AT&T (NYSE: T) may have the most hated network in America, but at least the company is working on the problem.

Ma Bell just agreed to send $1.925 billion to Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) in return for the spectrum licenses the chip maker had been using for its now-defunct FLO TV video operation. AT&T will put the new spectrum to good use to bolster its 4G network rollout.

With the extra bandwidth under its belt and the potential offloading of data-hungry Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone customers to Verizon (NYSE: VZ) in the new year, chances are good that AT&T's services will improve significantly in 2011.

Will these tangible improvements be enough to overcome years of negative consumer sentiment over AT&T's lacking 3G services? If the company plays its hand right with the proper marketing strategy, it just might be. The trick is to convince consumers that 4G is a whole new ballgame and that it's time to forget about the 3G debacle.

Assuming that Verizon does get its hands on the iPhone in January, as many pundits predict, AT&T could also use the network shift to make an about-face in its handset selection. If the iPhone isn't an exclusive product anymore, why would AT&T put its marketing dollars behind the handset in a big way?

Better, then, to select a truly unique new angle and run with it. Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is looking for American network partners and could use some help in getting its high-end smartphones in front of U.S. customers. Android phones are hardly exclusive to anyone, but perhaps AT&T could convince Motorola (NYSE: MOT) or Samsung to create a stand-out model that no other network could get its hands on. There's already reports of a new Android-powered phone from Motorola that packs a powerful dual-core NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) Tegra processor that's exclusively headed to AT&T in January. So, it looks like the ball of change is already rolling.

It's a new deal for AT&T in 2011, for better and for worse. The stock has underperformed the S&P 500 over the last year, partly due to heavy end-of-iPhone rumors, and now sports a fantastic dividend yield of nearly 6%. Maybe this is the time to load up on AT&T stock in preparation for a better 2011 -- or would you rather wait until Verizon finally drops the iPhone hammer? Discuss in the comments below.