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Not so fast, 3G

#1 User is offline   Macworld Icon

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Posted 24 July 2008 - 12:19 PM

Post your comments for Not so fast, 3G here
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#2 User is offline   heisetax Icon

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Posted 24 July 2008 - 12:44 PM

But here in Omaha, NE there is no AT&T 3G service!
Bill the TaxMan
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#3 User is offline   kimhill Icon

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Posted 24 July 2008 - 12:51 PM

Here in NYC I've found that 3G speed is all over the place. I'll also have to side with Dan as an EDGE defender- I've had pretty good luck with it, often getting speeds in the neighborhood of 200kbps, which is perfectly usable, especially if you stick to sites that are more low-bandwidth friendly.
I've found 3G to range from blisteringly fast - indistinguishable from wifi - to really slow - slower than EDGE in a number of locations. I almost always leave 3G turned off, due to the power issues. Fortuntely, I have enough wifi access so that this isn't a big deal.
3G is certainly no bandwidth panacea..
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#4 User is offline   Grapho Icon

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Posted 24 July 2008 - 12:58 PM

I am no expert by a long shot. But my experience here in Houston with EDGE has been dependent to the part of town I am in. In certain areas it is very usable, while on others it simply is totally unusable.
Are these networks not dependent on how many connections are being used at a particular spot or cell tower? If so, how can this be tested?
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#5 User is offline   kimhill Icon

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Posted 24 July 2008 - 01:00 PM

BTW- another tip for EDGE use- RSS readers can be incredibly useful for getting the most out of a slow connection. Google Reader used to be great for this- it even reformatted pages on-the-fly to make them more mobile-friendly.
Inexplicably, Google yanked that feature with the new version of Reader- now it's kind of mediocre, and I'm looking for a new RSS reader...
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#6 User is offline   applecrate Icon

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Posted 24 July 2008 - 01:12 PM

Atlanta (Midtown):
i.dslr.net - Edge 129 kbps, 3G 1366 kbps
iNetwork Test - Edge 214 kbps, 3G 410 kbps
TestMyiPhone.com - Edge 169 kbps, 3G 1272 kbps
Average: Edge 171 kbps, 3G 1016 kbps
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#7 User is offline   RBTO Icon

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Posted 24 July 2008 - 01:13 PM

I just tried the testmyiphone.com test here in Toronto (via 3G) and was surprised to see a 1860 kbps result.
I'm right next to a cell tower on the highway here, so I may be accessing a bigger pipe, but it helps a little to take the sting off the exorbitant rates Rogers is charging us up here for iPhone data plans. They are at least delivering on the speed.
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#8 User is offline   Daisey31 Icon

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Posted 24 July 2008 - 01:15 PM

I'm in SoCal and I compulsively check my speed everywhere on my new 3G iPhone. I have to say that it is consistently around 397kps. I use the web version of iNetwork Test. The native app doesn't work properly for me.
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#9 User is offline   wvdb Icon

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Posted 24 July 2008 - 01:30 PM

I'm in WV.. in the only 3g market that is currently online in the entire state.
I just ran a test on TestMyiPhone.com...
Edge=147kbps /18kbs
3G=719kbps / 88kbs
However setting a 3g iPhone (3g) next to the Original iPhone with 2.0 Firmware running Edge... the Original iPhone loads complex pages at the same speed or faster than the 3G.
So the take away is location, location, location.
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#10 User is offline   rmzajac Icon

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Posted 24 July 2008 - 01:54 PM

In Calgary on Rogers.....

Using testmyiphone.com got an average (3 runs) of 1,975 kbps on 3G.



............r
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#11 User is offline   simX Icon

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Posted 24 July 2008 - 01:57 PM

"[D]efinitely maybe" in reference to a Ryan Reynolds movie?! shakes head How about, oh, you know, Oasis's debut album?! Hellllooooo?
I loled.
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#12 User is offline   Archiform_3D Icon

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Posted 24 July 2008 - 02:03 PM

I am from Australia, so I have used 3G for some time. The speed has a lot to do with where you are at the time, distance from the cell, etc. Sometimes you will wonder if you have any connection at all, just like EDGE, and sometimes you will think you are hooked into ethernet! As they add or upgrade cells it will get better and 3G has room for improvement.

Steve Bell
Archiform 3D Animation
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#13 User is offline   xblcsaw Icon

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Posted 24 July 2008 - 02:11 PM

I'm at the very edge of Toledo's 3G network and usually only have a 1-2 bar signal here at home. I tested on testmyiphone.com heres what I got
Edge (99 kbps / 12kbps)
3G (1519 kbps / 185 kbps)
I repeated the test several times and each 3G test was between 1.41 Mbps and 1.52 Mbps. I guess I'll try the test again tomorrow at work where I get a full signal to see if it improves more. 1.52 Mbps is pretty drastic increase over the edge speed.
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#14 User is offline   jrandersoniii Icon

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Posted 24 July 2008 - 03:39 PM

Hey, its wireless what did you expect. Next please.
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