AT&T expands 4G LTE coverage to 9 new markets, 44 more coming in 2012 - Page 2

 

The new Qualcomm chipsets, likely to be in new iPhone (also found in the US Galaxy S3) allow for simultaneous voice and data across the CDMA network, FYI. Don't ask me how it works, but I've seen it, it does.

I am currently with AT&T and theirs speeds are nice but here in Arizona, the coverage is horrible. I have been with AT&T since the original iPhone came out, but now that I have been in Arizona for the past two years it is time to go back to Verizon. AT&T is not using my money to build their LTE networks like Verizon is. I see some greed as a factor. I think AT&T is scared now and that is the reason why they are sending out the press release. I really do not care about the speed when it comes to LTE. They are both very fast, plus I do not think it makes a difference with the quality of a phone call, only for safari or tethering. At one point AT&T had the faster speeds which mattered with 3G. So that said I am switching to Verizon with my wife to new iPhone 5. Verizon has better coverage in Arizona. I am also a Ham Radio operator and I can confirm coverage is better than speed, if you are patient. I rather have coverage and an internet connection out in the middle of nowhere than have no connection and no ability to do anything. There is going to be a mass exodus to Verizon. Mark my word! Verizon you win! Oh and Samsung stinks like Microsoft! Right now I have 2 bars of coverage with AT&T, most of the time only 1 and my friend has 5 bars with Verizon at our new house all the time. Our contract ends September 11 with AT&T. Oh and Verizon get LTE to Flagstaff! I don't care after a year we are moving so I can go to medical school but it would be nice.

Edited by wscow - 9/6/12 at 9:16am

I like having my unlimited data grandfathered into my att plan, but if I do decide to get an iphone 5 i will probably get an unlocked one so I don't have to renew my contract with AT&T .I know i dont live in an LTE area, and I think the speeds are fine for what I use it for. I do agree with other posts about not buying a contract anymore, I was surprised to see Virgin Mobile now carrying the Iphone. Does anyone know if I can buy an unlocked iphone and use it with Virgin Mobile or other prepaid plans? I assume you can as long its a gsm network that uses a sim card?

So they are way behind Verizon on LTE rollout yet claim they have more 4G coverage than Verizon by claiming HSPA+ is 4G when in fact neither of them is what the real 4G spec was.  AT&T so late, so behind and such a crappy network . . . yet people won't move off of them.  Go figure.

is this on a prepaid sim card? I think is why Im gonna get my iphone 5 unlocked so when my contract does expire I can go with a prepaid plan or something

Yeah, try 330k. Google lied to you. Municipality of anchorage includes Eagle River, Bird Creek, and Girdwood.

Anchorage got LTE for two reasons:
1) the network infrastructure is newer, since they just redid everything from the ground up a few years ago when they bought the market back with the acquisition of Dobson communications/Cellular One. The back hauls themselves were already running fiber optic connections that support the increased bandwidth demands of LTE, so upgrading the tower modules themselves was relatively easy. This isn't the case in older markets like Denver or MSP, which require build up from the ground up, to replace an aging network infrastructure.
2) Verizon is making a huge push into the market this year, so competition is a big factor. Whether you realize it or not, Anchorage is a huge international business hub, and AT&T is not keen on losing any more footing to Verizon than it already has in other markets.

As for all of you whining about this, Christ, simmer down. The sense of entitlement is just sickening. You live in a bigger city? Whoopty doo. There's many more factors at play than the size of your population, kids.

it says that Seattle, WA is getting LTE!!  The thing is so they mean just the city of Seattle or the Seattle - Tacoma area? Some times folk do that around these parts. 

and if it is just Seattle how much will the signal bleed over into other areas?
 

 

No, Virgin Mobile runs on top of Sprint and is in fact a wholy owned subsidiary of Sprint/Nextel.  So it's CDMA.  No GSM or SIM cards

 

 

The spec was altered in 2010.  It's been 2 years.  I hate that they allowed it to be butchered too, but we aren't changing anything to gripe about it so far past the point.

Fucking shithole murder capitol Gary Indiana but not Indianpolis?

 

Here is the flaw in your argument.

In some metro areas... not all of them apparently.. but at least in Philly...

 

HSPA+ is a joke.  Its not faster.  Not even slightly faster.    Its the same.

