AT&T Is Trying To Dramatically Improve Their Network

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Posted March 31, 2010 at 1:05pm by iClarified

In mid December, AT&T set up a 100-day plan to dramatically improve their network in densely populated cities, reports the WSJ.

The plan comes ahead of the iPad launch this weekend and a new iPhone which is expected to be released in July.

AT&T has added new network spectrum to better handle traffic, repositioned antennas to improve reception in office towers and wired more neighborhood cell towers with faster connections.

While AT&T has demonstrated a speed advantage over their competition, a poll last month by J.D. Power & Associates found they still rank poorly against Verizon Wireless in call quality.

Analysts are concerned that they won't have the network fixed before their exclusive contract with Apple runs out. "They haven't fixed the network and they're going to see a huge exodus to Verizon" when it gets the iPhone, said Edward Snyder, managing director of Charter Equity Research.

AT&T intends to spend $2 billion more this year on build-outs for its wireless network and add twice as much capacity as it did in 2009. They also argue that if other networks do get the iPhone they will have to go through the same growing pains AT&T has.

However, some of these problems may have already been solved for other carriers. Apple helped AT&T develop new technologies to limit the load that iPhones put on their network. Obviously these new technologies would be implemented for any other network that Apple worked with.

"They're well past networking 101, 201 or 301," said Mr. Donovan, Chief Technology Officer at AT&T. Apple is now "in a Master's class."

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AT&T Is Trying To Dramatically Improve Their Network

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Norm Gilbert - March 31, 2010 at 1:59pm

Let's all help AT&T improve their network be going to the App Store and downloading the FREE app called AT&T Mark The Spot. Then use it every time you get screwed by AT&T with a dropped call, no coverage, failed call attempts, etc. The app uses the location services of the iPhone to pinpoint your location and allows you to add notes and select they type and severity of the failure. Takes less than 30 second to report crappy AT&T network quality. I send in at least ten a day. Maybe when AT&T starts to get hundreds of thousands if not millions of user reports they will finally understand how poorly their network performs and how they have abused their customers by taking all those monthly fees as profit and reinvesting next to nothing in their network. Verizon's TV commercials resonate because they tell the truth. AT&T network quality is terrible and getting worse. That "whooshing" sound you hear is all the AT&T customers rushing for the exits the minute an alternaitve exists to the AT&T monopoly. Smart investment advice? Short sell AT&T stock.

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