If there's one thing AT&T's network could use, it's
more network. Particularly in major cities (we're looking at you and your dastardly street parking situation, San Francisco), AT&T's 3G network is perpetually
overwhelmed, oftentimes forcing users to switch to EDGE just to tweet about how awful the coverage is. Thankfully, the operator is making good on its
earlier promise to roll out HSPA 7.2Mbps to select cities, with Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami now destined to get lit this year. Potentially more interesting, however, is the deployment of "additional backhaul capacity to cell sites," which will also support
LTE when the time comes. All told, around 2,000 new cell sites should be added before the year's end, and at least a half dozen 7.2Mbps-capable smartphones should be in AT&T's portfolio by the same deadline. Feel free to express your joy in comments below -- that is, if you can get comments to load on your existing 3G connection.
posted Sep 9th 2009 8:44AM
No NYC?!? WTF!?!?!
it would take a ton of equipment to outfit NYC with 7.2, so they will roll it out in smaller markets for now to get past their learning curve and then enjoy lower equipment and implementation costs later when they do outfit NYC. but yeah, i'm in the NYC market too, sucks for us.
Riiiiiiight... cause Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami are all small markets.....
@john michael: you beat me to it. although i was only gonna include Dallas, Chicago, Houston and LA... territory-wise miami isnt that big and wtf is "charlotte"??
Riiiiiiight... cause Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami are all small markets.....
Charlotte is the most populous city in North Carolina. It's where the Carolina Panthers play. It's also home to a ton of banking operations, so better wireless will drive a lot of valuable business.
population density-wise, none of these other markets hold a candle to Manhattan.
True, but none of those others markets are complete and total extremely-hard-to-cover-well concrete canyons either.
I think I speak for all of NY when I say, SCREW YOU AT&T!
@ Crawdad, you are correct. Just a lot of smaller density haters out there. Lucky, but smaller.
NYC is far more dense than any of those cities. You have no idea how many cell sites there are in NYC. I would wager at least 3 times as many as any of the other cities listed. Covering a small area isn't about putting up 1 tower, especially in big buildings. The signal has to come from all sides and at multiple heights, not to mention each receiver on a cell tower has a limited number of connections, so you have to stack receivers on a tower to cover a building with 3000+ subscribers in it. ALL of that equipment has to be upgraded for 7.2. That's a lot of work in the country's most densely populated city.
I'll be happy when they roll out ANY 3G service in my area. Closest 3G is 15 miles down the highway.
yeah well, 45 mins from here.
Wake me up when the US cell carriers don't charge for incoming calls and textx
seriously. how can we be the only country to charge for incoming calls and outgoing calls?
If you get a comprehensive unlimited plan, you don't get that charge and the cost savings are enormous.
@kjb
While that's true, we're the only country (that I'm aware of) that charges for both incoming and outgoing calls. If we didn't charge for incoming calls (like most countries) my guess is that unlimited plans would also be cheaper.
It's due to the US phone numbering plan. In other countries, cell phones have a specific area code, so when you call a cell phone you often have to pay a higher rate. So instead of you paying the incoming call, the person calling you is paying that fee.
I lived in Brasil for a couple of years and it makes the US carriers look charity workers. Cells phone calls cost an arm and a leg to make and receive, unless its from cell to cell on the same network. Then it only costs an arm. But that was almost 2 years ago. things could be better now....?
Tell me about it. My carrier even gives me free incoming text while roaming. That means that when I'm in America with my current SIM I get to text for less than locals on a per-use basis.
Wake up!
http://www.uscc.com
So by End of Year they mean NEXT year right? I mean it is AT&T...
And their ringtones need more cowbell.
Is that why we are getting no phone announcements from these guys? Are they waiting to come out with their improved networks so they can launch all new phones with 7.2?
the 3GS supports 7.2.
My ATT Tilt supports it too!
Great so now ur iPhone 3G S will explode in record time!
thats wonderf%|~$
[host disconnect]
Sent from an Apple iPhone
lmao
I wonder if Chris. D is the CEO of a company...
