AT&T upgrades 3G network

Apple's iPhone continues to push the limits of AT&T 3G network in the US with the company telling Silicon Alley Insider that it is frantically adding is adding wireless capacity in downtown Austin, Texas to deal with "unprecedented" demand by the South by South West (SxSW) conference on Web 2.0 trends and music. The publication claims that users are experiencing "flaky at best" service throughoug the area as thousands -- or even tens of thousands -- bring their iPhone 3G to Austin. AT&T said that it expects service to improve as early as Sunday night and to continue throughout the rest of the show.

"To accommodate unprecedented demand for mobile data and voice applications at SXSW, we are actively working this afternoon to add capacity to our cell sites serving downtown Austin," AT&T said in a statement. "These efforts are ongoing, but we anticipate that customers should see improved network performance this evening and for the remainder of the event."

AT&T did offer its apologies to users experience less-than-optimal service and says it will continue to monitor performance over the next several days.

"We will continue to monitor network performance throughout the event, and will do everything possible to maximize network performance throughout. We apologize to customers who were inconvenienced during this surge in local network demand."

by MacNN Staff