Rogers formally announces the completion of 7.2Mbps network upgrade

While select market testing has been going on for well over a year, today Canada’s Rogers Wireless officially announced that it has a 3.5G 7.2Mbps HSPA network up and running coast-to-coast. So far the only devices that Rogers sells that are capable of taking advantage of the new speeds are the HTC Touch Diamond and the LG Vu, but these figures will hopefully take a turn for the better in the next few quarters (there are also two data cards by Novatel that can reach speeds of up to 7.2Mpbs). The extra .5G is great to have, but since the upgrade process began there have been some serious problems that have popped up and that refuse to go away. Subscribers in many large markets have complained that since 3.5G went the network has become rather unreliable. Dropped calls have increased, 3G reception has been sketchy and has developed a habit of going down now and then, and a lot of calls are going straight to voicemail for absolutely no reason. There’s no doubt that congestion is playing a major role here, but we’d really have preferred it if Rogers had fortified its 3G network before throwing some serious dollars at a 3.5G upgrade.

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