Wow! This should be considered huge, or what? A few days ago, two Romanian mobile carriers updated their networks to 21.6 MB download speed!
http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=en&js=y&u=http%3A%2F%2Feconomie.hotnews.ro%2Fstiri-telecom-6106792-vodafone-lanseaza-internet-mobil-viteze-pana-21-6-mbps.htm&sl=ro&tl=en&history_state0=
Let me know when AT&T starts the switch over to LTE.
ummm 2015 at the earliest is my guess....lol
Yeah probably not until 5G starts to get rolled out in the world. Then AT&T will finally jump on 4G.
LTE??? First they could get their basic 3G service to cover more than 50% of the population!
In Bulgaria, should probably be considered "Third World" country. We have 3G pretty much everywhere.
Losers. :)
The United States is ~100x larger than Bulgaria. It's a little harder to build infrastructure on that scale.
My friend has Bulgaria and vomits after she eats, so sad. :(
anachostic: There's also far more cash to invest though. I agree, it's not that simple, but given how much they charge us, AT&T's across the board lousy service is a little unforgivable.
Ah, Australia has 21mbit and going higher. Giant nation with far flung population points.
Australia isn't any better off than the US for instance many people in the country can only get dial up or extremely expensive satellite connections with high latency
as far as that goes isn't 20Mbs and some 60Mbs starting to get pretty common in large cities here in the US?
Dale: AT&T is investing $18 Billion in their network in 2009. How much do you expect them to spend?
@ Daniel IT
+1. You sir, have just won the internets.
is the iPhone 3G capable of 7.2?
No. Just the 3GS.
No. Only the 3GS.
What did Charlotte do to deserve first dibs? Where's SF, NYC and Atlanta on the list?
I think it's because we have the best NFL football team.
Ummm Sorry....But I am from NC and Damn if the Panthers are the Best Team...lol
This almost is as sweet as AT&T's sweet hot need new 6 Mbs dsl. Huzzah! Progress!
New? They've only offered it in my area for a few years now...
Sorry just can't be too impressed with 6Mbps, when I have had 20Mbps from cox cable for years.
@Jeff
I think that's the point of the joke. Considering that most cable companies are offering 15-20mbit plans, plus with all the new areas with FIOS, the recent 6mbit DSL upgrade is a bit of a joke.
They have been working on Something.....My Wife is From Rock Hill, SC and its pretty much right over the border from Charlotte.....use to damn near as SOON as you get about 5 miles over the NC/SC border in that area I would drop down to Edge network.....went down there about 3 weeks ago and noticed it was 3G I was shocked as hell...lol...Whatever they are doing I'm glad...I dont have to take forEVER to wait for pages and apps to Load on EDGE when we go down there anymore
Nice user name.
@ Mr. Blue
Its great that he has all of his video game contacts. I meet him on Playstation Home and we regularly chat the night away!
@ DanielT :: I can't believe you just openly admitted that.
AT&T is the Devil, period. We get charged a ridiculous amount for our monthly service which clearly doesn't work. Then to add insult to injury, AT&T takes a cut of billings and pumps out hundreds of millions of dollars worth of awful ads (the ones with the 5 bars everywhere, yeah freakin right!) saying there system is the best thing since the big wheel, Saturday cartoons, and prom dates.
If any of you ever get the chance to meet an AT&T exec on the street do this:
1 Smile and shake their hand
2 Tell them how much you appreciate the network and love their phones
3 As soon as they pass, feeling all warm and fuzzy about their on the street customer experience
and are on the verge of tweeting said experience.
4 Double back on them and give them an give them an atomic wedgie.
5 When they sheepishly ask why tell them "Recovery tax".
- Buie
If their service "clearly doesn't work" no one would be on their network. But that's not the case is it? Shut up. Your analogies are pathetic btw.
EM1, I think you're misusing the word analogy. Also, do you honestly think that everyone is on AT&T for their superb network and not for one specific phone (I wonder which one)? If so, I have a couple of bridges that I would like to sell you. I've got the deeds right here. Let's just say that if everyone had the same phone and the only criteria one had to choose a network on was the on quality of coverage, right now AT&T would not fare too well.
If people stopped buying that phone due to it's association with AT&T, Apple would have found a way out of their contract with AT&T or at the least, not extended it.
What's it with AT&T (and US carriers in general)?
HSDPA is usually just a software update for UMTS towers, and the 7.2 tech is already pretty dated, most carriers worldwide are working on the next increment, or have already rolled it out.
