AT&T to cover about 250M people with HSPA+ by year's end
By Chris Ziegler 
posted May 14th 2010 4:39PM
posted May 14th 2010 4:39PM
AT&T has changed its story on its 3.5G / 3.75G strategy prior to rolling out LTE seemingly countless times in the past couple years, but the good news is that the latest policy shift is a decidedly positive one: it intends to cover about 250 million Americans in speedy (well, hopefully speedy) HSPA+ by the end of 2010. The remarks came today from AT&T Operations CEO John Stankey at a Reuters event, going on to say that the company intends to "double" its theoretical 7.2Mbps maximum on HSPA; it seems almost certain that the move is in response to T-Mobile's aggressive moves into 21Mbps territory recently -- not to mention commercial WiMAX availability on Sprint and the impending launch of a handful of LTE markets on Verizon -- but realistically HSPA+ on AT&T could easily run anywhere between 7.2 and 14.4Mbps depending on market, backhaul capacity, and countless other factors. Works out well for a presumed iPhone launch, doesn't it?
they let Android, HTC and Sprint beat the sh** out of them? hilarious...
While they're way behind in the 4G wars, I give them props for working on their 3G network some more. Thing's still aren't as good as their ad campaigns would like you do believe, but it's better. That's a plus at least.
@ssgadget Dude I have AT&T 3G in Fairbanks AK, I assumed the rest of the US was already 3G, as we are about last place on earth to get technologies. We just recently got 12MB/s Internet and it's only $195 a month.
Just got 2.2Mbps down! That's faster than all the wifi hotspots I've tested. All can carriers can improve but I think AT&T gets a bad rap.
@Pure Calculus
Lol. Hey do your little speed test during times when people are using their phones and out and about. Testing at 8pm doesnt count. If your using phone data at that time your one of the few. During peak hours oh i dunno... 8 am to 5pm you will get nowhere near that. Cause their network is shit man. Its a known fact. There is no reason to defend it. They know it themselves. Putting a + behind your teerrible network doesnt make it better... yeah im an EX ATT customer... i know for a fact. Shits bad.
@Arealjerk Back up your claims with facts instead of spewing your opinion. Pc works tested and found AT&T on top.
@RLBurkes
dude me too! i live in a town 40 miles north of texas right across the red river and the 3g stops right at the red river (oklahoma/texas border), we have the largest choctaw casino and a 4 year university and we still dont have 3g, i wish i could just call att and ask them if my town will be covered in this "250 million", sprint has 3g here, i just might have to jump ship for the evo :(
AT&T has promised us many things. there like the U.S government -_-
If the 4th gen. iPhone is 14.4Mbps-capable (or anything above 7.2), that would be a winner.
I get tired of hearing how AT&T is moving to 4g when a big chance of the country is still without 3G. How about catching your whole network up before bragging about updates? I live an hour out of Atl and still of edge! How is it that Vzw's network is the same fast speeds where ever you are but AT&T's is only 3G in metro areas?
How about AT&T gets their current network working properly?
Whatever AT&T, where's iPhone tethering that you promised LAST YEAR? Even some carriers in some 3rd world countries allow tethering from day 1.
Whoever wrote the title does not understand what is HSPA vs HSPA+. AT&T has indicated that it will roll out 7 Mbps HSPA. This is NOT HSPA+ as the title suggest. T-Mobile will roll out HSPA+ which has higher rate than 7 Mbps.
Here is what is funny about everyone here...
First, AT&T has 80 million subscribers using there network...will there ever be network issues because of this...hell yes. Second, if the network is soooo bad, then why the hell do they add approx 1.5 million per quarter and Tmo and Sprint are losing hundreds of thousands per quarter? Third, Verizon is a good company but they are not perfect either...they may have more coverage, but AT&T provides a data experience that only LTE on Verizon can compete against, believe what you want, AT&T has more 3g potential to fallback on in the long run than Verizon. Fourth, all of the US carriers have some sort of downfall, but appreciate what they are all doing with 4G...the only competition will be in the networks...not the equipment...in turn, we will be the winners over all. Lastly, Verizon is gaining potential with their device line up, eventually they will have the iphone, if it is a LTE variant, then AT&T and Verizon have a major network war ahead that will make the current one even more childish than it is.
