AT&T on track to launch LTE 4G network by mid-2011, expand HSPA+
AT&T, the exclusive carrier of Apple's iPhone in the U.S., plans to launch its fourth-generation high-speed wireless network by mid-2011, and will continue to expand its speedy HPSA+ 3G network this year.
AT&T is currently conducting trials of its 4G long-term evolution network in Baltimore, Md., and Dallas, Tex., the company's operations chief executive, John Stankey, said Thursday at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2010 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference. According to FierceWireless, he also said the company is on track to launch its LTE network by mid-2011.
The timing of AT&T's launch could allow for the next-generation iPhone, likely to be unveiled in June as it is every year, to connect to the high-speed 4G wireless network. Apple in the past sought to hire experts on LTE, presumably for a forthcoming handset.
AT&T will spend $700 million on its LTE network this year, and plans to "go far beyond that" in 2011, Stankey reportedly said. His news comes as competing carrier Verizon said it will launch its own LTE network in 30 National Football League cities by the end of 2010.
Stankey also said AT&T is preparing a nationwide HSPA+ upgrade for this year, which will allow for real-time download speeds of 7Mbps. Earlier this year, the company vowed that its high-speed upgrade will reach 250 million Americans in 2010.
AT&T has partnered with Alcatel and Lucent to build out its LTE network, which will deliver higher broadband throughput and lower latency than the company's existing 3G network, including the HPSA+ upgrades.
Stankey also revealed that AT&T has seen a 5,000 percent increase in wireless data traffic over the last three years, since the iPhone was introduced in 2007. The company's wireless data revenue is also up 27 percent.
AT&T is currently conducting trials of its 4G long-term evolution network in Baltimore, Md., and Dallas, Tex., the company's operations chief executive, John Stankey, said Thursday at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2010 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference. According to FierceWireless, he also said the company is on track to launch its LTE network by mid-2011.
The timing of AT&T's launch could allow for the next-generation iPhone, likely to be unveiled in June as it is every year, to connect to the high-speed 4G wireless network. Apple in the past sought to hire experts on LTE, presumably for a forthcoming handset.
AT&T will spend $700 million on its LTE network this year, and plans to "go far beyond that" in 2011, Stankey reportedly said. His news comes as competing carrier Verizon said it will launch its own LTE network in 30 National Football League cities by the end of 2010.
Stankey also said AT&T is preparing a nationwide HSPA+ upgrade for this year, which will allow for real-time download speeds of 7Mbps. Earlier this year, the company vowed that its high-speed upgrade will reach 250 million Americans in 2010.
AT&T has partnered with Alcatel and Lucent to build out its LTE network, which will deliver higher broadband throughput and lower latency than the company's existing 3G network, including the HPSA+ upgrades.
Stankey also revealed that AT&T has seen a 5,000 percent increase in wireless data traffic over the last three years, since the iPhone was introduced in 2007. The company's wireless data revenue is also up 27 percent.
Comments
AT&T, the exclusive carrier of Apple's iPhone in the U.S., plans to launch its fourth-generation high-speed wireless network by mid-2011,
In how many locations? Without this information, the news could mean anything, and likely means almost nothing.
In how many locations? Without this information, the news could mean anything, and likely means almost nothing.
So far only 2 cities were mention as being tested...
AT&T will spend $700 million on its LTE network this year, and plans to "go far beyond that" in 2011, Stankey reportedly said. His news comes as competing carrier Verizon said it will launch its own LTE network in 30 National Football League cities by the end of 2010.
I hope AT&T decides to launch LTE in 30 Major League Baseball cities since we have no football teams in LA/OC. Of course some could argue we don't have any baseball teams either.
I hope AT&T decides to launch LTE in 30 Major League Baseball cities since we have no football teams in LA/OC. Of course some could argue we don't have any baseball teams either.
Yeah, I agree with you on the first sentence.. Don't know about the second one..
PLUS - Verizon says they will have their version of LTE up too... hmmmm, next year 'could' be an interesting smart phone year.
Anyone know if this NEW LTE 4G network support the current iPhone 4 ??
Nope. In fact, given the inevitable stately pace of rollout, my guess is that next summer's iPhone 5 won't support it either, since 4G is unlikely to be available to any but a small percentage of AT&T's customers.
Of course, the wild card would be if Verizon's 4G is far enough along to justify making the jump, by then.
I hope AT&T decides to launch LTE in 30 Major League Baseball cities since we have no football teams in LA/OC. Of course some could argue we don't have any baseball teams either.
BEAT LA (sorry bout that - bet you don't miss Manny, do you?)
from a Giants and A's fan.
Nope. In fact, given the inevitable stately pace of rollout, my guess is that next summer's iPhone 5 won't support it either, since 4G is unlikely to be available to any but a small percentage of AT&T's customers.
Of course, the wild card would be if Verizon's 4G is far enough along to justify making the jump, by then.
I disagree. I think the obvious choice next year is for the "iPhone 4" to become the "iPhone 4G." There are already 4G Android phones for starters.
Also, my limited understanding of LTE is that it will be implemented using the same radio frequencies at all carriers, so if you think of the fact that the iPhone is sold world-wide, and not just in the USA, it makes a lot of sense. If they don't, Android will have something in the USA to hold over Apple speed-wise, and Nokia will have phones in Europe that use it as well.
The only issue I see is whether it's possible to add it in and still keep the other radios as well. As long as it's an add-on, they would be very, very foolish not to implement it. It would be like handing all of your best customers to the other guys.
