AT&T 3G network upgrades underway; 7.2 Mbps HSDPA ahead of new iPhone launch

AT&T VP of technology realization Scott McElroy today reaffirmed plans for the carrier to double the theoretical peak speeds for its 3G service to 7.2Mbps this year. The update is still in a two-city trial but, the executive tells Telephony Online, and should roll out through a software upgrade to many of AT&T’s existing 3G areas within the next few months. Expansion will also come with both more 850MHz 3G coverage as well as an infrastructure upgrade (mentioned to Electronista earlier this month) to bolster capacity in key areas.

McElroy also notes that AT&T is now likely to shelve plans to upgrade to 14.4Mbps standard HSPA and will instead move directly to its 20Mbps HSPA+ network. Official specifications for standard HSPA would allow up to 14.4Mbps but have proven difficult to implement in practice; the company is close enough to implementing HSPA+ that it makes more technical sense to jump directly to that standard. Moving to the faster technology will let AT&T “dramatically” boost capacity without too many hardware upgrades and should additionally bring an all-Internet Protocol infrastructure behind the scenes, making it easier and less expensive to roll out than existing 3G.

The mention of a capacity upgrade indirectly supports recent investigations which suggest AT&T is near launching a major network upgrade that would give faster speeds and better capacity just in time for the release of the third-generation iPhone. Observers expect the handset itself to support 7.2Mbps 3G through a new chipset and that it may have new services that justify the upgrade.

source:electronista

AirPort Extreme Base Station reviewed

This is an excerpt taken from macworld.

There are two different kinds of newness in the Airport Extreme: firmware (software) and hardware. On the firmware front, Apple has added the ability to connect over the Internet to any drive plugged into the USB port on the back of the AirPort Extreme. (Both current and previous-generation AirPort Extremes get this new feature.) Simply enter your MobileMe credentials in the MobileMe preference pane on the Airport Extreme (a MobileMe account is required for this feature; be aware that an e-mail-only MobileMe account won’t get you Back to My Mac functionality) and you can access the attached drive via any Mac running Leopard that has Back to My Mac enabled with that same MobileMe account. In my testing, this feature worked well, but is highly dependent on the network conditions. A tightly controlled network (in an office, say) might have the ports that Back to My Mac needs blocked off, but the feature should work in most public hot spots.

The hardware additions are more numerous, but you wouldn’t know it from the outside of the unit. The casing hasn’t changed a bit, nor have the ports on the back. What have changed are the radios inside. The AirPort Extreme now has two Wi-Fi radios, which enable a feature called simultaneous dual-band. Basically, the AirPort Extreme sets up two different 802.11n (Draft N) networks: a 5GHz-band network only for newer Macs, and a 2.4GHz-band network required for older devices that use 802.11b and 802.11g protocols (802.11n can use either band). Computers, iPhones, and other devices connect to whichever network they are compatible with. That means devices which include support for the fast 5GHz-band will always use that band when appropriate.

For the complete review, hit the link below.

source:macworld