First, it seemed like it would deliver free Wi-Fi to iPhone owners, then the opposite appeared to be true. Some folks even reported receiving such service last week, only to have it disconnected later on.
Most recently, the carrier said on its Web site it was delivering this type of service with the iPhone. But nothing happened. Then the statement to that affect on AT&T's Web site was removed only hours after it appeared.
Finally, some clarity...sort of:
According to an AT&T spokesperson Fletcher Cook, speaking with The New York Times, the statement on AT&T site was a mistake. However, he added that the country's leading mobile operator would eventually deliver network access at hotspots - it runs over 17,000 of them, including those at Starbucks, Barnes & Noble and at airports - for all the Wi-Fi smartphones it supports.
"Our Wi-Fi network is a great way of differentiating the AT&T network and giving customers another reason to choose us over a competitor,” Cook said to The Times.
Okay. That's great, but when? Cook would say.
In related news, AT&T wireless yesterday unveiled plans to bump up the performance of its 3G cellular-wireless data network, beginning next year. With the deployment of HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) Release 7, AT&T plans to bump performance in excess of an extremely fast 20 megabits per second.
The network upgrade (mostly a software process) is the next step for AT&T on its way to the deployment of 4G performance with the Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology sometime in 2010. LTE promises to boost speeds up to and beyond an astonishing 100 megabits per second.
"LTE will allow for backwards compatibility to GSM and HSPA, which is a great benefit to customers," explained AT&T mobility head Ralph de la Vega at Morgan Stanley's annual Communications Conference, reported AppleInsider. "And our path forward to LTE allows us to get there step-by-step, with interim steps that will deliver more and more speeds everyday."
Sounds good to us.