Nope. In fact, given the inevitable stately pace of rollout, my guess is that next summer's iPhone 5 won't support it either, since 4G is unlikely to be available to any but a small percentage of AT&T's customers.
Of course, the wild card would be if Verizon's 4G is far enough along to justify making the jump, by then.
How much do Sprint customers have to pay extra for LTE, and is it for unlimited data? I would have to guess that ATT will milk it for all it's worth, and make you pay for data, rather than have unlimited data, don't you think?
Currently, iP4 upgrades are able to keep unlimited data plans, but I would have to guess that ATT will do away with that for LTE, don't you think?
I disagree. I think the obvious choice next year is for the "iPhone 4" to become the "iPhone 4G." There are already 4G Android phones for starters.
Also, my limited understanding of LTE is that it will be implemented using the same radio frequencies at all carriers, so if you think of the fact that the iPhone is sold world-wide, and not just in the USA, it makes a lot of sense. If they don't, Android will have something in the USA to hold over Apple speed-wise, and Nokia will have phones in Europe that use it as well.
The only issue I see is whether it's possible to add it in and still keep the other radios as well. As long as it's an add-on, they would be very, very foolish not to implement it. It would be like handing all of your best customers to the other guys.
But Apple has proven historically resistant to adding features just to placate the spec triumphalists, and certainly doesn't seem much concerned with matching Android tit for tat.
In fact, they're well know for holding the line on new features even when their own customers seem ready to riot. I think it all comes down to numbers. If LTE deployment covers enough people to make it a widely useful, then sure. If not, I don't see any way Apple would go there just for bragging rights.
How much do Sprint customers have to pay extra for LTE, and is it for unlimited data? I would have to guess that ATT will milk it for all it's worth, and make you pay for data, rather than have unlimited data, don't you think?
Currently, iP4 upgrades are able to keep unlimited data plans, but I would have to guess that ATT will do away with that for LTE, don't you think?
Sprint doesn’t use LTE for ?4G’, they use WiMAX. Each user pays an extra $10/month for it regardless of whether they live in an area with any WiMAX towers if their phone supports WiMAX. It also sucks the battery life while not offering any feasible real world benefit over a mature and efficient ‘3G’ offered by AT&T and other carriers using the 3GSM(UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA/HSPA) standard.
LTE is in the same boat. The HW is expensive. The HW is still highly power inefficient. The HW is still large compared to ‘3G’ components for new devices. I’d also wager that even if Apple wanted LTE for the iPhone 5 that the number of chips would not be sourcable, even if they fit into Apple’s razor sharp vision on increasing battery life while making the device thinner.
I’m sure Apple is testing LTE phones, but I’d say the earliest we should expect them is 2012. Note that ‘3G’ standards used in the iPhone has the theoretical maximum well above what LTE will be capable of for many, many years to comes. What this means to consumers is that ‘3G’ speeds for a carrier like AT&T could very easily be faster than ‘4G’ speed for Verizon for several years, while offering better power consumption and lower priced components.
How much do Sprint customers have to pay extra for LTE, and is it for unlimited data? I would have to guess that ATT will milk it for all it's worth, and make you pay for data, rather than have unlimited data, don't you think?
Currently, iP4 upgrades are able to keep unlimited data plans, but I would have to guess that ATT will do away with that for LTE, don't you think?
Sprint Customers use WiMAX which is not LTE compatible, so it's sort of apples (no pun) to oranges. As for price, they appear to be between 40, 45, and 50 for (currently) unlimited WiMax only, and $60 for 3G/WiMax unlimited.
And I think you worry about the wrong things. The three questions are
1) when does the Apple ATT exclusivity agreement end
2) Will Verizon have a compelling LTE rollout by Xmas to have Apple consider them in addition to ATT?
3) Will Verizon cave to Apple demands of control of the phone.
solipsism has a good point. HSPA+ is probably your 4th concern.
4) Can ATT rollout an effective non-constrained HSPA+ network that is competitive to Verizon's LTE speeds.
that last point is telling... when HSPA+ is working in Minneapolis... I'm seeing the download speeds closing in my WiFi 11n network connected to 20Mb/896K DSL (I get about 8M/.8M on wifi 4Mb/2Mb on HSPA+)... If I can get 4-7 Mb/2-3Mb on HSPA+, then I'm happy to hang on to my iP4.
Sprint Customers use WiMAX which is not LTE compatible, so it's sort of apples (no pun) to oranges. As for price, they appear to be between 40, 45, and 50 for (currently) unlimited WiMax only, and $60 for 3G/WiMax unlimited.
And I think you worry about the wrong things. The three questions are
1) when does the Apple ATT exclusivity agreement end
2) Will Verizon have a compelling LTE rollout by Xmas to have Apple consider them in addition to ATT?
3) Will Verizon cave to Apple demands of control of the phone.
solipsism has a good point. HSPA+ is probably your 4th concern.
4) Can ATT rollout an effective non-constrained HSPA+ network that is competitive to Verizon's LTE speeds.
that last point is telling... when HSPA+ is working in Minneapolis... I'm seeing the download speeds closing in my WiFi 11n network connected to 20Mb/896K DSL (I get about 8M/.8M on wifi 4Mb/2Mb on HSPA+)... If I can get 4-7 Mb/2-3Mb on HSPA+, then I'm happy to hang on to my iP4.
Good points of course. My 3G coverage with my 3Gs is actually faster than my WIFI connection both at work and at home (by about 20%), so here in Mountain View/Palo Alto, the 3G speed is pretty good.