AT&T Completes More Than 975 Wireless Network Upgrades in South Florida During 2011

AT&T* announced today more than 975 wireless network upgrades were completed in 2011 in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. The enhancements were in three key categories and include:

• Activating nine new cell sites to improve network coverage.
• Deploying faster fiber-optic connections to nearly 400 cell sites. Combined with HSPA+ technology, these deployments enable 4G speeds**.

• Adding capacity or an extra layer of frequency to cell sites – like adding lanes to a highway – with the addition of more than 575 of these layers, or “carriers.”

“Our goal is to deliver a network experience that mobilizes everything for customers,” said Carlos Blanco, vice president and general manager, AT&T Mobility & Consumer Markets for South Florida. “The ongoing investment we’re making in South Florida is designed to increase coverage and reliability, and to provide advanced services to our customers.”

CNN Money recently recognized AT&T for enhancing its wireless network. Last year, AT&T completed 150,000 network enhancements across the country, more than triple the year before, giving customers more capacity and faster speeds, as well as improving 3G dropped-call performance by 25 percent.

“Florida is a great place to do business,” said Marshall Criser, lll, president, AT&T Florida. “AT&T’s strong and sustained investment in our Florida wireline and wireless networks demonstrates our confidence that Florida’s elected leaders have created an economic environment that rewards investment with incredible opportunity to succeed.” 

AT&T plans to support the build or upgrade of thousands of cell sites nationwide to increase network speed, coverage and reliability for both mobile voice and broadband services. In addition, AT&T plans to install additional radio “carriers” at thousands of cell sites nationally, enabling new layers of spectrum capacity to carry larger volumes of mobile broadband traffic. Additional capacity helps support rising mobile data traffic volumes, which continue to increase at a rapid pace.

AT&T operates the nation’s largest Wi-Fi network*** with nearly 30,000 hotspots in the U.S. and provides access to nearly 190,000 hotspots globally through roaming agreements. Most AT&T smartphone customers get access to our entire national Wi-Fi network at no additional cost, and Wi-Fi usage doesn’t count against customers’ monthly wireless data plans.

AT&T recently launched "Focus: Miami-Fort Lauderdale," which provides visitors a peek into AT&T's wireless network enhancements made since the beginning of the year.**** Enhancements include new cell sites, broadband speed upgrades, capacity upgrades and network connection upgrades. The site also provides a map of area AT&T stores, a map of area Wi-Fi hotspots, useful tips, a localized Twitter handle and device reviews. The site can be found at http://focus.att.com/market/miami/.

For more information about AT&T’s coverage in South Florida or anywhere in the United States, consumers can visit the AT&T Coverage Viewer. Using the online tool, AT&T customers can measure coverage quality of coverage from a street address, intersection, ZIP code or even a landmark.

For updates on the AT&T wireless network, please visit the AT&T network news page.