'iPhone 5' to Support 21 Mbps HSPA+ '4G' Technology

Its nice that we are getting faster data speeds but honestly until the data caps get to a point where I can get rid or my DSL connections (not going to happen for a long time if ever) I don't really care. Current 3G is fast enough for my needs on the cell phone. I rarely use my phone as a hotspot again cuz data caps suck.

So faster data doesn't entice me that much to upgrade. Bring me my bigger screen! lol

Oh no, I was going to move to Verizon but can someone clarify... Verizon do not support this right?

So if I move there to get better voice service I will be missing out of the faster internet speeds that ATT will be getting with the new device???

This sucks ;o(

I'd wish...

I'd wish Apple would use its market power at tell providers that they have to offer an unlimited data plan if they want to sell the iPhone. Apple can be progressive at times, so why not stating that with capped data plans, the experience would suffer and therefore it can only be offered with unlimited plans? Besides: Caps are only there to make more money. They don't have to buy one dollar worth more equipment to provide unlimited data. And the providers said it themselves, it only affects some heavy users. It is bogus to say that this would affect all others because they leach the bandwidth... because they still let them and charge extra.

JangoFett124 said:

It's a human problem, and will impact everyone especially as content evolves to take advantage of the speed.

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You can't generalize the entire human population based on what you think faster speeds will cause.

WardC said:

If so, if this is true...

THIS is the BEST new I have heard about the iPhone 5 -- what good is a faster processor when an internet communication device is still crippled by slow-as-molasses 3G data speeds? If this indeed supports ~ 10x speed increase with the HSPA+, then this is good incentive to upgrade to the iPhone 5. The speed alone is a sole selling point for me, rather than dual-core A5, higher Megapixel camera, etc...those are minor deals...

But to actually make this an effective internet surfer by making HSPA+ speed a reality on the iPhone 5 -- this gets me excited! I would like to be able to stream video, really take advantage of cloud computing, and be able to handle broadband-like mobile computing needs on my iDevice, something 3G just can't deliver...for example, uploading a video to YouTube == This is a pain and a hassle on 3G but would be much mor feasible with 4G speeds. So, I am hyped about this news.

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You do realize hspa+ is really still part of a 3rd generation cellular network (UMTS with WCDMA air interface).. Although I think hspa+ will be a great upgrade to have on the next iPhone.

The iPhone 4 has HSUPA (5.76mbps uplink) so how exactly is uploading a video a hassle on 3G?

Faster speeds make sense given all the rumors coming out about the iPhone5. With Twitter/Facebook(?) integration, the Assistant and iCloud - there will be more reliance on getting/sending data quickly.

basesloaded190 said:

You can't generalize the entire human population based on what you think faster speeds will cause.

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As speeds have increased, content has grown in size to take advantage of speeds and new technology.

tirerim said:

Honestly, the idea of dividing technologies into 2G, 3G, 4G, etc. is just a marketing gimmick. They all encompass a variety of different technologies which have a range of speeds. Yes, there are official dividing lines, but since they're just marketing gimmicks anyway, it's kind of pointless to argue about what goes in what category. If you really care exactly how fast your connection is, you need to look at the precise technology being used, the same as with a wired connection.

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I disagree.. 2G, 3G were ways to differentiate between generations of cellular networks. When marketing got involved that is when it really became a mess. Actually t-mobile coming around and calling hspa+ 14.4mbps 4G and somehow getting the ITU to buy into it started all this nonsense.

about friggin' time.

i've had 4G LTE since Dec 2009 at 50Mb/s down, 5Mb/s up.

with NO cap.

if the iP5 is LTE, I would consider buying it. 6995 SEK / 1000 USD would be worth the cost, but NOT before LTE implementation is included.

I just can't believe that Apple would release a phone in (almost) 2012 without LTE. It really shows that Apple is an American company.

WardC said:

If so, if this is true...

THIS is the BEST new I have heard about the iPhone 5 -- what good is a faster processor when an internet communication device is still crippled by slow-as-molasses 3G data speeds? If this indeed supports ~ 10x speed increase with the HSPA+, then this is good incentive to upgrade to the iPhone 5. The speed alone is a sole selling point for me, rather than dual-core A5, higher Megapixel camera, etc...those are minor deals...

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What? It is listed as more like a 3x speed increase, not 10x (7 -> 21), and it's still using 3G technology.

Yeah, it's faster, but it's more conservative than 4G or LTE. (which is good, for battery life) Not everyone eats up tons of cellular data.

acidfast7 said:

about friggin' time.

i've had 4G LTE since Dec 2009 at 50Mb/s down, 5Mb/s up.

with NO cap.

if the iP5 is LTE, I would consider buying it. 6995 SEK / 1000 USD would be worth the cost, but NOT before LTE implementation is included.

