AT&T customers with LTE-enabled smartphones may have noticed a new icon for their 4G service — 4G LTE.
The telecom is switching its Juneau broadband service to Long Term Evolution at some as yet unknown date. However, AT&T spokesperson Andy Colley said tests would continue until rollout.
"AT&T has not officially launched 4G LTE in Juneau," Colley said. "We've been actively testing 4G LTE in Juneau for several days, and customers with 4G LTE-capable devices may have seen areas where 4G LTE was live on their phone."
LTE is considered a step up in speed from its current HSPA+ broadband technology. HSPA+ bridged AT&T's 3G network to long term evolution.
AT&T recently announced it made $650 million in investments across Alaska since 2010. Some of those dollars were spent in Juneau. AT&T's ongoing tests of its new LTE system come courtesy of nearly 25 wireless network upgrades in Juneau in 2012, Colley said.
Customers are encouraged to comment as the tests take affect.
For more information on or to comment about AT&T's LTE rollout in Juneau visit www.corp.att.com/alaska.
• Contact reporter Russell Stigall at 523-2276 or at russell.stigall@juneauempire.com.
Comments (13)
Add commentI've been noticing a lot of
I've been noticing a lot of cell towers going up lately.
Me too
Saw another one staged on the ground on Industrial Blvd last time I was down there.
I wonder if there'll come a point when broadband will match the wi-fi in my house and I can dump my DSL?
Towers and bandwidth
The towers are being installed for (notice I didn't say by) Verizon. For the most part they have chosen to locate their own towers versus locate on existing towers.
As to dropping your DSL, the problem with this thought is that while LTE will provide much higher *potential* speeds on your phone (at least right now), there is a limited amount of bandwidth available per antennae on the tower. If you're the only one in range of that antennae then you'll have the full bandwidth. If there are two of you using that bandwidth at the same time, then you'll get half, and so on. There are also a host of other technical issues that go along with any shared bandwidth system that will reduce those speeds as well.
Well tebu it sounds like
Well tebu it sounds like Verizon wants to buy out ACS cellular, but part of the deal was them providing upgraded infrastructure...or I guess I could be wrong.
Verizon and ACS
Verizon is not buying out ACS Wireless. ACS Wireless and GCI Wireless are combining to become a single entity, Alaska Wireless Network. See the following story from the Juneau Empire for more details.
http://juneauempire.com/state/2012-06-05/gci-alaska-communications-team-...
LTE
i got LTE on my Samsung Galaxy S III
Verizon WILL buy ACS
Look at Anchorage real estate. Verizon is investing in Alaska's future.
Is Juneau Empire favoring AT&T?
Wondering why the Empire published this? Me too.
Press release
Sounds like a press release to me. = free advertising
Saw it kicked in
Wednesday night, I believe. Finally, Juneau has arrived!
Battery life
Has anyone noticed a reduced battery life on your phone as a result of the LTE service? I sure have ...
AT&T
AT&T has done little in the smaller markets that they have a hand in.
Although they are more than happy to sell you a 3 or 4G and now 4LTE phone, they still do not provide the service that these phones need to perform in most areas. Its all about gaining money to them.
My phone, for example (galaxy S2), will more than likely "time out" before I can log on to "facebook" while at the same time taking a chunk out of my allowable data usage that I pay for leading to double frustration for me.
What this does for AT&T is able them to charge you for additional MB's which you can do little about unless your contract is met and suddenly you have become a "preferred customer" to which they will be more than happy to adjust your bill. lmao..
I am very surprised that our beloved RCA or FCC (who ever oversees this) allows this kind of stuff to happen allowing so much money to be sucked out of this state in the name of this garbage. I guess if they suck up to the big 3 cities in Alaska all is well.
Abby - Battery question
Yes, on my iPhone 5 I noticed that when LTE was kicked in, my battery was draining at a faster rate. Of course, your phone only consumes that data if you have services on to use it. So - there are other contributing factors.