AT&T's de la Vega: HSPA+ coming 'in certain locations'
By Chris Ziegler 
posted March 12th 2010 3:49PM
posted March 12th 2010 3:49PM
AT&T hasn't been quite as forthcoming with the exact details of its next-gen network plans as T-Mobile and Verizon have been recently, but FierceBroadbandWireless appears to have wrested a tidbit from wireless boss Ralph de la Vega in a recent interview. Though the standard HSPA 7.2Mbps deployment is still AT&T's short-term focus, HSPA+ -- which can theoretically take HSPA to 21Mbps and beyond -- is clearly still on its radar prior to LTE. "We will also deploy HSPA+ in certain locations," de la Vega said on no uncertain terms -- without revealing even a hint about where those "certain locations" might be, unfortunately.Speaking of LTE, the 4G tech still seems to be on AT&T's back burner for the moment with the first commercial markets not scheduled to light up until 2011, a strategy that seems pretty difficult to argue with considering HSPA's considerable room to grow from its current speeds and the lack of LTE devices in the pipeline. Of course, that could end up really hurting these guys a few years down the line when the first generation of LTE is in its prime and they've given Verizon about a year's head start, but -- and this is a huge "but" -- if they can save up some cash by rolling cheaper HSPA upgrades now and really dump unheard-of levels of cash into the network when they're good and ready, it's conceivable that they'll be able to build out a big footprint in short order. Ralph, can we recommend you look to Bell and Telus for inspiration on how to pull that off?
Certain locations being....?
@Cash9007 Big congested cities.
@Cash9007
Does it matter where the locations are? I mean this only effects Laptop/netbook customers. When I use my iPhone I cant really tell a difference between 6mb wifi compared to 12mb wifi because the processor cant render the pages any faster-- the internet is to fast for the processor.
The same goes for some of the Android phones my friends have.
@Mentat The 7.2Mbps is shared between all of the cell phones on the tower. Adding more bandwidth will surely help in certain places.
However, AT&T's big problem right here is the backhaul connections back to their core network and their mobility data centers. There's only one way to fix that: lots of fiber. Oh, and lots of time to get right of ways from cities and towns.
@Cash9007
5-10 Major cities which will only cover about 10% of US Cell Phone Users.... Typical of AT&T.
They need to stop worrying about faster then 3G speeds and actually EXPAND their 3G coverage ffs.
@treats They are going to expand 3g this year...actually it's going to be a pretty big expansion!
@Cash9007 What's weird is that here in Colorado, AT&T has opened up that sweet, sweet HSDPA over 850 MHz spectrum - as far as I know, Colorado is the only recipient thus far. Colorado is a (relatively) smaller market. Maybe AT&T wanted to extend existing towers as much as possible. Anyway, the end result is full bars everywhere, no dropped calls and increased speeds. Depending on AT&T's regional spectrum holdings, they could effectively double their call capacity with new 850 radios on existing 1900 towers throughout the US. Assuming quite a bit, but still.
When T-Mo hits the rumored green light on the 14th, AT&T's lost out on their "fastest 3G network" claims, but hey - at least AT&T has SOME coverage. From what I've heard and seen T-Mo has barely a 3G presence.
@dragonfli
mmmm something tells me HD2 + t-mo = pure awesomeness.
Awesome. Now I can have super fast speeds on my not interesting phones!
AT&T, I left Verizon for your tilt, and will leave you soon unless you get a good android phone!
-Taylor
Considering that the web is still slow in general, I'm fine with just 7.2 3G. I'm not streaming 1080p movies or playing first person shooters on my phone or downloading huge files, so until there is an actual need for 4G ... this isn't such a terrible thing for AT&T.
What is terrible is that AT&T is now making people get a $20 messaging plan who buy a non-smartphone (not the stupid basic phones, but the stupid touchscreen ones). If I buy the same or similar phone that I have right now, they want me to pay for that plan. What the heck, de la Vega?
AT&T drag its feet on updating to the latest technology or transition in an elegant fashion, say it aint so?!? I still remember the TDMA to GSM change over. I got stuck with either getting a soon to obsolete TDMA/GSM hybrid phone instead of a GSM only model because I already had a hybrid phone on my account or replace both phones with GSM only ones. What really pissed me off is the first hybrid phone was only 3 or 4 months old at the time and they swore up and down that it would be compatible with the new technology, but left out the fact that you couldn't have a pure GSM phone and a hybrid on a shared plan. So much for "compatible", hopefully these sorts of issues won't occur with the change to 4G.
