AT&T Looks Beyond HSPA

Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.

The future isn't here yet. One could argue that Sprint and Verizon do not have good plans in place because they are currently focusing on proprietary networks (EV-DO and WiMax are not compatible with GSM or WCDMA used worldwide), and therefore are less interested in a common future *standard*. I'm not saying that is definitely the case. But Cingular has become more secretive about network deployments. For some HSDPA coverage areas, they did not announce direct plans to launch coverage until the coverage was actually launched.

I'm not saying that AT&T has the best plan in place, but I'm sure they have options. Like was stated earlier, one could say that since Sprint and Verizon ...
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Yay, GSM is used worldwide.. oh, accept the countries that I frequent. How helpful is that?

And I think that WiMax is going to be much more widely accepted than by only CDMA carriers.. why do you think that Cingular and T-Mobile were bidding on the spectrum?

Mustang46L said:
Yay, GSM is used worldwide.. oh, accept the countries that I frequent. How helpful is that?

Let me fax that over to AT&T Mobility CEO Stan Sigman. That way they know their plans for the future don't fit your personal needs.

lmao

What are you talking about? Everyone made the oh so helpful comments that GSM is better because I can use it overseas. I'm sure that is on the TOP of AT&T's list of reasons to use GSM technology in the first place.

Plus, honestly, it doesn't effect most people. The average American doesn't leave the local area they live in on a daily basis (or monthly for that matter) let alone travel overseas every week..

So again I say that GSM works overseas.. SO WHAT!! Maybe if AT&T offered an actual broadband network then I would be impressed. I'll say it again I live and work in Baltimore/Washington and it DOESN'T WORK!!!

What kind of phone do you have

When did you get it

What sim card are you using (3g or 2g)

I'm sure it matters to AT&T to receive roaming revenue from foreigners.

Mustang46L said:
And I think that WiMax is going to be much more widely accepted than by only CDMA carriers.. why do you think that Cingular and T-Mobile were bidding on the spectrum?

Did the government mandate that WiMax be used on the spectrum in the AWE auction?

No but those are the frequencies that WiMax was created to run on. LTE will run on 1900Mhz just like the current network that AT&T runs so if they had no WiMax plans they wouldn't have needed the spectrum.

Mustang46L said:
No but those are the frequencies that WiMax was created to run on. LTE will run on 1900Mhz just like the current network that AT&T runs so if they had no WiMax plans they wouldn't have needed the spectrum.

CDMA was originally developed to run on 850 and 1900 mHz respectively, but it still isn't the sole technology that runs in those frequencies.

I'm not sure if you were following the conversation.

I said that AT&T participated in the government auction to purchase 2.5GHz spectrum which is the main spectrum that will be used for WiMax in the U.S. LTE is being designed to be a GSM technology which will run on the 1900MHz just like it does now. For any of the WiMax players this means that they won't be using the 1900Mhz anymore..

So, why does AT&T need 2.5GHz spectrum to run LTE on 1900MHz frequencies?

Given the fact that Europe runs their 3G networks in 2100 mHz, I'm sure it wouldn't take too much tweaking to run that same family of technologies on 2500 mHz.

I hadn't heard of anything being restricted to a certain frequency by the creators. I'm pretty sure LTE will run in Europe, and it won't be on 1900 mHz!!

Mustang46L said:
I'm not sure if you were following the conversation.

I said that AT&T participated in the government auction to purchase 2.5GHz spectrum which is the main spectrum that will be used for WiMax in the U.S. LTE is being designed to be a GSM technology which will run on the 1900MHz just like it does now. For any of the WiMax players this means that they won't be using the 1900Mhz anymore..

So, why does AT&T need 2.5GHz spectrum to run LTE on 1900MHz frequencies?

Good point.

Also, I believe it was once said that GSM would never run on 850 mHz, that only CDMA would.

I'm not saying that it can't, or won't.. I'm saying it isn't fiscally responsible.

algorithmplus said:
One could argue that Sprint and Verizon do not have good plans in place because they are currently focusing on proprietary networks (EV-DO and WiMax are not compatible with GSM or WCDMA used worldwide), and therefore are less interested in a common future *standard*.

You mean, kind of like how CDMA was supposed to be 'teh doom' of Verizon and Sprint because GSM is more popular overseas?

Yeah, that didn't really happen. Face it, most US customers don't really care what people use elsewhere. If they did, CDMA wouldn't be more popular than GSM in the US. Yet it is.

EVDO/UMB and WiMax will be just fine, I'm sure. 🙂

I'm not saying it's doomed, I'm just saying that one could use that as an argument about why their business aren't stronger. I'm sure Verizon or Sprint wouldn't mind the revenues from the European roamers on their network. However, when those decisions were to fully implement CDMAone, and later CDMA2000, they may not have realized how common "world phones" would have become. It's just like how society didn't realize how powerful computers would become to us, and even after realizing that, I remember a common statement, "Don't worry about the 486, you'll never need anything more powerful than a 386. Powerful computers are a fad that will fade as people realize they're too expensive."

I do think, however, with the economy becoming more ...
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But the issue is that MANY worldwide carriers are starting to notice the bottlenecks of the GSM based technologies and have invested heavily in WiMax and you will probably see GSM start slipping as a global technology.

Also, business is becoming more worldwide because of faster and cheaper communication and has nothing to do with people traveling more, actually we travel less now due to cost of fuel. So, the fact is that less and less people need a worldwide phone.

For personal travelers, that is the case, but business executives, the ones who pay top dollar for such services, will not suddenly stop travelling. US regulators will not all of a sudden say "Oh, I guess the price of fuel is too much, we don't be travelling to China to check on food manufacturing facilities there..."

The big businesses and governments (governments often don't spend wisely), are the ones who put a lot of money into stuff like that. Do you think 6:01 am is really "peak time" for most consumers? It's considered "peak time" for the use from businesses more than anything. Just after 7:00 and 9:00 on weeknights are truly peak time, as consumers overload the networks using "off peak minutes."

Regardless, 'world roaming' or lack thereof has never been a deal-breaker for any US carrier, and won't be going forward. Biz execs who jet set compulsively are just too small a portion of the market.

Hate to admit it it, but the bread and butter of the market is more mundane than that... Joe Sixpack, soccer moms, twenty-something slacker types and the like. Tell them they can roam in Europe and they'll go, "That's nice. So... how's your reception in Fresno?" 😁

You are exactly right, big business and governments don't spend wisely. That is why they don't care if they have to buy a cellular phone in Europe or Asia to use for the week and throw it away. They don't care if it is $4/minute to forward their U.S. number to their overseas phone. They don't care. Just like they don't care if their phone that works in the U.S. works overseas..