By now it is painfully obvious that AT&T and Apple will announce at least one new iPhone model this coming June; heck, even analysts jumped on board with bloggers a few months ago in stating that a new iPhone model this Summer is imminent. Back in March, we ran through some exciting details laid out by an AT&T exec and among them was the note that Apple’s new handset would support faster HSDPA to the tune of 7.2 Mbps. Well here we are in April and Scott McElroy, VP of Technology at AT&T Mobility, has confirmed the company is currently working on software upgrades that will boost 3G downlink speeds to… You guessed it… 7.2 Mbps. Despite the fact that we’re lucky if we can get 400 Kbps in the New York area right now, AT&T’s current 3G network supports speeds up to 3.6 Mbps so the upgrades being performed will double that speed. We have to admit, we’re a little scared to think of what network performance is going to be like when the new iPhone drops and increasing download speeds isn’t going to help resolve current issues. It looks like we may be in for a bumpy ride leading up to AT&T’s migration to HSPA+ in late 2009/early 2010, and the subsequent launch of AT&T’s LTE network.
AT&T 3G network upgrades underway; 7.2 Mbps HSDPA ahead of new iPhone launch
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