If you happen to live in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, LA or Miami and you happen to be one of AT&T’s paying subscribers then you should be happy to know that AT&T is getting ready to bring your full HSPA 7.2Mbps to your neighborhood. You should expect the service to be available by the end of the year but unfortunately that “theoretical” 7.2Mbps speed will not be available any time soon. You’ll have to simply get used to “real-world downlink and uplink speeds” which will be “less than the theoretical peak and will vary based on a number of factors, including location, device, and overall traffic on the local wireless network at a given time.” By 2011 AT&T will about 90% of its current 3G network footprint will get HSPA 7.2 and maybe by that time we’ll actually be able to take advantage of the full download and upload speed.

In the mean time AT&T will also work on a bunch of other projects meant to enhance your whole wireless experience:

An initiative to substantially expand the wireless spectrum serving 3G customers in hundreds of markets across the country, using high-quality 850 MHz spectrum. This additional spectrum expands overall network capacity and improves in-building reception. Deployments of this 850 MHz spectrum are about 90 percent complete today, with local roll-outs recently completed in New York, Atlanta and Houston.

Addition of about 2,000 new cell sites to our network in 2009, expanding service to new cities and improving coverage in other areas.

Enabling widespread access to our Wi-Fi network – the largest in the country with more than 20,000 hotspots in all 50 states – to qualifying customers, allowing them to take advantage of the best available AT&T mobile broadband connection.

Preparation for field trials of 4G LTE wireless networks next year, with deployment planned to follow in 2011. This schedule aligns with industry expectations of when a wide variety of compatible 4G wireless devices will be available.

So what do you say? How’s your AT&T experience?

via AT&T