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3G Speeds Underwhelming?

H

HenMaster6000

macrumors regular
Original poster
I don't quite know what I was expecting speed-wise when I purchased the iPhone 3G on Friday, but after using it for the last few days, I've concluded that AT&T's 3G network--as it currently stands--doesn't offer a very significant speed improvement over its EDGE counterpart, and so--as an upgrade from the iPhone 2G with its primary emphasis on speed--the iPhone 3G is pretty underwhelming.

I work in New York and live in the suburbs, and in both locations the phone hasn't managed to break 40 kb/s on TestMyiPhone.com. Am I just in bad area? I'd expect New York to be one of the best places to test out any network technology, but the facts speak for themselves. Is this really all 3G, AT&T, and Apple have to offer?
 
AT&T is having some issues with 3G (any carrier would) when you basically probably have a few 100,000 phones using 3G, but then you basically add another 300,000+ 3G devices in a weekend, it's going to hiccup for a while.


I expect AT&T to get rolling on the ball and upgrading their networks / making them faster.
 
HenMaster6000 said:
I don't quite know what I was expecting speed-wise when I purchased the iPhone 3G on Friday, but after using it for the last few days, I've concluded that AT&T's 3G network--as it currently stands--doesn't offer a very significant speed improvement over its EDGE counterpart, and so--as an upgrade from the iPhone 2G with its primary emphasis on speed--the iPhone 3G is pretty underwhelming.

I work in New York and live in the suburbs, and in both locations the phone hasn't managed to break 40 kb/s on TestMyiPhone.com. Am I just in bad area? I'd expect New York to be one of the best places to test out any network technology, but the facts speak for themselves. Is this really all 3G, AT&T, and Apple have to offer?
Click to expand...
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I agree 100%...there is just no big difference...very disappointing...I wasn't expecting blazing speed, but at least a significant improvement, instead it's just a modest improvment...I live in NYC too...u would figure 3g would be fast as hell in the city!!!
 
I get a really sweet 1.65mbp/s connection at 3am in the morning. I think I get around half that during the day, though.
 
yeah my iphone 3g's speed is hilariously slower than my nokia n95's 3G speed

i think they're just having hiccups right now and they'll smooth it out soon when the activation frenzy stops
 
The 3G speed here in the greater Nashville area is FAAAAST. I'm stunned at how much faster 3G is than EDGE. Where are you guys located and how do I test my download speeds?

-Chris
 
I haven't run any speed tests, but in general browsing, loading of maps in Google Maps, etc... 3G feels like an enormous improvement over edge. It seriously feels like the difference between dial-up and broadband and feels very close to the speed I get on wifi at home.

I've had a few friends mention that 3G doesn't feel like that much of an improvement to them, though, so maybe it depends on where you live and various factors on that segment
 
alexmarchuk said:
It's ehhh. The main selling point for me was the new design, the 3G was a little upgrade.
Click to expand...

The main selling point for me was the promised 3G speeds, but I've been getting EDGE-like speeds. (I live and work in San Francisco). Browsing certainly doesn't feel faster than on my original iPhone, and speed tests on testmyiphone.com show that I've been getting between 127 and 261 kbps. I showed screenshots of these results to an Apple employee at the Genius Bar today, but got little more than a shrug. I'm seriously considering going back to my old iPhone.
 
My 3G iPhone, in a 3G area (3g icon activated) gets edge speeds (30kb/s)

Depressing. I hope they work out the overload issues.
 
I'm actually having trouble just staying on 3G since I got my iPhone but my edge speeds are 273kbps / 33 kb/s. I was connected to 3G 95% of the time with my old LG phone.
 
i get 1.6mb on 3g at around lunch time. the main problem with the 3g will be down to the network not the phone. if a lot of people ara attached to any sorce of data it will slow down. think of it like a moterway if it is empty you can drive fast. if it is busy you are stopped.
 
bad news for me, only get 119 kbps in portland OR 🙁
anyone here called ATT? i think if we don't call and complaint they'll never fix it!
 
So, I just ran it. This is what I got and I am currently in Orange County area:

On Edge - .15Mbps (147kbps/ 18kb/s)

On 3g - .23Mbps (229kbps / 28kb/s)

It seems to me that there is a significant difference there. If able, can someone break this down to me?

Thanks
 
How are you guys actually measuring the speed? Surely if you're all using the same site then it's going to be overloaded.
 
HenMaster6000 said:
In New York right now (midtown), and I've got .28mbps (277 kbps / 34kb/s).

Lame.
Click to expand...

Man...from the small sampling in this thread, it looks like the major markets (NY, LA) might be getting overloaded with new traffic. Hopefully AT&T can get on the ball and provide some upgrades to their 3g network in those areas soon.
 
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