FCC issues a warning against AT&T network protest

FCC Opposes Fake Steve Jobs' AT&T DDoS [Broadband Reports]

 It could be a tempest in a tea pot or it could be a legitimate threat to public safety, but the FCC isn't taking any chances in denouncing a move to create havoc on AT&T's wireless network.

The threat began when journalist Dan Lyons proposed through his online alter-ego "Fake Steve Jobs" that AT&T mobile users should protest the carrier's spotty wireless data coverage with a distributed denial of service attack on the network. Lyons encouraged AT&T customers to begin consuming as much data usage at a specific time of the day today in an effort to bring the issue to the company's attention. A large amount of simultaneous data usage has the potential of slowing or bringing network traffic to a halt. 

The FCC has taken note of Lyons' call to action, and has concerns that the concerted action has the potential blocking legitimate data traffic and phone calls on AT&T's network. ABC News reports that the FCC has issued a statement saying, "To purposely try to disrupt or negatively impact a network with ill-intent is irresponsible and presents a significant public safety concern."  

Regardless of how poor a carrier's network performs, there are legitimate ways to lodge a grievance about its quality. Using tactics that could prevent legitimate use of the network is foolish and dangerous.

Comments

[Mark]

I am not arguing in favor of bringing down AT&T's network. However, I don't feel sorry for AT&T if they did suffer some outages from this. If you are going to offer both voice and data services over your cellular network, then you need to make sure that your offerings do not overwhelm your capacity to serve. If you do, then it is your own fault if you experience growing pains.

AT&T had a real chance to overtake Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint when they became the exclusive provider of Apple's iPhone here in the US. They had a chance to show that both their voice and data capacity were superior to their rivals. Instead of taking that golden opportunity to expand their voice and data coverage, they have complained worse than their customers about iPhones being bandwidth hogs, and are now considering punishing their iPhone users with overage fees to try and stifle the amount of bandwidth that these devices consume.

Depending on the applications installed on an iPhone, an iPhone will consume bandwidth even when the user is not using the device. The device will (if programmed to) automatically check for new e-mails, software updates for installed applications, and the applications themselves can (under OS 3.0 and higher) now push notifications and updates even when not running. It can be entirely possible for an iPhone user to be a bandwidth hog while taking a nap, or watching TV, and not even using the device.

AT&T needs to start listening to their customers, and they need to start finding ways to expand their voice and data capacity instead of exploring new ways to fine and regulate their existing customer base into less bandwidth usage. Not locking horns with Verizon over coverage maps would be nice too. Comparing a 3G Verizon data coverage map to AT&T's voice coverage map is comparing apples to oranges. It does not match up, and only serves to confuse and frustrate customers.