AT&T to boost 3G speeds more than fivefold by 2009

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 89
    ktappektappe Posts: 823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Bageljoey View Post


    The real questions is what are you doing out there? Who wants to be in Harrisburg or Pittsburgh?

    (Sorry, I'm from Philly)



    Maybe he wanted to see a hockey team that can score some goals.

    (Don't get too mad--I'm from Philly too. Just disgruntled with the Flyers' lack of performance right about now....)
  • Reply 22 of 89
    alienzedalienzed Posts: 393member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post




    [...] further penetration is substantial," he said.







    SHAZAM!
  • Reply 23 of 89
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Bageljoey View Post


    The real questions is what are you doing out there? Who wants to be in Harrisburg or Pittsburgh?

    (Sorry, I'm from Philly)



    People who live in PA ?
  • Reply 24 of 89
    penchantedpenchanted Posts: 1,070member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ktappe View Post


    This is another one of those things I can foresee the iPhone changing. Consider: the 3G iPhone is, by many reports, going to be sold unlocked worldwide except here. Demand here for the unlocked versions will be high so that you can use them on any carrier. As a result, doesn't that mean the flow of iPhones out of the U.S. is going to reverse and start them flowing in? Steve Jobs won't be able to stop that, and as a result you'll get non-AT&T carriers gladly giving you laxer plans so they can steal iPhone business away from AT&T. Don't expect this all to happen overnight, but it'd surprise me if you didn't see movement this way by 2009.



    I don't expect this to happen in volume considering the current value of the dollar. I suspect that people will just buy here and risk unlocking.
  • Reply 25 of 89
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ktappe View Post


    and as a result you'll get non-AT&T carriers gladly giving you laxer plans so they can steal iPhone business away from AT&T. Don't expect this all to happen overnight, but it'd surprise me if you didn't see movement this way by 2009.



    Old conundrum - if you want to CREATE a market exclusivity helps, if you want to GROW a market it doesn't.



    AT&T and Apple have created a brilliant market and ecosystem. The Q is now how to scale it properly. But then again - T-Mobile is 'locked in' in Germany et al. so they will not be too hostile in the US. Verizon (aka Vodafone) just came on board as a non exclusive partner for quite a flurry of countries. Sprint cant run the iPhone anyway.

    I dont think you are going to see too much competition in the US.



    But welcome to Europe....
  • Reply 26 of 89
    dagamer34dagamer34 Posts: 494member
    But will the service cost an arm and a leg? I'm hoping that the outrageous monthly fees that AT&T expects us to pay is because they are building infrastructure and not lining their pockets.
  • Reply 27 of 89
    merdheadmerdhead Posts: 587member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    They do seem to be ahead in 4G right now, but I wonder if other 4G technology has the potential to be deployed faster and cheaper than WiMax. I guess we'll see shortly, I just hope it's a worldwide standard (or at least a system that is congruent among all national carriers), not the fractured system we currently have.



    The benefit is that the computing industry understands scale, so they will be looking for a worldwide standard market. Anything wireless is going to mean there is some international variation but I think the hardware will try to support it.



    WiMAX started rolling out last year, by the time the GSM people start their rollout, which looks to me like 2010 WiMAX will have had a few years start. WiMAX has the added advantage of being integrated into new Intel laptop chips and probably other Intel products. They're also cutting to the chase which is mobile data. You'll note that LTE is an all IP technology, so all calls will be VOIP, so to speak. Phone companies are backward looking and wedded to voice and SMS, and over-charging for it, that will be their eventual undoing.
  • Reply 28 of 89
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BRussell View Post


    Honestly, I don't even care so much about the specific technology used for wireless broadband, I just don't want the fucking cell companies to be the gatekeepers.



    If in 5-10 years we're still paying for minutes, and getting overage charges, and signing 2-year contracts, and buying software and ringtones and such from these people, it doesn't matter how fast it is, it's going to suck.



    The US 700MHz spectrum auction was designed to make sure that anyone can sell devices for it, so that the service provider can't demand that only their crippled, self-branded device use the service, as such, apps and media for those devices should be free except for the bits that you use if it's downloaded through that spectrum.