Does this mean they didn't even have UMTS in those cities? If true, this is pretty ridiculous. Now, the US is a big country and I don't expect coverage deep in the woods, but places like Chicago? I would have thought they would have gotten around installing a tower or two there...
You would think so.. I work in Chicago, have AT&T, and completely lose signal in MANY places throughout the city. I can be standing on Oak Street (very ritzy area) and have "SOS Only" displayed on my phone. AT&T is horrible all over out here! I can't even keep a decent signal while riding the westbound Metra. ((sigh))
I've had spotty coverage in some areas of the city. When I lived near the lake just noth of the loop I was pulling down 50k on their EDGE network. This was last summer. But have a great signal (2000kbps) at work (about 1.5 miles from my place near the loop). Coverage on the UP West Line is fine. Some dead areas on the green line through the ghetto to Oak Park though. Anywhere from 2-5 bars in my studio and I am just out of the city limits.
It's not "just a software update" if the backhaul isn't there to support it. Enabling 7.2 Mbps without upgrading the backhaul and all the supporting equipment would actually make things worse, because one guy could hog up all the bandwidth on a tower by running a big download or something.
man, that´s the joke of the year.
We´ve for a quite long time 3G networks faster than 7.2 MBIT in whole western europe (pretty much the whole territory). Some countries are already having above 14 mbits. Us is really behind in the network / cellular.
yeah?.. western europe, huh? you also have a country(combined countries) smaller than the state of Texas.... not really a fair comparison is it there, buddy?
I hate the fact that the US is SOOOOO Behind techwise my damn self....Mobile networks is just ONE thing that we are so far behind at....because there is just too much going on instead of each company working together to get on one stand network type....hell the rest of the world has pretty much done this why cant the US??
@carballo- perfectly fair given that over 50% of the US has no 3G and there are no plans for said over 50% to in the near future.
I'm honestly excited about this, considering I'm getting a 3GS in january and hopefully by then they start rolling it out in NYC where its needed the most. I figure that real world speeds should be around 3.6Mbs or so considering that i get 1.5mbs on my current 3G connection. I just hope that ATT doesn't go down sprint/verizons path and cap data usage to 5GB. Because at these speeds i think i could easily hit 5GB of data a month, considering that i use about 3GB of data on my current 3G with the 3GS and 7.2MBs this will be awesome.
I'll believe it when I see it.
Meanwhile Sprint is rolling out 4G and LTE?
Sprint is rolling out 4G and that is exciting but the problem with Sprints 4G is that its not LTE its Wimax. and while theres nothing wrong with wimax its just as capable as LTE but when the 3 other major carriers are headed to LTE sprint will quickly be stuck with the only unsupported network and get crappy phones to work on wimax, While Verizon/ ATT/ T-mobile will have LTE and have the best selection of phones.
Secondly does Sprint have a phone that works on Wimax yet??? No so until a Wimax compatible phone is released on sprint i wouldn't be too excited about it. with this 7.2 roll-out the 3GS is compatible and 6 other phones will be released by the end of the year.
and as of right now Sprint is not capping data usage on Wimax but wait until a phone is released and watch sprint cap data to 5GB and on wimax 5GB of a data could be burned through in just a 2 weeks.
I'm glad dallas is one of the cities getting it this year but I have said it a bunch of times, I have absolutely no issues with ATT network here in Dallas.
Same here - at&t is absolutely amazing in Dallas/Fort Worth. 3G signal everywhere (including the infamous "dead zone" at NorthPark Mall for the other 3 carriers), consistently over 2mbps download speeds, and an abundance of new or updated corporate owned stores everywhere. I always feel sorry for my friends with T-Mobile 3G who can't get a single 3G bar of service in many houses in Collin County.. :-p
I am getting sick and f in tired of watching ATT ads telling me how great 3g is . I live in the 149th largest MSA and they tell us maybe next year we MIGHT see 3G
miami here.. nice to know.
Unfortunately as far as i know.. my n97 doesnt support hspa 7.2, ...
now what phones do is the question? And will this work with our current data plans?
Don't get all excited for nothing. We've had 7.2mbps for 2 years in Canada and it made absolutely no difference for me when switching from iPhone 3G to 3GS..
