Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
AT&T Looking To Launch LTE (4G) Network by Mid-2011
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I honestly dream of a world where WiFi will be available EVERYWHERE for free at decent speeds. The same way you can plug in your phone to charge or use the bathroom when you go somewhere indoors, for free. I think this would be an important technological advancement, instead of focusing on phone carriers building out their next super expensive data service that works over the phone network, slowly and expensively.
Everyone was happy that the iPhone 3G had 3G, but it's apparently so slow that there's no point in paying for that. If you go to any McDonald's, you get free WiFi, and it's fast! In some cities McDonald's' are so close that you are basically covered everywhere.
Everyone was happy that the iPhone 3G had 3G, but it's apparently so slow that there's no point in paying for that. If you go to any McDonald's, you get free WiFi, and it's fast! In some cities McDonald's' are so close that you are basically covered everywhere.
Their 3G coverage is so sparse why don't they concentrate on covering the rest of the country with 3G before implementing very spotty 4G coverage and then advertising they have the fastest 4G?
"Different implementation"?
Personally, what I want is more details on one little line from the article: "..Stankey said AT&T is working on a different kind of implementation for LTE than other carriers..."
That's all that's said about it and nothing more, but this line instantly makes alarm bells go off in my head. "different kind of implementation" immediately makes me think "will not play nice with any other U.S. LTE carrier". Kinda like AT&T and T-Mobile use incompatible frequency bands for their 3G services, so the current iPhones can't do 3G on T-Mobile period because they don't speak on those frequencies.
Somehow I have a distinct suspicion that, despite their slide claiming "consistent with worldwide standards", your AT&T LTE phone still won't be able to be transferred to Verizon's LTE network. And thus one of the biggest problems with the U.S. cellular market will stay exactly the same.
Personally, what I want is more details on one little line from the article: "..Stankey said AT&T is working on a different kind of implementation for LTE than other carriers..."
That's all that's said about it and nothing more, but this line instantly makes alarm bells go off in my head. "different kind of implementation" immediately makes me think "will not play nice with any other U.S. LTE carrier". Kinda like AT&T and T-Mobile use incompatible frequency bands for their 3G services, so the current iPhones can't do 3G on T-Mobile period because they don't speak on those frequencies.
Somehow I have a distinct suspicion that, despite their slide claiming "consistent with worldwide standards", your AT&T LTE phone still won't be able to be transferred to Verizon's LTE network. And thus one of the biggest problems with the U.S. cellular market will stay exactly the same.
Agreed, don't even have 3 G yet in my area after 1 year!
Edge is too weak for anything like music streaming, internet radio etc.
Don't believe it ...
ATT has done a poor job of estimating upgrades to their network ... so I will not hold anything they say with anything other than skepticism. For several years they have said 3G would be available here (not the boonies), and we still do not have 3G (though they have happily collected $30 a month from me for their pathetic EDGE network).
I delayed buying an iPhone based on one of their many "forecasts" for 3G availability. Letters to the ATT presidents office didn't help ... NO ONE at ATT could answer the question of "when" with any precision at all.
Their commercials related to covering 94% of the country (for voice) was an attempt to convince users or potential customers of how great they are. Far from it and the real coverage map proves that.
They now say November ... of 2010 for 3G coverage ... I will see pigs flying past my window before believing it.
ATT has done a poor job of estimating upgrades to their network ... so I will not hold anything they say with anything other than skepticism. For several years they have said 3G would be available here (not the boonies), and we still do not have 3G (though they have happily collected $30 a month from me for their pathetic EDGE network).
I delayed buying an iPhone based on one of their many "forecasts" for 3G availability. Letters to the ATT presidents office didn't help ... NO ONE at ATT could answer the question of "when" with any precision at all.
Their commercials related to covering 94% of the country (for voice) was an attempt to convince users or potential customers of how great they are. Far from it and the real coverage map proves that.
They now say November ... of 2010 for 3G coverage ... I will see pigs flying past my window before believing it.
I always half jokingly predict it'll use the Roman Numeral for 5... the iPhone V... to go with its new Verizon capability.
