AT&T announces plan to rollout 7.2Mbps HSPA

By on May 27, 2009 at 4:38 PM
News May 27, 2009

AT&T announced that it will upgrade its current 3G network to faster 7.2Mbps HSPA technology. The network upgrade will begin later this year and is expected to be completed by the end of 2010. Along with the deployment of HSPA, AT&T is also adding 2,100 new cell sites, beefing up the capacity of the network by connecting current cell sites to a fiber-optic backbone, expanding coverage of the higher quality 850 MHz spectrum and increasing the availability of femtocells and microcells for improving coverage inside buildings. Along with faster speeds expect to see several new 7.2Mbps HSPA compatible modems and smartphones will be also introduced later this year. Although very much welcomed, this increase is only a temporary measure that will hold everyone until LTE is rolled out. AT&T plans to begin LTE trials in 2010, with commercial deployment beginning in 2011. Woo!

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  • me

    I’ve got a better idea guys – FINISH DEPLOYING THE CURRENT 3G NETWWORK BEFORE UPGRADING THE OLD ONE!

  • http://numetheus.shutterfly.com Christopher Cox

    @Steven
    Sprint released an update for the Mogul that took their phone to Rev A by software update. When Mogul was released with Rev 0, it was capable of MAX 2.45 Mbit/s. With the Rev A update, that went up to 3.1 Mbit/s. I am hoping that the chip itself in the iPhone is capable of 7.2 Mbit/s since it is HSPA.

  • brujo

    Ok class back to work, and thank you for all of your thorough information!

  • http://numetheus.shutterfly.com Christopher Cox

    @Rick D
    I agree. Ever time I hear of major complaints with AT&T it is from people in that region.

  • Steven

    @Christopher

    But it can’t it’s not capable….I wish it were though:(

  • e

    Interestingly engouh, the only place i’ve ever had difficulty with my Iphone 3g was in NYC. Ironically i only got 776 kbps and i kept dropping calls more than normal which bugged me out, and that was the worst. I never understood why people have soo many issues with AT&T but i quickly learned in NYC. most people i know here in New England and in the Mass./RI area that have it absolutely love it and we all get great service and really fast data in comparison to the other guys around 1.8 mbps on average. I do agree all the problems stem from NYC and Southern Cali. I’ve noticed most of these people with issues are from those 2 regions and for some reason they seem to represent the web opion for most which completely satisfy verizon fanboi’s lol. Oh and those that are sadly in love with crappy cdma, they plan on cutting it all off by 2016 i heard from a vzw network tech.

    People need to stop treating carriers like it’s a sports team. Bicker about the technology, not the dumb companies that could care less about you.

  • http://numetheus.shutterfly.com Christopher Cox

    @Steven
    Ohhhh sure Steven. I had a flicker of hope before you got on here and posted your nonsense! :p

  • http://7daybuzz.com Tom Sawyer

    If all the US carriers went to LTE, wouldn’t that mean we could take phones from one carrier to the next? They simply don’t want that to happen.

  • Stefie

    So, Canada is ahead of the US in one way. Rogers Wireless is already 3.5G. My cousin has a phone that is faster loading the identical site as my friends iPhone. Funny when a non smartphone beats the iPhone!

  • badonkadonk

    @Chris Cox; @Stephen
    I think the comment was that iPhone is not software upgradable to 7.2Mbps, and I would buy that only because the speeds are usually limited by the baseband.

    Keep in mind that for all of this AT&T only wants these speeds on data cards. Smartphones doing 7.2 and above are not going to help them with congestion unless they move to VoHSPA or IMS or something to dump the voice usage of the cells.

    If Ralph is saying “LTE in 2011″ then I am predictiong one live BS by Christmas of 2011 if they’re lucky – expect LTE datacards in 2H2012 and LTE Smartphones in 2013/14. The roll-out is not going to be quick if history is any indicator – I’d prefer to have the HSPA upgrades now to tide me over.

  • http://numetheus.shutterfly.com Christopher Cox

    @badonkadonk
    Yes, and the baseband is upgradeable, so this is possible. They did this with the Mogul on Sprint when they went from Rev0 to RevA, giving that phone a speed boost.

    I seriously doubt though, that they would allow 7.2Mbps traffic for the reasons you mentioned.

  • http://numetheus.shutterfly.com Christopher Cox

    @Stefie
    What the heck does that have to do with anything? Your non-smartphone is not faster than the iPhone because the iPhone is inferior as you are getting at. It is not 3.5G because the NETWORK here is not running as fast. This has absolutely nothing to do with the phone. Over here there are no phones on AT&T that operate faster than 3.6MBps. Rogers has capped their HSPA also, because HSPA is capable of faster rates than 7.2MBps. They just have it capped at different rates.

    Funny how you take something like network speed and somehow turn it around as an anti-iphone comment.

  • Unhappy in Chicago

    I have had AT&T for over 10 years. It went from AT&T to Cingular and back again. I have dropped calls EVERY DAY. I live in the Chicago Metropolitan area. Unfortunately, AT&T doesn’t really care. It’s their network, yet they always say “oh we think you might need to replace your phone.” Hell no, I have a $500 Blackberry that I bought from you – why would I replace it???

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