Bellevue, Wash. — T-Mobile expanded
its HSPA+ data network to almost
50 markets, where a population of 85
million people are capable of receiving
data wirelessly at what the carrier
called 4G speeds.
The carrier said it’s on track to
double the geographic footprint of
its HSPA+ network by year’s end to
100 major metro areas, with a population
of 185 million people. All users in
HSPA+ markets will benefit from the
technology’s full potential because
of investments made in the carrier’s
cell-site connections to the Internet,
the company said.
As part of the rollout, the company
plans summertime availability of its
first HSPA+ phone and pointed out
that 16 of its HSPA-equipped phonesget
a speed boost when used in the
HSPA+ markets, though not to full
HSPA+ speeds.
Current T-Mobile 3G phones have
the potential to double their peak theoretical
speeds to 14.4Mbps, depending
on their processing power, the
carrier previously said.
“T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network now
offers 4G speeds to more people
than any other wireless network in
the country,” claimed Neville Ray, TMobile’s
chief network officer.
Also as part of the expansion, TMobile
widened availability of its two
HSPA+ USB modems to all T-Mobile
stores in its HSPA+ markets. The
newest USB modem is the WebConnect
Rocket 2.0 USB Laptop Stick,
which adds a rotating swiveling form
factor.
