AT&T puts $350M into Illinois wireless upgrades

By Becky Yerak
Posted Sep. 9, 2010 at 9:24 a.m.

AT&T said it has invested nearly $350 million in its wireless network in the first half of 2010 to improve customer service in Illinois.

It’s part of an capital investment of nearly $700 million in AT&T’s wireless and wireline networks in Illinois in the first six months of the year.
Among other things, it has added  new cell sites and antenna systems, expanded mobile broadband services and installed new equipment to increase capacity statewide.

The investment also includes upgrades to the AT&T wireline infrastructure, such as an AT&T Wi-Fi hotzone in Chicago to complement mobile broadband usage for AT&T customers who use Wi-Fi enabled devices in Wrigleyville.

AT&T said it has connected more than 98 percent of calls on the first attempt and carried 98.65 percent of calls to completion.

In April, AT&T announced that it invested nearly $40 million from 2008 through 2009 to increase the wireless capacity of its third generation (3G) mobile broadband network throughout the Chicago area

See the details.

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6 comments:

  1. MarkRG Sep. 9, 2010 at 5:10 pm

    And take one step outside the ‘Chicago area’ and I wish you good luck.

    I don’t make all my calls from anywhere near my home address, so their commercial that 98% of their subscribers are covered is a half-truth at best. I am NOT covered when I travel.

    When they can have reliable basic service over 98% of the geography I’ll be impressed. Until then any amount of pr they spew is just that, pr spin.

  2. Chuck Sep. 9, 2010 at 5:15 pm

    What ever they are doing, it is not working. I live downtown and I have to go outside to make a call on my cellphone. A lot of times the phone doesn’t ring and all I get is a message of missed calls. They have to be spending their investment on the wrong equipment.

  3. Alan Sep. 9, 2010 at 5:23 pm

    My ATT cell won’t work in my den, which is on a walk out patio. And at my friend’s house in Highland Park, there is no service at all. Maybe another $ 350 MM is needed.

  4. Marcus Sep. 9, 2010 at 9:05 pm

    I lose signal when I walk under a tree.

  5. BOB Sep. 10, 2010 at 6:46 a.m.

    Who care if the upppies in wrigleyville have wi fi ,I live two blocks from an area that can get at&t dsl and their other services and I can”t. They better spend more in the burbs or let verizon in to there area to give us phone service which would be better ,they have them locked out of this part of the country.
    My verizon cell phone seems to work everyware including northern wisconsin ,what”s mother bells problem,maybe they layed off to many people

  6. Joe Sep. 15, 2010 at 9:44 a.m.

    I live at Addison and Lake Shore in a high rise and I couldn’t get any AT&T signal for years. I had to deal with the phone because they would not let me out of a contract. I am fed up with contract phones and only use pre-paid from VIRGIN MOBILE. It is the BEST reception, cheap plans and best of all, they don’t jack me with overcharges. I am thinking of switching my internet over to their WIFI plan, so far it’s the best I’ve seen.