iOS 5.1 Adds '4G' Indicator to iPhone 4S Status Bar for AT&T HSPA+ Coverage

[MacRumors]

Last October, an internal AT&T talking point claimed that the carrier was working with Apple to have the iPhone 4S status bar display a "4G" indicator when the device is connected to an HSPA+ network.

With today's release of iOS 5.1, that change now appears to have gone into effect as shown in a photo posted to Twitter by @ichadman.

While short of the data speeds seen with LTE networks now rolling out, AT&T and other carriers have also referred to their HSPA+ networks using 4G as a marketing terms to distinguish the standard's faster performance relative to older 3G standards.

Article Link: iOS 5.1 Adds '4G' Indicator to iPhone 4S Status Bar for AT&T HSPA+ Coverage

 

[Bill Gates]

Marketing BS.

 

[Cougarcat]

Did it say HSPA+ before, or just 3G?

 

[Hazel]

Did it say HSPA+ before, or just 3G?

it said 3G previously.

 

[Dechter]

That's a shame. When this news first broke back in November or so and then nothing came of it, I thought it was because Apple told AT&T to go stuff it with their non-4G 4G-in-name-only marketing. Ah, well...

 

[Xenomorph]

That's a shame. When this news first broke back in November or so and then nothing came of it, I thought it was because Apple told AT&T to go stuff it with their non-4G 4G-in-name-only marketing. Ah, well...

When I got my 4S, my download speeds were hitting ~10 Mbps. That's way faster than any 3G connection I've used.

T-Mobile has been calling HSPA+ "4G" for a while now. Now AT&T does as well.

 

[Zulithe]

HSPA+ is 4G (enough). At least until the next iPhone. I'm glad to finally have some indicator telling me when I have HSPA+ and when I don't.

So turns out I have '4G' from the cell towers near my house. Yay!

 

[slicecom]

Ridiculous.

 

[rorschach]

Whatever. I didn't even notice it until I saw it here.

 

[cjmillsnun]

HSPA+ is 4G (enough). At least until the next iPhone. I'm glad to finally have some indicator telling me when I have HSPA+ and when I don't.

So turns out I have '4G' from the cell towers near my house. Yay!

It isn't 4G at all. Not anywhere close. If it said H+ then I'd be happy. AT&T calling it 4G is just pure marketing BS.

 

[Danbrown521]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B176 Safari/7534.48.3)

Some people are never happy...

 

[devianter]

guys, what's the gorgeous wallpaper on the screenshot? can anybody share it please? i would be really grateful!

 

[dave420]

It isn't 4G at all. Not anywhere close. If it said H+ then I'd be happy. AT&T calling it 4G is just pure marketing BS.

It is in line with the other carriers though. It probably confuses customers that Sprint's '4G' service is slower than AT&T's '3G' service.

 

[richardsonrs]

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HSPA+ is 4G (enough). At least until the next iPhone. I'm glad to finally have some indicator telling me when I have HSPA+ and when I don't.

So turns out I have '4G' from the cell towers near my house. Yay!

It isn't 4G at all. Not anywhere close. If it said H+ then I'd be happy. AT&T calling it 4G is just pure marketing BS.

The ITU disagrees with you.

 

[James Howlett]

would Rogers, telus, bell do this? they are all HSPA+ aswell i believe

 

[benji888]

HSPA+ does NOT = 4G!

The status bar should simply display 3G+ when it is HSPA+!!!!

 

[osxster]

While HSPA+ is certainly not 4G nor is LTE. HSPA+ is faster on paper than LTE, so if you call LTE 4G you might as well call HSPA+ 4G.

LTE Advanced is the only spec that meets the definition of 4G, however that isn't out yet.

 

[cjmillsnun]

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The ITU disagrees with you.

after redefining their spec (downwards) twice!
(how many carriers are members?). HSPA+ is a development of UMTS HSDPA It really is 3.5G

 

[Huracan]

I'm taking back my comments. I thought regular 4G LTE as in Verizon and AT&T was considered 4G. Basically the entire industry seems to have jumped the gun. I guess then that LTE advanced should be called 5G

However, there are many advantages to LTE over HSPA+ beyond the download/upload speeds (e.g. latency) that puts LTE in a different category than HSPA+.

 

[jmcrutch]

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I got a large soda from a restaurant recently. It was half the size of the large I get at the movie theater. I'm so mad. That restaurant should not be allowed to call their large soda "large". Venti maybe, or Grande, but not Large.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

"4G" is a marketing term. Pure and simple. The ITU issues recommendations on communication standards, but they have no "power" to enforce marketing terms.

However, one of their key requirements is 100 Mbps maximum throughput. HSPA+ has a maximum throughput of 168 Mbps, obviously well above the "minimum maximum" for "4G" classification. (Not that you're ever going to get it. The fastest HSPA+ I've ever gotten was about 20 Mbps.)

 

[cschmelz]

As one of the millions of Americans who live in rural areas and will not see real LTE for YEARS (2014-2015 at earliest most likely as we still have a lot of EDGE coverage) I like the change.

Deployment of HSPA+ is widespread where we used to just have regular 3G. I frequently see 5mb/sec+ with my iPhone 4S and it is a big step forward from before. Much faster than Verizon and likely the closest thing we will see to anything close to real 4G until the iPad 5 is out.

So I'm glad I can tell now when I'm on HSPA+ versus regular versus EDGE. Bravo Apple!

 

[quietstormSD]

Should've called it 3G+ IMO for HSPA+. And LTE as 4G.

I wonder if it's going to say 4G on AT&T iPads regardless of using HSPA+ or LTE.

 

[Tea-Aholic]

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The proper 4G logo on the iPad 3 actually says "LTE".

 

[rdowns]

Just finished upgrading my phone to 4G. Wicked fast now