AT&T to upgrade network, but San Francisco, NY iPhone users are out of luck

September 9, 2009 | Anthony Ha | Comments | |

angry-cell-phoneAfter constant complaints about the crummy service on its 3G network (a problem linked to its exclusive support for the iPhone), AT&T just announced that it’s boosting network speed in six cities. This is great news — assuming you don’t live in San Francisco or New York.

AT&T says it’s rolling out support for the High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 7.2 technology in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and Miami by the end of this year. Presumably, AT&T is holding off on San Francisco and New York despite the concentration of iPhone owners because the terrain makes network coverage difficult. The mobile carrier says it will bring the increased speeds associated with HSPA 7.2 to 25 of the top 30 markets by the end of 2010.

Meanwhile, many predict Apple won’t renew its exclusive deal with AT&T, which ends next year. Personally, if AT&T doesn’t improve San Francisco speeds by then, I’m definitely going to want to switch to another network. In the meantime, iPhone users near AT&T Park in San Francisco (including everyone at the VentureBeat office) can expect conversations to continue to include this exchange:

“I can’t hear you!”

“Sorry, I’m on my iPhone!”

“Oh, well, that explains it.”

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About the Author, Anthony Ha

Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on enterprise technology, cloud computing, and tech policy. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.

  • Alex
    Have you ever thought that problem probably is in your phone itself, not in AT&T network? Strangely enough, I have 3 headsets, one of them 3G (HTC Kaiser) and never had any connectivity problems in Bay Area including the Ball Park. That's easy to blame somebody or something, much harder to understand why thing is as it is, because a) you must have expertise and proper education, b) spend some time on research. Writing for blogs is much easier. 5-10 minutes and you're done.
  • Yes, clearly it's just a problem with my iPhone; http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/technology/co...
  • Danny Lesandrini
    I agree with Alex. My only complaint with the iPhone is coverage. "Fewer bars in more places." In the article you reference, Jenna Wortham loses me in the 3rd paragraph by blaming "spotty service" on user bandwidth demand. It just doesn't wash. I didn't need to read the remaining 25 paragraphs. She lost credibility, as have you.