With AT&T just introducing its 4G LTE data sticks and with rollouts on the way, it’s clear that the company will be making a real push with LTE. A little birdie inside Ma Bell dropped a few tidbits about what AT&T plans to do with its 4G LTE network.
The trusted source said:
We’re getting LTE training. Don’t know how much has been confirmed before about network implementation. But I know we’re doing VOIP so voice and data over LTE. They’re talking about enabling “quadruple-play: voice, video and data svc in a completely mobile environment” (they’re not elaborating on what that entails). We will be using 700, 1700, and 2100mhz (for sure). They’re talking about data speeds and subscriptions but no pricing or actual speed “limits”. They’re saying that they’ll be rolling out laptop cards first (already done), then smartphones/tablets and then voice over LTE in that order.
While that’s not quite the bombshell we were hoping for in terms of how much the 4G LTE data would cost or if these will come with speed tiers, there is some interesting stuff to parse out of there. The voice over LTE (or VoLTE) could be the first major implementation we see in the United States, although we know that Verizon is also working on this.
The quadruple-play in a “completely mobile environment” is also very intriguing but I’m sorry to say we don’t have much more information about what this means. We know that AT&T already offers a traditional quad-play (mobile, home phone, home Internet and TV) thanks to its U-Verse offerings but the additional bandwidth of the 4G LTE network offers some incredible mobile-first possibilities.