Northeast Lower MI 3G? [ Edited ]

[Tpeltz]

AT&T has 3G lit up along the entire west side of the state. However, the entire east side is still on the extremely slow EDGE network. I can't even perform a speed test via the SpeedTest.Net app on my iPhone. 

Are there any plans in 2012 to specifically expand 3G service in the following areas:

Alpena, MI (49707)

Rogers City, MI (49779)

Cheboygan, MI (49721)

[Ann154]

I doubt any of the regular customers know since this is a customer peer to peer forum. Rumors maybe. Cold hard facts, not so much.

[Maxsilver]

There are no announced plans to add any 3G within Michigan at this time ( AT&T has basically put the entire existing network on hold while they try to figure out LTE )

[belome]

I doubt it will happen anytime soon.  The west side just has more money.

[Tpeltz]

Wow. I wish the AT&T's customers on the northeast side were as valuable as the one on the west side. It is sad if this is how they decide where to put 3G. Verizon has had 3G here for the past 3 years. No excuse. 

[belome]

I know, it is pretty absurd.  I have a cabin in Frederick and half the time I can't even post a picture to FB because the network is so slow.

I work 20 minutes from Lansing and it to is on the Edge network.

A brand new tower on my route home was built a year ago and its on the Edge network, that is just inexcusable to me.

[Lewyman]

I have a place in Lewiston and talked to a tech that said the Verizon tower there was backhualed with fiber quite a while ago when they constructed the Central Office for the DSL and many of the other Verizon towers up there are on fiber. On the flip side, many of the ATT towers in the north are still on copper lines (non T-1's) that is why there hasn't been a 3G rollout yet in the northeast. ATT is trying hard and spending lots of $ to build out their network, but the bottom line is they need to backhual those towers with fiber which they are doing....slowly. There is a very good chance you folks in the northern areas will see Verizon LTE before seeing ATT 3/4G.

[Tpeltz]

Yeah it's a bummer AT&T hasn't run T1 to all their towers. The Verizon tower near my hosue has fiber backhaul. However, I talked to a AT&T RAN engineer a few weeks ago who works out of TC & he said that northeast michigan will have 3G by the end of the year. AT&T also has told the FCC in a leaked document that they plan to have blanket their entire mobile network with HSPA+ by the end of 2012. Furthermore, I called AT&T customer care a few days ago & they told me exactly which towers were going to get 3G, when it should be live, and even what address the tower was on. Rogers City will have 3G by March 21st, outlying areas around July 15th. 

[belome]

---

Tpeltz wrote:

I called AT&T customer care a few days ago & they told me exactly which towers were going to get 3G, when it should be live, and even what address the tower was on. Rogers City will have 3G by March 21st, outlying areas around July 15th. 

---

I sure wouldn't hold your breath on this one...

On the bright side, I was in TC last weekend and it was nice to actually have 3G for a change while traveling north.

[Tpeltz]

---

belome wrote:

---

Tpeltz wrote:

I called AT&T customer care a few days ago & they told me exactly which towers were going to get 3G, when it should be live, and even what address the tower was on. Rogers City will have 3G by March 21st, outlying areas around July 15th. 

---

I sure wouldn't hold your breath on this one...

On the bright side, I was in TC last weekend and it was nice to actually have 3G for a change while traveling north.

---

I know, I'm probably getting my hopes up for nothing. We'll see. If AT&T doesn't have their EDGE areas to 3G by the end of this year, it really confirms that they don't care at all about their 2G customers. It's so aggrivating to see the commercials about how fast 4G is, then looking at my phone that is using a wireless technology 2 generations behind... get it together AT&T. It should be embarrasing. 

[belome]

I gave up hope when they put up a brand new tower near here and it on the edge network. 

[Tpeltz]

I drove up to my home serving cell a few days ago and to my surprise saw a new backhaul station set up. They must have installed this late last summer or early fall. It has fiber or ethernet backhaul coming in from Frontier. A good sign that 3G may be on the horizon.

[Lewyman]

Great News!!!!!!  I discovered on another forum a link to an FCC website in which AT&T has filed applications for several tower upgrades in northern Michigan which were approved this past march, 2012. Searching further within this site it contains a proposed coverage map from engineering and a detailed dispcription of the equipment which includes Powerwave dual band broadband antennas. The coverage area is pretty much in the entire northeast part of the state including: Rogers City, Alpena, Mio, Fairview, Grayling, Gaylord, Cheboygan, Posen, Curran, Luzerne, and many more. It looks like this is the smoking gun which confirms AT&T's plans to rollout 3G/HSPA+ in northern Michigan Here is the link: http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/applLocSum.jsp?applID=6526444&pageNumToReturn=1

[Tpeltz]

Lewyman, I post that link on Wireless Advisor and Howard Forums a few months ago. It does seem like that would be the smoking gun. However, I checked out the cell site (location #3) and it looks like this site will be staying with Omni directional antennas. This is my home cell site. Omni antennas do not have as good of coverage or capacity for handling calls and data traffic.

[Lewyman]

@Tpeltz.    What do the antenna's up by you look like?  If they are tall and narrow, white or grayish in color, and are slightly convex on the outside then I'm pretty sure they are Powerwave dual band broadband antenna's which is what they have installed on the towers downstate here by me.  My guess is if you are in the Rogers City/Alpena area and get decent cell/Edge coverage now you should be sitting good because there will be many other towers being upgraded than what is shown on that FCC website. One bit of advice for everyone.....despite what AT&T (retail store) might tell you, an LTE equipped phone runs faster on HSPA+ than a non LTE 4G phone. I have the HTC Vivid (LTE) and my brother n law has the HTC Inspire(H+). With our phones side by side running on speedtest.net, my download speeds are almost twice as fast on the Vivid no matter where we go.   Good luck to you and **PLEASE** post a reply when you get 3G/4G service up there. When service is upgraded older phones will display 3G and newer phones will display 4G or H+.

[Tpeltz]

The antennas in my area vary. The cell site that serves my house has two 15 foot omni-directional black antennas. These are old antennas, from the early 2000's. Other cell sites in my area use directional (sectorized) arrays. However, keep in mind that antennas do not *need* to be replaced when upgrading to 3G/HSPA+. AT&T can be very cheap and simply switch out the base station and make a minor upgrade to the cell site backhaul to get 3G running.