this does not hold water and you know it.
There are unlocked versions of the same phones on ATT getting the update AROUND THE WORLD. I'm effing sick of hearing the "we gotta test it" schpiel contrary to what ATT thinks, they and their network are NOT that special so that phones that work just fine around the world with the update will somehow break on theirs. The only thing that would cause them to break would be some useless crap THEY added in, which I DON'T WANT because I want ATT out of my phone!
as far as the number of phones, ATT doesn't carry a great deal more than other carriers around the world (Windows Phones). It really doesn't matter because Microsoft and the OEMs are the ones doing the real work on the updates. ATT has to do very little, if anything, on the firmware.
With other carriers around the world releasing updates, ATT is long out of excuses.
Locked versions still have to be tested to make sure the Carrier's value-added software works correctly, and there are sometimes hardware differences in the phone that make them different than the International Variants. If AT&T Navigator stops working for all of AT&T's customers who use it, they will be pissed, cause they pay for it. Same for T-Mobile TV and other Carrier Branded services.
International Unlocked variants do not have to worry about this, because those phones are almost always sold off-contract and without any value-add software pre-loaded (how easy it is to uninstall is not important).
Additionally, with an Unlocked Phone your first line of defense for support is the OEM. With a Carrier Branded phone your first line of defense for support is the Carrier. They want to protect themselves. Any business would do that, irregardless of the market.
The argument holds water. You just don't want to accept it because you want what you want NOW.
AT&T has the Focus, HD7S, Surround, some LG phone I forget, Focus S, Focus 2, Titan, Titan 2, Lumia 900 to support.
T-Mobile has the HD7, Radar, and Lumia 710 (maybe another low end Nokia?).
Verizon and Sprint both have only 1 Windows Phone, IIRC.
The situation with Updates in the USA is not the same as in other parts of the world. In Europe and Asia updates tend to come very quickly to devices even of the same model than here. Carriers here are completely different than there.
I compare AT&T to their competing carriers HERE because they're in the same market. It makes more sense. Comparing them to Vodafone makes absolutely no sense nevermind AT&T has to support (through updates) way more Windows Phones than IIRC any European carrier.
They still have to support even some phones that aren't being actively sold now. It's why phones like the Focus still get updates. Look at the bigger picture.
In addition to that they have a ton of Android phones to support, they carry all the BB7 devices, and have a more varied Tablet PCs portfolio than any carrier here - and they have more subscribers on their network with smartphones than any other carrier in the US (and on a wider variety of smartphones).
AT&T will be slower than other carriers in 90% of cases simply because no one can expect them to staff a QA department the size of Google or Microsoft to get it done in record time for a few complainers and demolish their profits. They're in it to make money? Want LTE soon? Deal with it and maybe they'll be able to afford to bring it to you before next century, if it isn't there already.
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