AT&T revs up with 7.2Mbps HSPA tests in Chicago
by Sean Cooper 
posted Dec 18th 2008 at 5:44PM
While we're still all dreaming of the joy that will be LTE, the Long Term part of Long Term Evolution is still weighing pretty heavily on us. AT&T's Mark Siegel went on record saying that AT&T is currently testing -- unlike Rogers completed rollout in Canada -- some 7.2 Mbps speeds in Chicago that may eventually speed up to 14.4 Mbps. Sadly, there's no mention if this is a closed-door affair, or if anybody in Chicagoland can get in on the fun, so do us a favor and holler if you're suddenly getting blazingly fast speeds where they were previously lacking. Here's hoping for a 7.2 rollout nationwide on the soonish side, huh AT&T?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Veraxus @ Dec 18th 2008 6:43PM
I'd rather AT&T concentrate on providing, you know, BASIC COVERAGE IN THE REST OF THE COUNTRY. My coverage in So. Cal. is so spotty that my shiny white iPhone is more an expensive iPod Touch than a functional phone.
And I live/work in areas that are "supposed" to have "very good" coverage.
Riiiiiiight.
Malkmus @ Dec 18th 2008 9:17PM
Might be the phone. And I'm not saying that to blast Apple or anything, but I live in So Cal and have had a dropped call maybe once or twice since I started using my N95 last March on ATT. Now, before that I had a N93 and that thing dropped calls like crazy or wouldn't even make the calls in the first place. I honestly think that the providers take the fall a lot of times for phones with sub-par chips. For example, I spoke to a guy recently who works at a cell phone boutique in Sherman Oaks who said the reason the Sony Xperia X1a was recalled was due to bad 3G chips. And didn't the iPhone have similar woes? Juat saying, can't always blame the provider.
David Robison @ Dec 19th 2008 1:44AM
Definitely worth a check at the Apple store to see if your iPhone should be replaced. Mine had to be and now service is MUCH better. Still occasional dropped calls (two tonight!), but not too bad.
slamEVIL @ Dec 19th 2008 11:54AM
i NEVER had a dropped call when i lived in san diego on my sony ericssons. (t28, t68, t68i, s710) yell at apple, not at&t.
play zone H @ Dec 18th 2008 7:05PM
psss haha in warsaw in poland it is since 1year(hspa) and tests DVB-H:)
welcome to gallery warsaw :
http://www.ziolek.pl/fotografie/warszawy/panorama/index.htm
james @ Dec 18th 2008 7:26PM
WOW in Europe and Japan they have had this for years now, go USA, hahahahahha.
RAB Setup @ Dec 18th 2008 7:26PM
Me think there is only one device sold through AT&T's retail outlets which supports Category 8 HSDPA (7.2 Mbps) and that is the Sierra Wireless 881 AirCard. And out of the box it is configured for CAT6 (3.6 Mbps). There is an AT command to enable it. Anyone know what it is?
ran @ Dec 18th 2008 8:16PM
The Option GT Ultra Express can as well.
Namely it's supposed to be called the Option GT 7.2 elsewhere.
Chris B. @ Dec 18th 2008 11:06PM
@ran - the GT U E is not the GT, the former's an Express card and the latter's a Type 2 card. Option's Globetrotter line is the equivalent of the ATTWS Ultra Express. I own one of each. The higher speeds aren't available yet - obviously - and will require a firmware upgrade if they ever get the higher speeds worked out and available; we can get to the data cap twice as fast!!!
About the speeds, I'd really be happier blowing my 60 Washingtons a month knowing I could get one-fifth of the data speeds they're hitting in the Windy City. I've got three towers within 6 blocks of my office and I still can't get consistently decent service, although it's much snappier than anything that SPCS or VZWS provides. I'm in PDX and will trying out the new Clear Wi-Max service over the next couple of weeks...
zephxiii @ Dec 19th 2008 11:34AM
Don't forget the Fuze is 7.2. The SGold3 chip or whatever in the iphone 3g is supposed to be a 7.2 part as well.
slamEVIL @ Dec 19th 2008 11:58AM
the tilt is 7.2. you can activate it using kaiser tweak. i thought it was the first.
ran @ Dec 18th 2008 8:13PM
I can't wait for the roll-out to more cities.
Thom06 @ Dec 18th 2008 9:12PM
Extra speed is great and I'm definitely all for it, however, AT&T needs to think about expanding their sub-par 3G coverage before worrying about speeds, they already have Verizon beat in a speed test why not compete with the coverage as well? There are other parts of the country BESIDES metro areas, Verizon and Sprint realize this, why doesn't AT&T?
slowburn @ Dec 19th 2008 9:19AM
Too true. I live downstate in the Champaign-Urbana area (home of University of Illinois) and we don't have even a press release of AT&T 3G ever being brought to this are. So far as I can tell, The only ares serviced with 3G from AT&T in Illinois are St.Louis, Springfield, Bloomington, and parts of Chicago. Yay.
ryan @ Dec 19th 2008 11:01AM
I'm downtown Chicago and currently getting an average of 122 Kbits/s on my 3g white iPhone. Pretty poor.
CMC @ Dec 20th 2008 10:22AM
Um, with a 5GB prison wall...isn't this kinda pointless? Yes, let's all race to download faster and faster. We'll just reach the end a lot quicker. Good job ATT - give us a super fast network that we can only use a few days a month not to go over the limit.
Jared @ Dec 31st 2008 7:00PM
Getting 1364kbps @ O'Hare on my Kaiser Tweaked Tilt. Where's my 7.2 ATT?
Rocky Gladeside @ Feb 7th 2009 5:22AM
im getting 40kb max download and 20 kb max upload on att edge network. on my old iphone. pretty exciting in so cal