AT&T: 20Mbps Wireless By 2009 > a joke

a joke

my thoughts precisely.
Two things to carefully consider:
a) Does this come with the magic 5 gig cap?
b) What kind of backhaul is this using? Like patcat points out, it sure as hell won't reach 20 Megs/customer unless the backhaul is at LEAST a T3/OC fiber. Even then, you'll reach the full/close to full speed probably only when you're online at midnight.
Finally, I can't imagine how much the actual tethering options cost, as 20 Megs to the PHONE is utterly worthless, unless you have a reasonably-priced tethering plan.
AT&T should, IMHO, concentrate on pushing Rev1 HSDPA to more areas already. Even with such superior 3g phones as the I-Phone, their 3G coverage is n epic failure.

reply to patcat88
God forbid they offer something lower, someone might get shot up in this joint. Can't ever be satisfied huh?

well, I think I'm raising perfectly genuine questions here. If half of AT&T's network is EDGE, with 3g spotty at best, how can we expect 20 Meg speeds for a reasonable price in the near future. At least first get HSDPA and Re-Verse in order, then you can worry about 20 Meg speeds. And no, I have absolutely no interest in 20M speeds to my PHONE, no thanks. And a 5-gig, heck, even a 10-gig cap is laughable for a 20-meg connection. It was OK on EDGE, as few could possibly spend that long on EDGE. But 3g? HELL no!!!

Isn't AT&T's cap more of a technicality that isn't really enforced? Or am I confusing them with someone else?

reply to a333
You think your 49.95 monthly bill is going to cover about 5K worth of gear not including recurring monthly costs just so they can put HSDPA and fiber to the tower?

Let's not forget that the guy who needs to install it is charging a good hundred by the hour for insurance purposes in case he falls installing the bastard up there.

All I read on this forum is gimme gimme gimme, without realizing it takes time and money to upgrade these networks to handle the capacity to increase the speeds in the last mile.

Also fiber is not the only solution there is to providing broadband for a tower, there are other means which can be just if not better than current installation by microwave, DSL, cable, and other types of backhaul solutions which affect latency, network speed and overall performance per users on each tower.

AT&T is massive and has the capacity to do the following but with the current market conditions deploying new technologies is a risk if the price to deploy and the amount of return is insufficient which could jeopardize the companies performance in other markets and services.

The reason why I believe WiMAX is the ticket is not just because of the speed but the price of the hardware. There have already been reports and information that the radios for WiMAX for the consumer base are a mere 50 dollars at max and could be installed in a wide variety of applications.

Caps will be better off in the current market conditions as tiers can be set for specific amount of data usage and types of deployments. For home based installations which are fixed pipes can be unlimited but offer 4-6mbps while tier services provide 10-20mbps speeds with only a consumption of 20-40GB per month for standard users opening the available consumer market at a lower or per GB.

Also this is simply radio technology and these networks have surpassed their current actual needs. It's no longer about voice but data, and if companies can recreate the last mile, they will do it with wireless because it eliminates a whole different amount of cost and problems. This is not about getting 20Mbps to your phone, this is about creating a wireless internet that is capable to deliver on the go and wherever you go at a price that is currently set in the market.

Don't expect it to be cheap or reasonably priced though because such a thing does not exist in this world especially with a devalued dollar.