AT&T Ready to Rollout HSPA 7.2 in Dallas
It seems as if AT&T is gearing up to launch their HSPA 7.2 in the Dallas area, making good on their promise of having it rolled out in 6 major cities 1 major city in the US. (If anyone in Charlotte, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, or Miami is seeing signs of the boost yet, let us know).
This is indeed the right time for AT&T to give their network a boost, especially with image the latest Verizon “map for that” commercials portray.
With these upgrades, you should have a better wireless experience with more capacity on our network and improved coverage inside your home and other buildings throughout the DFW area. Look for improved coverage in area communities like Allen, Arlington, Carrollton, Colleyville, Dallas, Denton, Ft. Worth, Frisco, Garland, Grapevine, Grand Prairie, Irving, Keller, Mesquite, McKinney, Lewisville, Plano, Richardson, Rockwall, Southlake and more. We updated nearly 1,000 cell sites in these areas! The fastest gets faster! AT&T has the fastest network in Dallas/Ft. Worth* and we’re excited to announce that Dallas will be among the first 6 major U.S. cities in which AT&T plans to upgrade its existing 3G technology to HSPA 7.2.** This new upgrade will provide considerably faster mobile broadband speeds, and we plan to make it available by the end of the year.
AT&T claims to have spent 50 million to improve their 850 mhz network in Dallas alone. That should mean pristine service for those enough luck enough to be a resident of the Dallas area. At least you that’s what one would hope…
[Thanks to David for the tip!]
November 11th, 2009 at 8:01 am
Not in a major city here so I’ll get it in about 5 years
November 11th, 2009 at 8:05 am
And yet I’m still running on EDGE while Verizon 3G flies around me for years? Good news, I’m moving to Santa Fe next year, bad news, no ATT 3G there either, oh, but Verizon is…
November 11th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Hopefully Boston is somewhere on their list. It would be nice to get value out of my $100 a month iPhone bill.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Hard to believe some cities are coming before others. Somehow I think DC & Boston should have come before Charlotte or Houston. I’m happy with full 3G in the DC Metro area, but HSPA wouldn’t hurt either.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Add another 20-25 major cities (incl. DC, NYC and SF) and I’ll be impressed (well, not really but perhaps satisfied). Until then … yawn…
November 11th, 2009 at 8:46 am
I don’t see anything over 300mb/s or lower in the Houston Downtown area. I get better speeds north in the Humble area outside of downtown. AT&T is sucking hard here.
November 11th, 2009 at 8:56 am
I live in Dallas! The only problem is that I have an iPhone 3G and not an iPhone 3GS =/
November 11th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Um, I think Houston should definitely get it before DC and Boston. It is the 4th largest city in the US you know?
November 11th, 2009 at 10:11 am
I’m in Dallas and in my home I went from 1 bar to full bars! Finally I don’t have to stand in the corner to get a signal inside!
November 11th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Live in LA area… 3G speed is great….
November 11th, 2009 at 10:21 am
In Houston I noticed that I now have full bars in the elevator at work. I was wondering why that was. Now I can be annoying just like those Verizon pricks!
November 11th, 2009 at 10:22 am
I’m in Houston metro area and I have constant 3G its great!!
November 11th, 2009 at 10:23 am
@Jeremy Sikora
Can we get an update on which iPhone’s support HSPA 7.2? Is it only the 3GS?
It seems like it is a curious move to be touting this when Sprint just released 4G service here in Chicago. If Sprint had a Hero with 4G capability, I would give it a try.
November 11th, 2009 at 10:24 am
At least for me here in Houston, I get good consistent speeds on 3G. Check out the link below for an idea of what I get.
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac357/sapphir8/86d93d27.jpg
November 11th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Oops, that was an older screenshot. Here’s a more recent one:
http://i915.photobucket.com/albums/ac357/sapphir8/930408ca.jpg
November 11th, 2009 at 10:41 am
@Joe McG
Yes, only the 3G(s) supports the 7.2 speeds.
