AT&T 3G Rollout - Latest markets launching II

[ilvla2]

AHHH I live in a city with 119,735 people as of last year and we've yet to see 3G, yet a city in the state north of us with only 32,076 people as of last year got 3G a WHILE ago. Can anyone tell me how AT&T decides where to put 3G next?? My city is supposed to get 3G some this this year, so that's not that I'm asking, but how on earth do they figure they will give it to a ******** with a third of the population of here before us??

I live in Redwood Valley, an unincorporated area 8 miles north of a town called Ukiah, Ukiah has a pop of 15,000 and the total population for our county (Mendocino County in NW CA, it's big at 3800 sq.miles) is 88,000, and Ukiah (and some of Redwood Valley) has 3G. The reason? Our area was an Edge Wireless (AT&T Affiliate) market, Edge Wireless served only rural and small town areas in NorCal, OR, ID and WY, and they tried their best to roll out the tech the big areas had to us less populated areas. AT&T bought out Edge in late 2007 and merged Edge into them in April of 2008, I am positive if we had been AT&T from the get go we'd still have no 3G on AT&T.

[thxdude]

AT&Ts 3G rollout decisions are based on multiple variables. The first variable comes down to technical limitations on the areas they are rolling out. Any of the areas which were originally Cingular and had 850Mhz spectrum with them which AT&T then became owner of seem to have been the first and easiest to move to 3G. Given that AT&T is trying to move to 850Mhz in general for rollouts, this makes sense as you'd only want to move to 1900Mhz if you have no 850Mhz spectrum available. Anyone interested in the general areas of who owns what/where for spectrum can see here: http://www.cellularmap.net/regions/

After that, its a combination of market size, users and ROI. Once they have the larger cities completed I'm assuming they are moving onto phase II which is to hit the cities (50K + sizes). Of course there is also politics involved which are usually based on local state requirements for cell towers, spectrums, etc.

A positive for the smaller markets maybe the Verizon/Alltel merger though because if Verizon moves the Alltel areas onto the Verizon network and EV-DO Rev A upgrades it may force ATT to move up their schedule to upgrade those markets to 3G in order to stay competitive. This is the scenario I'm hoping for in my area. (54601)

[formercanuck]

and what city are you in?

[i0wnj00]

After that, its a combination of market size, users and ROI. Once they have the larger cities completed I'm assuming they are moving onto phase II which is to hit the cities (50K + sizes). Of course there is also politics involved which are usually based on local state requirements for cell towers, spectrums, etc.

I'm not sure about cities of the 50,000 + size, market size, users and ROI.
I doubt any of the above of that applies in few of the places I'm familiar with populations ranging from 5,000-38,000 that will be getting 3G this year according to the hype AT&T has been pumping out for the last few months. I believe that having access to both 850/1900 MHz helped the market but that's it.

Looks like AT&T is on schedule for 3G....
Great job AT&T!!!

[thxdude]

The 50K is just a number I threw out there - obviously there are exceptions to rule. I'm in La Crosse, WI and its a major pain in the rear here due to regulations. The issues that come into play for here are: lack of local numbers, no 850 coverage, bluffs, no ATT stores (only the local Best Buy and Walmart).

I was really hoping the Verizon/Alltel merger and the split offs would be this area but it looks like that's not the case. I'm very curious to what exact upgrades Verizon is planning for the Alltel towers as all that information seems to be missing yet.

I know I was shocked to see St. Cloud, MN have 3G so early but then again they had open 850 spectrum from the Cingular days.

My hope is we're next on the list for 2010 since Green Bay, WI and Appleton, WI are suppose to get 3G before the end of the year. Either that or Verizon comes in and adds EV-DO Rev A with the Alltel buyout and either ATT steps up their schedule to stay competitive or Apple finally offers the iPhone on Verizon (I'm not holding my breath though).

[alana0j]

I'm in Clarksville, TN and was upset that Hopkinsville, KY got 3G before us. We have a military base here, which helps explain the fact that we have over 100,000 people now, so I know without a doubt we have more AT&T subscribers than Hoptown does. I don't know much about towers here but I do know there are more rural areas of outlying Clarksville where my phone gets service where other providers do not. I just wish they'd hurry up and get on with it!