    I really don't know about making it unlimited though. Unlimited high speed internet through wires and fiber is different than doing it through the airwaves because of how the signal is confined by the cable/fiber vs. broadcasting everyone's signals over wide areas. That said, there are some unlimited plans, it's more expensive. AT&T has a mostly unlimited iPhone plan, the only limit is 200 SMS messages, which is pretty absurd to me.
  • Reply 29 of 89
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by merdhead View Post


    This is why we all love WiMAX but don't know it yet. Its the alternative to the mobile phone hegemony, championed by Intel and one day by the entire computing industry. Phone companies suck really badly.



    WiMax hasn't lived up to its over the top hype. In fact, one Australian company that rolled out WiMax lambasted it at the last WiMax conference because it's not really working out on a wide scale. Couple that with the delays in getting anything deployed, delays in inclusion in even Intel's consumer wireless chipsets, it's an open question whether it will be eclipsed before it can catch on.
  • Reply 30 of 89
    dagamer34dagamer34 Posts: 494member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ktappe View Post


    This is another one of those things I can foresee the iPhone changing. Consider: the 3G iPhone is, by many reports, going to be sold unlocked worldwide except here. Demand here for the unlocked versions will be high so that you can use them on any carrier. As a result, doesn't that mean the flow of iPhones out of the U.S. is going to reverse and start them flowing in? Steve Jobs won't be able to stop that, and as a result you'll get non-AT&T carriers gladly giving you laxer plans so they can steal iPhone business away from AT&T. Don't expect this all to happen overnight, but it'd surprise me if you didn't see movement this way by 2009.



    If anything, the iPhone's price in the US will make it such that unlocked or not, it's always cheaper to buy here.
  • Reply 31 of 89
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stockwhiz View Post


    , but run by Sprint....the suckiest phone company of them all.



    If it's true, then it's probably not by much. All the US phone companies are problematic, and Sprint is part of a pretty tight grouping. Every carrier has an overall satisfaction / dissatisfaction rating that differs at most by maybe a percent or two from the others. This is from a wide survey of every region, not individual anecdotes.
  • Reply 32 of 89
    merdheadmerdhead Posts: 587member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    WiMax hasn't lived up to its over the top hype. In fact, one Australian company that rolled out WiMax lambasted it at the last WiMax conference because it's not really working out on a wide scale. Couple that with the delays in getting anything deployed, delays in inclusion in even Intel's consumer wireless chipsets, it's an open question whether it will be eclipsed before it can catch on.



    Yes everyone pronounced Bluetooth dead several times and it eventually became huge. Why? Because it's a good idea. So is WiMAX. LTE, the 4G version of GSM is realistically not going to be rolled out before next decade and maybe 2013. Given how long it took mobile phones to take it I think you can cut WiMAX some slack.



    Intel are still committed, delays are typical, doesn't mean it won't happen.
  • Reply 33 of 89
    merdheadmerdhead Posts: 587member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    If it's true, then it's probably not by much. All the US phone companies are problematic, and Sprint is part of a pretty tight grouping. Every carrier has an overall satisfaction / dissatisfaction rating that differs at most by maybe a percent or two from the others. This is from a wide survey of every region, not individual anecdotes.



    It should be noted that Sprint's main contribution to the new WiMAX venture is lending their base station poles to the enterprise.
  • Reply 34 of 89
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by merdhead View Post


    It should be noted that Sprint's main contribution to the new WiMAX venture is lending their base station poles to the enterprise.



    My impression from the stories was that they're handling all the marketing, data and billing too.
  • Reply 35 of 89
    8corewhore8corewhore Posts: 833member
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution



    High speed porn in my hand, I'm all over it.
  • Reply 36 of 89
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    download speed? soooo what bfd.....the phones would have to be smarter....larger storage and new chips....what percent of phone now can use this? is this a way for att to more efficiently use voice and data? how does it help the consumer with such tiny screens and barely able chipsets and memory? what sell more music, stream tv? is it a technology chasing its tail. to utilize it wouldn't 99% of people have to get new handsets? and they would have to be convinced to spend the extra dollars. they have to make the contracts cheaper i can see it for some business types but for consumers? what's the sell? and it will only be small pockets of "great download speed" iphone 1 consumers will need to upgrade.

    yea sure what's in it for "me" the regular consumer
  • Reply 37 of 89
    bageljoeybageljoey Posts: 2,004member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by NOFEER View Post


    download speed? soooo what bfd.....the phones would have to be smarter....larger storage and new chips....what percent of phone now can use this?

