Since the iPhone was first released, users in the US have been tirelessly clamoring for MMS support, and this Friday, they'll finally get their wish.After months of false promises and delays, AT&T will finally enable MMS messaging on the iPhone tomorrow. In a post left on its Facebook page, AT&T wrote that MMS support will go into effect around "late morning" Pacific Time.MMS for the iPhone is already supported by a number of carriers worldwide, but AT&T has been noticeably slow to implement MMS support here in the US due to bandwidth concerns. Though AT&T has been fortifying its network over the past few months, complaints about AT&T's shoddy service still persist, and it'll be interesting to see how an influx of MMS messages affects iPhone users across the country.One report, though, suggests that AT&T is shaking in its boots at the expected uptick in bandwidth usage. According to DSLreports, AT&T is extremely nervous about the MMS launch, and have even taken last minute steps to beef up their bandwidth infrastructure even more as a precautionary measure.Notably, a few users received MMS functionality ahead of schedule, and those users are reportedly responsible for "record traffic during peak hours of the night." Now that's a scary thought if you're AT&T.
That early testing has been a little rocky, with AT&T seeing a fairly significant test outage yesterday that has them rushing to beef up their MMSC messaging servers. Estimates among those working on the project are that traffic on AT&T's wireless network will be about 40% higher all day on Friday as iPhone users fire pictures and video at one another.
After all the flack AT&T has received for subpar service the past 2 years, you would hope that they'd be on the ball and prepared for MMS messaging. At this point in time, they really have no excuse not to be.
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