During the Mobile World Congress in February, AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega gave a
detailed outline on where AT&T is headed in terms of expanding their network. He touched briefly on a number of things, including their intentions of upgrading the speed of their 3G network from 3.6 Mbit/s to 7.2Mbit/s and beyond during the next couple of years. According to
AppleInsider, Apple wants AT&T to have some of those upgrades done before the next-gen iPhone launches in June.
It's obvious that Apple doesn't want to deal with network issues, including lawsuits, during the next-gen iPhone launch. Before the first iPhone launched, AT&T attempted to expand their EDGE coverage and speed. Before the second iPhone launched, AT&T attempted to expand its 3G coverage and speed. Do you see where this is going? Now, with the rumored third iPhone launch, AT&T is expected to do an even better job improving their network.
To utilize the faster 7.2Mbit/s speeds, the iPhone hardware would need to be updated since the current iPhone 3G only supports a maximum speed of 3.6Mbit/s. Of course with the rumored next-gen iPhone hardware, those speeds are feasible. AT&T has also ordered new Juniper routers that can handle higher data throughputs, and Apple is already evaluating some of these network upgrades.
According to AppleInsider's sources, AT&T will be installing and testing the rest of the equipment over the next two months in preparation for the next-gen iPhone launch. Apple has reportedly set a deadline to complete these upgrades and to have them tested no later than May 31st.
Things could get interesting for the next-gen iPhone launch, from a network standpoint. Reports have indicated that about half of the mobile data traffic AT&T handles comes from the iPhone. With the next-gen iPhone release, some sources say AT&T could, "expect [to] see 10 times as much data traffic as they are now experiencing." Eesh.
Hopefully all of this preparation works out and the network doesn't come crashing down the day the next-gen iPhone is released.
