Sep. 4--AT&T Inc. said Thursday that it will satisfy at least one of the demands of its many iPhone users by bringing multimedia messaging service, or MMS, to the iPhone 3G and 3GS on Sept. 25.

MMS is used to send short messages that include video, photos or other multimedia attachments.

Apple Inc. said several months ago that AT&T would be one of the last iPhone carriers worldwide to offer the long-established service, angering some iPhone users.

But the absence of MMS was just one item on the menu of iPhone users' complaints directed toward the Dallas-based carrier.

Top on the list is the unreliability of AT&T's 3G wireless network in some cities.

AT&T says iPhone users download much more data than other cellphone users, meaning that its billions of dollars in network investments are needed just to keep pace with new customers eager to snap up the popular handset.

"We are seeing unprecedented data traffic on our network, more than any other carrier," said AT&T spokeswoman Sarah Andreani.

"We're going to continue investing; we're going to continue innovating to have a good experience for our customers."

Analysts have said that any other carrier offering the iPhone would probably also struggle to keep up with the phone's data-hungry users.

The MMS service will be rolled out as a downloadable software update and will be free to iPhone users who have already signed up for a text messaging plan.

Many AT&T iPhone users are also impatient for the carrier to offer the ability to connect the phone to a computer to let it piggyback on the iPhone's wireless Internet connection, a service known as tethering.

The feature is available on many other smart phones, but AT&T said Thursday that it's withholding it from the iPhone until it bolsters its network.

The University of Michigan said in its second-quarter American Customer Satisfaction Index report that customer satisfaction with AT&T's wireless service fell to 67 out of 100, from 71 in 2008.

The industry average was 69, and Verizon Wireless led all carriers with a score of 74.

Verizon is widely believed to be angling to sell the iPhone when AT&T's exclusive deal with Apple expires in the next year or so.

Shares of AT&T lost 22 cents Thursday to close at $25.15.

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