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back to article AT&T (tries) to double iPhone 3G speeds

AT&T - Apple's US network of choice for the iPhone - will double the speed of its 3G service in six cities by the end of this year, and it plans to extend that service to 90 percent of its current 3G coverage area by the end of 2011. In an announcement on Wednesday, AT&T said that it would deploy the upgraded service, HSPA 7.2 …

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  1. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    I'm going for "not"...

    "Perhaps the HSPA 7.2 upgrade, along with the backhaul upgrade, will give those phone users some relief.

    And perhaps not."

    I'm going for "not". The 3.6mbps service uses up to 5 "HS-DSCH" (High Speed Downlink Shared Channels) while 7.2 uses up to 10 HS-DSCHs. That is, it's not more efficient, it just lets the 7.2 phone use twice the resources of a 3.6 phone -- so in areas where it's slow due to overloading it won't help a bit. The backhaul? That could help a lot if it really is a backhaul shortage and not overloaded wireless spectrum.

    I'm real interested to see how Verizon and AT&T handle LTE -- so far Verizon's spanking AT&T at this though...they plan to have 20 to 30 markets by 2010, and nationwide buildout by 2013-2014. They've done two waves of trials already -- first in Minneapolis, MN, Columbus, OH, and "northern New Jersey" (Vodaphone, who owns 40% of Verizon, did several markets in Europe as well). And second wave of testing in Seattle and Boston. (The locations may be partly to rub AT&T's nose in it, AT&T have headquarters in New Jersey and Redmond (near Seattle). If they are I'd expect Atlanta, Georgia next, that's AT&T's *other* main headquarters).

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Frequency Band

    I think it is worth remembering that it is not the 3G-ness of the technology that results in it's poor indoor performance - GSM operating in the 2.1 Ghz band would perform equally poorly. Once 3G is available in, say, the 850 or 900 Mhz band it's indoor performance will see improvements.

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  3. c 1

    I expect better from el reg

    diito to anonymous coward...

    It is not the modulation technique (HSDPA) that affects in-building coverage but rather the frequency used. In AT&T's case they run a UMTS 850/1900 network so in theory if they deploy the upgrade on UMTS850 then in building should be quite good. I can vouch for that as down here in Oz we have a national UMTS 850 network and coverage in building is fantastic.

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Wil Shipley said it best

    "Hey AT&T: You know where a fun place to roll out 7.2mbps 3G would be? HOW ABOUT FUCKING SILICON VALLEY, YOU DIPSHITS?"

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