To finish my first statement...if you have a better provider in your area then use them. QUIT COMPLAINING and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! A forum will not change your crappy coverage in your small and large towns...changing companies will. If you like the iphone...buy it. If you dont, well...buy something else. There are options, remember that other companies still exist. BTW...i work for ATT as a trainer and am not biased about networks or phones as i use both ATT and Verizon to take care of what i need for my business. I understand one thing though, i will not use a forum to complain about something that I have full ability to make a difference for myself.
On a lighter note, you guys make me smile! Thank you. A great friday it is! The vader part especially. Good stuff.
Oh, sorry, i have to address one more thing. For the iphone users out there that are using your devices to upload torrents and other stuff that is not really made for mobile devices...you are the small guys out there that cause big issues. So if you want tethering, yell at the people that abuse unlimited data access. If this was being done on Verizons CDMA network, then you too would be seeing issues with data connection speeds. Really guys, this is getting old. ATT is working to fix their problems, patience and a bit of support goes a hell of a lot farther than a bitch fest!
On one last side note...Lebron just signed on with the Clippers!!! Woot! hahahah
Lebron on the Clippers...L O freakin L! What an idiot. Oh wait..thats me! Crap!
att sucks
how does this compare to WiMax?
yeah i'm getting the evo. nice knowin ya at&t.
This won't do a shred of good unless AT&T upgrades backhaul with it. And not some stupid T1 connections to the cell tower, something a tad faster than that, yea AT&T? Whatever though, I'm on Sprint, with none of that network problem silliness.
Honestly, in the DTC area, I have a data card with at&t and I average 4-5Mbit/sec down and 1.7 up as it is... That's during peak times and off peak times. Slowest I have ever seen my data card run is about 2Mbps down and 1 up.
I thought that I was blazing when I was on Sprint getting a constant 2.4 down and .4 up but at&t's data is no joke, at least where I live, work, and play.
I dumped Sprint (which has excellent coverage in Colorado thanks to the acquisition of Qwest's wireless assets years ago) back in February and went to at&t. Yes, I've had 5 or 6 dropped calls (there was a dead spot for the longest time on Belleview and University which they finally patched up) but the voice quality, data speeds, and network reliability have been top notch for me so far and I'm quite happy.
I think that at&t has phenomenal service in the Denver area - and even outside of Denver, I've got 3G unless I go to Lookout Mountain - and even then, its only certain areas of Lookout where I have coverage issues - and my Sprint Curve was sitting side by side and lost coverage as well.
I have had all of the carriers and I can say, at least for Denver, at&t is the way to go. I LOL'd my way right out of the T-Mobile stores when I went to go look at the 9700. I went to three different stores and not a single one of them did the 9700 have a 3G icon on. They were all on EDGE.
And as for customer service... at&t hands down has the best - if you are a Premier customer. I can call any time of day, get someone that speaks English and is actually willing to help me, and they proved themselves to be the customer service leader when I had visual voicemail issues on my 9700. I set up my voicemail, not knowing that Best Buy didn't add visual voicemail to my account, and so I had to call at&t - lost all my messages. Not a big deal. Well I did a phone upgrade and was asking if they could push the app OTA and the guy took the feature off my account and readded it without telling me until AFTER he had done it. Needless to say, I lost my voicemails again (and this included a job offer) so I called customer service. What did they do? $25 bill credit and 5000 rollover minutes. I hadn't even been a customer for two months yet. If it was Sprint, they would try to find some way to blame it on me or I would just get a simple I'm sorry. T-Mobile wouldn't believe me. And Verizon...... don't get me started.
@RLBurkes "only" $195? That's ridiculously high!
I wish they would turn on my 3g. They said last april they would. Now a year later they don't have a date. wtf.
14 Mbps? The operator building HSPA+ network here in Sweden claims it will handle speeds up to 84 Mbps.
How about they get 3G in my area for fucksake! Everyone I know has a damn iPhone 3G and has been paying $30/month for 3G service and still no 3G in my area... And now they're talking about 4G?!?! F. U. AT&T!!!
@ryan74701 It is pretty funny that you wouldn't just say I live in Oklahoma. You live 4o mile north of Texas, well you have to use land marks people know.
can someone tell me what the difference is between LTE and HSPA+?
thanks
well hopefull more of southern ohio gets 3g, edge is painfully slow, with all my bars i get dial up speed, it would be nice to get the speed evo on verizion with one bar does, verizion gets one bar in my house, at&t none, verizion internet in my house, faaaast, at&t internet in the city i live 15 miles from, sloooow