Two questions: 1) will at&t's 3G network ever expand (I'm moving to an area this summer that only supports edge)? 2) I've never switched services before, will I get to keep my phone number if I switch over to verizon?
While AT&T does have the fastest 3G (Verizon's "3G" is more like 2.6G), their coverage is pretty horrible (every map will confirm that. While I do get great speeds throughout the greater Houston area, around 33-50% faster than what Verizon or Sprint users are getting on 3G, I get 3G in my bedroom but not my kitchen, wtf lol). Verizon's coverage is the best in the nation (this cannot be argued). And they have a head start on building out their LTE network. So I don't see where your lack of towers theory is coming from exactly. AT&T is currently in catchup mode but one advantage of AT&T's LTE is that once you are out of an LTE area, you can fall back to HSPA+.
ATT is in a better position than verizon - was my point. You seemed to imply that verizon has some kind of advantage in 4g since they announced it ahead of att. You since backtracked a bit and I understand. But while I am talking about stable, consistent speeds that hspa+ offers, you seem to point to the fact that you believe hspa+ isn't even important since LTE blows everything else outta the water. Fine. But you should realize, as I hope you do, that saying you have LTE and actual coverage in the majority of the us is two totally different animals. And so, what happens when you don't have 4g coverage, which is going to be the norm - this is why hspa+ is important, so that your drop off isn't so drastic, and besides that - it remains to be seen if verizon can roll out lte in any significantly faster fashion that att. It just isn't going to happen, but neither of us knows that because it isn't here.
i can't find the article now but i read that ATT will release a bunch of "4G" phones that use HSPA+. but those phones even though they are called 4G..will not work with the real 4G that uses LTE.
Doubt it. AT&T is rolling HSPA+ onto their 850MHz 3G band. My phone is an Acer Liquid A1 (imported from Asia, also available in Europe/Africa/Australia) and only has the 1900MHz 3G band (along with 900/2100)
This is true. Which is why it is probably a good idea to wait until AT&T rolls out LTE in the middle of the is year to purchase a new device from them (despite how tempting the Inpsire is to me). It is pretty funny because when T-Mobile first launched HSPA+ and were touting it as "4G", AT&T slammed them (due to the fact that AT&T has been rolling out HSPA+ for a while now)- http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/25/atandt-cries-foul-over-t-mobiles-hspa-is-4g-talk/ While HSPA+ speeds are comparable to LTE (initially, as time progresses, LTE will be built out to be alot faster), it is not 4G. One requirement for 4G is a standard all IP based network, and HSPA+ does not meet that (at least not the one in the US by T-Mobile and AT&T).
Verizon's current LTE implementation does not do that yet either, but there are rumors that Verizon has begun testing of LTE-based voice services. I don't expect it to happen for another 1 1/2 to 2 years though. AT&T's HSPA (7.2Mbps) is on both the 850MHz and the 1900MHz band. That's what is giving you the faster speeds (HSPA is faster in terms of total throughput capacity than EvDO). As for HSPA+ being rolled out on only 850MHz, I doubt that is true ... do you have a source on that?
Verizon has a better selection of phones. AT&T will have the best phone in the market once the Atrix comes out. I have yet to see anything else that has been announced/rumored that's better so far for 2011.
who cares what is 3g what is 4g, if the standards of 4g cant be met, what is so wrong about incorrectly calling something that is easily understandable, faulty syllogism aside both att and t-mobile are doing hspa+ into lte, sprint is sticking by wimax, and verizon is doing lte which the speeds are skewed because of the lack of users on their network at the moment if the service works for you, just use it, no need to blindly defend or attack one another... instead just be happy that capitalism is working on this side of the atlantic
Did not know that bout the current LTE. As far as my source for AT&T's HSPA, I was going to cite an IntoMobile article but after re-reading it, turns out I misread it (it was back in 2009 and concerning the deployment of the 850MHz band for 3G and I read it as only the 850MHz band). My mistake there.
Can you provide a link backing up your claim about Verizon's deployment of LTE. This speech by a Verizon executive says otherwise (the third part of his speech)- http://www22.verizon.com/onecms/Lea...Venture_Atlanta/?IsBio=N&FromPage=Allspeeches
Yes, LTE is purely IP-based tech. What I said is that voice services over LTE are not yet available and will not be available for a little while, but rumors are that they have already begun testing. The eventual goal is that 2G/3G voice services will be phased out completely, and all voice communications will happen over the IP network. This will actually be cheaper for the wireless providers while being more capable ... the traditional restrictions of single point-to-point voice communication will not apply to LTE voice. Think of how VoIP land lines revolutionized telephone service while making it much cheaper, but even better. But as of now, any LTE device you're buying from Verizon (and later, AT&T) will still 4G for data services only and depend on 1xRTT/CDMA2000 for phone calls.
I read that somewhere Earlier. It's cause voice and data uses differen data or something. Some other tech phone nerd can explain it better. AT&T uses one singular one.
