Love muffins, in a move by the nation’s second largest wireless carrier (and nation’s largest GSM carrier) that will certainly appease people in major metropolitan areas experiencing capacity problems and feeling the need for more speed, Ma Bell is upgrading its 3G network this year. Specifically what the megacarrier is doing is upgrading current peak 3G speeds from 3.6 Mbps (megabits per second) to 7.2 Mbps – what this means in laymans terms is that by year’s end and with a compatible handset, you will theorhetically experience double the 3G speeds you’re seeing now. The carrier also announced that it will begin LTE (Long Term Evolution – 4G technology) trials in 2010, with commercial availability in 2011.

Along with the speed upgrade, AT&T is improving its 3G coverage by doubling wireless spectrum allocated to 3G in most metropolitan areas to improve in-building coverage and network capacity. The carrier is also adding thousands of new cell site backhaul connections to support the higher 3G 7.2 speeds and upcoming LTE.

Note: This announcement seemingly comes in response to Verizon’s recent announcement that its 4G LTE network will be up and running in 210 markets by 2012. Also, the press release comes right before the release of the new iPhone that’s rumored to be able to experience the faster 3G speeds.