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O2 3G speed 'just' 128Kb/s

dwright1974

dwright1974

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 13, 2007
394
127
UK
Afternoon

Has anybody seen this article on The Register?

Basically, it says that O2's 3G network is a paltry 128Kb/s*, comparable to EDGE, as opposed to the '3G' speed of 384Kb/s.

So, my open question is, what would be the benefits of holding out for 3G iPhone next Tuesday/June/September/2012? Of course, they could up the memory in the iPhone and perhaps the camera, but theoretically there isn't any benefit to be had in super-duper 3G!

I am waiting to get an iPhone and was going to wait for the 3G version but now I am thinking again. 16Gb would be plenty of storage for me.

Oh, and I guess they could upgrade the 3G network to a faster speed in the future!

- D

* According to El Reg you can request the full 384Kb/s speed from O2 if you ask nicely, but that might hit the pocket!
 
Just about to post this.

Is the example they use as something that would be exempt from the cap an iPhone (high end handset with a £35 tariff)?

Infineon GOLD3 chipset with HSDPA support and a cap of 128kbit/s isn't great.
 
Ouch. That is pretty painful for "3G". I wonder if an unlocked iPhone will work on other 3G networks (when the 3G iPhone is available, that is)
 
Just like the limited "unlimted" data transfer cap that was later sorted out after complaints I think this bandwidth cap will be removed if enough people complain.

I'll certainly be thinking of an unlock when my 18 month 'sentence' is up if not.
 
Don't forget that O2 was way late in getting a decent price bolt-on or plan for data till the iPhone came out - they were late to the 3G data party (in comparison to 3 and others).
I'd imagine it'll be the same with the S-Gold 3 chip that's going in very high likelihood to be in the new iPhon.
Don't forget that there will have been a LOT of head bashing about how to handle the much higher data downloads/uploads that a new wave of 3(.5)G iPhones will cause. Handle in terms of cope, pricing plans, etc.
 
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