Will Northeast MI ever receive 3G?

[Lewyman]

@JREwing53
Verizon and AT&T expansions in what way?? New towers?? That would be very good. In this day and age seeing those towers isn't a culture shock anymore but rather a necessity in everyday life and I think all the Telco' s should pool their investments together and construct new towers in many needed areas that way everyone would benefit. AT&T has lost a lot of wireless customers and I think they going to start ramping up their network upgrades this year.

[Mjrtom7]

JRE....No 4G in Gaylord? They have had '4G' service there for several months now....??

[JREwing53]

I said it was Edge from "just south of" Gaylord to "just north" of Bay City. Yes, Gaylord has had 4G for some time now.

[Mjrtom7]

Oops...duh.....my brain is on 'edge'...  

[Mjrtom7]

I just drove back from Gaylord to Alpena and it looks like the fiber crew is laying fiber about 10 miles outside of Alpena, between Alpena and Hillman.  Hopefully they are on schedule to have 4G enabled in Alpena before I'm too old and feeble to use a phone!  

[Tpeltz]

Mjtom -

That is the Merit fiber project along M-32. Won't do any good for AT&T. Don't shoot the messenger lol.

[Mjrtom7]

Oh great....thanks Tpeltz......I should have known!  

[Tpeltz]

AT&T has activated UMTS/HSPA+ "4G" in the Alpena area as of this morning (3/29/2013).

[Mjrtom7]

HOOORAY!!!  I feel foolish for being so giddy over such a little thing, but this has been a long time coming!  I just realized it on my way back from lunch when I went to access the Tiger game.  FINALLY!!!

[Lewyman]

Awesome. Now for the rest of Michigan!!!

[American Ninja]

Can anyone confirm if Escanaba got 4G today? My friend sent me a text asking me if AT&T has 4G in Escanaba? I told him I heard at the end of June is what I heard. He just sent me a text back saying it now says "4G" on his phone. o_0

[Lewyman]

I believe Alpena,Mi was supposed to get 4G in June but it went live Friday so it is possible. Ask your friend to send you a screenshot of their phone or map some coverage on Sensorly. However, Sensorly considers HSPA+(4G) to be 3G.

[American Ninja]

My friend just sent me a screenshot. He said he's getting 4G in Perkins now.

[Lewyman]

Tight !!! That is AWESOME!!!   It looks like AT&T is taking northern Michigan more seriously now!! With Tpeltz reporting 4G near Onaway, Alpena, and you now saying Escanaba is live....can't wait to see the new coverage map.

[American Ninja]

They have a tower in mc farland so I hope they upgrade that one next because that's the one I'm closest to. When I turn off wifi on my phone it still says E. I'll be headed to Gladstone tomorrow so I should be able to test the 4G then.

[Mjrtom7]

I know I'm off topic, but what theme is that Ninja?  Looks nice...

[American Ninja]

I don't know. It's from my friends phone. He just got a S3.

[American Ninja]

I have a question. when a phone says "4G" that is really HSPA+? And when it's true 4G it will display LTE correct?

[Lewyman]

@American Ninja
You are correct. Newer AT&T devices display "4G" in 3G and HSPA+(*) areas and 4G LTE in LTE coverage areas.(**) There are some 3G areas left but most of the that has been upgraded to H+.

*With enhanced backhaul
**Where available
Not available in all areas

[American Ninja]

Ok, thank you Lewyman!

[American Ninja]

I can confirm 4G in Gladstone, MI!

[Lewyman]

Awesome. I hope they continue to upgrade until their entire EDGE network is GONE!!!!!!!  Hopefully in the next few years when AT&T starts refarming their spectrum, they will be able to deploy LTE statewide. They don't currently have the spectrum to deploy it now, but HSPA+ is pretty fast. I would like to know if AT&T is deploying HSPA+14 or 21 in the new markets it is upgrading in northern Mi. 

[American Ninja]

I hope they are getting rid of the Edge network too. I'll let you know if I get 4G (well 3G + lol)around here as I'm still on Edge where I live.

I took some screenshots and some speedtests:

[Lewyman]

It appears the network is HSPA+14 and the speedtest results are decent for sure. Seems to be in line with the speeds I tested in Gaylord and Alpena this past weekend. Hopefully you will have service at your house soon.

[American Ninja]

Oh ok cool. Finally happy to have something other than Edge when in town. It's about time since Verizon has had 3G up here for the longest time, then in Jan this year Verizon updated to the full 4G LTE( there was a big story on the local news here about). Took AT&T long enough. Lol I'm hoping since they updated the towers in Gladstone/Escanaba that means they will be upgrading more towers now and not just stop there then come back months later for the others.

[Lewyman]

AT&T has stated that it will have its ENTIRE network upgraded to "4G" by the end of 2013 as will Verizon. Awesome!!

[American Ninja]

Nice! great news!

[Tpeltz]

Glad to hear that AT&T is activating more HSPA+ in the U.P! 

Lewyman, do you have a link to the AT&T 4G by end of 2013 article? 

[Lewyman]

Tpeltz
I have an AT&T hotspot and when I called to complain about ZERO connectivity on EDGE in Lewiston, they bumped me up tier 2 CS. I was told they are aggressively upgrading their network and plan to have their entire EDGE footprint upgraded to HSPA+ by the end of 2013. I don't really believe that but that's what the guy told me.

[Lewyman]

Was in Gaylord today and tried to use my AT&T Mifi Liberate but couldn't. 4G service was just horrible as I couldn't use it at all. Very high pings and EDGE like speeds when it would connect. Does the quirky data mean LTE is being tested???HaHa!!!!  New Sprint LTE has popped up on Sensorly along  I-75 just a bit south of Otsego Lake.