Before that step AT&T should let people freely use their "unlimited usage" first and allow apps like Slingplayer or other that kind be streamed over 3G. Thats what they should work on. Its pathetic that they move to faster 3G but still you wont be able use full potential of it because AT&T will s**t on themselves every time when iPhone user in US will open bandwidth hungry app.
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AT&T Announces Plans for 7.2 Mbps 3G Deployment
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I agree, "substantially" was overstating it. However, trust me, population density is the lamest of lame excuses. Cell service is way, way better in rural Bulgaria then it is in New York City, where I live. Take an iPhone or other GSM phone, travel around Europe, and then spend a few days in NYC. It is all about the US being behind Europe in almost every category of infrastructure, be it cell service or high speed rail.
And FYI, Alaska is 1.7 million km^2 not 1 million km^2.
Not with the latency of mobile broadband.
I've tried the 14.4mbps Vodafone USB dongles here, and they achieve nowhere near the connection they should - partly due to the latency and partly due to the fact you need to be up on the transmitter tower standing right bloody next to the transmitters to actually get that throughput.
O2 has its moments, just around the corner from you in WC2. Upload is pretty stable above 1Mbps enough to run iChat nicely at least. What did you get from Vodafone?
Date 19/04/09 12:37:05
Speed Down 5166.71 Kbps ( 5 Mbps )
Speed Up 1188.12 Kbps ( 1.2 Mbps )
Port 8095
Server speedtest1.thinkbroadband.com
IP Address 82.132.136.134
Right. Here are the population density maps, where red are the densley populated areas.
Attachments
The iPhone 3G fully supports 7.2Mbps HSDPA. There is no artificial limit imposed by the firmware. The last time this 7.2Mbps stuff happened a few months ago, a user came in with a screenshot showing about 6Mbps on O2, I believe it was.
I don't know where people got this "iPhone 3G doesn't support 7.2Mbps" or "iPhone 3G supports it, but it is not enabled" stuff, as that's never been the case. I can only guess people think so because AT&T only has a 3.6Mbps network right now. Whether or not AT&T will cap iPhone 3Gs on their end is a different story entirely, but I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't actually happen that way. There is little reason to do so, unless people start downloading data on their network 24/7.
I think population density has pretty much everything to do with how long it takes to get new technology implemented. If 90% of the population in Hungary can get a 4G signal by upgrading 1,000 towers in densely populated areas, it's going to get done a whole lot quicker than a US company having to touch 10,000 towers to affect as many people.
I wish they'd add that T-Mo trick and let there phones talk with WiFi. Sure, T-Mo uses it because their network sucks, but AT&T's sucks slightly less. It's genius, and it's a shame networks aren't taking more advantage of something so simple.
I'm not exactly familiar with Hungary, but the entire population of Bulgaria would fit comfortably in New York City, with Staten Island left completely deserted.
Please explain to me again why cell phone service is inferior in NYC? Too densely populated? Hate to tell you, but service is way better in equally dense Paris -- you get great reception even in the metro (subway).
It is all about absurd underinvestment in US infrastructure. Pretending otherwise is just pretending.
What's the topography of that region, versus the United States?
Let's compare the basic [flat] surface area of France and the United States of America.
France: 210,026 square miles (543,965 square kilometers)
US: 3,537,441 square miles (9,158,013.8 square kilometers)
France + Germany + Spain = 543,965 + 357,021 + 504,030 = 1,405,016 square kilometers.
So how many countries do you want to throw in there to finally reach the US in square kilometers?
How about we throw in the entire European Union?
4,324,782 square kilometers.
So, you're still not even half-way.
Get it?
Spare me with these, ``How come you don't have 21Mbps already,'' comments.
MICROCELL !!! need this dammit, their crappy service in los angeles, Bel Air hills means i need this and.... they are taking a damned long time to do it. Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile already have their versions.
Right but do you and everyone remember the so called reduced rates in return for a cap? This is their way to POLICE the teethering that will follow.
I say don't do it and protest it, otherwise, with the faster speeds, there will be no way you will be able to teether without paying a fortune. IMO.
Isn't the real problem that in the US we did not standardize on GSM so we have to have 2X as many towers to get the same service on our largest providers (Verizon/Sprint vs. ATT). In Europe, fewer towers means easier upgrades and more users per tower (helping justify quick updates).
Edited to add:
And isn't that why LTE, with at least Verizon and ATT adopting it, is going to really help with coverage issues in 2011+.
Edited to add:
And isn't that why LTE, with at least Verizon and ATT adopting it, is going to really help with coverage issues in 2011+.
AT&T's advertised speed is nowhere near the actual speed. Furthermore, good luck actually finding 3G coverage where ever you are: you get to use EDGE even though you paid through the nose for precious 3G!
Agreed! There was all sorts of talk about this... and it was to be running in two test cities by end of 1Q 2009... but not a word from AT&T on this.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ATT-Femtocell-Service-Website-Goes-Live-100445
Latency isn't that bad.
