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Wednesday June 14, 2006
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 Cingular announced today that they're turning on their high-speed UMTS and HSDPA network in Atlanta, giving folks in Georgia access to high-speed data through their laptops and streaming video using the LG CU320 and Samsung ZX10 (at right) phones.
This would be interesting if Cingular wasn't so utterly, pathetically and inexcusably behind both Sprint and Verizon when it comes to rolling out high-speed nationwide. Cingular now has between 16 and 20 metro areas, depending on how you define them; Verizon and Sprint have dozens and dozens across the nation. Cingular has two phones, neither of which use the full speed of the HSDPA network. Verizon and Sprint are continually refreshing their lineups with a selection of top-notch, high-speed devices. Cingular says they'll have more devices, and a wider rollout, by the end of 2006. M-hm. I'll believe it when I see it, guys.
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June 15, 2006 9:40 AM
It's costing Cingular a lot more money to add HSDPA to their GSM network than it's costing Sprint and Verizon to add EV-DO, which is just an incremental upgrade. You can see that the capital outlays of Cingular are much larger, resulting in poorer financial performance. Verizon and Sprint could really hurt Cingular for the long term if they droppeed prices in order to gain market share, while Cingular's high speed data network is still in its infancy.