Local Wireless Network Upgrade Extends Access to Advanced Products, Services and Applications.
As part of its continuing network investment to support growing demand for advanced mobile devices and applications, AT&T* announced the activation of 3G technology on 28 cell sites in the Champaign-Urbana area that will enhance coverage for residents, businesses, airports and universities in Champaign, De Witt, McLean and Piatt Counties. The communities that will see enhanced coverage include Champaign, Cisco, Farmer City, Le Roy, Monticello, Mahomet, Rantoul, Tolono, Urbana, White Heath and neighboring areas.
The network extension is part of AT&T’s ongoing efforts to drive innovation and investment to deliver the benefits of smartphones and mobile broadband for customers. More smartphone customers have chosen AT&T over any other U.S. competitor, and AT&T is committed to driving continual enhancement of network capabilities to meet these customers’ ever-growing mobile broadband needs.
"This announcement is great news for the local economy and jobs in Champaign-Urbana," said State Sen. Mike Frerichs (D-Champaign). "In this time of economic downturn, the investment in telecommunications networks is driving our economy. In the future, advanced networks will be the economic infrastructure that allows our local businesses to compete and create jobs. We want to ensure that Illinois encourages investment in these networks so our businesses can continue to compete and grow our economy into the future."
“Telecommunications is driving the nation’s economy during this recession, and in the future, advanced telecommunications networks will be the backbone of our economy and will be essential to allowing our businesses to create jobs and economic growth,” said Paul La Schiazza, president, AT&T Illinois. “We appreciate the work of state lawmakers, including Sen. Mike Frerichs and Rep. Naomi Jakobsson, who understand in these tough economic times of high unemployment, Illinois must set policies that create an environment to bring jobs and economic growth to our state.”
AT&T matches its network investment with unsurpassed choice in the range of devices, services and applications compatible with its 3G network – the nation’s fastest, according to independent testing. AT&T offers a wide variety of devices from more than a dozen manufacturers, including handsets that are compatible with six different operating systems and five different e-mail applications. Our Media Mall 2.0 offers more than 90,000 content options, and customers can download additional applications over the Internet. Additionally, AT&T supports a community of more than 20,000 application developers via its devCentral portal.
Recently, AT&T announced plans to further upgrade its 3G network nationwide with HSPA 7.2 technology to deliver considerably faster mobile broadband speeds. The upgrades are planned to begin in the fourth quarter, with completion expected in 2011. Supporting this initiative is AT&T’s ongoing deployment of additional backhaul capacity to cell sites, which will support today’s unprecedented growth in mobile data traffic as well as the future demands of next-generation networks.
“Demand for wireless bandwidth is growing, whether it’s for sharing video and photos with friends, watching a movie, checking the latest scores, or listening to music on a phone, netbook or other mobile devices on the go,” said Kevin Petersen, vice president and general manager for AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets in Illinois. “With this expansion, our customers can continue to ride the leading edge of mobile broadband with emerging devices and thousands of mobile applications.”
AT&T’s 3G mobile broadband network is based on the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) family of technologies that includes GSM and UMTS, the most open and widely used wireless network platforms in the world. AT&T’s 3G network is available in more than 350 major metropolitan areas. AT&T also offers 3G data roaming in more than 100 countries, as well as voice calling in more than 215 countries.
For more information about AT&T’s 3G coverage in Illinois or anywhere in the United States, consumers can visit http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/. The online tool can measure the quality of coverage based on a street address, intersection, ZIP code or even a landmark.
For updates on the AT&T wireless network, please visit www.att.com/networknews.
No comments:
Post a Comment