Students with AT&T service to their smart phones can now navigate the Internet and download files at greater speeds, thanks to an expansion of the company's 3G network in the Delaware County area.
The new network is an upgrade in speed and efficiency, Steve Jones, director of the Center for Information and Communication Sciences, said.
It took a group of six Ball State University professors and administrators, including Jones, about one year to get the upgrade through AT&T, Philip Repp, vice president for information technology, said.
Neither Repp nor Jones would comment about the year-long discussions with the company, but said they are excited to finally get the network up and running.
"Anything that takes a year worth of talks is exciting to finalize," Repp said.
3G is the fastest mobile broadband network in the nation, according to AT&T's Web site.
It uses HSDPA/UMTS technology (High Speed Downlink Packet Access/Universal Mobile Telephone System) to allow users the ability to talk and search the Internet simultaneously, according to AT&T.
It didn't take sophomore Nathan Stark long to realize his Blackberry's new speed increase.
"It was just so much faster that I almost didn't know what to do," Stark said. "Speed means everything to college students, and I just love how fast everything is now."
Student organizations will also benefit from the boost.
Nathan Huer, director of emerging technologies and media development, said Ball State's Digital Corps will be more productive because of the upgrade. The Corps is a group of professional and student software experts who delve into various technologies, such as creating iPhone applications.
"This affects everything," Huer said. "Everything will be at least two- to four-times faster because of this or maybe more. It just means so much, especially if you're working with large files."
Jones said users other than Ball State will feel the transitions' effects. The area's rural communities, which previously had little or no wireless Internet access, will now be able to become more attractive for high-tech jobs, Jones said.
"High speed networks are becoming a selling point from an economic development standpoint for communities," he said. "There will come a point where it will be as mandatory as water and electric. I hope people use it to its full capacity."
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