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AT&T Boosting 3G Network to 7.2Mbps

Apr 20, 2009, 8:29 AM by Eric M. Zeman
updated Apr 20, 2009, 8:37 AM

AT&T is in the process of doubling the capacity of its HSPA 3G network from 3.6Mbps to 7.2Mbps on the downlink. The upgrades are possible through software upgrades to its networking equipment. AT&T is actively testing the enhancements in two separate markets before rolling them out further. It is also certifying devices to run at the faster HSPA speeds. According to Scott McElroy, AT&T Mobility vice president of technology realization, the company will likely skip upgrading its HSPA network to 14.4Mbps and jump right to HSPA+, which can operate at 21Mbps. In addition to these capacity upgrades, AT&T is also expanding its 3G network into its 850Mhz spectrum to improve range and penetration.

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Comments

This forum is closed.

This forum is closed.

netboy

Apr 20, 2009, 9:16 AM

they better do it quick!

all their TV commercials saying "The FASTEST 3G network". they better upgrade to 7.2M soon or get sued by Verizon for false adversting!

Roadkill

Why? Their current 3.6 HSPA is already faster than Verizon's 3.1 EVDO Rev A, so it's not false advertising at all.

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stoopered

You don't get 3mbps for any carrier besides sprint with WiMax. Thats it, end of story. Show me one testing with over 3mbps thats not with Line-of-Sight. Can't do it. So everyone on here needs to quit comparing lab/testing speeds and talk about the all...
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terryjohnson16

Apr 20, 2009, 8:18 PM

AT&T is mad slow

T-Mobile has had 7.2Mbps HSDPA for awhile. Don't care if AT&T had 3G before T-Mobile, they had plenty of time to roll out 7.2.

hannibal52

http://www.mobile-broadband-reviews.com/t-mobile-3g- ... »

T-Mobile hasn't even had 3G coverage for "awhile". Looks like their 3G speed is averaging around 1mb/s

Roadkill

Huh? Since when?

I can't find anything saying that T-Mobile has HSDPA 7.2, and that includes their own web site.

They have it in Europe, but that's hardly relevant since you're comparing them to AT&T.

nuopus

Since when? T-Mobile was never rolling out 7.2Mbps HSDPA. They rolled out UMTS on the 2100/1700mhz band without the HSDPA upgrade. And it gets nowhere near 7.2Mbps. As a matter of fact it is capped at 1mb! Please do some research before you post nonse...
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stoopered

Apr 21, 2009, 12:38 PM

First fix 3g coverage issues.

Why work on speed when you can only get coverage in extremely few areas. Highly doubt... I know for a fact these aren't real world speeds.

jhr2112

Apr 20, 2009, 12:20 PM

expand 3g before speed

I wish at&t would expand the 3g coverage they already have to more places before speeding it up. Sprint and Verizon have much larger and more reliable 3g footprints and bandwidth, more than double that of at&t so they can advertise the largest 3g network. at&t has the fastest so they can advertise that, but it is so spotty at best even in major metro areas..

see article

http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/03/sxsw-atts-spo ... »

Roadkill

You're going to have to provide proof of that "double" claim. Sprint's and Verizon's footprints are not that much larger than AT&T's unless you're just looking at square miles covered (which is basically meaningless), and even then they're not double...
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aw420q

First of all Sprint has around only 25 metro areas covered with the latest CDMA EVDO Rev A. AT&T has more than 350 metro areas with 3g coverage and Verizon has around 375. Second of all, AT&T already has the fastest 3g network, and with these upgrade...
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EliteABombAZ

Apr 20, 2009, 9:40 AM

Gearing up for 3rd Gen iPhone

Rumors of "faster internet" on this device.

MarkCohen

iPhone3G2?

LOL

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Jayshmay

Apr 20, 2009, 9:24 AM

?REAL? World speeds???

I wonder what the real world end user speeds will be?

* Notice to ATT employees (fanboys) I said end-user speeds, NOT "advertised speed".*

Gosh it sure will be exciting when the speeds ATTs 3G network are actually worth the $60/mo that ATT charges.

Roadkill

I'm just guessing, but I suspect it will probably be about double what you're seeing now.

I'm getting about 1.1 right now, so I suspect I'll be at or a little over 2.0 once then upgrade my area to 7.2.

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amking

the 7.2 mbps is the max for the serving cell site at any one time. if you're getting a good connection and there isnt much other data traffic on the site, you could expect to get a pretty solid download rate. now if it is in a high traffic area during...
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