We knew AT&T had an HSPA upgrade
in the works, and now the company has announced its plans, with initial rollout beginning later this year and reaching completion in 2011. That will overlap only slightly with LTE, which AT&T plans to put into trials in 2010 and start melting our faces in 2011. The HSPA upgrade takes the network from 3.6Mbps to 7.2Mbps in theoretical speed, and AT&T also plans to nearly double the amount of wireless spectrum it dedicates to 3G in metropolitan areas -- which should come as a relief to city dwellers who haven't managed more than a couple minutes of sustained conversation since mid-2008. To support the increased bandwidth of HSPA, AT&T also plans on adding thousands of new cell site backhaul connections, while also rolling out 3G service to 20 new metro areas and deploying 2,100 new cell sites in total. HSPA-sporting mobile data cards and smartphones will be available "later this year."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brandi @ May 27th 2009 11:13AM
i still don't even have 3g. ugh.
Matt S @ May 27th 2009 2:13PM
how about keeping up with the big boys and rolling out LTE hmmm
ryder.nate @ May 27th 2009 11:37AM
Me either....I'm switching to Verizon anyway. Crapier phones by better service for sure.
Jeremy @ May 27th 2009 12:05PM
I love my Iphone 3G! This makes me happier to see the upgrades coming looks like the future is fast and bright! Thanks
Keep providing us fast Internet, quality voice, and reliability we can count on and your investments will surely pay off.
Jeremy in Jacksonville, FL
http://www.Max904.com
greenlight @ May 27th 2009 1:22PM
Too bad the iPhone only supports 3.6 Mbit
Blad3 @ May 27th 2009 4:25PM
this would be the perfect moment to write fail over his post.
scaught @ May 27th 2009 12:06PM
I have AT&T and 3G all the time. Nothing like porn on the go. No if you don't mind, I will be in the bathroom for the next twenty minutes or so.
David @ May 27th 2009 12:31PM
I'll believe when I see it and when my calls don't drop as much.
BobP @ Jun 9th 2009 12:10AM
I almost never have dropped calls here in the Nashville area; my AT&T service is definitely better than Sprint was.
Once they build out their new 7.2mbps things will be even better... as soon as I'm eligible for a standard upgrade (July 12th) I'll be all over the 3G s.
The coolest smartphone on the planet just got cooler; the 3.0 OS rocks too. Been using it for months.
fkananeh @ May 27th 2009 1:08PM
HSPA+ roll out has nothing to do with fixing dropped calls!!
greenlight @ May 27th 2009 1:24PM
It helps in congested cells, reducing "breathing" (WCDMA network cells get lower range when there's a lot of traffic. With higher HSDPA speeds more people can use more data with less reduction in cell size)
greenlight @ May 27th 2009 1:21PM
That's so cute. When the rest of the world is working on the upgrade from 14.4 Mbit -> 21 Mbit
Brian @ May 27th 2009 2:01PM
who in NAM has 14.4Mbit? I think I missed something or are you talking about in Europe or Asia somewhere?
Brian @ May 27th 2009 2:16PM
Nevermind on my question to greenlight, I found my own answer here...
http://hspa.gsmworld.com/networks/default.asp?p=1&s=hsdr
Nick Santella @ May 27th 2009 6:55PM
ha. Were already 7.2 here in montreal on Rogers :)
Crunch @ May 27th 2009 9:40PM
Whatever...I love it how I can never get a decent signal whenever I'm in the UK, Austria, and Germany. The state of California is bigger than ALL of Germany, for example. You have these tiny countries boasting about their three towers. Australia is most uninhabited. Makes sense, and the same goes for Canada, of course. 80% of Canadians live within 50 miles (80 km), and, so if you have to serve only so many people...
Now consider this: 3-year contracts. Data ( and voice ) priced ridiculously high. Not in the U.S. I've seen price sheets from Vodafone overseas.
My fellow Americans: Even though most of these countries (if not all) get the INcoming calls and texts for free, we have to pay 20-30c/min if we want to call them (long live Skype), and whoever said we have confusing calling plans, try to fight your way through one of those 3-yr. contracts.
Crunch
Ravish @ Jun 8th 2009 6:06PM
In India, we are still talking 48 kbps on GPRS. LMAO!