Attention AT&T customers in Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, and along the Front Range…Christmas (Hanuka and/or Kwanza) has come early for you this year thanks to AT&T’s new and improved 850 Mhz Spectrum roll-out across Colorado!
That’s right, Broncos/Rockies/Avalanche/Buffaloes (GO BUFFS!)/Rams/Rapids fans. AT&T has flipped the switch on its 3G network upgrade, (positively?) affecting all the iPhone-toting folks up and down the Colorado Front Range.
According to the press release:
As a result of this upgrade, local customers should experience better 3G wireless connectivity, performance and enhanced in-building wireless coverage. The enhancement also increases network capacity, and is intended to support ever-growing demand for 3G mobile broadband service.
The high-quality 850 MHz spectrum generally results in better in-building coverage. While specific benefits of the additional spectrum will vary by location, AT&T 3G customers should see improved quality and coverage throughout Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, and along the Front Range. AT&T technicians nationwide responsible for monitoring network performance for service quality and coverage have seen significant increases in total 3G data traffic in areas where the 850MHz spectrum has been deployed.
Lucky you, Colorado. First the Broncos start 5-0 for the first time since 1998 (when they won the Superbowl). And now this?!
“Investing in our network across Colorado is critical to serving our customers both in urban and rural areas. We are proud to offer real choices in service, devices and applications with an expanding network to support all of their needs,” said AT&T Colorado President Bill Soards.
If any of you fortunate Coloradans find time between pints of Fat Tire to let us know if/how the upgrade has affected your service, we’d love to hear from ya.
Go Buffs! And Broncos. I live in Lakewood/Denver. I used to get 1 bar of Edge in my Basement. Now I get 5 bars of delicious HSDPA. 850 MHz propagates like a mofo baby!
So have they been turning these updates on slowly, or did it go live today? I can tell you even as recently as yesterday I was getting calls that never rang, voicemail connection issues, and dropped calls.
I seriously spent 2-hours in a Sprint store on Monday looking at phones. I would have gotten the Hero hands down if it wasn’t sooooo slow.
You’re in luck if you liked the Hero. They made it FAST with the new firmware update:
http://gizmodo.com/5358849/htc-hero-firmware-update-available-now-fixes-terrible-sluggishness
As for the addition of 850 MHz, the radio equipment needs to be installed on each tower – i.e. the “upgrades” have been taking place over time.
Cool. I’ll check that out. I was at a store yesterday and it was so slow that it was almost unusable. The Pre was really nice and responsive, but the keyboard was so tiny I couldn’t get any messages off without a lot of effort. I liked the 5MP camera of the Sprint Hero too, plus the bundled TV. It was just like molasses though when trying to use the interface. Plus, Sprint turned out to be $50 per month cheaper than my iPhone plan for the same amount of minutes and unlimited text messages, but with the added TV services. That would easily make up for my cancellation fees I’d have to pay to get rid of them. I use my cellphone as my primary home/business line, and it’s really embarrassing when a customer has been calling me for 20 minutes, or leaving a voicemail that I don’t get for several hours.
That’s bullshit! Of course Denver and Boulder but what about Colorado Springs (where I live)? We got the mountains down here also! Again bullshit!
OK thats nice. Now how about the rest of us? Huh? Huh?
RT
http://www.true-privacy.net.tc
I noticed significantly better reception starting about three weeks ago. I’ve consistently been getting around 1Mbps down and .3Mbps up.
ATT still sucks in the Boulder area, especially along Arapahoe Road, which is the heart of the county. Does this upgrade include those of us who aren’t on 3G because we’ve been waiting to upgrade our phones until we can get off of ATT and back to Verizon where we can actually make calls?
I live in north boulder and used to get NO SERVICE at my house. Could not make or receive calls. As of about a week ago, I now hover between 2 and 5 bars and am able to make and hold calls pretty well. Still seeing some wierdness where I cannot always get a txt or mms out even when I have good signal, and also sometimes see the signal drop to 0 or 1 bar for a few mins and then come back. Overall it is a huge improvement.
Ive honestly never had the same level of issues as others in Boulder, but now even those are gone…
I’ve noticed some improvements in the area too… but I’ve only recently turned my 3G back on to test it out. I usually have 3G and WIFI off to conserve battery power.
Wow, the iPhone can made calls?
Service in Boulder is better, have not dropped a call in the last week, where before it was 3-4 a week.
Still seeing dropped calls along both the I25 and I70 corridor in the denver area. Contract expires in 4 months. Hello Verison!