Hey AT&T - How's It Going There Big Guy?

In case any of you are aware what is (supposed to be) happening today, AT&T is going to release the ability to MMS on the iPhone. In short - send picture messages like the every other phone out on the market can already do...

Now there are a number of people who seem to believe that releasing MMS to the iPhone is going to bring the network to a screeching halt. I personally wouldn't go that far, but it's probably going to have a noticeable effect on everyone who is and isn't an iPhone user. Data rates will probably be slower. The thing is, there is really no word today on this going into effect. It was just said a month or so ago that September 25th is go time. AT&T hasn't issued any formal statements, the rest of the blogging world is doing the same thing we are - speculating.

AT&T either is ready for this or they aren't, but then again if they aren't ready they will still do it anyway. Because it's what they said, and it's what they will stick to and it's because they released an iPhone on their network and brought the whole network to a snail's pace once (I speak of the launch and continued price drops caused more iPhone users)...so it's within the realm of possibility. But people will whine and moan, people will complain, and AT&T is merely going to take it's time because those iPhone users aren't going anywhere. Not only will they pay hand over fist on their bills, they'll patiently wait in line for things like copy and paste, faster data rates, and a myriad of other things I've had on my devices for years. Meanwhile, people who don't have iPhones on AT&T are only going to get more frustrated for reasons they themselves can't explain. Suddenly things are slower, why? What's wrong with my phone? I better switch carriers. Now that isn't my logic, but I'm trying to illustrate general logic of a non-technical audience. I've seen it happen, and this seems perfectly feasible.

Watch as I switch to Skype only for the next week. I don't need the cell portion of my phone, I can just use the WiFi on it to grab a signal and make calls via Skype. Sure the iPhone does the same thing, but no one is twisting my arm to get a data plan...

** UPDATE **

Users are slowly receiving this update. It seems the few that have it aren't having any issues, but I can't nor can anyone define "few". Don't forget, that phone can has a 3.2MP camera. Those are gonna be decently sized photos getting pushed around. Tests yesterday on AT&T's network actually crashed a few of their MMS servers and Wednesday Apple said they were "extremely nervous" about MMS getting rolled out. However if you look at text messages vs. MMS messages sent. Texts are overwhelming, but those kind of statistics may mean nothing now that MMS power is placed in iPhone users hands.

** UPDATE FROM - L.J. Filetti **

When you first hook up your iPhone to iTunes it will ask to download a carrier update, this will take literally two seconds. Once it's done, restart or power cycle your iPhone; MMS didn't work for me until this happened. To verify you received the update you can go to Setting --> General --> About and "Carrier" it should read AT&T 5.5. Your done!