AT&T goes for speed

Area wireless network soon to be 3 to 10 times faster

AT&T Inc, in a move to protect and win market-share, said it is will upgrade its wireless network in Charleston early next year to make its local signal at least three times speedier.

The move comes nearly a year after AT&T rival Verizon Wireless, the country's No. 2 mobile-telephone company, rolled out a supercharged set of signals in the region.

"I can't say we're trying to play catch-up," said AT&T spokeswoman Della Bowling. "We're just going with our wireless network enhancement plans, and this is where it falls."

In the next few weeks, AT&T engineers will beef up the company's signal towers in Charleston, "overlaying" the new nerve system on more robust infrastructure and software.

The enhancements will allow customers with so-called smart phones to download and upload pictures, electronic messages, Web pages and video at speeds between three and 10 times faster than they can now.

AT&T likens the service to home-routed broadband, known as digital subscriber line, or DSL.

The race to offer the fastest wireless phone service in the land is crowded and fiercely competitive, as almost 200 companies jockey for the nation's estimated 250 million subscribers.

AT&T is now offering its fastest connection — dubbed "3G" for third generation — in 170 U.S. cities, including Columbia and Myrtle Beach.

Verizon claims that 210 million people can tap into its high-speed version. The company is rushing to cover as many "pops" — industry slang for populations — as it can, according to Anand Gandhi, director of systems performance for Verizon's network in the Carolinas.

"It's very important to our business strategy," Gandhi said.

Verizon and AT&T declined to disclose their subscriber figures and market share in South Carolina, saying that publicizing such information could make them less competitive.

AT&T, which absorbed BellSouth and Cingular Wireless last December, boasted almost 66 million wireless customers at the end of the third quarter, slightly ahead of Verizon Wireless's 64 million.

The improvements do not affect Apple's vogue iPhone, which is exclusively served by AT&T. The iPhone will continue to run on a standard network that processes data at about one-tenth of the speed of the new technology being installed in Charleston.

"It's not that it's slower," Bowling said. "It's just that this is going to be faster."

Reach Kyle Stock at 937-5763 or kstock@postandcourier.com.