AT&T Completes 3G Coverage Upgrades in New York

From PC World: AT&T customers in New York City are no strangers to complaining about the quality of the carrier's 3G service. Wireless coverage has been particularly problematic in several metropolitan areas across the United States, thanks to a deadly combination of data-hungry smartphones like the iPhone, high population density, and tall buildings, which can be detrimental to the high frequencies used by 3G communications.

It seems, however, that Big Apple residents may get some respite from its network woes: AT&T has announced the completion of an ambitious plan to improve both the capacity and efficiency of its service.

Targeted specifically at smartphone users, the plan includes both hardware and software upgrades to AT&T's cellular infrastructure. Most of Manhattan and some other location in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens now sport towers that have been equipped to transmit in the 850MHz frequency spectrum, which the company says provides higher performance.

The cells' connections to AT&T's central offices, called backhauls, have also been replaced to allow for faster transmission rates, while the software that runs the cellular switches themselves has been upgraded to support HSPA, whose data rates can reach of up to 7.2Mbps on compatible devices, as part of a nationwide initiative.

The upgrades also include moves aimed at taking the stress off of the 3G frequencies in locations that regularly see a large concentration of mobile users. For example, AT&T has installed a Wi-Fi hotspot in Times Square, which has one of the largest amount of pedestrian traffic in the world. Since AT&T smartphone customers can access the hotspot for free, its availability will help alleviate some of the congestion on the 3G frequencies.

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