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!