Then they likely didn't do much of an upgrade on the backed to support faster speeds to each tower. Than can sometimes be more expensive than just upgrading the broadcasting equipment.
.... Charlotte gets an upgrade over Washington DC or NYC ?
at&t fail.
AT&T spending billions to upgrade NYC to 7.2 HSDPA would be a waste. Verizon owns most of the towers and won't let AT&T expand their coverage. So yeah, you'd have faster speeds on your iphone 3gs, but the network reliability won't improve.
It's not that Verizon owns the towers, but that they are the landline provider and run the backhaul. All those cities listed in this first 7.2mbps launch are cities AT&T can run their own backhaul etc.
Hey I live in Charlote, and I love it here. but even I was surprised to see us on that list. We RARELY get that kinda stuff first. And to those who say "WTF no NYC", i am sure its coming when they can find somewhere to put the towers lol.
I live just outside of DC and wonder why we seem to get passed up for everything. WiMAX service is available in Baltimore and Richmond areas but not DC. We aren't getting these 3G upgrades anytime soon it appears. We're still trying to get non-Verizon cellphone service at our metro stations.
Not that it means anything, but the picture looks like it was taken outside
McCormick Place in Chicago.
The 3G network in downtown Cincinnati Sucks!!!! Ironically it should be their strongest point in the area, and every time that I call they either want to replace my iPhone 3gs or my simm card
*wonders if 'Miami' will include any part of Fort Lauderdale*
I will just be happy when I have an option of anything besides EDGE in NE Arkansas... :(
Is this a recent picture? If so it looks like Chicago upgrades are going on now. That looks like the Bears parking lot and McCormick Place in the back.
Anyone noticed a lack of network on your iPhone recently? A few weeks ago mine started showing full bars but no "E" or "3G". Sometimes rebooting the phone works, sometimes it doesn't. But it's happening every day during my commute. AT&T says theirs no problem with the towers. Should I return the phone?
I just spent 4 days in san francisco and used my iphone 3gs' maps (i.e. google) to navigate around the entire city. I read that ATT has issues in SF but my experience was pretty good, only a few times was I stuck on edge and I did cover most of that city (not just tourist spots)
SF is running a lot of its 3G network on 850mhz spectrum in SF< which I have noticed seems to help. I think it also has something to do with the fact that the cell sites are owned by AT&T so it's easier to upgrade.
Here in Des Moines, IA I have no complaints at all. My 3g works pretty much everywhere and seems to work very well. I went to the Iowa/UNI game in Iowa City last weekend and the service was terrible. I swear I didnt have 3g at all while I was there.
that's because Iowa City doesn't have 3G, dumas
I still don't have anything but EDGE and it doesn't perform more than 5-10Kbp/s ever, even on full bars. I'd do anything for the 3G service I used to have in Hawaii, but now I'm in the California, the continental United States with sub EDGE and paying for 3G every month on two iPhones because I don't want to have to use edge when I visit my family down a few hours south of me. Ridiculous. They are rolling out new flashy upgrades without even bothering to see how the reception (it's bad anywhere but town central) and data rate is in their other regions. I'm so over it!
I'm still waiting for 3G in Iowa City, it's basically a suburb of chicago anyway
I just visited San Francisco over the 3 day weekend. Looks like the 850 mHz overlay is now on almost everywhere, and the improvement is night and day. I posted more detail on Howardforums.com, but in a nutshell, I got full bars and at least 1000 kbps downloads in Inner Sunset, Marina, SOMA, and Union Square, even two stories underground in a parking garage and deep inside the Macy's building. I never dropped a call. I confirmed 850 mHz frequency in all these locations. Now I don't live there, but I visit periodically (I live 2 hrs away) and this is DEFINITELY a change from before. There could still be plenty of holes and fine-tuning issues, but it looks like AT&T is finally living up to their promises, and they are finally getting close to being ready for MMS on the iPhone.
See more at: http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1565091
why cant we get this in canada!!!
Been on AT&T in Detroit for 9 years and 0 problems.
Even on 1 bar in the middle of nowhere still doesn't drop the call and sound quality still top notch.
sux to be you guys......
Sweet! Gotta love living in Houston. 3G coverage is actually pretty good here, looking forward to the 7.2 mbps bump!