AT&T Promises New-York Area Network Improvements

NYConvergence ORIGINAL

by: Amy Berryhill

While AT&T marches toward a December 16 hearing in their lawsuit against Verizon, NYConvergence reached out to the exclusive U.S. carrier of the iPhone to see what they had to say about wireless coverage in the tri-state area.

According to AT&T corporate communications director, Alexa Kaufman, “over the last year we have seen the use of data skyrocket in New York in New Jersey. The increase has been something like 400%.”

This will come as no surprise to many iPhone users in New York who have been frustrated with their service.

So what is AT&T doing? Kaufman gave us the rundown of short term fixes and long term plans:

1.  In September the New York metro area got a band boost with the deployment of 850 MHz spectrum at 1,600 cell sites. This spectrum is a lower frequency band than the 1900 MHz spectrum previously used, meaning it should travel farther. See the video from AT&T below for more details.

2. 68 additional cell sites are scheduled for completion in the New York/New Jersey/Long Island area before the end of 2009, to add to the “thousands” that are currently in place.

3. More wireless hotspots are being added around the country in an attempt to pull Wi-Fi enabled users off the 3G network.

4. Software upgrades at existing cell cites are paving the way for HSPA 7.2Mbps spectrum overlays in 2010, and LTE (aka 4G) in 2011.

Kaufman was quick to note that upgrades in the tri-state area and elsewhere are ongoing, adding that “a wireless network’s work is never done.”

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