T-Mobile lighting up tons of fiber-powered backhaul 'within the next few weeks'

Realistically, most Americans won't have a chance to enjoy the full spoils of T-Mobile's shiny new 21Mbps HSPA+ network any time soon, but hey, at least they appear to be making solid progress. In a recent chat with GigaOM, T-Mobile's VP of engineering Dave Mayo has said that the requisite software for HSPA+ service is already rolled out to cell sites along the California coast and in major cities between Washington, DC and Boston, but like AT&T, it's not the software that's the concern -- it's the width of the backhaul pipe. The company says that it's got 20Mbps fiber connections to just 7 percent of its cells presently but plans to rapidly expand that to around 25 percent "within the next few weeks." Ultimately, that's going to be the key for every carrier around the world that's deploying 3.75 to 4G networks -- the cells themselves might be easy, but getting enough data piped to them is another story altogether.

[Thanks, Burnside]

[onecallednick Posted Feb 11th 2010 12:04AM]

So if T-Mo really is going to make 21Mbps HSPA+ happen, and Verizon's much vaunted LTE network's only clocking 13 Mb, what's the big deal about 4G? Especially since Verizon has NO plans to bring LTE to actual phones?

[Panormous Posted Feb 11th 2010 12:22AM]

@onecallednick I bet that T-Mo's HSPA+ is not going to be as fast as they will want it to be. Time will tell.

[iamlilysdad Posted Feb 11th 2010 12:23AM]

@onecallednick 13 Mps LTE is just the first generation. Just like 3G they will make improvements and boost the speed. And we all know verizon can change their plans for phones whenever they want.

[christexaport Posted Feb 11th 2010 1:00AM]

@Panormous
HSPA+ is already available in parts of the US, and it's faster than anything we have in the US, including WiMax. People are getting average downloads around 6-9 mbps...

[onecallednick Posted Feb 11th 2010 12:20PM]

@christexaport I checked the read link and T-mo's the only network in the US with HSPA+ that I know of and they only have Philadelphia lit up so far. Is that where you're talking about? I'm a big fan of the underdog here, T-mobile's been a very good citizen by not opposing net neutrality and embracing Android first off, not to mention their reasonable prices. So I'm hoping this will keep them in the running against verizon and AT&T's upcoming 4G networks. T-Mo seems really determined to make up for waiting on 3G so long.

[pslim Posted Feb 11th 2010 4:27PM]

The big deal about wimax and lte is that they actually do speeds far above 100mbps, wimax's max is 144 mbps. Lte and wimax are just being capped currently, but once we have phones with faster processors then all they have to do is up the speed. Hspa+ has far less capabilities in the long run, that's why everyone is excited about 4g

[ipaladin Posted Feb 11th 2010 6:10PM]

@onecallednick thank you, someone finally sees through the hype machine that is the Verizon LTE rollout. +1

[josesxi Posted Feb 11th 2010 2:39AM]

Bring it on!
I'm already getting speeds close to 4Mbp/s down with just HSPA here in NYC: http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh3/josesxi/MyT-Mobile3G-1.png

[GDallas Posted Feb 11th 2010 7:06PM]

@josesxi

If that is the photo that you took you have wifi on!

[josesxi Posted Feb 11th 2010 10:52PM]

@GDallas No, wifi was on when I took the screenshot in my pc, which is the only way to do it with the Nexus.

[ASEVENSEE4 Posted Feb 11th 2010 5:06AM]

They need to list the cities with this upgrade coming, like NOW..

[onecallednick Posted Feb 11th 2010 12:17PM]

@ASEVENSEE4 if you check the read link it looks like east coast cities and california's metro areas are first.

[ASEVENSEE4 Posted Feb 11th 2010 12:20PM]

@onecallednick That's not specific enough

[onecallednick Posted Feb 11th 2010 12:21PM]

@ASEVENSEE4 Is for me since I'm in Oregon...

[onecallednick Posted Feb 11th 2010 12:23PM]

@onecallednick Also do they even have any HSPA+ modems yet? I know there aren't any phones available or announced for HSPA+ on T-mo

[ASEVENSEE4 Posted Feb 11th 2010 12:41PM]

@onecallednick
I seriously doubt Oregon is at the top of the list for HSPA+, there are other larger 3G markets. Portland maybe..

No HSPA+ modems.

[pslim Posted Feb 11th 2010 4:35PM]

http://forums.t-mobile.com/t5/Coverage/3G-Expansion-amp-HSPA/td-p/254526

All 3g phones get the update according to T-Mobile

[micanuck Posted Feb 11th 2010 8:26AM]

this is awesome... now... hopefully i can get more than 900 kbps... ;)

[zephxiii Posted Feb 11th 2010 8:53AM]

HSPA+ !!!!!!!! BRING IT!!!