November 11th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Would be nice if they’d roll out actual 3G coverage in SW Michigan (Kalamazoo to be exact) like they’ve been promising for a year now.
November 11th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Again AT&T i’m sure doesn’t want to lose the exlcusive agreement with apple. It needs to do everything humingly possible to survive. With out the iphone they just have the bb and standard winodws mobile (whoopie)
November 11th, 2009 at 11:21 am
I like it when people compare verizons network to AT&Ts Verizon has 3G here and AT&T doesn’t. Verizon has 3G because their entire network was upgraded to 3G because their standard network was 56K. Not edge, 56K.
Verizon is getting ready to go through the same thing AT&T is going through now, next year. Verizon when is my 4G coming? I’m sick of your 3G that’s almost the same speed as AT&Ts edge network. 4 years. The same time it took for them to upgrade their coverage to full 3G. That not 2 years later they have to upgrade their entire network yet again. 2003-2007 only this time your going to have 10x the data hungry phones on your network. Not only is AT&T upgrading their network un the middle of the iPhone phenomenon they are trying to male it work for everyone. It’s pretty bad when the FCC makes a statement about the iPhone alone consumes upto 50% of the “US” alotted and available bandwidth. When the phone only comprises or 9% of AT&Ts network and sucks down upto 69% of AT&Ts data and bandwidth.
The phone would crush any network and now AT&T is upgrading their network not from 2003-2007 when there were maybe 2 smartphones on the market that you could even check your email with. They are doing it with the iPhone already on their network. 4096% data and bandwidth usage increase since 2007.
I tell people everyday that have AT&T ready to go to Verizon. It’s coming to them the same way AT&T has it now. AT&T is just leading the way. Let them get the iPhone before their 4G network is complete and they will see the same exact problems. 400-700K on their 3G is nothing to me when I get 1600-2100K all day long. And I live in the San Francisco bay area.
November 11th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Miami/ft lauderdale has superb AT&T 3g
November 11th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Texas is getting it before San jose ca? Didn’t Texas just get cell phones a few Years ago lol?
November 11th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Hum… Working in downtown Dallas and just ran a speed test on my iphone. Got a whopping 432Kbits per second download speed. Doesn’t appear to be much of an improvement yet.
November 11th, 2009 at 11:42 am
When the hell is NYC getting this upgrade?
November 11th, 2009 at 11:42 am
“Gearing up to launch” it’s not out yet Rex.
November 11th, 2009 at 11:53 am
I live in Ft. Worth, and have been watching AT&T’s network progress in this area for last couple of years. As of Nov. 11th, there’s no HSPA 7.2 in DFW area. And as Dallas is AT&T’s HQ, you would think this area would be 1st for improvements. That doesn’t seem to always be the case. AT&T’s ads all mention before end of year or something similar for DFW.
The 3G network in this area is very strong with usual data speeds of over 2 Mbps down/1 Mbps up. I rarely experience dropped calls or the signal problems that were common when I was on Sprint. Will be interesting to see how much 7.2 improves things.
November 11th, 2009 at 11:54 am
I live in Dallas and have a 3GS.. The signal has actually gotten worse! My neighborhood is shown on their coverage map ad 100% data/3g.. I can barely hold a conversation in my home and often have to go outside to talk.. AT&T is a joke! We need iPhone on other carriers asap!
November 11th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
@bish- They’ve had 3g in Mount Pleasant for part of this year now, and recently fired up their 3g network in the tri-city area (MBS). I’m sure you’ll get your cake soon. Seems like AT&T is actually trying to make real improvements to their network. 2 years late… but… better than nothing. Plus I get 3g everywhere I frequent so I can’t really complain.
November 11th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Miami I always have good speed on my 3gs and service here for lots of ppl have been spotty like dropping quickly to no service then back idk if that’s a sign of 7.2 ?
November 11th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
So having to walk outside is the carriers fault you live in Texas where every house is 2 foot thick concrete and insulation? What are other carriers going to fix that AT&T hasn’t? It’s the phone. You can hold your hand on the right bottom corner of the phone which is where everyone holds the phone and watch the signal bars drop. There are even YouTube videos on it. I can make it do it everytime.
