EDGE outage, iPhone GO

An EDGE network outage that seems to be based around pre-paid AT&T iPhone GO clients is on its fifth day today, leaving many without mobile internet access. According to Scott Kleinberg of iPhone, Therefore I Blog, users have been experiencing intermittent success surrounded by failure to access the EDGE network. Several have reported switching to the billed service and are back on the network. AT&T has not officially commented on the matter, other than to say they are working on a solution to the problem.

According to Kleinberg's research, it seems that only iPhone GO customers are having the problem, and that other GO network subscribers with different phones remain online. "As of this point, it appears to be just iPhone users," clarifies Kleinberg, in correspondence with MacNN. "I have looked and looked for any indication that it's EDGE customers on standard phones and have found nothing."

Kleinberg continues, "…while AT&T is working with me, they haven't given me a true official response yet ... So as far as I know, it's just iPhone-centric."

Update: Scott Kleinberg sent us a notice from AT&T, saying it has remedied the problem, and has confirmed that the issues have resolved. There is no word on whether there is a refund for people who were without service for several days.

Further update: In a conversation with Electronista, AT&T says that it had found a few instances of GO customers having difficulty activating their iPhone, but nothing related to service outages, contradictory to Kleinberg's findings.

by MacNN Staff