I wonder if the next iPhone won't be named the 5 until LTE is widely rolled out. I would guess the next device will be more of an incremental improvement (64GB storage) as opposed to a revolutionary new model. Then, once LTE is commonplace, I can see Apple releasing the 5 to take advantage of it.
Two reasons (I think).
1) It reduces branding confusion. Some people insist on calling the 3gs the 4g, the iphone 4 the 4g etc. If it's just a clear number, there's no G's and S's to toss in there that also coincide with data transmission standards.
2) It fits apple's numbering scheme. All of their OS's go by simple numbers, both desktop and mobile.
kdarling, I always appreciate your industry insight in these topics.
In many rural areas the population density is low, making it less profitable to implement 3G there, so expect to be the last ones on the list, unfortunately.
Wel, sure, but you do realize that Verizon implemented 3G nationwide several years ago? Every cell site not only has 1X voice (and low speed data, but that's hardly used any more) but also EVDO Rev A.
Last time I checked, Verizon was profitable...
But yeah, AT&T will be cheap (or at least cheapER) and won't roll it out ubiquitously. I hated to have to use my droid to get weather updates when traveling cross country a few months ago, but I had to since AT&T wouldn't cover where I was...
My semi-rural area is till waiting for edge! ATT is just interested in a relative few urban areas so they can say they cover this or that percentage.
I get the impression Jobs is fine with that, that he is an urban kind of guy and thinks any place outside of trendy urban centers is full of bears and snakes and he wants nothing to do with that.
I get the impression Jobs is fine with that, that he is an urban kind of guy and thinks any place outside of trendy urban centers is full of bears and snakes and he wants nothing to do with that.
Meh. I'll believe it when I see it.
Where I work we have 1 cell tower for AT&T (covering 586 square miles). We have at least 5000 iPhone users on site. AT&T only has 3 nodes to handle all the data for these 5000 phones and the kicker is none of it is 3G. Each node can handle 64 users so that is a grand total of 196 people on the internet at any given time.. Latency is at least 6 SECONDS! Trying to access anything on the web is a joke and almost everything times out waiting to be served.
AT&T has offered $25 rebates per month for people that don't have access, but that isn't fixing the problem.
They also had something burn out on the tower (I'm not sure what it is but it's related to their cell transmitter), and they said they aren't going to repair or replace it. Does this mean they're going to upgrade the tower finally? Who knows... I'm getting tired of it though, and it's making the iPhone look bad here while all the Verizon and US Cellular people are enjoying 3G access.
C'mon AT&T get with it and get these rural areas upgraded.
Where I work we have 1 cell tower for AT&T (covering 586 square miles). We have at least 5000 iPhone users on site. AT&T only has 3 nodes to handle all the data for these 5000 phones and the kicker is none of it is 3G. Each node can handle 64 users so that is a grand total of 196 people on the internet at any given time.. Latency is at least 6 SECONDS! Trying to access anything on the web is a joke and almost everything times out waiting to be served.
AT&T has offered $25 rebates per month for people that don't have access, but that isn't fixing the problem.
They also had something burn out on the tower (I'm not sure what it is but it's related to their cell transmitter), and they said they aren't going to repair or replace it. Does this mean they're going to upgrade the tower finally? Who knows... I'm getting tired of it though, and it's making the iPhone look bad here while all the Verizon and US Cellular people are enjoying 3G access.
C'mon AT&T get with it and get these rural areas upgraded.
Same, it's awful and my contract is now up. They offered for me to buy a $150 microcell, LOL. Might be leaving...
It would be nice if everything was free ... but someone has to pay for it at some point. Most cities have enough issues with budgets ... why add required wifi coverage that really won't benefit them?
Nothing is free.
You are paying for it either in higher taxes or higher cost of goods and services.
Also, someone has to build that infrastructure.
Equipment and labor are not free.
Plus, there's still going to be a lot of areas with Edge and no 3G for a while.
Hey AT&T - get your whole network to "3G" before you start with "4G"
That said, I am happy with AT&T...