Upgrades to AT&T towers could improve service on football Saturdays
Dropped calls are expected to be on the decline and mobile Internet speed on the way up on football Saturdays in Ann Arbor for AT&T customers.
The company says upgrades at its seven towers serving the Ann Arbor area will improve mobile Internet and voice connectivity services.
Jermaine Spight, AT&T public relations manager for the area, equated the upgrades to doubling the number of lanes on a highway.
"The goal is that on game days and during the school year, when there's the most people using the network, there will be fewer dropped calls, faster connectivity and uploads and downloads can happen quicker," Spight said.
The network upgrade adds new layers of frequency to the seven cell towers, which Spight said will double the workload each is able to handle.
"Doubling the capacity around the area should certainly have a substantial effect as far as amount of data transfer and speed, and speed of call connectivity," said telecommunications expert Ray Horak.
But doubling the capacity won't necessarily lead to half the number of dropped calls or mobile Internet speeds that are twice as fast. More people having faster connections means they'll use their smart phones more. Plus, on heavy traffic days such as football Saturdays, more capacity still might be needed.
"If you doubled the size of a two-lane highway and what you needed was an eight-lane highway, than it wouldn't do much," said Horak, borrowing Spight's analogy. State Sen. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, said the upgrades will be good for the business community.
"Families and entrepreneurs in Ann Arbor will be better connected than ever before thanks to enhanced mobile Internet wireless capacity being deployed today by AT&T," Warren said in a press release. "As a region that has been at the forefront of technological advances and building a new economy in Michigan, these enhancements will ensure that Ann Arbor continues to be a leader in high-tech job creation for years to come."
Contact Pete Cunningham at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.
Comments
A2Momx2
Fri, Apr 27, 2012 : 9:29 p.m.
What about upgrading the service at the new Mott hospital. Service there is poor for employees and patients.
Palms
Mon, Apr 30, 2012 : 7:29 p.m.
Verizon tells me their service will go live at Children's and Women's hospital this week. 4/30/12
Frustrated in A2
Fri, Apr 27, 2012 : 4:43 p.m.
This year my service was better at the football games, I'm looking forward to it getting better. AT&T has made some changes over the last few years, I don't get failed calls like I used to. Please keep up the improvements AT&T.
Palms
Mon, Apr 30, 2012 : 7:41 p.m.
Verizon made substantial capacity enhancements inside the U-M stadium last year. This week, 4/30/12, Verizon will be going live with additional coverage throughout the U-M athletic campus. (The infrastructures that provide coverage and capacity inside and outside the stadium are largely separate.)
Red Floyd
Fri, Apr 27, 2012 : 12:19 p.m.
We've had AT&T mobile service for over five years. It USED to be good here in town. About a year ago, it became awful!!! There are some days my cell phone is nearly useless. Of course AT&T SAYS they're going to improve their service - what else would they say? No company would ever admit, "well...our service will continue to remain in the poor-to-mediocre range for the next few years." Actions speak louder than words! Until the service improves, I don't believe a word they say. Additionally, AT&T has millions of customers like us, grandfathered into unlimited data plans, which they now like to "throttle" when "too much" data has been used in a month. You now receive a text message if you're approaching 3GB of data used in one month, warning, that if you'll be throttled if you use more. "Throttling" is where they slow the receiving speed of your mobile device to a near-standstill. Imagine turning on your faucet, and filling up your glass one drip at a time. The bottom line is...AT&T is currently a much WORSE company that the other evil options, so anyone choosing a cellular service company right now, DO NOT CHOOSE AT&T!
A2comments
Fri, Apr 27, 2012 : 12:02 p.m.
"Families and entrepreneurs in Ann Arbor will be better connected than ever before thanks to enhanced mobile Internet wireless capacity being deployed today by AT&T," Warren said in a press release. "As a region that has been at the forefront of technological advances and building a new economy in Michigan, these enhancements will ensure that Ann Arbor continues to be a leader in high-tech job creation for years to come." And she did what exactly?
Sparty
Fri, Apr 27, 2012 : 10:52 a.m.
Very poorly written. When does the change take place?