I don't have a 14.4 Mbps dongle, only a 7.2 Mbps down / 5.8 Mbps up dongle and this is what I get on my Macbook:
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That's still a lot faster than my home connection! Anything above 0.8mbps download and 0.5mbps upload is better,
. Apparently thats set to change later this year with one of the first UK 40-50mbps connections from BT but still doesn't make up for 8 years of a p**s poor connection. Rant over 
Meh, my iPhone browsing experience is still unbearably slow on 802.11g WIFI on a 16Gbit/s DSL line. Takes way too long to open one page of the Macrumors forum, but I guess that could get better with the more powerful iPhone hardware we're reading about in here.
Meanwhile, I'll keep on bringing my Macbook along when going on the John.
Meanwhile, I'll keep on bringing my Macbook along when going on the John.
sounds like you just answered your own question.
you're currently on 3G, but have you EVER gotten those speeds on your iphone? maybe if they bump it to "7.2mbps", then we'll get 3. also, i'm still on the cutting, i mean crappy EDGE network, so this new network along w/ a new iphone will be a welcome upgrade.
Well...
The cell phone companies are only going to invest up to the point where they can make a profit. Perhaps the EU has some sort of tax subsidy for wireless providers?
The other possibility is that in the U.S. you can get unlimited minutes on a home phone for about $20, which slowed adoption of cell phones in general. In Europe you have always had to pay per minute, so people jumped to cell phones years earlier than in the U.S.
Americans like "cheap and unlimited". Americans also stuck with dial-up Internet a lot longer than Europeans, again because it was "cheap and unlimited". A lot of people didn't want to spend $50 a month on internet when they already had it for $10-20 with dial-up.
Demand for these services builds slowly, once it reaches a critical point then the cell phone and Internet companies will invest more money.
Also, a lot of cell phones in the U.S. now have unlimited minutes for $50 a month. Can you get unlimited minutes in Europe on a cell phone?
The cell phone companies are only going to invest up to the point where they can make a profit. Perhaps the EU has some sort of tax subsidy for wireless providers?
The other possibility is that in the U.S. you can get unlimited minutes on a home phone for about $20, which slowed adoption of cell phones in general. In Europe you have always had to pay per minute, so people jumped to cell phones years earlier than in the U.S.
Americans like "cheap and unlimited". Americans also stuck with dial-up Internet a lot longer than Europeans, again because it was "cheap and unlimited". A lot of people didn't want to spend $50 a month on internet when they already had it for $10-20 with dial-up.
Demand for these services builds slowly, once it reaches a critical point then the cell phone and Internet companies will invest more money.
Also, a lot of cell phones in the U.S. now have unlimited minutes for $50 a month. Can you get unlimited minutes in Europe on a cell phone?
My point has been about population density and quickness of technology rollouts.
Why do you keep circling it back to "cell service in NYC in inferior"? I have no idea why it's inferior in NYC.
My point is that a single wireless carrier in Europe doesn't have to deal with covering nearly as much "yellow" (sparsely populated) space on the density map as single carriers in the US do, and when it comes to rolling out new technology, that can be a barrier to the rate at which new technology is rolled out.
Going back to the original post that started this, it doesn't seem illogical that Germany would be moving to 21Mbps now when AT&T is moving to 7.2Mbps.
Hopefully AT&T adding more frequency, backhaul circuits, and new towers will help you out in NYC.
People still use Sprint?
Ok, seriously, does Sprint's "Simply Everything" plan include text and data and voice? If true, unfortunately, none of these bargains are particularly enticing for folks desiring an iPhone. Besides, I believe if Apple made iPhones that worked with all the carriers, these incentive savings over AT&T's plans would probably disappear.
Ok, this may be a bargain compared to previous years, however it doesn't distinguish any carrier from the other. How convenient of them all to offer these spectacular savings.
T-Mobile has a similar deal with "favs". How long do you think it will take for AT&T to offer this amazing deal to its customers? /yawn
Seems like there's been a lot going on with the major US carriers over the last year or two.
There is, no doubt, a lot going on with the major US carriers. And yet, none of them stand out particularly better than the other. Do they all have night/weekend unlimited minutes? Don't most have the same start and stop times for Nights/Weekends? Do they not all have Family Plans? How much does 3G data cellular coverage via PC card cost monthly? Oh that's right ... roughly $60.00 for each carrier. Wait a minute, they all have soft caps? Holy cow! How much for a text message? Unlimited text plans? Oh goody - those a la carte prices are pretty similar, aren't they? Which of the carriers will let you cancel service without a termination fee? OMG, look at those stupid, similar charges.
Let's not kid ourselves here. I understand the company speak about subsidization of phone costs. I don't agree with them, but that's another story. I understand the carriers need money to improve their networks. I understand these companies employ workers who keep the network and customer service moving for customers. Technology is an expensive business. I get it.
What I don't understand is how any of them can be particularly flagged as competition for each other if they offer / impose roughly the same value, incentives, and penalties for the consumer. They may as well be two competing gas stations on your local block. Neither will deviate terribly per gallon of gasoline from the other to offer discount to the customer, but will rush to be the first to raise those prices at the drop of a hat. The cellular carriers may as well just merge into one national brand and drop the pretenses.
Regretfully, my love for the US cell carriers is on hold until any of them impress me with more than just rhetoric and press announcements like this one today.
the ONLY thing that sets one carrier apart from another is the phones...thats it. and those are becoming ubiquitous to all carriers now.....but yes, i agree with you