 

I think the problem with ATT in Philly is that teh Cell towers are just maxed out with internet bandwidth.

 

So what my iPhone 4s can theoretically connect and send data faster... if the tower that it connects to still only trickles the bandwidth to my connection, it isnt going to get any better.

 

Bad analogy

Consider the notoriously jammed, crawling Philly Schuylkill Expressway .  Two neighbors head to work in the morning at the same time, going to the same office.  One in a Porsche 911 turbo (i.e. iPhone 4s with HSPA+), the other in a Smart Car (i.e. iPhone 3).   They both get on to the same jammed, overloaded, crawling expressway (AT&T Cell Tower). 

For the drivers.. would we expect the Porsche driver to get to work any faster?
For the cell phone... would we expect the iPhone 4s to get any better service?

Only saving grace for AT&T in Philly... the LTE towers are all new, with separate data bandwidth.  We've actually speculated at work that maybe we should stay with 4s because when everyone leaves to go LTE or Verizon, we'll be able to get data.

Do all 4G LTE networks in the US allow simultaneous voice + data? It's the one 3G feature that's keeping me and my iPhone with AT&T. But if iPhone 5 is 4G LTE and all carriers can do voice + data under 4G LTE, I'll seriously consider jumping networks.

The people that really get screwed are the ones who buy a phone and keep it for 5 years. For the first two years, they are being subsidized for the purchase of the phone. Of their $65/month charge, $15/month goes to that subsidy. For the final three years, they still pay $65/month and none goes to the subsidy, but rather into the carrier's pocket. If the phone is sold after two years, unlocked, it will bring $360 or more. Apply that toward the $65/month and it becomes obvious that the way to handle this is to buy a new phone every two years.You get the latest technology and it is cheaper. In my situation, I get a new phone every year, pass my one-year-old model to my wife, and switch numbers. This works fine, except now my wife wants the new phone, but that is not a problem for me.

The rollout makes perfect sense to me.

 

From a marketing perspective what would you rather announce if you were behind on LTE? 

 

"AT&T expands 4G LTE coverage to 9 new markets, 44 more coming in 2012"

 

or

 

"AT&T expands 4G LTE coverage to 1 new market, 5 more coming in 2012"

 

The new markets are small because they can roll it out faster because of less towers and less regulations.  How many towers does it take for Anchorage, Alaska?  Like.. 2?

 

Compare that with all the large markets that are missing.. Chicago, San Francisco (Silicon Valley), San Jose (Silicon Valley), LA, New York, etc etc.  Each of these would take significantly more towers to handle.  Considering that you need many more towers just to handle the blind spots from the buildings (AT&T already has a reputation for spotty coverage..  no need to add to that!!)... I would guess you need more then 30 per major city downtown... add the suburban sprawl for these cities and it's easy to see why they didn't build those out first.

So is there a point in getting an unlocked iphone 5 if im not traveling overseas? Is the only other gsm network in the USA t mobile Tmobile , that it could be used with? Or does anyone offer a prepaid plan when im out of contract, that I can just throw there sim card in ?

 

You can use an unlocked iPhone with any GSM network anywhere. That's what the 'unlocked' is for. There are dozens of other networks. For example, we're buying three 6th gen iPhones unlocked and using Straight Talk instead of AT&Whore, moving from our old phones on Verizon.

Is straight talk AT&T prepaid plan? I believe I'm under contract for another year with iPhone 4s but was hoping and wanting to buy an iPhone 5 at whatever cost use it while I'm under contract then when my contract is over probably dump AT&T and get a prepaid pla n around $50 as opposed to the $100 I'm spending now , I'd that possible ?

 

Straight Talk is on AT&T's (and Verizon's) network but has no affiliation with them at all. It's prepaid, though, yes. All features work on the iPhone save for visual voicemail and MMS (which you can fix with a jailbreak). No idea why they don't work, but they don't, or so I read. I'm not a current customer.

 

Yes. Prepaid. Another advantage of Straight Talk is you can let the account go idle up to 145 days without losing your number/account. I am often out of the country for months at a time. Now I don't have to pay anything for those times I'm not in the U.S.

 

Wait, really? I've heard they give it away immediately.

As a good note: I am glad I switched to Verizon. Now I can have LTE before the end of the year on my new iPhone 5!