AT&T Wireless moves towards UMTS, Verizon Wireless reveals deployment scope for this year, and Sprint PCS stays mum on suspects EV-DV plans: The 3G world heats up as AT&T Wireless indicates that it will be testing UMTS in four cities this year. UMTS is the 3G migration path for GSM/GPRS networks. AT&T Wireless currently has EDGE deployed nationwide.
Verizon Wireless says that 30 percent of the US will have Ev-DO coverage by the end of the year. Ev-DO is a data-only 3G flavor with a speed that Verizon is advertising as just 300 to 500 Kbps, but which has a nominal top speed of nearly 2 Mbps.
Samsung has tipped its hat that a US carrier is ordering EV-DV (integrated 3G voice and data) equipment, and that carrier must be Sprint PCS, the article notes, because EV-DV and Ev-DO are the 3G flavors for the CDMA technology that Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS use. EV-DV has a slightly higher nominal data rate, and has the benefit of offering greater voice clarity and capacity as well.