AT&T makes its move to HSPA 7.2 official
AT&T has finally announced their official plans to boost its 3G network to 7.2 Mbps.
We first brought you the news that AT&T was going to boost its 3G speeds back on April 20th, and now we can tell you that this is indeed the official plan.
Beginning sometime later in this year, AT&T will begin rolling out High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 7.2 technology through out their network. Before you start getting too excited, though, keep in mind that the 7.2 speeds are a theoretical best speed, and that doesn’t mean that you will always enjoy that speed even when in a covered area.
The planned completion date for this project is 2011, which is also the year that the company anticipates it will begin to roll out the next generation technology, 4G LTE, into mass usage. Sometime during 2010, even as they are still implementing HSPA 7.2, they will begin testing the 4G LTE equipment, but details are scarce on that portion of the plan at this time.
In addition to the increased speed, AT&T will be investing in expanding their 3G network to 20 more metropolitan areas in the United States, which will be in addition to the nearly 350 that it already services. It was also announced that they will be doubling the available 3G spectrum that they currently offer to increase coverage in the cities already serviced, which will also help with the future handling of HSPA 7.2 and 4G LTE.
In short, it sounds like AT&T is about to spend a whole lot of capital on trying to increase the coverage that their customers currently use, something you frequently hear complaints about from their users. There will also be additional backhaul sites constructed to help with the increased speeds of the new technology, as well as their increasing number of customers thanks to the iPhone. It sounds like it was a long time coming, but things may be getting better for AT&T customers soon.
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