More 3G In The US Starting Next Week
from the wires?--who-needs-wires? dept
Back in February we noted that, even after the acquisition announcement from Cingular, AT&T Wireless was still required to launch 3G service in four cities by the end of the year, or be forced to pay back the $6 billion NTT DoCoMo gave them. So, it's no surprise to hear that AT&T Wireless is on track to have four cities launched by the end of the year. They have $6 billion riding on it, after all. However, the surprise news may be that such service could launch next week. The four cities in question are San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix and Detroit, and the pricing isn't quite as ridiculous as you might expect. Following the $80 rule, they're offering business users unlimited 3G data at $80/month. For consumers, though, the price is a more Sprint-like $25/month. They'll apparently be supporting two phones and a datacard for laptops, though, it seems likely that the datacard will only work on one of those $80/month business plans. Speeds should be slightly slower than Verizon's EV-DO offering (only available in San Diego and DC right now), but should still be fairly useful in the 200 kbps to 300 kbps range. The question remains, though, if the combined Cingular/AT&T Wireless will build off of this offering, or if they're just doing it to save the $6 billion. Such a network is a lot more useful when coverage is nationwide, instead of four (or two) random cities.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
