Would you happen to have a link to this article? Or, do you remember if they tested the ABC app over 3G as well. I would love to be able to use the ABC app over 3G while traveling.
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3G iPad: ABC, Netflix etc WIFI only?!?
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Would you happen to have a link to this article? Or, do you remember if they tested the ABC app over 3G as well. I would love to be able to use the ABC app over 3G while traveling.
Was this the Engadget article you were referring to?
iPad Netflix and ABC Player hands-on over MiFi 3G and WiFi (with video)
This article mentions that they tested both the ABC and netflix app using MiFi 3G as well as WiFi. MiFi 3G isn't the same as the iPad 3G connection.
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
Well that's funny. because the iPhone was announced on cingular. they later became the "new at&t" after a couple months
Are you getting technical about the actual name? Because here in Nashville Bellsouth sucked which became Cingular (which sucked) which became AT&T (which still sucks)
They were AT&T by the time the iPhone shipped, as of Jan 2007. I was on it with Cingular and a Moto RAZR. It sucked then, it sucked when they switched to become AT&T and I still had my RAZR, and they have sucked since. I have not since any improvement in service reliability in that time, in fact the opposite has been more the case for me.
I just did a little test for about 20 minutes tethering using MyWi on the iPhone and it's pretty watchable.....
If that's true, I'm glad I went the MiFi route. I only get 5GB of data per month, but at least I can do whatever I want with that data.
Okay, yes, Cingular had a questionable reputation, to the point that I teased a coworker about her Cingular personal phone. She was defensive of it, said the coverage was fine.
A little while later, my job gave me a Blackberry right after Cingular became AT&T, and I quickly noticed that everywhere I went (DC, NC, NY, MD, CO, NorCal, Vegas, Arizona ...), my cell signal was as good as or better than what other people had.
I'm not saying AT&T has the best network, maybe Verizon still does.
My point is that people are making logical errors when they believe Apple made a poor choice in networks. Whatever network they'd picked, the same two actual factors would still be true:
1 - some people will have poor coverage due to where they live or work. This is true of all carriers.
2 - adding a big number of smartphones that are designed to consume media will put burden on towers and equipment in population centers.
But it's easier to just say "AT&T sucks."
fwiw, I assumed I'd have a lot of issues with a T-Mobile phone, since that's clearly one of the smaller of the national networks. But my T-Mobile service has also been pretty good everywhere I've been. I'm starting to think they're really all about the same these days.
A little while later, my job gave me a Blackberry right after Cingular became AT&T, and I quickly noticed that everywhere I went (DC, NC, NY, MD, CO, NorCal, Vegas, Arizona ...), my cell signal was as good as or better than what other people had.
I'm not saying AT&T has the best network, maybe Verizon still does.
My point is that people are making logical errors when they believe Apple made a poor choice in networks. Whatever network they'd picked, the same two actual factors would still be true:
1 - some people will have poor coverage due to where they live or work. This is true of all carriers.
2 - adding a big number of smartphones that are designed to consume media will put burden on towers and equipment in population centers.
But it's easier to just say "AT&T sucks."
fwiw, I assumed I'd have a lot of issues with a T-Mobile phone, since that's clearly one of the smaller of the national networks. But my T-Mobile service has also been pretty good everywhere I've been. I'm starting to think they're really all about the same these days.
I'm pretty sure ABC not working over 3G is a conscious decision on the part of ABC and not anything related to connection speeds.
I also know that Netflix on the PS3 is very good at dynamically adjusting the quality of the video to keep the moving from stuttering. I know this because when the microwave is running and interfering with the wireless reception of my PS3, hulu videos will essentially stop playing until the microwave is finished while Netflix will continue to play with reduced video quality.
So, basically, I expect netflix will work on 3G, that it will likely not stutter excessively, but that you might not be happy with the resolution of the video on 3G.
I also know that Netflix on the PS3 is very good at dynamically adjusting the quality of the video to keep the moving from stuttering. I know this because when the microwave is running and interfering with the wireless reception of my PS3, hulu videos will essentially stop playing until the microwave is finished while Netflix will continue to play with reduced video quality.
So, basically, I expect netflix will work on 3G, that it will likely not stutter excessively, but that you might not be happy with the resolution of the video on 3G.
Watch the video very closely. You can see there's a WiFi signal in the corner. So, they weren't using it on 3G. Still, it's just a matter of time until 3G Unrestrictor comes out on the iPad, and fools it into thinking it's on a WiFi connection.
Agreed. I think any carrier that would have gotten the iPhone would have been in shock. At the time, no carrier was ready to shoulder such a data-heavy burden.
But then again, I live in Wisconsin, which has pretty good coverage, even downtown Milwaukee. I get a few too many dropped calls, but the phone is nowhere near as unusable as others in some cities claim. So, frustration is not part of my argument.
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
I might be getting a little technical, but my point is that the announcement was with cingular. AT&T was a completely separate company which began the merging w/ cingular in jan 07 completing it by the iphone launch in june 07.
Common sense would dictate that:
1) If the description explicitly states that it only works over WIFI, then it's very unlikely it will work on the 3G iPad. The ABC app is an example of this, and it will NOT work over 3G unless there is an explicit change in a future update.
2) Netflix, on the other hand, will most likely work just fine over 3G since there is no limitation mentioned in the description. Netflix does a good job of adjusting bandwidth for streaming video and THAT is the requirement Apple & AT&T have laid out for streaming apps. So Netflix will most likely work over 3G.
3) There are a good number of iPhone apps that currently work over 3G right now including Air Video and Slingbox. Air Video, in particular, works great on my iPhone and the video quality is very good. Now of course, the iPad is higher resolution, so it may not look as good streaming over 3G, but again, there is no mention of 3G limitations in the Air Video iPad app description, so it will most likely work over 3G.
