AT&T bringing the mobile Web to the masses

[Charlyee]

AT&T bringing the mobile Web to the masses
October 5, 2009 4:15 PM PDT
by Marguerite Reardon


Full Web browsing is not just for smartphones like the iPhone. AT&T is now bringing full HTML Web browsing to "dumb" feature phones, as well.

The company announced four new handsets in the past few days that all come embedded with a full HTML Opera Mini mobile browser it calls att.net. The company says the new browser will make the mobile Internet browsing experience faster, more location-aware, and easier to use.

The browser will offer users three different ways to access the Web. There is a home screen that allows subscribers to browse Web sites and assign favorite bookmarks. It also offers local search short cuts. The second window offers location-aware local news, weather, and one-click access to nearby restaurants, movie theaters, ATMs, and other points of interest. It also offers access to maps, driving directions, and traffic information. The third window delivers up-to-the-minute news, sports, and entertainment headlines.

The handsets that AT&T has introduced using the Opera Mini browser are not considered "smartphones." They are high-end feature phones with either a touch screen or full QWERTY keypad. The devices include the Pantech Reveal, Pantech Impact, Samsung Mythic, and Samsung Flight
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The attractive data service pricing could encourage an entire new population of wireless Web users, which is great news for AT&T's bottom line. But can AT&T's network handle the additional load? If the new browser works as advertised and AT&T's feature-phone subscribers also get hooked on the wireless Web, the company could be opening a can of worms for itself. In the past several months, thousands of iPhone users in the U.S. have been complaining of dropped calls and mediocre wireless data speeds.

Experts say the problems are likely caused by too much mobile data traffic from iPhone users. AT&T admits it has seen a sharp increase in data usage from the iPhone, but it's refused to admit there is a problem.

Still, AT&T has said that it is upgrading its network. The company says it will spend $17 billion to $18 billion on improving its wireless and wireline broadband networks in 2009.

Some of these improvements include deploying 850MHz technology across AT&T's 3G markets to improve in-building coverage, adding nearly 2,000 new cell sites to improve overall coverage, and increasing capacity in thousands of cell sites with more backhaul infrastructure.



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