Those remarks led to a planned data protest entitled "Operation Chokehold", which went down on Friday, December 18.  While the protest didn't seem to do too much to AT&T's network, it did convey the frustration of the company's subscribers.

In an interview with BusinessWeek, Mr. De la Vega now says that his remarks were misinterpreted and his company was never planning to impose higher fees.  He states, "There were no follow-up questions, so I figured everyone understood what I was saying. I guess I should have been more clear."

While many have speculated that AT&T will drop the $30-per-month unlimited data plan in lieu of a tiered pricing scheme, in order to ease its data troubles, Mr. De la Vega unequivocally denies this speculation, stating, "There are things people say I said that I didn't say. We have not made any decision to implement tiered pricing."

Rather than a stick, he says AT&T will use a carrot approach to try to solve its data issues.  Namely, it is ramping up efforts to provide free Wi-Fi to iPhone subscribers through a series of partnerships.  Its hoping that when iPhone users switch from 3G to Wi-Fi regularly, the strain on the network will be lessened.

The move is essential to AT&T as Wi-Fi via wired broadband is much cheaper than 3G data transmission.  It is estimated that as few as 12 iPhones streaming video can swamp a single iPhone tower, leading to Apple suggesting that terrorists could use unlocked iPhones as a dangerous weapon to our nation's communications.

iPhone users use an estimated 60 percent of mobile web data, though they only have about a 24.7 percent smart phone market share (in a 36 million unit market) according to ComScore.  IPhone users pay on average $95-per-month for this usage, about twice what smart-phone subscribers on other networks pay.  However, the average iPhone user uses approximately five times the data of a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile user.

To prevent such network swamping, AT&T has announced a deal with fast food giant McDonalds to waive the $2.95 Wi-Fi charge for customers at the chain's 11,000 restaurants.  AT&T already had similar deals with the ubiquitous coffee-superchain Starbucks and the bookstore chain Barnes & Noble.

AT&T's voice network also has seen its issues.  In cities the carrier's hardware partners have reported sky-high dropped call rates.  The company cut capital expenditures this year from $20.3B USD in 2008 to an estimated $17B USD this year, leading many to criticize it for not investing enough in its network.  The company responds to these criticisms by arguing that its spending this year was simply more focused on trouble spots, such as San Francisco.  Mr. De la Vega comments that in San Francisco "our network has never performed better".

His company is also considering Femtocells -- personal, portable signal generators -- as a promising solution to the company's 3G voice and data problems.  Unfortunately, those cells are still not available and no concreted details have been provided on how they're priced.  It's refreshing to see that AT&T will not be punishing its customers for its shortcomings, but its management has their work cut out for them in terms of improving their network and keeping their customers from jumping ship to rival carriers.