Verizon Promises Droid Won't Strain Network - Though they're preparing for more backhaul for LTE launch...Though they're preparing for more backhaul for LTE launch... 02:10PM Tuesday Nov 03 2009 by Karl Bode tags: business · wireless · bandwidth Unlike some of the capacity issues that troubled AT&T with the huge influx of iPhone customers, Verizon is insisting the company won't struggle under the load when they launch the new Motorola Droid this Friday. That's easy to say, given Droid's sales likely won't dent iPhone volume -- but Verizon has an interesting conversation with Telephony Online on getting ready for the influx of additional data users. According to Verizon, they didn't add backhaul capacity for Friday's Droid launch -- because they didn't need to. At least not yet: In most markets, Verizon Wireless has EV-DO running on three sectors per cell site and in many congested areas, it has deployed multiple EV-DO carriers. CDMA downlink channels are only 1.25 MHz wide, compared to the 5 MHz used by AT&T’s HSPA network, but they support similar maximum capacities (3.1 Mb/s for Rev. A compared to 3.6 Mb/s for HSPA). AT&T’s 3G evolution path will widen that gap over the next two as it upgrades its base stations to 7.2 Mb/s HSPA, but for now VZW has an efficiency advantage, allowing it support much more capacity over the same spectrum. In a different report, Verizon says they'll certainly be adding new fiber backhaul in a number of markets when they launch faster LTE service in 25-30 new markets next year. Verizon says they'll be deploying fiber Ethernet to 90% of the cell sites in its territory by the end of 2013. Pound for pound, Verizon's wireless investment CAPEX has been more robust than AT&T's for some time -- and the proof should be in the pudding.
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AT&T’s 3G evolution path will widen that gap over the next two as it upgrades its base stations to 7.2 Mb/s HSPA, but for now VZW has an efficiency advantage, allowing it support much more capacity over the same spectrum