iOS 5.1 Adds '4G' Indicator to iPhone 4S Status Bar for AT&T HSPA+ Coverage

Really?

Serious question.

I know the 4S is supposed to use the faster HSPA+ and this is just a indicator switch.

My problem is that the AT&T site and my device say I'm in a 4G area but my speeds are no faster using a speed test than a year ago.

I just ran a speed test using the iPad 2 and the 4S and they had the same speeds too. SLOW.

Same as last year. SLOW. And it says I'm in a 4G area now.

???

What they should have used(use) is :

G = Gprs
E = Edge
Ev = EVDO
U = UMTS
H = HSPA
H+ = HSDPA+
L = LTE
La =LTE Advanced
......

I don't know what all the standards are, probably CDMA or W-CDMA should be in the list as well.

And, don't say it's too difficult for people to understand, they would find out really fast that if they download on (G) Gprs that it is slower than (H+) HSDPA.
People are smarter than We might think they are.

rdowns said:

Just finished upgrading my phone to 4G. Wicked fast now

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The only change is the label isn't it?

No 4G indicator for the Original iPhone 4 ???

so there is no 4G Indicator for the Original iPhone 4 ???

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Love my new 4g. Getting a rocking 1.5/1.2. Long live 4g.

MS2083 said:

so there is no 4G Indicator for the Original iPhone 4 ???

Click to expand...

Because only the 4S is HSPA+ capable. The iPhone 4 isn't.

I cannot agree with this more. I am in an HSPA+ area and I have not seen a performance increase of any kind. I checked with the AT&T representative and they claim that my area also has the enhanced data backhaul. Honestly the speeds are still adequate for use but there is no difference. I do not care how it is marketed, this is not 4g, it is just a darker blue area on the coverage map and a "4g" indicator.

reckless2k2 said:

Serious question.

I know the 4S is supposed to use the faster HSPA+ and this is just a indicator switch.

My problem is that the AT&T site and my device say I'm in a 4G area but my speeds are no faster using a speed test than a year ago.

I just ran a speed test using the iPad 2 and the 4S and they had the same speeds too. SLOW.

Same as last year. SLOW. And it says I'm in a 4G area now.

???

Click to expand...

Look at my amazing 4G speeds!

Xenomorph said:

When I got my 4S, my download speeds were hitting ~10 Mbps. That's way faster than any 3G connection I've used.

T-Mobile has been calling HSPA+ "4G" for a while now. Now AT&T does as well.

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At least T-Mobile's HSPA+ is HSPA+ 42, AT&T is HSDPA 14.4. That's a pretty significant difference to still be calling both 4G

Question: I'm pretty sure the area I work in is not an HSPA+ area. However, the indicator is still showing 4G.

Has anybody, since upgrading their 4S to 5.1, not seen "4G" in the status bar??

Ricky Smith said:

Look at my amazing 4G speeds!Image

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I'm with this guy! My new "4G" speeds are just as crappy as they were on 3G. If the 4G indicator is supposed to signify that I am on the HSPA+ network then let me tell you, the HSPA+ network sucks!...at least in my area. When I read about this change I thought for sure I wouldn't see the 4G indicator since my phone is so slow in my area.
Obviously I know that the speeds won't be different, it is just showing the network that I am supposedly on. My point is that if this is what is to be expected from the supposedly faster version of AT&T's network then Verizon might be gaining a new customer.

Doesn't matter what AT&T can get Apple to agree to put (and the ITU to allow to tout as) in the upper left corner of my iPhone. Hell, put 42G or 938654G there, the service still is what it is (and in my experience it is not very good, consistent, or up-to-the-hype at all)!

You know what I'd like to see instead of fancy slogans/indicators? Less dollars on lobbying + fancy commercials/slogans/claims that they can't back up consistently and more money on a credible infrastructure and spectrum work.

AT&T isn't consistently ranked the last in cellular service, customer services, and satisfaction by accident, IMHO!

Maybe someone can help me out with this one. I just chatted online with an AT&T rep cause my phone gets really slow speeds and for a while there it wouldn't connect to the network at all. He had me reset network settings and he reset my SIM. After that I ran a Speedtest and the speeds were 2.93Mbps down, 0.48Mbps up. He said those speeds are "great", "wonderful", and "above average." Are those speeds any good? I kinda thought they sounded pretty low.

4g + iphone 4s + ios5.1= FAST

this is not scientific at all but on my iphone 4s while sitting at my desk in Chicago I consistently received download speeds of 1400-1950kbs (as measured by SpeedTest)

After updating to 5.1 my speeds are between 2545kbs- 4062kbs.

All at the same desk (I get only 3 bars at my desk)

I think something got changed with the update (either 5.1 changed the phone or ATT did something)

If you think about it- ATT started the throttling emails about 4-6 weeks ago so it would affect people behaviors now- it seems to me they knew the speeds would be increased either as a result of 5.1 or because they did something that was timed with 5.1 (maybe apple said if you want 4g on the phone -deliver 4g speeds?)

speeds have gone down over the years

My speeds have actually gone down in my area progressively with each version since I owned a 3GS. I would speed test at or around 3mbps on average 3G in my area and these days I'm lucky if I get 1mbps on "4G".

