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AT&T Plans Fast 4G Wireless Rollout

A

avaloncourt

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 18, 2007
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AT&T Plans Fast 4G Wireless Rollout

http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/3G/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207001878

Now everyone can start a thousand threads about when 4G will come to the iPhone :)

It does make specific mention of Android for use in phones.

It also says:

AT&T's wireless operation will move from its current GSM-based infrastructure to Long Term Evolution, or LTE, the high-speed standard that's expected to be used eventually by all mobile phone service providers.
Click to expand...
 
If they will follow through with this very soon, might Apple just wait a little bit and skip right to 4G, instead of doing 3G?
 
LTE is just the next speed update to UMTS after HSDPA/HSUPA. No new features (such as video calls, Internet during phone calls, etc.)

Do your really need more than 7.2 Mbit/s (HSDPA) for a mobile phone? A phone that only has 32 GB memory?
 
yeah i really don't see this being relevant for at least another year if not longer, so i don't think people waiting to buy a 3g iphone have anything to worry about
 
The very last line says:

AT&T said it expects to deliver AT&T 3G services to nearly 350 major U.S. markets by the end of the year.
Click to expand...

I'll be amazed if AT&T can put 3G in nearly every US market by year end. They must have one heck of a rollout plan ahead of them and a huge investment to do so. I'd like to know what constutes the maximum number of markets for AT&T. At the beginning of 2006 Sprint claimed 110 markets with 150 million population. 350 markets must be nearly all of AT&T's served areas.

I'm particularly curious about the comment:

AT&T's wireless operation will move from its current GSM-based infrastructure to Long Term Evolution, or LTE, the high-speed standard that's expected to be used eventually by all mobile phone service providers.
Click to expand...

Is a changeover to LTE considered a worldwide aspiration or will this be US-centric once again. Wikipedia says that LTE isn't really another generational marker but rather just an enhancement to what exists already.

The 700MHz utilization will be a huge step for end users. We won't be affected nearly as much by the typical steel environmental factors which will make our calls much more reliable and data throughput far more stable.
 
JML42691 said:
If they will follow through with this very soon, might Apple just wait a little bit and skip right to 4G, instead of doing 3G?
Click to expand...

It won't be a 'very soon' thing. As the article states, AT&T is planning completion of 3G in 350 US markets by the year's end. That will stabilize them for a while and allow them to figure out LTE.
 
avaloncourt said:
Is a changeover to LTE considered a worldwide aspiration or will this be US-centric once again. Wikipedia says that LTE isn't really another generational marker but rather just an enhancement to what exists already.
Click to expand...
Well, let's see. The organisational partners of 3GPP, who specify LTE, are:
  • ARIB (Association of Radio Industries and Businesses, Japan)
  • ETSI (European Telecommunication Standards Institute)
  • ATIS (Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions, USA)
  • TTA (Telecommunications Technology Association, Korea)
  • TTC (Telecommunications Technology Committee, Japan)
 
kdarling said:
Haven't checked for anyone else, but Verizon, its parent Vodafone, and ATT have all said they plan on moving to LTE. Nokia said they'd make phones for it.
Click to expand...

LTE is the next GSM platform ("4G gsm"). Europe will adopt it.

Absolutely every manufacturer out there will make phones for it.
 
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