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AT&T Prepares to Launch LTE 4G Network in 5 Cities This Summer

ATT is based in Texas (currently Dallas, formerly San Antonio.)

ATT Wireless is based in Atlanta.

Chicago has a history of being first in mobile deployments (The first general-use US cell phone network was deployed by Illinois Bell in 1983.) Also, Motorola is based in Chicago.
 
interrobang said:
ATT is based in Texas (currently Dallas, formerly San Antonio.)

ATT Wireless is based in Atlanta.

Chicago has a history of being first in mobile deployments (The first general-use US cell phone network was deployed by Illinois Bell in 1983.) Also, Motorola is based in Chicago.
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Not to mention Boeing, United, MillerCoors, etc.
 
Ryeno said:
Silicon Valley in the bay area is one of the most important aspects of the economy. What does Chicago have that even comes close? Sorry to break it to you but Chicago along with the rest of those cities are in the flyover states.
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Flyover states?

Elitist much?

Houston is 5th, Atlanta is 18th and Chicago is 48th in economic strength.

Bay Area is 67th - behind places like Sioux Falls SD (10th) and Trenton NJ (34th).

GDP? Chicago has the 4th highest GDP in the world. That's IN THE WORLD!

SF? 18th - behind Atlanta at 17th.

Don't be such an elitist snob parroting stupidity. These facts are readily available. To ignore them shows your ignorance.
 
Ryeno said:
Silicon Valley in the bay area is one of the most important aspects of the economy. What does Chicago have that even comes close? Sorry to break it to you but Chicago along with the rest of those cities are in the flyover states.
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Boeing, Sears, Walgreens, Motorola, ADM, Allstate, Kraft, Caterpillar, Orbitz, Groupon, McDonalds, Abbot Labs, United Airlines, Aon, Wrigley, Mars, CME, CBOT... and on, and on, and on.
 
If you look further afield, and at the international markets where the iPhone is sold, you find that by 2013, only approx 2% to 5% of the population will be covered by 4G LTE networks, whereas about 90% will be covered by 3G networks.

It makes me wonder if an LTE iPhone is really worth having before June 2013?

Some posters have commented about the backbone networks that support LTE, and yes, they will certainly need serious upgrading. The data to be send to handsets will need higher data rates, but will take significantly less time to download say a webpage, so carriers will decide to raise the contention ratio, at least in the short term.

This means that at times, a user might experience amazingly fast downloads, whilst peak times will be no better than now, or could be worse as Smartphones and use of them increases.

In terms of battery life, I do remember my first 3G phone, a piece of ****** made by LG, and even though it didn't have much processing power to download webpages fast, whilst on 3G networks you could actually watch the battery gauge drain away. Downloaded a podcast one day whilst waiting for a train and went from 90% to 25% in 10 mins!!

The same may be true for some early 4G phones, but battery technology has moved on leaps and bounds since 2003, so it won't be as severe. Coupled with the fact that silicon manufacturers now understand how to build in power management into each component, then it should be ok.

Personnally, I find that the majority of time when I need fast downloads, that I'm in a wifi zone (at home, work or out and about) and have only only downloaded 2gigs of data via cellular in the past 10 months. So will 4G change my life?? Maybe, if there is a 'killer app' out there that would need it!

Will I still upgrade to the iPhone 5 if it isn't 4G? Simple answer, yes. i.e. it's not a deal maker and nor a deal breaker.

Phil
 
skellener said:
Completely understandable, just as say...people passing on another 3G network iPhone. Committing to a two-year contract with a 3G network iPhone after LTE is introduced is a compromise I bet that most smart phone customers are not willing to make.
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I bet that most smartphone customers aren't even aware of any of the minutia being discussed in this thread. And therefore, won't care.

As for me, I will still be upgrading from my 3GS to whatever comes out in the rumored Sept./Oct. timeframe, knowing full-well that I'll be locked out of LTE for another 2 years. It'll be just like having my EDGE original iPhone. I'll be happy not to deal with battery and coverage issues that the bleeding-edge 4G'ers will deal with on the first 4G iPhone, and then when I get around to buying a new one in approximately the fall of 2013 (or whenever "iPhone 7" comes out), I'll really enjoy the faster 4G speeds and reasonable battery life at the same time just like I did when I got my 3GS.
 
gri said:
Strange choice of cities. I would have thought that New York, Washington, San Francisco, LA and Chicago would be a better fit...
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As someone else already pointed out AT&T home bases and former homebase are both in Texas and both listed. Houston is going to get it if SA and DFW are getting it. Houston also is a huge business interested to AT&T and has the oil industry. You also need to remember Houston is huge spreading at this point about 100 mils across when you add in all the suburbs.

SA is near the 2nd silicon Valley so it is not that bad in terms of technology if you are sitting near one of the silicon valleys.
 