November 11th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Seriously screw the rest of the country, we can’t make phone calls in NYC roll out more stuff here
November 11th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
@ Gregg – will the 7.2 rollout actually help with the thick walls issue? That is my problem – I get no service inside my home b/c the walls/insulatation on the windows blocks it. if I open the sscreen door – full service! I am waiting for the microcell to come to chicago so I can have a phone in my house. Will the 7.2 rollout help with that issue or just make speeds faster?
November 11th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
When did it became available in Los Angeles area? I live in Downey about 15 miles from downtown LA and haven’t notice any change in 3G coverage. I have the 3g iphone and I only get two to three bars inside my house. I hate going outside in order to talk on the phone and get 3g signal..
November 11th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
This upgrade increased coverage with the 850Mhz band in DFW area. The 7.2 rollout is separate and should be turned on by eoy here.
Speedtest for my 3Gs from N Dallas is 1350k/250k, unchanged from Sep.
Sprint launched 4G here a few weeks ago but have no phones that support it yet, only USB for PCs.
November 11th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
@Matt – 850Mhz will help the wall penetration issue
For other cities, from their earlier press release:
“All told, the company plans to deploy HSPA 7.2 in 25 of the nation’s 30 largest markets by the end of 2010, and to reach about 90 percent of its existing 3G network footprint with HSPA 7.2 by the end of 2011.”
November 11th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
I got an email this morning letting me know AT&T put up a new tower a few miles from my house. Coverage is still sporadic, but I do get close to full bars in my house sometimes now, when I was getting one…or even none before. I get full 3G outside though, even before the tower. I live in the San Diego area by the way.
November 11th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Mike pretty much answered it. What we are really holding out for though is the 4G network. Which is 700Mhz on both Verizon and AT&T. So funny as it seems, phones should work on both networks. But what I would expect to see would be more of the subsidizing going away or the actual ETF going up. Which Verizon has already set in place, starting November 15th. Otherwise people will be able to go back and forth between Verizon and AT&T. But 700Mhz would actually more than double the reach and in building coverage we are seeing with 1900Mhz now.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
I’m in southern Colorado, and I have EDGE network. But 25 miles north there is 3G 850mhz. AT&T has been promising 3G here for about a year. I hate paying for 3G network but can’t take advantage of it since I don’t live in a bigger city. BTW I have the iPhone 3GS. I might have to get that new DROID
November 11th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
re: Boston… Apparently the three worst cities for AT&T’s 3G network are NYC, Boston, and SF. AT&T probably has the same problem for all three cities: putting up a high enough density of cell phone towers to cover the area and to swap signals as users move around the cities. In the greater Boston area, some communities are highly resistant to the placement of cell phone towers.
I don’t see how AT&T can boost network speeds in areas like Boston right now. Cities and highways in Texas are an easier target.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Miami/Ft. Lauderdale has 3G but its not blazing. I stream Orb all the time and 50% of the time it stutters and is unwatchable. I also have a lot of trouble sending email through the 3G network.
November 11th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Downtown Miami south beach, does anyone have a lot of dropped call…
Geat 3 g coverage..
November 11th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Why are they upgrading others 3G when some of us still don’t even have it. That is bulls*&t.
November 11th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
NYC anytime soon….that should be included as a major city
i want faster 3G
November 12th, 2009 at 4:49 am
Well I ran a test on my 3gs and I’m still getting same speeds here in Dallas. 1800kbps down and 200 up. That figure is unchanged from before the upgrade. I’m going to be pissed if I keep hearing this upgrade advertising and speeds don’t reflect such upgrade. Won’t do anything..,.But I’m still going to be pissed!! Hmmm!!! Love the iPhone though.
November 12th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
@Bent24 they haven’t done the hspa7.2 speed upgrade yet, only the 850Mhz coverage upgrade. Speed upgrade will be a Christmas present for DFW if they meet their schedule.
