Verizon, AT&T Upgrade Their Networks

Two U.S. carriers have been upgrading their cellular-wireless networks to provide faster data transfers. Verizon has completed its move to EV-DO Rev. A, while AT&T has increased the speed of its EDGE network.

Verizon

Verizon Wireless announced recently that all of its EV-DO network across the United States has been enhanced to Revision A technology. This increases the the theoretical download speed of this service from 2.5 Mbit/sec to 3.1 Mbit/sec. Data can be uploaded at up to 1.8 Mbit/sec.

In order to take advantage of this faster network, though, Verizon users will have to upgrade their equipment. For smartphone users, that generally means buying a new device, and this carrier doesn't currently offer any models with EV-DO Rev. A support.

However, that could change soon. Verizon is expected to introduce a version of the HTC Mogul later this month, which will either support Rev. A at launch or be upgradeable to support it later this year.

Sprint, the other U.S. carrier with an extensive EV-DO network, is in the process of upgrading it to Rev. A.

AT&T

Although it has made no formal announcement, many users have noticed a speed increase using AT&T's EDGE network.

Most people classify EDGE as a 2.5G cellular-wireless networking technology, so it's significantly slower than a 3G technology like EV-DO. Nevertheless, it's still widely used by smartphone users, including those with Apple's iPhone.

And many suspect that the iPhone is the reason for this speed boost. For quite some time now, AT&T has paid little attention to its EDGE network, instead preferring to emphasize its 3G network, which uses HSDPA. But the iPhone doesn't support HSDPA, so AT&T appears to be bumping up the speed of the network this smartphone does support.

In its tests, Engadget reports that AT&T's EDGE network now regularly has data transfer speeds over 200 kbits/sec.

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