We'll find out for sure in less than a week, but in the last year, they have become a lot more relaxed about 3G streaming and it hasn't taken down the AT&T network.
1) If the description explicitly states that it only works over WIFI, then it's very unlikely it will work on the 3G iPad. The ABC app is an example of this, and it will NOT work over 3G unless there is an explicit change in a future update.
2) Netflix, on the other hand, will most likely work just fine over 3G since there is no limitation mentioned in the description. Netflix does a good job of adjusting bandwidth for streaming video and THAT is the requirement Apple & AT&T have laid out for streaming apps. So Netflix will most likely work over 3G.
3) There are a good number of iPhone apps that currently work over 3G right now including Air Video and Slingbox. Air Video, in particular, works great on my iPhone and the video quality is very good. Now of course, the iPad is higher resolution, so it may not look as good streaming over 3G, but again, there is no mention of 3G limitations in the Air Video iPad app description, so it will most likely work over 3G.
We'll find out for sure in less than a week, but in the last year, they have become a lot more relaxed about 3G streaming and it hasn't taken down the AT&T network.
Netflix is already confirmed to work over 3G; I see no reason why the ABC app won't, if not now, eventually be enabled for 3G use.
I think Apple basically laid it on the line for AT&T, telling them that if they wanted to keep the iPhone an AT&T-only device, they needed to treat their iPad customers very well. And the way it's looking, between truly unlimited data and now (so far) not balking at video streaming, it looks like Apple got its way.
I think Apple basically laid it on the line for AT&T, telling them that if they wanted to keep the iPhone an AT&T-only device, they needed to treat their iPad customers very well. And the way it's looking, between truly unlimited data and now (so far) not balking at video streaming, it looks like Apple got its way.
There seem to be two questions here.
1. Will video via the Netflix or ABC apps (or any others for that matter) be watchable over 3G connections speeds.
2. Will the Netflix or ABC apps allow you to watch video over a 3G connection.
The answer to question 1 seems to be yes, as it's already been tested over a MiFi connection. As far as the iPad is concerned, this is just a WiFI connection to the MiFi device, so it doesn't answer the second question.
We won't know if these apps will work over a 3G connection until Friday. I've read that the Netflix app will indeed work over 3G, but don't be surprised if the ABC one doesn't. This is most likely not a Apple or AT&T decision but an ABC one and not related to bandwidth at all. There are larger licensing considerations at play. ABC already license a lot of their content to other wireless providers (Sprint), so if this app were to allow streaming over 3G on the iPad (which with 3G, becomes a wireless device) they would be competing against the other providers with whom they already have specific licensing agreements.
1. Will video via the Netflix or ABC apps (or any others for that matter) be watchable over 3G connections speeds.
2. Will the Netflix or ABC apps allow you to watch video over a 3G connection.
The answer to question 1 seems to be yes, as it's already been tested over a MiFi connection. As far as the iPad is concerned, this is just a WiFI connection to the MiFi device, so it doesn't answer the second question.
We won't know if these apps will work over a 3G connection until Friday. I've read that the Netflix app will indeed work over 3G, but don't be surprised if the ABC one doesn't. This is most likely not a Apple or AT&T decision but an ABC one and not related to bandwidth at all. There are larger licensing considerations at play. ABC already license a lot of their content to other wireless providers (Sprint), so if this app were to allow streaming over 3G on the iPad (which with 3G, becomes a wireless device) they would be competing against the other providers with whom they already have specific licensing agreements.
As I posted before you, Netflix has already confirmed that their app works over 3G.
Your assertion that ABC's app won't work over 3G due to licensing issues is illogical. Television companies make multiple licensing deals with multiple providers all the time. Cable companies, satellite providers, etc. The idea is to get your stuff out to as many potential viewers as possible. Considering the amount of ad revenue that has been generated by this app already, as long as AT&T doesn't care about it, it makes absolutely no business sense at all to self-limit their app to wifi only.
I agree that it doesn't make a lot of sense to us as consumers to limit your distribution platforms. But if ABC have already established deals with other wireless providers that *they* have exclusive rights to distribute ABC content over wireless, then obviously they can't bring out an app for the iPad that circumvents that.
It's nothing new, content gets exclusive distribution rights all the time. Why does iTunes have to wait 30 days before they can rent new releases? Because the studios want to bolster sales over rentals. If they just wanted people to consume the content any way they could, then it would be available to buy/rent on as many platform as possible.
It's just another example of the crappy way content is distributed.
I've done Air Video Server streaming over AT&T 3G several times on my iPhone...once I got my port forwarding to work. It will eat your battery up in a very short time but it is pretty much stutter-free. You just have to give it a few minutes at startup to buffer ahead and then don't start/stop it or mess with the FF/RW controls. But it does work.
Received my iPad 3G about half an hour ago. Downloading all the apps over 3G, as I don't have Wi-Fi at work.
- App Store requires Wi-Fi to download over 20MB.
- Zinio requires Wi-Fi to download magazines... (WTF?!)
- ABC Player requires Wi-Fi to stream video. "Cellular networks are not supported at this time."
- Netflix streams movies over 3G, pretty nicely, too!
This is somewhat disappointing news. Very glad that Netflix works, but ABC and Zinio are a huge let down.
You're telling me. I'm hoping for a quick App Store update from either company. ABC, I can almost understand, but Zinio?! That, plus the App Store downloads still being limited totally sucks. I want me some Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior HD right about now.
LOL, I'm 36 years old and have my feet up at my help desk, watching Season 3 of Spongebob Squarepants.
Ok, time to get back to work.
Ok, time to get back to work.