Houston will be one of the first six cities to get a faster version of AT&T's wireless data network, which will have theoretical transfer speeds of up to 7.2 megabits a second, by the end of the year.

Houston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Miami should have the HSPA 7.2 service working by the end of the year, AT&T officials said last week.

The technology — known as High Speed Packet Access — is an iteration of AT&T's current wireless data system, and an interim step on the way to its fourth-generation, or 4G, wireless network. AT&T hopes to have HSPA in place for 90 percent of its 3G markets by the end of 2011.

Dwight Silverman
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