Well for some reason My N1 cant make calls this afternoon, wish i can draw to this conclusion...
if it were up to de la vega and att, we'd still be using landlines on tiered plans based on how many numbers we dial
@snugs
Really? I would like to see that article (I bet the comment section would be hilarious) could post that link up?
@Mentat
Really? I would like to see that article (I bet the comment section would be hilarious) could you post that link up?
sorry (need an edit button)
I didn't think mentats made mistakes
Oye Ralf Where's my iPhone Tethering? You said "Real soon, now" last summer.
I would really like to see them bring basic 3g to more areas, like mine which is still on edge, before they start speeding up the isolated areas that already have 3g.
Just think guys - AT&T will finally catch up, in a few limited places, to where almost 100% of Canadian wireless coverage was 6 months ago.
Somewhat sad how badly the US has fallen behind pretty much the entire planet in wireless technology.
Not really sure why we need to jump the gun to 4G so soon. 3G only became a big deal a few years ago in the US. Until that point we were all still using EDGE, GPRS, and 1xRTT. I honestly think it's a mistake for Verizon not to be upgrading to EV-DO Rev B (4.9Mbps) while all these 7.2Mbps HSPA networks continue to go up over the existing 3.6Mbps areas.
At least Sprint can say they have WiMAX in some areas and that HTC phone coming out this year. Verizon has good speed and coverage for its EV-DO Rev A network, but it'd be smart to have something to bridge that gap in my opinion.
How about more 3G coverage before moving onto 4G? Maybe then I'll swtich to AT&T.
Hurry, my iPhone is my primary Internet source... More spend to stream Hulu and download large files! q=^)
I think "can" is the main word in the sentence.
Love my iPhone, hate my network. If ATT continues to be behind the curve i'll be moving to a WP7S phone, they look pretty freakin sweet.
In all reality, there are few hspa+ devices, all users no matter the network, if you don't have a phone or wireless card/dongle its more or less a moot point. I can see a benefit if you have such a device, and a usb dongle like the forthcoming TMO Rocket. This would do much more for wireless broadband, then for a phone.
Of course this will change in the future. And I'm sure it may help with bandwidth with older 7.2 devices. And even so, how much different would this speed in real world use be on an iPhone, Android phone, WM7 phone etc.....? Even if its on future devices?
@Versed
My 2 year old Samsung i780 has 14Mbps HSDPA. I'm pretty sure every new smartphone is capable of 21Mbps.
Hey, it's that Micro Machines Guy
I hope Charlotte NC is one of the locations
Certain locations? You really make me SICK CEO De La Vega. You don't know WTF you are doing with your towers their do you. Get rid of your fake smile.
We already have 21Mbps nationwide in Australia since the end of 2008.
If AT&T's LTE will be compatible with Verizon's and T-mobile's implementations then screw HSPA+ bring on the 4G! I'm sick of the "this phone is only compatible with this carrier" BS...
Mean Gene is that you?
T-Mobile just built 6 brand new towers here in the county. Never had any coverage of their own here before, only roaming. But they're not 3G, just EDGE. You'd think by now that anything new the carriers build would be 3G, but no.
Ralph de la Vega....the grand puba of dumbassery speaks again. What he needs to do is stop touting your crappy, TINY network as the fastest and most reliable. I've been a subscriber of all the US carriers and to date Verizon offers the most coverage and the most reliable service. Rolling out HSPA+ is such a waste of subscribers' money...just roll out LTE and be done with with. Get backhaul issues sorted and give customers better service. And buy a hairpiece!!!!
@DRAZY
you're jacked up. "buy a hair piece" lol
You better hope your hairdoesnt run away from your head
"...really dump unheard-of levels of cash into the network when they're good and ready"
bwahahahahahahahaha... That is a good one! How about asking 3/4 of the at&t customers how much they love their "good enough" EDGE service and ask them how much at&t customers are benefitting from the rollout of "faster" speeds.
AT&T still doesn't have HSPA 7.2 where they need it!!! Wow. Awesome. Not.