I just can't believe that Apple would release a phone in (almost) 2012 without LTE. It really shows that Apple is an American company.

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Sorry that the US has a lot more area to cover for an LTE upgrade...one tower won't cover the whole country, you know?

ghostface147 said:

From the AT&T, it's not really true 4G. It uses the same radio as the 3G chips, just allows faster speeds. It's not a different radio like 4G LTE or WiMax is. And yes, if you upgrade to a new phone, you can keep your unlimited, even if you're out of contract. The key is to have maintained your current smartphone plan with no changes and no breaks.

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Got a source for that?

sweet! my iPhone 4 is already on craigslist....

UnseenLlama said:

Sorry that the US has a lot more area to cover for an LTE upgrade...one tower won't cover the whole country, you know?

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Then don't give everyone the same coverage.

arn said:

As mentioned the hybrid chipset used in the CDMA iPhone is known to support HSPA+ (14.4mbps), so it's almost certain to be supported in the next hybrid iPhone 5.

arn

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There we have it, no more of this silly iphone 4s talk...Arn says it's a 5, so it's a 5! FACT

Dorfdad said:

AT&T Grandfather users better be able to keep that unlimited data capacity or I'm never switching from the 4! Unlimited Data FTW!

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That's is exactly what I thought of, but I think ATT will make us upgrade to a "4G" data plan, bye bye unlimited data. I say "4G" with quotes because I do not believe that 21Mbps is real 4G.

JangoFett124 said:

Apple would never do that. That's against Apple's core philosophy. The fact that that option would even be necessary shows a huge failure in the carrier's part.

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What a ridiculous statement. On the Iphone 3GS and Iphone 4 Apple provides the capability to turn off 3G. Why would they not provide such a standard feature for 4G.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A5313e)

JangoFett124 said:

robjulo said:

My current phone, an EVO, has a widget that allows 4G to be turned on and off. Hopefully Apple gives the consumer the option.

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Apple would never do that. That's against Apple's core philosophy. The fact that that option would even be necessary shows a huge failure in the carrier's part.

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Really b/c I just turned my AT&T 3G off on my iPhone 4 and it goes into edge...
:/

This is one of the many reasons I prefer the networks over here in the UK. They've just started rolling out HSPA+ and are advertising it as...wait for it...HSPA+.

It also means my Motorola Atrix is just an Atrix and not a Motorola Atrix 4G Evo SuperSpeed Plus 2.0.

why not instead of att&t upgrading to 4g, they do a little work on the network they have now and make it so us in smaller regions have at least a descent signal? congrats to you for living in an area that gets 4g, 3g or even full coverage, but some of us don't, and yet we still pay the same as if we were.

Awesome... So at 21Mbps, you can reach your 2GB cap in 780 seconds (13 minutes). :-/

acidfast7 said:

about friggin' time.

i've had 4G LTE since Dec 2009 at 50Mb/s down, 5Mb/s up.

with NO cap.

if the iP5 is LTE, I would consider buying it. 6995 SEK / 1000 USD would be worth the cost, but NOT before LTE implementation is included.

I just can't believe that Apple would release a phone in (almost) 2012 without LTE. It really shows that Apple is an American company.

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It's not Apple's fault that American mobile operators are pathetic.

After all, Sweden has a population density roughly the same as the continental United States (as well as similarly dense urban areas) and they seem to have their cellular networks in order (as a matter of fact, they were amongst the first to have LTE).

If you want to point the blame at LTE's tardy arrival, you should squarely accuse AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and T-Mobile USA. Not Apple.

I would never expect the U.S. to have the same cellular coverage and performance as Japan, Hong Kong, or South Korea, however we should be able to have coverage similar to what Europe enjoys. If it weren't for our pathetic cellular companies here.

toddybody said:

Faster data is always great, but I wouldn't want to see the iPhone's phenomenal battery life diminish between 4G and a rumored 4" display.


Anyways, glad to hear Apple is pushing the envelope in regards to tech specs.
Stay well MR friends

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Phenomenal? Recently I had to a course in London, and while I had 3G on, my iPhone would be pushing 20% battery life by 4pm with light usage at lunch and breaks.

I dread to think what the iPhone "4G"s life would be if they enabled 4G, especially as they're probably going to go for this "Thinner & Lighter" still, resulting in them probably not being able to improve the battery life.

acidfast7 said:

about friggin' time.

i've had 4G LTE since Dec 2009 at 50Mb/s down, 5Mb/s up.

with NO cap.

if the iP5 is LTE, I would consider buying it. 6995 SEK / 1000 USD would be worth the cost, but NOT before LTE implementation is included.

I just can't believe that Apple would release a phone in (almost) 2012 without LTE. It really shows that Apple is an American company.

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Oh, you mean a successful company, right?*


*that sting is just your pride, that'll go away in a few days.