There’s no doubt that one of the reasons for this upgrade is some behind-the-scenes negotiations with Apple over the release of the iPad on the ATT 3G network. (Think: “Fix your damn network or the iPhone AND iPad are going to Verizon!”) As consumers we can only applaud any time a corporation decides to undertake a major capital expenditure project in hopes of improving service to their paying customers.

However, with the mad media blitz that ATT has made over the past few months I can’t help but wonder if we wouldn’t already be a good way to fixing ATT’s crappy 3G network if they hadn’t wasted so much time and money on trying to convince us that their network wasn’t really crappy.

From CNET: AT&T said Thursday that it will invest an additional $2 billion in its network in 2010 to make sure it keeps up with the growing demand from new smartphones and other 3G data devices, such as the Apple iPad, on its network.

During its fourth quarter 2009 conference call, Chief Operating Officer John Stankey said AT&T plans to spend between $18 billion and $19 billion in 2010 upgrading its wireless and backhaul networks to handle the onslaught of new traffic. This is roughly $2 billion more than the company had invested in the previous year.

Last 10 posts by Robert Ballecer