I'm getting tired of folks berating EDGE...

[NiteWaves77]

americans are so funny,

I'm sorry. You misunderstood me. I don't care what you think. I'm right, you're wrong. 🙂

 

[MadDog31]

Damn, for some of us, EDGE does what it needs to do. I was just in my doctor's office getting a sore throat scoped and I was streaming YouTube videos over EDGE w/o a single issue. In fact my home Internet was blowing a$$ on YouTube but it was fine on EDGE.

Maybe I'm a lucky one. But when something better comes along on the iPhone (3G, etc), then I'll get it eventually. But for right now, I'm very impressed with what I have to work with.

That aside, I'm impressed I'm two-handed typing on the keyboard already. 😀

 

[terrrrrible]

I haven't really had a "problem" using EDGE so far. Everyone that's asked me about the phone says "I heard that the internet is slow on that thing, is that true?", so I just load up a few web pages and most people have said "Wow that's not bad at all, everyone made it out to be horrible."

 

[noquarter]

It's not just about the speed...

...of the EDGE network, it's also about available capacity. After suffering through the use of EDGE for the past two years, I can tell you that in major markets like Los Angeles and New York during peaks points of the day, not only do the speeds drop, but the service steps down to standard GPRS service when EDGE reaches it's capacity, and this happens regularly.

Now if you 're living in a small town or a less densely populated city then I can see how some of you would maintain decent connections, but you just can't compare 100-200k EDGE speeds with the 2-3MB speeds of 3G service.

 

[appleii2mac]

...of the EDGE network, it's also about available capacity. After suffering through the use of EDGE for the past two years, I can tell you that in major markets like Los Angeles and New York during peaks points of the day, not only do the speeds drop, but the service steps down to standard GPRS service when EDGE reaches it's capacity, and this happens regularly.

Now if you 're living in a small town or a less densely populated city then I can see how some of you would maintain decent connections, but you just can't compare 100-200k EDGE speeds with the 2-3MB speeds of 3G service.

Perhaps. But I can tell you that EVDO suffers from the exact same problem in the NYC area. I suspect 3G/HSDPA will (or does) as well.

 

[noquarter]

Perhaps. But I can tell you that EVDO suffers from the exact same problem in the NYC area. I suspect 3G/HSDPA will (or does) as well.

I would rather have 20% of 3MB EVDO or HSDPA (400k) than 20% of 250k EDGE (50k) for web browsing, but I suspect you'll feel this way too after plunking down $500-600 for an iPhone and attempting to use it in a major city for a few months.

 

[appleii2mac]

I would rather have 20% of 3MB EVDO or HSDPA (400k) than 20% of 250k EDGE (50k) for web browsing, but I suspect you'll feel this way too after plunking down $500-600 for an iPhone and attempting to use it in a major city for a few months.

I've been using my VZW EVDO (typically 400k at best) in the NYC area for 1 1/2 years now. What have you been using and where?

 

[Goldenbear]

I pretty much had my mind made up to wait for a 3G capable iPhone... Then, I actually tried using one.

All I can say is, there's a lot of people out there who love to spout off about how much something "will suck" without actually trying it out 🙄

Sure, it's nowhere as fast as browsing over my DSL line, but it's still a lot faster than my parents' dial-up. Do I wish it was faster? Of course! Would I trade the longer battery life of EDGE for much faster 3G? Not a chance!

EDGE is "good enough" for what I need (and more than fast enough for email). It's a good compromise between speed, coverage, and battery life... for now.

 

[Goldenbear]

...of the EDGE network, it's also about available capacity. After suffering through the use of EDGE for the past two years, I can tell you that in major markets like Los Angeles and New York during peaks points of the day, not only do the speeds drop, but the service steps down to standard GPRS service when EDGE reaches it's capacity, and this happens regularly...

OK, but what about now? AT&T supposedly poured a ton of money to beef up their EDGE network recently.

It'll be interesting to read people's experiences with the network over the next week few weeks as iPhones start jumping onto the network.

 

[note235]

i like edge
i thought i was using wifi at home but really was edge
but wifi is still faster
both good though
never mobile acess befoe though
faster than prepaid tmobile