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AT&T's 3G Network Struggling to Keep Up?

verizon evdo

Sometimes I really wish Apple would have gone with Verizon. They have EVDO Rev A and it's very reliable, maybe because everyone's switched to iPhone now lol.

Running a Broadband Card in my MacBook Pro:

Download: 1,902 kb/s
Upload: 634 kb/s

This is Winston-Salem, NC area.

I can drive in my car for 30 miles streaming iTunes and it rarely even re-buffers. Still waiting to make the switch someday.

On my Palm Treo 700p phone, I get 1,403kb/s down and 432kb/s up.
 
I sure it will pick up. BUT, this is why I extended my warranty on my EDGE phone. When all this is fixed up, maybe I'll switch. Otherwise, 2.0 has me very happy. :)
 
During the day, I get anywhere from 50 kbps to 90 kbps. After midnight, I was getting 1+ Mbps consistently. I live in DC so we should have good coverage.

These speeds are with 4-5 bars of 3G.

And yes, EDGE is way faster during the day.
 
marco114 said:
Sometimes I really wish Apple would have gone with Verizon. They have EVDO Rev A and it's very reliable, maybe because everyone's switched to iPhone now lol.
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Nothing against Verizon, but I really doubt Apple would have released a phone with Verizon. CDMA/EVDO is a completely different technology than what AT&T/TMobile use, and most countries outside of the US use the same technology as ATT/Tmobile. (GSM/UMTS-HSDPA/UPA) Apple would have thrown away most all phone sales outside of the US if they had built a phone around Verizons technology.
 
The funny thing is...

Since 50% of the user base is migrating to 3G, the EDGE network suddenly now has twice the capacity. :D ;)
 
Maybe they should charge more?

If the speeds are slower, maybe they should charge more… They are already charging more than cable and dsl to use only for mobile content, why not be completely unrealistic and just up the charge further? They already have their fangs into millions, why not suck their customers for every last penny?

AT&T is the Goliath that really needs a David. Hopefully someone finds a slingshot and a rock garden.
 
Thunder82 said:
Nothing against Verizon, but I really doubt Apple would have released a phone with Verizon. CDMA/EVDO is a completely different technology than what AT&T/TMobile use, and most countries outside of the US use the same technology as ATT/Tmobile. (GSM/UMTS-HSDPA/UPA) Apple would have thrown away most all phone sales outside of the US if they had built a phone around Verizons technology.
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Agreed. Apple planned to go with AT&T from the outset as TMobile's 3G plans were so far behind. Talking to Verizon first was just to hone their negotiation skills.

According to GSMworld, there are over 3 BILLION global GSM and 3GSM mobile connections. :eek:

CDMA/EVDO ... not so much.
 
Really strange EDGE test here - Midland TX does not have 3g, and the phone clearly shows EDGE on the screen, but iPhoneSpeedTest registers 214 kbps average on three tests. That's much better than the 2g was getting last week before I upgraded to the 3g. What gives? It's definitely not a sign of "migration" to 3g in a non-3g area. In fact the load here should be getting worse, not better?
 
Apple even stated in advertising, "twice as fast, half the price". As we should know from bumping up from 802.11b WiFi to 802.11g WiFi to 802.11n WiFi, there are theoretical limits in the technical specifications, and they there are practical limits. I get about 200Kbps on EDGE in the worst coverage in my urban area; all I'd expect if I upgraded, for half the battery life, on ATT 3G, is 400Kbps. Compared to 2Mbps on WiFi, that's not so much.

My only viable reason for upgrading is GPS for cycling, but I can get a Garmin Forerunner 101 for a hundred bucks, wear it on my wrist, not worry about dropping it and breaking it, and no contract.

If there's a distance calculating app that will use EDGE triangulation (I need urban [high coverage] half klicks, not meters) then I can probably skip the 101 entirely and just buy an arm strap for my EDGE iPhone.

theheadguy said:
uh, google "iphone speed test" from your iphone.

yes, it's not as impressive as they made it out to be. oh well; who expected to be blown away? honestly...
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dstrauss said:
Really strange EDGE test here - Midland TX does not have 3g, and the phone clearly shows EDGE on the screen, but iPhoneSpeedTest registers 214 kbps average on three tests. That's much better than the 2g was getting last week before I upgraded to the 3g. What gives? It's definitely not a sign of "migration" to 3g in a non-3g area. In fact the load here should be getting worse, not better?
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ATT has been doing ongoing upgrades to their EDGE network, not only in coverage but in back-end bandwidth, for some time. A lot of devices still use EDGE and, especially corporations, they just bought a slew of EDGE mobile devices because 3G just came out, and they'll be on a 5-year refresh cycle, maybe 7 years under current economic conditions. AFAIK, US DoD is still all on ATT EDGE Blackberries and have no plans for near-term upgrade to 3G models.

