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yargk

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 27, 2009
69
0
I have AT&T and would like to upgrade to a nexus 4 from the iphone 4. I know I'm being a bit of an idiot because I'm giving up LTE, but honestly I'd be happy if my network speeds were only moderately faster than with the iphone 4.

So, does the iphone 4 take advantage of the hspa+ network to its fullest? Would download speeds be any faster with the nexus 4? In my home city I get download speeds of 1.51 Mbps with the iphone 4.
 

BFizzzle

macrumors 68020
May 31, 2010
2,443
0
Austin TX
iphone 4 doesnt have hspa+.. nexus does.. if you have hspa+ in your town.. then yes you will see significant speed increase..
 

yargk

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 27, 2009
69
0
iphone 4 doesnt have hspa+.. nexus does.. if you have hspa+ in your town.. then yes you will see significant speed increase..

Is it that simple? Doing some searching the iphone 4 has HSDPA 7.2 compatibility so it should support 7.2 Mbps downloads. The Nexus 4 has HSDPA Category 24 (43.2 Mbps) so that's faster, but does it matter if I don't even see 7.2?

edit: I guess that's what you mean about hspa+ in my town... darn ATT in SF!
 

sviato

macrumors 68020
Oct 27, 2010
2,426
378
HR 9038 A
Is it that simple? Doing some searching the iphone 4 has HSDPA 7.2 compatibility so it should support 7.2 Mbps downloads. The Nexus 4 has HSDPA Category 24 (43.2 Mbps) so that's faster, but does it matter if I don't even see 7.2?

edit: I guess that's what you mean about hspa+ in my town... darn ATT in SF!

Those a theoretical speeds and it's unlikely that they will be reached on either of those devices. But, the Nexus 4 will be faster.
 

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,154
The N4 or even the 4S will be significantly faster then the 4. WORST case it will be the same speed as the but the majority of then time it will be faster.
 

ben824

macrumors regular
Jul 12, 2012
192
6
GA
First, completely disregard any speed ratings that you see on the net of what HSDPA, HSPA+, etc. could do, because it is all theoretical and not real world. In the U.S. HSPA+ networks more often you most likely will never see speeds over 5 mbps. I had the 4S for a year and constantly ran speed tests out of sheer curiosity and never saw anything more the 4+ mbps. I had an iPhone 4 previous to my 4S and the network speed differences were only slightly noticeable on the 4S over the 4. I contributed faster speeds more to the better processor than the network speed as the phone overall was faster. Honestly if you are looking for a increase in network speed going to a HSPA+ phone over and HSPA phone will not be worth it and be a waste of your money.

If you are seeking an increase in network speed capabilities over what you are currently seeing then go for and LTE phone like the iPhone 5. Even if your area network has not implemented LTE yet, it will eventually and you will be ready with your hardware. The iPhone 5 is also HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA which your area is likely to have so you will get what you are looking for in that regard.
 
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