[formercanuck]

I live in Redwood Valley, an unincorporated area 8 miles north of a town called Ukiah, Ukiah has a pop of 15,000 and the total population for our county (Mendocino County in NW CA, it's big at 3800 sq.miles) is 88,000, and Ukiah (and some of Redwood Valley) has 3G. The reason? Our area was an Edge Wireless (AT&T Affiliate) market, Edge Wireless served only rural and small town areas in NorCal, OR, ID and WY, and they tried their best to roll out the tech the big areas had to us less populated areas. AT&T bought out Edge in late 2007 and merged Edge into them in April of 2008, I am positive if we had been AT&T from the get go we'd still have no 3G on AT&T.

Since At&t had a large stake in Edge Wireless, I suspect that they funded a good deal of Edge Wireless buildout. They were a relatively small provider, and I'd suspect that At&t knew it would be cheaper/faster to have Edge build it due to corporate beauracracy of a large company like At&t.

[mbaverizon]

since verizon has the biggest coverage, do you think att will try to match there coverage or just where they think they need it??

[formercanuck]

I suspect that AT&T will deploy 'decent' service in areas that they have 850MHz licenses in (many are buildout requirements), and less so in areas with 1900MHz only licenses (like former Edge Wireless areas, and some of the Carolinas). As far as 3G itself goes - that depends on spectrum / licensing / capacity as well. Where AT&T 'has' capacity (lets assume +45MHz in urban, +30MHz in rural), they will build out. 'When' is the key question.

[ilvla2]

I suspect that AT&T will deploy 'decent' service in areas that they have 850MHz licenses in (many are buildout requirements), and less so in areas with 1900MHz only licenses (like former Edge Wireless areas)

Yep, that's one reason I ditched AT&T, I got tired of it. I tried to like AT&T after they took over Edge Wireless, I really did, but it just didn't happen

[CellKrazeDude]

since verizon has the biggest coverage, do you think att will try to match there coverage or just where they think they need it??

This will never happen. AT&T is not willing to spend the time and money to do it. I would hate for this to happen because they would not keep up with it. Just like the NYC, Boston, etc. networks.

[thxdude]

The wild card is Verizon I think here. If they choose to roll out upgrades to their Alltel purchased areas in the near future, I think that will force ATTs hand. Also if the rumors are true on their 4G rollout in Q1Y10 then it may also force upgrades. I truly think they are scrambling for infrastructure rollout due to the overwhelming addition of iPhone users coming on board. The data use gap between iPhone users vs. non-iPhone devices is amazing. I'm guessing even ATTs best estimate back in the day on iPhone users and data consumption at this point were way off base.

[formercanuck]

Yep, that's one reason I ditched AT&T, I got tired of it. I tried to like AT&T after they took over Edge Wireless, I really did, but it just didn't happen

I wouldn't have expected you to. If I was living up in your area, I would be using the carrier that works for me up there, and it appears to NOT be AT&T. Since I'd 'down' here, in SoCal, and it does work, and I do have work discounts of 28%, I use them. I try to keep business decisions away from personal in these kind of decisions, as companies chnage (I've seen MANY in the company I work for over the past 10 years).

[dsprague2]

The wild card is Verizon I think here. If they choose to roll out upgrades to their Alltel purchased areas in the near future, I think that will force ATTs hand. Also if the rumors are true on their 4G rollout in Q1Y10 then it may also force upgrades. I truly think they are scrambling for infrastructure rollout due to the overwhelming addition of iPhone users coming on board. The data use gap between iPhone users vs. non-iPhone devices is amazing. I'm guessing even ATTs best estimate back in the day on iPhone users and data consumption at this point were way off base.

Here in Beloit, WI they are upgrading to 3G on October 2nd 2009 then upgrading to 4G / LTE beginning in November. They have to upgrade the tower with 3G equipment before they can have it go to 4G / LTE. The 4G is just an addon device to the 3G tower hardware.

The information i have is from a good friend at ATT who works in engineering.

[aronmatmike]

As for what i know AT&T is not going to begin to roll out 4G/LTE until sometime in 2010 (trials only.who knows where)-then roll it out in certain markets in 2011. They are just upgrading certain markets cell sites to 3-1/2 G this fall. Which is 7.2mbps. through 2011