AT&T Announces HSUPA Cards

AT&T announced today two new LaptopConnect cards from Option, the GT Ultra and GT Ultra Express.

The new cards, available in PC Card and ExpressCard operate seamlessly across AT&T’s 3G
BroadbandConnect and EDGE networks.

The GT Ultra features a retractable antenna that is compatible in laptops with PC Card (Type II) slots. The GT Ultra Express is compatible with laptops that have ExpressCard (34 mm) slots and features a flip-up antenna for optimal broadband performance. The cards are Mac and PC compatible and can be had at no upfront cost (for a limited time starting tomorrow) with a two year contract of at least $60 per month.

It also automatically installs AT&T Communication Manager when first used with notebooks that have Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 2000. This is said to provide a plug-and-play installation for most users and eliminates the need for an installation CD. Both cards are tri-band UMTS/HSPA (850/1900/2100 MHz) and GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) compatible, making it easy to connect in more than 140 countries, including Japan and Korea.

High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) improves the performance of uplink speeds over current EDGE and HSDPA networks. HSDPA supports fast down-link speeds (1.8, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.4 Mbit/s) but struggles with anything faster than 200 Kbps upsteam. HSUPA can theoretically push upstream speeds from 700Kbps to several Mbps.

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