AT&T Network Upgrades Increase Coverage, Capacity for San Lorenzo and Castro Valley Customers

AT&T Press Release—AT&T announced network upgrades in and around Castro Valley and San Lorenzo last week, all designed to provide customers with stronger and more reliable coverage.

Network enhancements include adding a 25 percent increase in capacity to 11 cell sites located in several Alameda County unincorporated areas: six in Castro Valley, two in San Lorenzo, and one in Cherryland, Ashland and Fairview.

"Adding more capacity to a cell site is like adding more lanes on the freeway so that voice and data traffic flows faster," said Terry Stenzel, AT&T vice president and general manager for Northern California and Northern Nevada.

In addition, the company continues upgrading cell sites with fiber optic and Ethernet connection back to the central switching facilities, enabling faster 4G speeds. 

The upgrades come as the company saw a large increase in its customers' smartphone usage. According to John Britton, director of media relations, data traffic has increased by 8,000 percent in the past four years. He said nearly 50 percent of AT&T's customers are smartphone users.

"We are definitely reacting to the demand," Britton said. "[The upgrades] revolve around this smartphone revolution and the way people live this mobile lifestyle."

The company has invested nearly $775 million in its San Francisco Bay Area wireless and wireline networks between 2008 and 2010. Each site alone can cost anywhere between $400,000 to $600,000 to upgrade and can take between 18 months to two years to improve, depending on the coverage and capacity it provides.

"One of our top goals of this year is to be best-in-class in wireless voice and data service," Britton said.

Analisa Harangozo contributed to this report.