Alltel is finally upgrading its EVDO broadband network to Rev. A speeds, a representative has announced. The initial rollout phase will last approximately six months, and see Rev. come to 18 regions, including cities such as Phoenix, Tampa, Charlotte, New Orleans and Little Rock, as well as a select group of rural areas. The company expects EVDO coverage to grow from 75 of its network to 82 percent by the end of the year, though it has not said how much will be Rev. A.

The upgrade should substantially improve speeds in accessible areas. Alltel estimates that under Rev. 0, its customers can currently only download at an average of 400-700Kbps, with an upload rate of 50-70Kbps; Rev. A is expected to push downloads to 600Kbps-1.4Mbps, and uploads to 500-800Kbps.

Use of Rev. A will generally require a new modem or phone, though in the case of the latter, HTC phones such as the Touch or PPC6800 will speed up with a firmware upgrade.