They're exactly the same
we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.Long story short, I now know that the map is not for 4G.
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Did AT&T expand 3G coverage today?
- Thread starter elbirth
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They're exactly the same
we'll just have to agree to disagree on that.Long story short, I now know that the map is not for 4G.
You don't. The person in this case was paying for 3G and wasn't able to get 3G... Was paying for something they weren't able to get.
Really?
Last time I checked you pay for "data" access. The type (EDGE or 3G) is not defined in any service agreement.
He got what he paid for.
The way things are now, I'd agree with what you're saying- at AT&T you simply pay for "data" and that just takes care of whatever it is you get in your area. There's no tiered pricing based on what's available to you, although it does suck that everyone pays the same rate even if you don't get the faster service. That's not how it is for an ISP, so why should it be for cellular companies?
However, back when the original iPhone launched, it was actually different. The original iPhone had its own special service plan that was different from what other smartphone users had and was a little cheaper. Back then, the iPhone didn't support 3G, so maybe that was part of it. Once the iPhone 3G hit, you had to get a new plan that no longer included 200 SMS messages and the data portion went up $10.
Only at that point were you technically paying for 3G whether or not you actually got to use it. Now with there not being the cheaper option, it's not exactly the case.
On my drive from Houston to Dallas, usually there would be times where I would have no service at all (Which would be annoying because without pandora I would have NO radio due because no city would be nearby to tune into the broadcast). Last week on my drive, I had Pandora up and running on 3G the whole entire way. But then again, I did read on the news that they were upgrading the majority of the towers here in Texas.
Too many variables. No mobile carrier is going to guarantee any data rates in writing.
Not exactly true.
When the original iPhone launched, there was no subsidy on the phone.
AT&T subsidized the data and text plan. This is why it was cheaper, not because you only got EDGE.
When the phone subsidy came into play, AT&T simply treated the iPhone like any other smart phone.
Even after the expansion, looks like AT&T will still have big holes in its 3G coverage...
True but much better.
What's important is not the size of coverage but the quality of 3G coverage. I'm finding 3G coverage in my area with AT&T is very spotty compared to VZW. Many times at work my AT&T iPhone on 3G crawls in peak times compared to the VZW iPhone I'm testing. I do notice s difference in peak times with the VZW iPhone but at least it doesn't crawl like the AT&T iPhone. At work since I can get wifi whenever I want I never really took this into consideration until I started testing both networks with the same device.
In the minority of instances AT&T is definitely faster but not the majority of the time AT&T being not as consistent as VZW. After a week of testing since VZW seems to more consistent I know what to expect with the VZW iPhone compared to AT&T. In the past week the consistency with AT&T has been that I come to expect to be crawling during peak times. I mentioned this to a co worker and he thinks that I'm being picky because he said 'just stay on wifi'. But that's not the point. I'm paying for unltd data and expect decent service. At home it's almost the same. At home and work in general without doing these speed tests the VZW seems to be always more reliable in data. Interesting because in theory VZW network is suppose to be a crappy network in regards to data compared to AT&T's.
Point of my post I was dead set with staying with AT&T but not anymore. Have to think about it.