Sick of only having EDGE

**ljfnky** · 04-04-2012, 01:40 AM

Eastern Kentucky is in despite need of network upgrade! Just having edge with a few bars isn't cutting it :banghead:

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**ggore** · 04-04-2012, 05:29 AM

I feel for you. There are many Many MANY areas of the U.S. in the same boat. AT&T just has not kept up with Verizon in upgrading their entire system to at least 3G service. AT&T has more irons (technology versions) in the fire than Verizon does, and is struggling with rolling them out, with no one version having been completely rolled out to the entire country yet. There is always hope, though. I got tired of waiting and switched, but if that's not an option, then you're just up the proverbial creek and get ready for people to tell you to just move. I always laugh at that suggestion.

**Jordan T** · 04-04-2012, 02:03 PM

Think you got enough many's? Dude, no matter how often you say it you cannot compare AT&T and Verizon's 3G deployment speed. EVDO was an upgrade. UMTS is a whole new network. You CAN look at Verizon's shockingly fast LTE deployment though, that's a whole new network. And darn impressive so far.

And there are not many areas of AT&T's network that still are only GSM. AT&T themselves in their latest report said "virtually 100%" of their network is HSPA+. I didn't think it was high enough to count as virtually 100%, and I wonder if they meant virtually 100% of their UMTS network, not of their network. But honestly, it wouldn't shock me if over 99% of their network is UMTS. My own rough guess was more like 97-98%. Remember, the LARGE swaths of GSM only coverage are served by relatively few sites.

**TWX** · 04-04-2012, 02:21 PM

I called AT&T today to see if there were any updates as to when all the EDGE sites in northern MI would be upgraded to UMTS and literally got no where. However, they did credit me $120 because EDGE is literally useless around here. I was told (again) that by the end of 2012, AT&T's entire network would be overhauled with UMTS. I still haven't seen a single new 3G site go live in northern MI, so hopefully something big will happen soon, otherwise I doubt that I'll have 3G by the end of the year.

**ggore** · 04-04-2012, 04:45 PM

Originally Posted by Mark Uhde

And there are not many areas of AT&T's network that still are only GSM. AT&T themselves in their latest report said "virtually 100%" of their network is HSPA+. I didn't think it was high enough to count as virtually 100%, and I wonder if they meant virtually 100% of their UMTS network, not of their network. But honestly, it wouldn't shock me if over 99% of their network is UMTS. My own rough guess was more like 97-98%. Remember, the LARGE swaths of GSM only coverage are served by relatively few sites.

If 99% of AT&T's coverage us UMTS, then by definition 99% must be 3G, since UMTS is an upgrade of 3G, and HSDPA, HSPA and HSPA+ are all upgrades to UMTS. But if all that is true, then why is so much of AT&T's territory listed on their coverage maps in light blue, which they define in the legend as EDGE?

There are definitely two different levels of service in the area shown on the top graphic below. In the light blue-indicated areas I was getting 2-2.5 Mbps on Speedtest max, anywhere I went, running several different tests everywhere I travel for work. And my iPhone would show EDGE. In the one city with the darker blue I would get 4-6 Mbps and the iPhone would display 3G. That is the only place in that entire area that my old AT&T iPhone would display 3G. I hear from friends who have the new iPhone that that one city now shows 4G. Therefore I must assume that the two differently indicated areas of coverage are two different technologies or speeds or whatever you want to call it, and based on what AT&T shows on their website, I must assume, since it says so on the site, that the light blue is EDGE and the darker blue is 3G/HSPA+/EB or to lump them all together "4G" as indicator does on the iPhone 4S running iOS 5.

Since only 4 sites in that one city are the only place indicated with the darker blue in the northwest quarter of Oklahoma, I think anyone would agree that the vast majority of the area shown is EDGE. And so again, AT&T definitely does not have 99% of their territory there covered with 3G.

Attachment 80386

Attachment 80387

I think just these light blue areas, native AT&T, not the striped roaming zones, not to mention the other light blue areas all around the country, make up quite a bit more than 1% of AT&T's service area. Texas makes up 7% of the land area of the U.S. including Alaska, and I'd guess more than half here is shown in light blue.

**Jordan T** · 04-04-2012, 04:51 PM

UMTS *is* 3G, the original, not an upgrade. HSPA modes are simply upgraded versions of UMTS. Did you read what I said to the end? I'll quote myself:

"Remember, the LARGE swaths of GSM only coverage are served by relatively few sites."

**Guest 214** · 04-04-2012, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by Mark Uhde

Think you got enough many's? Dude, no matter how often you say it you cannot compare AT&T and Verizon's 3G deployment speed. EVDO was an upgrade. UMTS is a whole new network. You CAN look at Verizon's shockingly fast LTE deployment though, that's a whole new network. And darn impressive so far.

And there are not many areas of AT&T's network that still are only GSM. AT&T themselves in their latest report said "virtually 100%" of their network is HSPA+. I didn't think it was high enough to count as virtually 100%, and I wonder if they meant virtually 100% of their UMTS network, not of their network. But honestly, it wouldn't shock me if over 99% of their network is UMTS. My own rough guess was more like 97-98%. Remember, the LARGE swaths of GSM only coverage are served by relatively few sites.