November 14th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
My 3G is perfect in Boston, and why dallas ?! boo
November 14th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
In Chicago AT&T can be fast but still drop your Internet. For example within one mile I can go from 3000 Kbps on 3g to getting kicked off o to edge. Speeds are better at night. I live in lakeview, rep okay reception downtown in the loop sucks. Last year though speed topped out at 1200 so it is getting better with greater regulatory… If not tmobile is getting 21mbps come next year, rumor thou.
November 15th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
I think AT&T is doing something in Los Angeles, I always check the speed and have got 200-400 kb since September (when I got my iPhone) and for the past two days I have been getting 1-1.6mbps… This is connected to 3g for both test. Soo still not 7.2 fast but 3 times faster.. So something must be going on.
November 16th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I got this email as well. From Rowlett I still have great coverage, but no 7.2.
From the Knox/Henderson and 75 area I get aweful bouncing between edge and 3g. And the 3g is almost unuseable due to traffic I assume. I could throw my iPhone and hit the downtown Dallas apple store from this spot!
November 18th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Wonder when we will get 3G?????? Was told June, then July then August then September Then October Then now?? Almost my entire state has 3G but us… Go Figure!!!!!!!!! AT&T can BLOWME!!!!!!!!!!
November 19th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Natesac, uh.. there is no Apple Store in downtown Dallas. The only one in Dallas is in the North Park Center, which is not downtown. We’re getting upgrades here first for a few reasons – 1)AT&T is based here. 2)Texas has a LOT less red tape involved when it comes to wireless towers and stuff. This is another reason there are a bunch of WISPs here. Sprint noticed this too, and Dallas/Ft Worth is one of the first Clearwire markets also. San Francisco complains about poor coverage, but San Franciscans fight new cell towers tooth & nail, citing debunked research about cell phones giving kids cancer and complaining about ugly equipment/etc. A lot of the SF Bay Area is like that. The angry ‘NIMBY’ crowd is a huge roadblock for decent cell coverage. They file lawsuits when a company wants to put a cell tower at a school, and Richmond, CA actually has a BAN on new cell towers! Here’s an example “The call to revamp the regulations surfaced earlier this year when Point Richmond residents objected to a cell phone antenna on an apartment building at 260 Water St. They worried about potential health effects and said the commercial apparatus does not fit with the neighborhood. In addition, they argued that the city did not notify residents or hold a public hearing first.”
Californians only have themselves to blame for poor cell coverage.
November 22nd, 2009 at 11:37 pm
The best part about all the Verizon and Sprint talk of their 4G networks is that they are only implementing those networks for Data and are not upgrading their Voice network in this process in any way…yet AT&T already has the fastest 3G network for Data and most advanced GSM network for Voice…and AT&T’s network allows for simultaneous use of both of those products on your handset at once. That’s why I can be on my iPhone making fun of someone using a Droid, all while downloading/sending email or downloading a new song off iTunes. Sprint’s 4G (WiMAX) is glorified Wi-fi, and only offers average download speeds of 2-4Mbps. They are piggy-backing off Clearwire’s data network to offer this service on a highly limited basis. As HSPA 7.2 goes live Sprint and Verizon will once again be far, far behind. And when 14.4 comes out starting in the middle of 2010, yikes! And then there’s AT&T’s 4G coming in 2011…by that point Sprint will probably be out of business, and Verizon will be wondering what to do next.
November 28th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Yeas so 7.2 is def In la now.. Of course you won’t get 7.2 Mbps. But just got 2.5 mbps on my speed test using Los Angeles as server, must say much faster than my verizon wifi dsl service.
December 13th, 2009 at 12:34 am
Janey there’s also an Apple store in the Knox Cole area, north of downtown Dallas.
December 21st, 2009 at 1:56 am
“…Apparently the three worst cities for ATT’s 3G network are NYC, Boston, and SF…”
My brother loves the iPhone but tells me that he experiences very unreliable ATT service and many dropped calls in the northeast Atlanta suburbs as well.
December 21st, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Just got a 2.9 Mbps in Ft. Worth. Looks like we’re live on the 7.2 now.