    <...>

    i can see it for some business types but for consumers? what's the sell? and it will only be small pockets of "great download speed" <...>

    yea sure what's in it for "me" the regular consumer



    I'm not sure what your complaint is, you seem to be all over the map with your questions. Do you think that high download speeds won't matter? Or are you mad that you will have to buy a new phone or that you will have to spend more money to take advantage of it?



    Either way, you are thinking small. In reference to the bolded part--that is what everybody said about cell phones 15 years ago. But every advance made back then (for "business types") has been incorporated into the phones that the vast majority of "regular consumers" have been using for years. Maybe you won't have access to this next year, but surely you will on down the line. Maybe the phones will be unable to take full advantage right away, but we can see how fast the phone market can adapt--just look at what will be available only 1 year after the iPhone rollout versus what was available before!

    I say, bring it on! I look forward to having too much downloading capacity...
  • Reply 38 of 89
    tenobelltenobell Posts: 7,014member
    Review: Which 3G network is the best?





    Sprint Mobile Broadband, the slowest of the three cellular data networks delivered on average 494Kbit/sec. download speeds to my notebook. That's roughly a third slower than AT&T's network. Its average upload speed was 294Kbit/sec. and the network's top speed was 1.2Mbit/sec. It connected in 3.7 seconds. Since it doesn't have a built-in battery, the radio reduced the runtime of the battery in my system by an hour.



    A midrange performer, Verizon's BroadBand Connect network averaged 592Kbit/sec. for downloads and upload 232Kbit/sec. for uploads. Peak speed was 1.3Mbit/sec. On the downside, it took a relatively pokey 5.6 seconds to connect. To its credit, the modem only used 20 minutes of my notebook's battery life, making it the one to choose if staying online longer is most important.



    In tests, AT&T's LaptopConnect network left its competitors in the digital dust, with average download speeds of 755Kbit/sec. and average upload speeds of 484Kbit/sec. The peak download speed was 1.6Mbit/sec. It connected in just 3.0 seconds and loaded the test Web page in 0.228 seconds. On the downside, the cellular modem ate up 40 minutes of battery time, midway between Sprint's hour and Verizon's 20 minutes.



    ComputerWorld
  • Reply 39 of 89
    razorpitrazorpit Posts: 1,796member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JimXugle View Post


    How about getting reliable VOICE COVERAGE on the PA Turnpike? My girlfriend's Verizon Phone had 5/5 bars of EVDO service most of the way from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg, and I was lucky if I had any service at all.







    That's not good. I drive that route a lot myself and that could be an issue. I've been holding out for a 3G iPhone. I currently have Sprint and pretty much always have service along that same route.
  • Reply 40 of 89
    aegisdesignaegisdesign Posts: 2,914member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by merdhead View Post


    The benefit is that the computing industry understands scale, so they will be looking for a worldwide standard market. Anything wireless is going to mean there is some international variation but I think the hardware will try to support it.



    WiMAX started rolling out last year, by the time the GSM people start their rollout, which looks to me like 2010 WiMAX will have had a few years start. WiMAX has the added advantage of being integrated into new Intel laptop chips and probably other Intel products. They're also cutting to the chase which is mobile data. You'll note that LTE is an all IP technology, so all calls will be VOIP, so to speak. Phone companies are backward looking and wedded to voice and SMS, and over-charging for it, that will be their eventual undoing.



    WiMAX has absolutely zero chance of widespread success here in the UK. We've one WiMAX provider...



    http://www.trustedreviews.com/networ...ce-Launched/p1



    ..and they're 10 times more expensive and slower than 3G.
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