AT&T Promising Faster 3G for All This Year
AT&T announced last week that 3G data users may have their patience rewarded this year as the telco giant performs a high-speed network upgrade which should effectively double the current speeds users are getting.AppleInsider is reporting on AT&T’s latest announcement, which doesn’t simply kick the speed of the network up a notch, it will also spread it to most of America, according to a recent Reuters event. AT&T Operations CEO John Stankey claims the upgrades will double speeds on the existing 3G network -- from the current 7.2Mbps to 14.4Mbps.Of course, few of us are even seeing the “theoretical maximum speed†of 7.2Mbps, which came with last year’s iPhone 3GS (the only iPhone model capable of handling the extra speed) as well as a rollout to six major U.S. cities in late 2009. AppleInsider is quick to note that “The theoretical maximum bandwidth is only possible under ideal conditions, and does not mean that most users will attain those speeds on their mobile device.â€AT&T’s original plan was to extended the HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) 7.2Mbps speed to 25 of the nation’s 30 largest markets by the end of this year, but the announcement late last week appears to have stepped things up considerably.HSPA+ is certainly not the end of the story: As AppleInsider notes, it’s simply a transitionary step to maximize existing 3G networks en route to Long Term Evolution (LTE), or what is commonly dubbed as a 4G data network. AT&T doesn’t plan to roll out LTE until next year, which requires installation of new equipment courtesy of Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson.Including competing carriers such as Verizon, U.S. carriers are expected to spend an estimated $1.78 billion each in the first year alone for 4G network expansion. AT&T is already spending between $18 billion and $19 billion in capital expenditures this year for network expansion, including the current HSPA+ rollout and their preparation for LTE in 2011.
http://www.maclife.com/article/news/att_promising_faster_3g_all_year
