AT&T announces major 3G updates in the next 90 days

9th February, 2010 by Adina
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AT&T recently announced, during a call for its quarterly results for the fall of last year, that it has factored in the iPad to the strategies for upgrading the 3G network. It said it had god feedback on the iPad’s usage characteristics and that many of its network plans for 2010 factor the tablet into capacity. Usage is expected to hover between the iPhone and other handsets because it is more likely to work on Wi-Fi.

AT&T also emphasized that it has not subsidized the iPad and downplayed any speculation of a discounted version possibly available. It is a significantly different model, as users pay in advance with their credit cards and are not locked in. this makes usage forecasts very difficult, as users could at anytime start or stop usage, this action being very at hand.

Apple’s plans for $30 unlimited and data-only service is a step towards a lower-cost data concept.

Plans for tackling both iPhone and iPad usage in the future through some dramatic upgrades in capacity were also stressed during the call. They could be active over the next 90 days and would include particularly New York City and also the San Francisco Bay area. New York City should receive third and fourth cell site controllers at key areas and 33 percent more of radio spectrum. As for San Francisco, the upgrades are more precisely targeted and will focus on the Financial District and some key areas including stadiums and convention centers, where usage is almost permanently concentrated.

Shifting to a more national level, AT&T plans to add about 1,000 new cell sites, ten tomes more Ethernet than was added last year and also twice as much extra capacity than the 2009 upgrades provided. AT&T’s fiber optics would carry most 3G data, instead of using its legacy network.

The carrier continued to defend its recent performance by noting that the New York City 3G improved month by month in the fall and this happened especially in the overwhelmed borough of Manhattan. It was also added that 70 percent of the active devices used on the local network during peak periods were data-intensive handsets like BlackBerries and iPhones and fluctuations that might have occurred have been caused by radio upgrades and capacity that was temporarily diminished.

Many of the problems AT&T had in the past are expected to disappear once the company starts deploying the LTE-based 4G, expected to begin regular service in 2011. Two cities will probably try the LTE service in 2010. It runs on IP-based networking exclusively and is much faster than 3G but, at the same time, considerably cheaper.


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