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AT&T 4G/LTE question

M

mtnDewFTW

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 26, 2009
905
198
San Francisco, CA
Hey guys, this may sound like a dumb question to some of you, but I can't seem to understand one thing about AT&T's 4G network. I know that it's slowly rolling out, and that most people haven't had the chance to play around with it much, but does it also allow talk and web, like their 3G network?

In other words, if the iPhone 5 supports 4G, would we still be able to talk and surf the web simultaneously on AT&T's network?
 
Will there new network be able to penetrate buildings better than the old network? or is this just a fault in GSM itself here in the USA?
 
Good to hear! :)
I wouldn't wanna have to sacrifice that for a faster network. I don't know how people on Verizon do it. Talk and web doesn't seem like a big deal to some people, but I literally use it on every phone call.
 
Shockwave78 said:
Will there new network be able to penetrate buildings better than the old network? or is this just a fault in GSM itself here in the USA?
Click to expand...

AT&T's current 4G HSPA+ network is using the same bands as the current 3G. Not sure what frequencies they will be running their 4G LTE on. Depending on what spectrum they put it on its certainly a possibility.
 
Shockwave78 said:
Will there new network be able to penetrate buildings better than the old network? or is this just a fault in GSM itself here in the USA?
Click to expand...
It's the frequency that AT&T is using that is the issue.
Most of their markets are using the 1900Mhz band. Great range, but poor building penetration.
They are moving many of their HSPA+ sites to the 850Mhz bands in major cities.
Lower the band the better the building penetration.
But it's a trade off... you lose coverage.

AT&T will be using the 700Mhz spectrum they bought in 2002, 2003 and the rest they bought in 2007 for their LTE roll out.
AT&T and Verizon pretty much own all the available 700Mhz bands in the US.
 
topmounter said:
I thought it was only the marketing dolts at T-Mobile that were referring to HSPA+ as "4G"...?
Click to expand...
It was... so much so that the ITU caved in and started allowing all carries to call HSPA+ a "4G Technology" without actually meeting the documented standards.
So AT&T jumped on the bandwagon.

Even LTE doesn't meet the standards to be called 4G.
But hey... it's only a marketing term these days.
 
Shockwave78 said:
Will there new network be able to penetrate buildings better than the old network? or is this just a fault in GSM itself here in the USA?
Click to expand...
As others have pointed out, this is more a function of the broadcast frequency than anything else. If you're in a place where AT&T 3G is mostly 1900 MHz, then there would be a huge improvement with arrays that are on the supposed 700 MHz arrays that they will use for LTE.

If you're already on an 850 MHz 3G array then I do not see much improvement with a 700 MHz 4G array. They need to build you your own array. :)

mtnDewFTW said:
Hey guys, this may sound like a dumb question to some of you, but I can't seem to understand one thing about AT&T's 4G network. I know that it's slowly rolling out, and that most people haven't had the chance to play around with it much, but does it also allow talk and web, like their 3G network?

In other words, if the iPhone 5 supports 4G, would we still be able to talk and surf the web simultaneously on AT&T's network?
Click to expand...
You'll be able to talk and surf on AT&T 4G LTE and on whatever upgraded "4G" HSPA+ they might use as an improvement in the mean time.

rjohnstone said:
But it's a trade off... you lose coverage.
Click to expand...
Are you sure you got that right? I thought that the lower the frequency, the better your coverage. Carriers who are on 850 MHz seem to need fewer towers than carriers who are on 1900 MHz.

Isn't that right? Or am I the one who has it backwards?

AT&T are in a better position than Verizon when it comes to future technology and the kinds of moves we are talking about. It's a lot easier for an infrastructure based on GSM to move to LTE than it is for one based on CDMA to move to LTE.

Verizon's going to have to spend a lot more money than AT&T.

So let's hope AT&T has a little bit of money left over to give us more arrays.

:)
 
rjohnstone said:
It's the frequency that AT&T is using that is the issue.
Most of their markets are using the 1900Mhz band. Great range, but poor building penetration.
They are moving many of their HSPA+ sites to the 850Mhz bands in major cities.
Lower the band the better the building penetration.
But it's a trade off... you lose coverage.

AT&T will be using the 700Mhz spectrum they bought in 2002, 2003 and the rest they bought in 2007 for their LTE roll out.
AT&T and Verizon pretty much own all the available 700Mhz bands in the US.
Click to expand...

whoa. This post may have been accurate a few years ago. 3G is deployed on 850mhz now everywhere they have a 850mhz license.

And the statement about 850mhz is inaccurate. The 850mhz will have greater range and better building penetration than 1900mhz.

And yes 700mhz will be even better, but hopefully not to a point where it becomes a problem with neighboring cell interference....
 
The whole voice + data issue is a CDMA issue, not gsm or LTE. If you get an LTE phone on verizon (currently I believe there are none) you won't have that issue either.
 
zephxiii said:
whoa. This post may have been accurate a few years ago. 3G is deployed on 850mhz now everywhere they have a 850mhz license.

And the statement about 850mhz is inaccurate. The 850mhz will have greater range and better building penetration than 1900mhz.

And yes 700mhz will be even better, but hopefully not to a point where it becomes a problem with neighboring cell interference....
Click to expand...
You're right... I had that backwards.... 850 gives range and penetration.
Phoenix is still on the 1900Mhz 3G band for most of the city.
Only downtown moved to the 850 band.
People don't realize it, but Phoenix is larger than Los Angeles. (not people, but square miles)
That's a lot of ground to cover.
 
rjohnstone said:
You're right... I had that backwards.... 850 gives range and penetration.
Phoenix is still on the 1900Mhz 3G band for most of the city.
Only downtown moved to the 850 band.
People don't realize it, but Phoenix is larger than Los Angeles. (not people, but square miles)
That's a lot of ground to cover.
Click to expand...

I believe Phoenix/Scottsdale was a 1900mhz only market up until the Alltel acquisition..hence why you don't see a lot of 850mhz yet.
 
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