Apple Online Store “Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and Charlotte, N.C., will be the first cities to see the benefits of AT&T’s plans to double the data download speeds on its wireless network. The six cities will be upgraded before the end of the year, the carrier said Wednesday,” Peter Svensson reports for The Associated Press.

“The iPhone 3GS is the only phone on the market now that will be able to take advantage of the speed increase. But AT pointed to five other “smart” phones and some USB dongles, which let laptops go online, that will go on sale before the end of the year. Those devices also will be able to take advantage of the new technology, known as HSPA, or High-Speed Packet Access,” Svensson reports.

“The upgrade provides for a theoretical top download speed of 7.2 megabits per second, up from 3.6 megabits per second, which in practice translated to speeds of about 1.4 megabits per second,” Svensson reports.

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