“AT&T Mobility is in no hurry to transition to Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. In response to accelerated next-generation rollout schedules by Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility spokesman Mark Siegel said the carrier has plenty of room for upgrades before making the switch to LTE,” Allie Winter reports for RCR Wireless News.
“Siegel said the carrier plans to first upgrade its current HSPA network to HSPA+, before moving to LTE. (Siegel would not offer a specific date for an LTE rollout by AT&T Mobility, noting only that it will begin some type of rollout within the new two years.) Further, Siegel declined to give any details related to the HSPA+ upgrade, including when it would happen and any possible benefits the upgrade would provide,” Winter reports.
“Interestingly, though, Siegel did say AT&T Mobility is testing 7.2 megabit per second download speeds in Chicago, adding that those speeds could soon increase to 14.4 Mbps or higher. Siegel declined to explain the technologies powering those speeds.
“According to the GSM Association, the trade group representing the GSM family of technologies, HSDPA can support download speeds of 7.2 Mbps, while HSPA+ can support speeds of up to 42 Mbps in the downlink and 11 Mbps in the uplink. The trade group said peak rates for LTE, which is not a finalized standard, sit at 100 Mbps in the downlink and 50 Mbps in the uplink,” Winter reports.
More in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dirty Pierre le Punk” for the heads up.]
what, no rant from the boys at MDN on this one? What happens if AT&T;’secretly’ sacrifices 3G performance in order to transition to LTE?
Believe me, I’m all for technological advancements, but I’m still steaming from MDNs reaction to the earlier AT&T;story.
WONDERING IF THIS IS CAUSING SOOOO MUCH TROUBLE FOR ALL 3 OF MY IPHONES HERE IN CHICAGO… 3G COMES AND GOES… SIGNAL FULL THEN DECLINES.(OFTEN) DROPPED CALLS…. I CALLED ATT (SERVICE IS AWFUL) AND THEY SAY ON OUTAGES IN AREA ETC ETC…. RESTART ETC ETC….FOR THE RATES THEY SHOULD AT LEAST GIVE GOOD EXCUSE TO CALM ME DOWN!!! IM REALLY FED UP… THINKING OF GOING BACK TO TMOBILE… ONE UP SIDE.. IM FIRST TO COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE
NEVER MIND JTMPORTLAND BEAT ME….^%#@ NOTHING IS GOING GOOD FOR ME LATELY!! LOL
jtmportland,
MDN updated their takes on that earlier AT&T article and explained and apologized. Too bad you didn’t read it before commenting here.
Dude, your Caps lock key is stuck….
Yeah, service has been crappy lately in Chicago so guessing this could explain it.
Don’t get too excited or forget the catch phrase “up to” … As always any service will be advertised offering speeds “up to” 7 Mbps but the reality might be 3Mbps. Just like “up to 5 Mbps” rarely exceeds 2Mbps today.
As an AT&T;DSL customer in Chicago, I’d be happy if they upgraded their wired speeds to match these wireless speeds. I can’t get more than about 4.5 Mbps on my nominally 6 Mbps connection.
I get 10 Mbps down with my new AT&T;U-verse service. It’s hard to believe that this level of performance will soon come to mobile devices.
HDTV to the iPhone. Displayed on a 4 inch screen…
7.2 megabit per second download speeds is great, but really, I’d be happier if I could just complete some phone calls. AT&T;Mobility, can you help me w/ that?
@Lisa
If they wanted people to read the update, they should have put it on the RSS feed again.
What are people supposed to check an article over and over and over again in the hope that an update is made?
——RM
Does the iPhone support HSPA+ or just HSDPA? I can’t find confirmation either way, only rumours.
“What are people supposed to check an article over and over and over again in the hope that an update is made?”
Yeah dude! Now S.T.F.U.
What good is all that speed if they end up capping your downloads to 5GB? In three days you will have maxed out your allotment. I was with Sprint for almost 2 years, downloading around 50GB a month of multimedia content via EVDO when they suddenly began limiting monthly total bandwidth to 5GB. So much for ‘unlimited’ bandwidth.