AT&T Expects 40% Jump in Network Traffic with iPhone MMS Launch

Posted 09/24/2009 at 5:42am | by Paul Lilly

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Apple iPhone users are chomping at the bit for AT&T's roll out of MMS support on the trendy smart phone, and that has AT&T awfully nervous. Early testing hasn't been without its hiccups, with AT&T seeing a bit of unsettling test outage earlier this week, and according to those working on beefing up the telco's MMSC infrastructure, traffic on AT&T's wireless network will be about 40 percent higher all day this Friday when it officially launches MMS support. Ruh roh shaggy.

"Starting at 10AM Eastern (on the 25th), AT&T will send out a mass text to a group of iPhone users telling them that MMS now works on their phone," says one source familiar with AT&T's MMS plans. "They will keep doing groups of phones on the hour throughout the day."

The actual launch might be a little later in the day, particularly if AT&T holds true to its official statement of "targeting early afternoon Eastern time." It's also reported that the telco has requested their MMS aggregator partners keep them in the loop with hourly updates on any message delays or related problems.