I get 250Kpbs+, tested, all the time in Dallas. I was recently twenty miles outside Pittsburg (far east Texas, pop. 3,500, the sticks) and I got good EDGE data performance AND good tower triangulation.

Oh, I gotta ask, unless you absolutely need GPS compared to tower triangulation for some professional or personal reasons requiring very high accuracy, why would you upgrade to a 3G iPhone now if you live in an area that presently has no 3G service?
 
In NYC, consistently around 333 kbps with full signal strength on 3G. I also have a 3G card for my laptop and it's been waaaaaay noticeably slower here since the iPhone launch.
 
sanford said:
ATT has been doing ongoing upgrades to their EDGE network, not only in coverage but in back-end bandwidth, for some time. A lot of devices still use EDGE and, especially corporations, they just bought a slew of EDGE mobile devices because 3G just came out, and they'll be on a 5-year refresh cycle, maybe 7 years under current economic conditions. AFAIK, US DoD is still all on ATT EDGE Blackberries and have no plans for near-term upgrade to 3G models.

I get 250Kpbs+, tested, all the time in Dallas. I was recently twenty miles outside Pittsburg (far east Texas, pop. 3,500, the sticks) and I got good EDGE data performance AND good tower triangulation.

Oh, I gotta ask, unless you absolutely need GPS compared to tower triangulation for some professional or personal reasons requiring very high accuracy, why would you upgrade to a 3G iPhone now if you live in an area that presently has no 3G service?
Click to expand...


I live in Dallas and have a completely different result. I have not been able to test my 3G speed because any of the places that I am "stationary" (home, work) don't even get 3g coverage! It baffles me. I'm right around the corner from the Knox street apple store and can't get coverage?!?! Last night I went into northpark - in the apple store you get 4 bars of 3g. The INSTANT you walk outside the store, you drop off to no bars and then edge. It just doesn't make sense.
 
116 kbps in portland oregon on 3G and only one bar!!!!:mad: I'm going to call ATT and ask for credit on my bill until they fix their mess!!:mad:
 
Nothing new...

I do not think crappy 3G speeds (and coverage) are a new thing after the iPhone launch. Very recently, before the iPhone 3G was out - I got a AT&T laptop connect card and travelled various places in CA/NV/FL - not only did I find 3G coverage very spotty - where I got full bars, the speed was just a tad bit faster than EDGE and the latencies were really bad - even for a cell network.

I have since switched to Verizon UM150 card - which is supported right out of box on Leopard and I see very consistent coverage and very nice speeds. (1200+ Kbps down / 500+ Kbps up).

So +100 for who ever said Apple should have gone with VZW in the US. CDMA/EVDO are in use in most major markets.
 
Even in NYC the speed is crap for the most part. And literally tons of drop-out zones.

Boo.
 
Lexoticstylez02 said:
1.52Mbps on 3G.
178kbps on EDGE.

In Orlando, FL, that's a pretty big difference :)
Click to expand...

It seems like everybody who posts from Florida is getting great speeds... a buddy of mine was flying through Tampa the other day too, and he got great speeds there. Once he was back in Philly, it was slow again.

I'm in Chicago, and it's absolutely garbage here... Edge on my old T-Mobile Dash was better, and I didn't have a problem with dropped calls with them either...
 
crowdedstr said:
It seems like everybody who posts from Florida is getting great speeds... a buddy of mine was flying through Tampa the other day too, and he got great speeds there. Once he was back in Philly, it was slow again.

I'm in Chicago, and it's absolutely garbage here... Edge on my old T-Mobile Dash was better, and I didn't have a problem with dropped calls with them either...
Click to expand...

Yea I have noticed that. It seems that florida has the best coverage, and constantly has the highest download speeds.

I had it slow down yesterday to around 300kbps, but I think that was just the area I was in, when I it again a little later it was back up over a 1mbps according to testmyiphone.com, inetworktest.com says i'm only getting about 700kbps almost all the time for some reason.
 
3G works well for me.

I get 1734kbps / 212 kb/s.

Of course I'm testing this in The Netherlands and my 3G signal is about half.

So in closing. Your AT&T network sucks. :(

Update: I just got 3110 kpbs / 380 kb/s.

And no its not on wifi. I have that turned off currently.
 
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