Motorola Atrix 4G

CNET has confirmed with AT&T that it will enable the HSUPA radios on the Motorola Atrix 4G and HTC Inspire 4G via a software update in April.

HSUPA, which stands for High-Speed Uplink Packet Access, is the protocol that enables faster upload speeds (up to 5.76Mbps) on your mobile phone. However, it recently came to light that the technology was disabled on the Atrix 4G and Inspire 4G, crippling the smartphones with slow-as-molasses upload speeds.

The fact that these radios were not turned on was not disclosed to customers who bought the Atrix and Inspire, prompting calls to the Better Business Bureau, online petitions, and multiple forum threads.

AT&T couldn't provide us with a more specific time frame, but nevertheless, it's good to know that a fix is on the way. In addition, the upcoming Samsung Infuse 4Gs will ship with the HSUPA radio already turned on, so you should see faster upload speeds right out of the box, though the carrier cautions that other factors like location, time, and network capacity can affect data speeds.

Thanks to Zack Nebbaki of DroidMatters.com for the tip!