Carrier promises more consistent data

AT&T has finished a software upgrade of all of its 3G cell sites across the US, according to company representatives. The deployment is said to have been an accelerated one, designed mainly to improve the "consistency" of data access for subscribers. While technically adding support for 7.2Mbps 3G, beyond the current 3.6Mbps, AT&T must also complete a series of backhaul hardware upgrades before people see genuinely faster speeds.

Some cities may already be 7.2-ready, out of a list including Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami. A majority of mobile data traffic should be on the upgraded backhaul by the end of 2010. No specific regions have been mentioned for future expansions.

Both the software and hardware upgrades are likely intended to cope with the demand imposed on AT&T's network by iPhone users. The group accounts for roughly 60 percent of US mobile web traffic, and even though it has not been able to exploit the iPhone's top speeds, in some regions the userbase has created severe traffic problems which may prevent others from using 3G. AT&T has announced an intention to divert some 3G traffic to regular Internet services.

By Electronista Staff