John J said:
I sat in Yankee ( :eek: ) stadium watching a graduation ceremony SURROUNDED by AT&T wireless ads. I couldn't Tweet or FaceBook because my iPhone would only get one bar and it was Edge network. Really?! AT&T should save the ad money and put it towards the technology or lower my bill!

Even in Boston I constantly bounce from all bars Edge to one bar 3G. The other providers are starting to look better and better.

I think the big corps are at the point now where we know they exist and we have no choice but to use them so they can stop with the in your face advertising and actually work on things that matter. Do you really need to see another COKE ad? Especially at the movies!
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Coke? :D
 
Warbrain said:
Hate to break it to you, bud, but Chicago plays a bigger role than San Francisco in the overall economy.
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Just because the people are bigger it doesn't mean anything. I'm not sure what you are getting at. :confused:

Anywho, hopefully AT&T will roll out to more real American cities in the south. Then Apple can add LTE to the next iPhone and we can start using this technology for good things. :apple::apple:
 
Rodimus Prime said:
As someone else already pointed out AT&T home bases and former homebase are both in Texas and both listed. Houston is going to get it if SA and DFW are getting it. Houston also is a huge business interested to AT&T and has the oil industry. You also need to remember Houston is huge spreading at this point about 100 mils across when you add in all the suburbs.

SA is near the 2nd silicon Valley so it is not that bad in terms of technology if you are sitting near one of the silicon valleys.
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To be clear I don't mind that these cities are getting it, happy for them. But the real show place is still NYC. If it doesn't work there they just fail (maybe thats why they don't do it here yet) - and I am saying that not because I happen to live here. Its just a city that is being watched by the world. Hey, I see even small snippets here and there about stuff happening in NYC in German news outlets but not in the NYT...
 
zhenya said:
What's the point of a 20Mbps capable network that still operates at 1?
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20Mbps is all that you get in the US? Vodafone Germany sells LTE with 50Mbps... Of course, those numbers - whether is 20 or 50 Mbps - are just "burst" speed; there is no bandwidth guarantee.
 
Wow everyone complaining about what citys it is getting rolled out in:confused: most of you all have iphones it has been practically confirmed that the next iphone won't be 4g so does it really matter? by the time the 4g iphone is rolled out it should be in your area!
 
gri said:
To be clear I don't mind that these cities are getting it, happy for them. But the real show place is still NYC. If it doesn't work there they just fail (maybe thats why they don't do it here yet) - and I am saying that not because I happen to live here. Its just a city that is being watched by the world. Hey, I see even small snippets here and there about stuff happening in NYC in German news outlets but not in the NYT...
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Yeeeah. The other day I was laughing at this chap in London who uses a phone on the Orange network. I was like bud, there is no Orange network in NYC, are you thick or something?? Bloody hell.

True story.
 
3 cities in TX and they couldn't roll it out to more than 5 cities at a time?

maybe they should have taken a page from VZW and launched in 30+ cities, they are already last in line, and we are going to have 15 cities covered by the end of the year, while vzw will have 78. att 4g is a joke at this point, better see some big speed improvements with LTE...
 
I've been comparing Sprint and Verizon for a 4G mobile broadband plan; I wonder if it's worth it to wait to see how AT&T compares.

I wish they were more specific than "summer"
 
brianbauer04 said:
I've been comparing Sprint and Verizon for a 4G mobile broadband plan; I wonder if it's worth it to wait to see how AT&T compares.

I wish they were more specific than "summer"
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no way, vzw will have 78 markets by next month, att is saying 5 "this summer" with 10 more by the end of the year.... att sucks, lagging so hard right now on their network. Lucky for them they had the iphone or i think their numbers would really be hurting.
 
Ryeno said:
Silicon Valley in the bay area is one of the most important aspects of the economy. What does Chicago have that even comes close? Sorry to break it to you but Chicago along with the rest of those cities are in the flyover states.
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Top ten sectors of the U.S. economy, by total sales:

1) Wholesale trade
2) Manufacturing
3) Retail trade
4) Finance and insurance
5) Health care & social assistance
6) Construction
7) Information
8) Professional, scientific, and technical services
9) Accommodation and food services
10) Administrative & support & waste management & remediation service

Again, all information sourced via a quick Google search. I understand that if you live in the Bay Area and work in tech, then you might think the entire economy revolves around you. Sorry to break it to you, but it really doesn't.
 
It would be a bad business decision to launch a 4G iphone model now. Apple will likely have an iphone 4.5 later in the year with improved specs but 3G. And then have 4G in the iphone 5. There isn't enough 4G access yet for Apple to expect large sales numbers from people wanting 4G. Companies that make several models of mobile phones will make 4G models for those who want them. But I can't see Apple splitting the line with two current iphone versions for 3G and 4G simultaneously.

By the time iphone 5 comes out, 4G should be more widely available.

As for Sprint, it seems like the iphone 4.5 would be a good time to add that carrier.
 
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