It's obvious that my area has become saturated with iPhones on the AT&T network but that has contributed to much more revenue to AT&T as well.

I'm getting sick of this though and have been a customer since 2006 at least seriously considering the jump to Verizon with the LTE iPhone later this year. I'll take the ETF hit.

I'm so sick of my device becoming more and more useless on the AT&T network with each new version. It shouldn't work that way.

nevermind.... this is only an ATT thing...

apollo1444 said:

I think you dumb americans need to think outside of the US.... nobody else in the planet has CDMA iPhones so carriers around the world using GSM need to start showing that the iPhone 4S while not a truly LTE device can get 4G like speeds...

I don't think AT&T has 90% of the guilt in this, Apple probably had to get competitive in other regions of the world where other companies offer GSM HSPA+/LTE showing stupid H+ or 4G signs already....3G probably didn't cut it and throw some customers off who aren't really informed or care about this... H+ probably didn't cut it as well so they were with the what the hell attitude and added 4G sign

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Maybe you dumb foreigners need to stop ragging on the US and being rude or design your own products that are better

4g Indicator is Misleading

Regardless of whether or not HSPA+ is considered a "4G", I think changing the label is on the 4s is misleading.

The 4s doesn't even support the higher HSPA+ speeds that it has rolled out across much of the country.

Additionally, the 14.4 Mbps HSPA+ that the iPhone 4s is compatible with is essentially being marketed the same as AT&T's products that actually support LTE.

In short, people who buy an iPhone 4s may only get 1 Mbps download speed (me) while people who buy other smartphones from AT&T may get 10 Mbps. In other words, AT&T is marketing the same basic experience to everybody who buys one of there "4G" phones but, in practice, peoples' experiences with AT&T vary widely.

Although I am not too bummed because I knew what I was buying when I bought it, I think AT&T is despicable for doing this. They are taking advantage of semantics to sign unwitting customers up for a 4g service that is subpar to that of its competitors and its own LTE - all so they can take their sweet time rolling out their LTE network.

???

It's funny that this thread came out as I was researching HSPA and HSPA+ - Telstra's LTE isn't compatible with the new iPad's supported Frequencies.

I thought I'd take a squiz at what the iPad 2, new iPad (no clear tech specs on the Apple site/Wikipedia yet) and then iPhone 4/4S (I now technically own an iPad 3 and officially own an iPhone 4) just to get a comparison, as my Dad uses a Galaxy S II - oh how he loves the droid.

Anyway, straight from Apple regarding the iPhone 4S
World phone
UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz);
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
CDMA EV-DO Rev. A (800, 1900 MHz)4
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz only)
Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology

HS(D/U)PA != HSPA+

See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Speed_Packet_Access
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolved_HSPA

Now I appreciate that the iPhone 4S can somehow use HSPA+ but how come Apple hasn't stated this on their site? Nor is it mentioned on Wikipedia, nor for that matter, GSM Arena - With the maximum listed speed being 14.4mbps

As an aside, how do you sell a 4G phone (100mbps minimum according to guide-lines I saw stated above - true or not) when even the new iPad is only capable of actually receiving LTE signals at 78mbps REGARDLESS of the Towers ability to pump out signal at higher speed than that. Marketing or not.

If anyone could explain this to me I'd be more than grateful.

Edit:

Current HSDPA deployments support down-link speeds of 1.8, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.4 Megabit/s. Further speed increases are available with HSPA+, which provides speeds of up to 42 Mbit/s downlink and 84 Mbit/s with Release 9 of the 3GPP standards.

Click to expand...

So yeah, PLEASE, someone explain to me how they can say HSDPA can show 4G? It is limited to 14.4mbps!

rdowns said:

Just finished upgrading my phone to 4G. Wicked fast now

Click to expand...

LOL Me too!

benji888 said:

HSPA+ does NOT = 4G!

The status bar should simply display 3G+ when it is HSPA+!!!!

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Or just show 3G for standard UMTS, H for standard HSPA and H+ for HSPA+. It's what Sony Ericsson shows on their phones' status bar. Same can be said to Samsung as well.

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I think 3G+ would be a better description

justperry said:

What they should have used(use) is :

G = Gprs
E = Edge
Ev = EVDO
U = UMTS
H = HSPA
H+ = HSDPA+
L = LTE
La =LTE Advanced
......

I don't know what all the standards are, probably CDMA or W-CDMA should be in the list as well.

And, don't say it's too difficult for people to understand, they would find out really fast that if they download on (G) Gprs that it is slower than (H+) HSDPA.
People are smarter than We might think they are.

Click to expand...

I'm inclined to agree with you. It's complicated but honest. Perhaps a sync speed indicator would be best, if that's eve possible.

so does that mean we have 5GB data limits not 3GB limits anymore?

I'd say In My area, Atlanta, Ga, that the speeds are good enough to label as 4G.