iPhone Nano rumors started to resurface this week, based on photos from a manufacturer and supposed insider reports that Apple is working up a device for Verizon’s CDMA network.

The rumored device would sport a hybrid UMTS/CDMA radio, making it compatible with pretty much any network. The screen is down from 3.5 inches to 2.8, which seems way too small to me. Granted, there’s always zooming to get to hard to read text, but there’s really nothing worse than scrolling a page around while you’re trying to read.

Speculation points to a 2010 release, which would make sense considering the massive Android rollout that has been taking place. As Android makes it onto more devices, particularly cheaper ones, Apple’s going to want a way to get those entry-level smartphone owners. A smaller iPhone might not get those folks, but a cheaper one definitely would.

The most recent info on Motorola’s Droid suggests that the phone isn’t just for Verizon. In fact, it looks like there’s a GSM model that would work on AT&T’s 3G network, as well as Canada’s Rogers.

So it looks like the new name for the “Droid” is now “Sholes,” at least pre-release. That’s the name buried deep in the FCC docs that also show the AT&T 3G bandwidths. To me the big advantage of the phone would be that it’s a nice piece of hardware for anything other than AT&T. If I was going with AT&T, I think I’d still stick to the iPhone. Android still has some catching up to do in the app department for me to genuinely consider a switch. Although there is that Google Voice thing…

AT&T knows you aren’t happy with your iPhone service. It’s making videos to try to explain away some of your woes, but the company may also be looking to add new iPhone-exclusive features to improve the user experience.

According to a story at Apple Insider, Apple and AT&T are looking into a software update that would add features to improve customer satisfaction. Among the rumored list of features are overage alerts, which would offer push notifications if you’re past your text limit, for instance. There’s also the potential for a “Voicemail” tab in the settings app, allowing you to disable the custom voicemail greetings on your own phone and bypass those greetings when you call other AT&T subscribers.

From what we know so far, this plan is a joke. The phone is fine. These features might be nice additions, but as almost every single survey has shown, iPhone owners love the phone and loathe AT&T. Adding these features to the phone will just exacerbate that issue. Sure, callers can get to my voicemail faster, but if I can’t listen to their messages what does it matter?

I don’t need features to improve my experience, I need more reliable service. When AT&T stops wasting time and money on gimmicks like this and allocates those resources to network improvement the average iPhone user experience will improve.

“Look we see the discussions on the web,” says Seth Bloom. He’s also known as “Seth the blogger guy,” and he’s featured in a new video by AT&T. The video attempts to describe the MMS delay we’ve experienced and explain away our complaints with talk of network traffic and increased smartphone use.

The video, which you can see below, is just flat out insulting. It seems to suggest that AT&T’s service sucks by no fault of their own, and that maybe if you just took the time to understand a cellular network you would realize that fact. I’ll grant AT&T the fact that the iPhone probably would have crippled any network, but the responsibility would still lie with the carrier. It’s time to stop pretending AT&T isn’t making billions of dollars by not providing the service millions of people signed contracts for.

If anything, Seth should be decrying American carrier exclusivity contracts or the ridiculously low standards to which our wireless carriers are held. But Seth won’t do that, because he’s only here to humanize AT&T, to explain away our woes, and to get us to really feel for a company that can’t provide what consumers are paying for.

The worst part of this video is that people are going to gobble up this bullshit and regurgitate it to all of their friends. Even reputable news sources, sources that should know better, are blaming the iPhone for strangling AT&T networks, like AT&T just watched as Apple muscled its way onto the carrier’s network and starting eating up bandwidth. Let’s not forget, people, that AT&T helped orchestrate this thing. The fact that they weren’t and still aren’t prepared to handle the network load is no one’s fault but their own.

Every time I read an article lauding the giant sums wireless carriers spend to upgrade their networks I want to vomit. These companies aren’t dying. They aren’t struggling. A lot of them are growing as much as 5% year over year in the face a recession. That’s not exactly the profile of a company I can feel sorry for.

As consumers we need to stop believing this trash. Stop listening when AT&T says it’s “working on it,” and instead continue to write letters. Continue to lodge complaints. Hell, continue filling lawsuits for breach of contract on the part of AT&T. Videos like this are doing nothing more than telling you to accept shit service lying down because there’s nothing to be done about it. There is, we just aren’t loud enough to make AT&T pay for it yet.