Towers to the people: AT&T upgrading infrastructure for iPhone

Gizmodo reports that according to a tip from someone in AT&T Operations, AT&T is in the middle of undertaking a major upgrade of its EDGE network in anticipation of a surge in demand for bandwidth after the iPhone goes on sale.

During the upgrade project (slated to be completed on or around June 15) special attention is being paid to the backend and to the tower configuration for allocation of bandwidth for data and calls.

Part of the AT&T is to drop more T1's into poor performing towers. The goal: to get the creepy-crawly 40kbps performance of these towers up to a minimum of 80kpbs. Still not up to EDGE's theoretical 200kbps but at least it's a start.

Hey I know 80kbps ain't poop, but IMHO the fanboys will be so happy with their iPhone they might not notice. At least for a few days...