“The iPhone 3GS has been a huge hit for AT&T, and although they aren’t saying how many customers they’ve stolen from other carriers, AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph De La Vega said they had ‘hundreds of thousands’ of pre-orders,” Sascha Segan reports for Gearlog.
“That puts a lot of pressure on AT&T’s network, but the carrier is ready for it, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said. They’re doing three major things to improve their coverage and speeds, one of which will have a huge positive effect on coverage in cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles,” Segan reports.
“That major upgrade is known as ‘3G on 850 Mhz.’ In busy cities, some dropped calls and signal problems come because the 1900 Mhz airwaves that AT&T mostly uses for 3G are totally saturated – they’re trying to cram too many iPhones into too little space,” Segan reports.
“Across much of the country, though, AT&T also owns big blocks of spectrum in the older 850 band, which was once used for AT&T and its predecessors’ older TDMA service. Verizon Wireless is the other big 850 Mhz carrier,” Segan reports. “AT&T has been refitting their 850 Mhz equipment for 3G. As 3G 850 comes on throughout the rest of this year, the effect will be like going from having 100 people crammed into a conference room, to having the same population in a spacious ballroom.”
Full article, with links, here.
MacDailyNews Take: We’ll believe it when we see it. Now, what was that we wrote just 11 days ago? Oh, yeah:
How many billions of dollars does AT&T need to earn in profits before they get up off their fat asses and really get to work dramatically improving their wireless network’s reliability and capacity?
By the way, AT&T brass, here’s a hint: Most of the U.S.’s media outlets are located in a few condensed locales. If you wanted to achieve at least the illusion of having stellar network reliability and capacity, you could at least go to work improving your network in and around, for example, the New York metro region, and your media coverage, at least, would change overnight. That you haven’t long ago done so suggests that, in addition to being inept, you’re also not very bright.
Fat, lazy, and stupid is no way to go through life, AT&T.
At least someone at AT&T is able to read. If you want any more hints, AT&T, just email us. Despite the fact that we’re paying you very well each month, we’re desperate enough to be willing to continue doing your jobs for you in the hope of someday attaining actual signal coverage.
