Why AT&T Upload Speeds Went To Hell

The official word on the crappy upload speeds AT&T customers were seeing all around the United States: a software defect. It looks like Alcatel-Lucent’s equipment blew up, which crippled HSUPA performance. The bad news? The “appropriate software fix” is still coming.

While Alcatel-Lucent is working on software fix, AT&T says they’re providing “normal 3G uplink speeds” for people who have speedier devices – which is still faster than what people were seeing over the weekend.

Mystery solved. If you’re in an area with Alcatel-Lucent equipment, you’re getting hosed until it’s fixed. Unfortunately, AT&T doesn’t “have a defiinite time for the Alcatel-Lucent software fix to be complete at this point; we expect to know that soon.”

AT&T and Alcatel-Lucent jointly identified a software defect — triggered under certain conditions – that impacted uplink performance for Laptop Connect and smartphone customers using 3G HSUPA-capable wireless devices in markets with Alcatel-Lucent equipment. This impacts less than two percent of our wireless customer base. While Alcatel-Lucent develops the appropriate software fix, we are providing normal 3G uplink speeds and consistent performance for affected customers with HSUPA-capable devices.