In his latest South by Southwest report, N.Y. Times columnist David Carr (a.k.a., “the Bagger”) writes that AT&T “apparently did not anticipate the onslaught [of concentrated iPhone users in Austin]. The sheer volume nearly pulled down the grid by Monday, with frustrated users screaming about outages on Twitter and elsewhere.

“‘It’s one thing for AT&T to drop random calls, but when it starts to put your hookup in jeopardy, well, that’s crossing the line,’ tweeted 7daysageek. AT&T responded to the hailstorm of complaints with a chastened news release and increased capacity on Monday.”

Oh, please! The same exact thing happened in Park City during Sundance two months ago. Too many iPhone users resulted in a frequent inability to websurf and grab e-mail, with AT&T reps saying uhm, gee, we didn’t anticipate, very sorry. Sure — in the same way your alcoholic younger brother borrows your car and says he’s sorry about getting into a fender bender. Not anticipating and preparing for usage overloads is AT&T’s raison d’etre. That is what they do. Indeed, it’s what theyr’e (in)famous for.