Verizon's EVDO network run's essentially 100% separate from the CDMA 1X network. And they have done upgrades to EVDO like from Rel. 0 to Revision A.

And I just can't see any reasoning why AT&T doesn't have near 100% 3G like Verizon... Equipment availability sure isn't the problem because look at Verizon Pioneering a technology that is literally just out of the oven this quick.

It proves AT&T could be long done with freakin' 3G by now.

**ggore** · 04-04-2012, 07:30 PM

Originally Posted by Mark Uhde

UMTS *is* 3G, the original, not an upgrade. HSPA modes are simply upgraded versions of UMTS. Did you read what I said to the end? I'll quote myself:

"Remember, the LARGE swaths of GSM only coverage are served by relatively few sites."

Oh, I get it now. You're saying that 99% of AT&T's NETWORK/SITES, not the TERRITORY. So those vast areas that are still EDGE are only covered by 1% of the sites/towers. Got it. That is no consolation to the people living in those areas, though. And if there are so few sites that serve that vast area, that really begs the question even more as to WHY they haven't been or are being upgraded???

**Jordan T** · 04-04-2012, 08:03 PM

Backhaul. Upgrading very rural sites requires backhaul investment that is one - sometimes hard to get (unless they're microwave backhaul) and two - expensive for something serving very minimal population.

**Guest 214** · 04-04-2012, 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by Mark Uhde

Backhaul. Upgrading very rural sites requires backhaul investment that is one - sometimes hard to get (unless they're microwave backhaul) and two - expensive for something serving very minimal population.

How does Verizon do it? Still, excuses excuses... None are valid.

**Guest 214** · 04-04-2012, 08:37 PM

Originally Posted by ggore

Oh, I get it now. You're saying that 99% of AT&T's NETWORK/SITES, not the TERRITORY. So those vast areas that are still EDGE are only covered by 1% of the sites/towers. Got it. That is no consolation to the people living in those areas, though. And if there are so few sites that serve that vast area, that really begs the question even more as to WHY they haven't been or are being upgraded???

Way more than 1% of AT&T's network is GSM only.

**justinkk2005** · 04-04-2012, 09:38 PM

Originally Posted by ljfnky

Eastern Kentucky is in despite need of network upgrade! Just having edge with a few bars isn't cutting it :banghead:

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I PM'd you man. I have great 3G speeds and I live in the most eastern part of Kentucky you can get with at&t. (Pikeville). They built 2 new cell sites just in the past year here. Literally constructed two new towers.

**Jordan T** · 04-04-2012, 10:32 PM

Originally Posted by LTE Fever

How does Verizon do it? Still, excuses excuses... None are valid.

Actually, Verizon does still have some rural cdmaOne (2G CDMA, dunno if it's even 1X) territory, very little though compared to AT&T's GSM-only. And are you positive way more than 1% of AT&T's network is GSM-only? AT&T said "virtually 100%" of their network is HSPA+. I was shocked, but I'm far from positive it's untrue. When you consider cell density in say, New York City, compared to any of the GSM-only areas, it's very possible 99% is HSPA+. I was guessing closer to somewhere between 95-98%, but still, that's close to 100% too...

**Guest 214** · 04-04-2012, 11:17 PM

Originally Posted by Mark Uhde

Actually, Verizon does still have some rural cdmaOne (2G CDMA, dunno if it's even 1X) territory, very little though compared to AT&T's GSM-only. And are you positive way more than 1% of AT&T's network is GSM-only? AT&T said "virtually 100%" of their network is HSPA+. I was shocked, but I'm far from positive it's untrue. When you consider cell density in say, New York City, compared to any of the GSM-only areas, it's very possible 99% is HSPA+. I was guessing closer to somewhere between 95-98%, but still, that's close to 100% too...

Verizon's entire network is 1X, not IS-95B. That was ridden of when Alltel integrations were completed.

I am very positive more than just 1% is GSM.. I have seen some *numbers*..

I think what they meant was virtually 100% of their 3G network is HSPA+ capable. Not their entire network.

**TWX** · 04-24-2012, 01:24 PM

I am so sick and tired of EDGE!!!!

For the past two weeks it's been completely unusable at my house. I have called CS and opened a trouble ticket to solve the issue on the cell site earlier last week. They called me a day after and said "there is nothing wrong with the tower, are you still having problems?" Um yes, I am because it is still broken. Then they got back to me today and said "well, it looks like that tower by your house has congestion problems, so the data will be slow because of that." Oh. Thank you for telling me AT&T rep. They go on to say that the data will always be slow because of the overload problem, but do not mention that they even are looking into fixing it. They just jumped off the subject and asked if I needed anything else fixed. I reiterate that I would like the tower to have usable EDGE or 3G. They said nothing.

I have no idea how the tower can have congestion problems because I live in a very rural area. I do speed tests at midnight or later and still have 10-20Kbps down and 1-10Kbps up.