saturday, so he ditched me. My guess is, after I get out of the cable company’s office this morning, he’s going to regret that decision.

Regardless, I spent the weekend without the Internet on my Mac. That makes it hard to do my job, as I’m sure you can imagine. I usually like to get ahead of the following day, by doing some advanced blogging the night before. That is impossible without an internet connection on my Macbook…or is it?

Thanks to AT&T and the Edge network, I was able to dig through the weekend news stories and find a few gems. I was also able to search through YouTube and find a new commercial that I’d never seen before. All things that you have seen, or will see, throughout the day here on the site.

Edge does not run “slow” in my area. It can take 20 seconds for a webpage to fully load, which can seem excruciatingly long at times, but it is heads and shoulders above the old dial-up days when I used to wait all afternoon (or sometimes days) to watch movie trailers (Episode 1, anyone?).

YouTube video load in seconds, and web pages are up and running very quickly. My email only takes seconds to check, and – overall – I have no complaints about Edge. I see the constant complaints about the service from all the people in the San Francisco area who do this tech reporting thing for a living, and I have to wonder if we’re even using the same service. I wonder if the Edge network in that area is older, so it’s not as fast…I don’t know what the problem is…all I know is that, for me, Edge is a great alternative to Wi-Fi, and I have no trouble using it.

I’m happy with Edge. Are you?


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

11 Comments

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  1. I work with Black Berry’s all day long and it is almost like dying to wait on their T-mobile edge to connect to sites that I need to install apps and authorizations. I find my AT&T edge on my iPhone much faster and am very happy that I didn’t take my firms discount and get a BB.

  2. Congratulations Michael for your new home. And, I totally agree with you regarding EDGE (although I am far far away from using it here in egypt). But I am habing the same experience on Vodafone’s 3G network here in Egypt. I use my SE K800i to surf the web and check my email whenever I am away from my broadband connection. And @ 3G speed it’s more than satisfying especially that every day I get 5 free MB.

    I wonder what your experience would be like on an iPhone with 3G capabilities? 🙂

  3. EDGE works fine in San Francisco. I don’t know what all these people are complaining about either. Besides most of the time you can find a wifi access point. The only time you really need to use EDGE or 3G is when you are on the move. I’ve adjusted what I do on the web when on the bus or the train. For example, when on the train I just go to websites where there aren’t a ton of pictures and stuff like that (ie wikipedia). That said even the local news site sfgate.com loads ok especially if you have some of the page in your cache. Certainly 3G is much faster than EDGE and WIFI is faster than 3G. In the end I think I end up using WIFI most of the time anyways. This is either at home or a cafe.

  4. It depends on where you are. I have very poor service in my area of Davis, but I found out that it gets very decent when I am in the downtown area. The thing I love most about Edge is that it is rather fast in many parts of the I-80 and I-5 freeways, so I can surf the internet very well while my husband is doing the long distance driving. Over all I am quite impressed with Edge. And the Google map is fantastic, when searching for restaurants or stores in an unfamiliar town.

  5. You know, it wouldn’t do much good to have a 3G phone in the United States anyway, unless you lived in one of the 3G hotspots, like New York. As far as AT&T’s EDGE service, for me it’s a mixed bag. Most of the time it’s good enough if I have a good signal. Unfortuantely, I’m not getting as good coverage as I’ve had with Verizon or T-Mobile. That said, at last I have a service that works well in my own home, something that T-Mobile couldn’t provide me. I live in Minnesota, within 20 mile of the Twin Cities.

  6. I am happy so far. It has only been a little over two years since I was using a dial-up connection at home, so EDGE is very good.

  7. I recently rode Amtrak (Sunset Limited) from New Orleans to LA. While there’s no reception of any kind in parts of the desert, I was able to happily surf the web, check my email, etc. while cruising along on the train for most of the time. Sure, EDGE is slower than (some) Wi-Fi, but it’s absolutely great when you need it. I have no problems with the EDGE experience on the iPhone at all, and it made the train trip especially pleasant.

  8. EDGE may be slow but in a pinch it can be your saving grace. Of course I would love it if it was a little faster but I only got broadband last year so I’m not too spoiled by the fast speeds of broadband (especially since it seems like anything I try to do on this gets packet shaped down to 50kb or so).

  9. I sure do wish I could join the EDGE love-fest. I personally find it virtually unusable in a browser scenario. Its okay for the web applets (Maps, and weather, and so forth), but both checking email, and surfing the web – paaaaaainful.

  10. It amazes me that people respond when they have no idea what they are talking about.

    I play World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, and Everquest on the Edge Network.

    I have been stuck with dial-up my whole life as well, so decided to try this as an alternative, at least hoping for super dial-up speeds if anything.

    Download speeds on files: 20-30kbps
    Upload: 5-10kbps 🙁

    Latency in all games ranges from 300-600ms

    I have had my connection stay on as long as 36 hours before having to restart my pc and/or the device.

    I run anything up to 5 Man instances in WoW just fine, the highest pings come in Orgrimmar, with other people and the AH. But people respond to my chat quickly and follow me around with little delay even at 650ms.

    Summary: Best alternative for dial-up only areas with crappy phone lines. I play my games with not any noticable lag, and it doesn’t spike either (not consistently anyways). Granted, coming off broadband to this method you WILL see the difference, but after 1-2 weeks gameplay with this setup, you will be just fine.

    Im happy with it. Satellite will not work for online gaming, period. Has to send a signal 30,000 feet above the freakin’ earth, then back down again, created HUGE delays and BIG pings.

    Hope this helps.