AT&T Fires Up 850MHz 3G In Oklahoma City
Could this relieve 2G congestion?
I made the move to T-Mobile a few years back because of AT&T's call quality issues. This may be enough to bring me over to AT&T. (We still don't have 3G here on T-Mobile.)
I do not know if they turned off the 1900 3G while turning on the 850 3G. If they did, it may or may not alleviate the congestion problem. However, since most of the phones that AT&T uses are 3g phones, it probably would not matter.
BTW, I believe T-Mobile is scheduled to turn on 3g in okc in Q4 09.
But what does affect Oklahoma City's 2G network are the customer that upgrade from a 2G phone to a 3G device, that releases strain on the 2G and adds strain to the 3G (hence the reason they added more 3G spectrum).
Personally, I would suggest always opting for the 3G device, although its more expensive you will have minimal impact with electronic devices "freaking out" when a call or text come in. Not to mention incomparable data speeds.
I wonder what percentage of AT&T customers have 3G phones...
scooby214 said:
I understand that it only directly effects 3G devices, but that effect could indirectly impact the load on the 2G network. I've spoken with some whose 3G phones would frequently revert back to the 2G network when indoors. That would mean that there was a larger load on the 2G network. Now that 3G is on 850, those users of 3G phones should no longer experience their phones reverting to the 2G network when indoors. It would seem that the 2G phones would be the only ones still using the 2G network.
I wonder what percentage of AT&T customers have 3G phones...
yep, yep. You answered your own question my friend. By keeping 3G users on 3G and not having them switch back and forth to 2G/EDGE...
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murmermer said:
I'm going to be honest, it wont directly impact 2G service because it only affects 3G devices, giving them better coverage and more bandwidth (higher speeds & Calls handled at one time).
No, murmermer, your analysis is typically superficial. W-CDMA 850 deployment can affect GSM service, as a W-CDMA 850 carrier channel requires 10 MHz bandwidth -- fully 40% of a Cellular 850 MHz license's 25 MHz bandwidth. When AT&T deploys W-CDMA 850, it may take that 10 MHz bandwidth away from GSM 850. That reduction in GSM 850 bandwidth can force more users to GSM 1900. And that shift can lead to degraded GSM service & coverage, if the network is not fully optimized for PCS 1900 MHz propagation.
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This forum is closed.