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Speed is meaningless when you're capped at 2gb. In fact, speed in those cases can be detrimental to your wallet.

Not really sure if I agree with that. Whenever I'm out and about or whenever my wifi is on the fritz, I'd rather not wait minutes for a youtube video to buffer on the severely lacking 3G speed in my area. Would much rather have wifi speeds anywhere but thats just me
 
Faster data is always great, but I wouldn't want to see the iPhone's phenomenal battery life diminish between 4G and a rumored 4" display.


Anyways, glad to hear Apple is pushing the envelope in regards to tech specs.
Stay well MR friends

My current phone, an EVO, has a widget that allows 4G to be turned on and off. Hopefully Apple gives the consumer the option.
 
It would make no difference to a casual user. I would still stream my Spotify, watch my Netflix and browse my Facebook. Just because I get the data faster doesn't mean I'm sucking down more data.

Even if I tethered, I'd still only be downloading the same content I would be downloading even if I had the 3G connection. So I don't see how "4G" would make me rage about my cap?!? :confused:

If I could get data faster, I would end up using more. Maybe that's just me. It's just hard to get excited about speeds where, if I used it, would mean I hit my cap within minutes.
 
this is highly unlikely given apple's track record in this area... Sprint advertised their "4G" network for close to a year before they even sold ONE SINGLE phone that utilized it.
 
I'm sure this is enough to make us Verizon users cringe because our iPhones are averaging less than 1Mbps down and even worse up. Internet browsing isn't too horrible but if you're on 3G and downloading things off the App Store, forget about it.
 
True. Faster connection with lower cap just means you'll get to the limit faster.

i dont understand this. for example, buying a 8mb song on your phone, won't you just download it faster? its still going to be 8mb right?
 
HSPA+ was a given. No way was Apple going to ship a handset without it in 2011, that would just have been completely ridiculous.

LTE would be more of a surprise, especially with Montreal now having LTE support (and Ottawa and Toronto). A LTE phone can easily fall back to HSPA+ or lower protocols.
 
My current phone, an EVO, has a widget that allows 4G to be turned on and off. Hopefully Apple gives the consumer the option.

Apple would never do that. That's against Apple's core philosophy. The fact that that option would even be necessary shows a huge failure in the carrier's part.
 
i dont understand this. for example, buying a 8mb song on your phone, won't you just download it faster? its still going to be 8mb right?

In a vacuum, yes. But in reality I would just download more songs, watch more videos, etc.
 
Apple would never do that. That's against Apple's core philosophy. The fact that that option would even be necessary shows a huge failure in the carrier's part.

Since the iPhone 3G there's been an option in the settings to turn off 3G, and it even mentions 3G may decrease battery life.

Though it's different with the EVO, the 4G is actually LTE, different radio. I'm not sure if an HSPA+ phone can have the "4G" part turned off and let it run as "3G" HSPA.
 
I really don't get all of these whinegasms about speed being a bad thing.

Faux-G is just going to give better quality streaming and faster downloading to those who have been struggling with 3G.

Saying it'll just get you to your cap faster is as silly as saying if you buy a cake and eat it all in one sitting, you wasted your money. Sorry, but if that's what I want to do with my delicious cake, then bug off and let me eat it. If you want to have a slice a day and make it last, good for you.
 
This was my fear for upgrading I asked around and yes we/I have unlimited 3G data plans- I talked to a friend of mine who works for sprint and I will be moving to sprint unless this question gets answered.....

If you have a 4G phone do you have to use 4G or can you stick with the 3G connection?

edit: so you can keep your unlimited plan?
 
No LTE, I'm going Android. If iOS makes that big of a difference, I'll just tether an iPod to it like I've been doing for months on a WebOS phone. I mean, Qualcomm's chips are ready in the right loads for Apple now, so I don't understand the delay.

I'll just wait for the Samsung AMOLED 350 dpi 4.5" displays. I don't think expecting Apple to match it was unreasonable. If you know what you're doing, Android is just as usable as iOS, though neither are as usable as the horribly mismanaged WebOS (HP and Palm = incompetent).

I mean, especially if Apple doesn't improve the screen, I don't see anything interesting in this phone that makes it worth buying, unless the voice commands make my iPhone a virtual friend when I'm feeling very lonely...

If the iPhone 5 is as pointless as it sounds, I can see why Apple has gone sue happy: They've fallen behind and stopped innovating at the same rate, yet are charging the same price. Period. And I know I'm going to be voted down for saying all companies are technologically innovating at a superior pace to Apple at the moment, but if you step out of the reality distortion field, you'd find it to be true-and there's little reason Apple can't do the same aside from wanting to have the largest margins per device.

Welcome back to Scullyville :mad:
 
I can't wait I hope the people with unlimited data can be grandfather in.

little of topic here


I have 3 lines and one line is eligible for and upgrade but it not my line how do i go about getting the new iPhone 5 on my line if they don't up the upgrade date like they did with the iPhone 4
 
If so, if this is true...

THIS is the BEST new I have heard about the iPhone 5 -- what good is a faster processor when an internet communication device is still crippled by slow-as-molasses 3G data speeds? If this indeed supports ~ 10x speed increase with the HSPA+, then this is good incentive to upgrade to the iPhone 5. The speed alone is a sole selling point for me, rather than dual-core A5, higher Megapixel camera, etc...those are minor deals...

But to actually make this an effective internet surfer by making HSPA+ speed a reality on the iPhone 5 -- this gets me excited! I would like to be able to stream video, really take advantage of cloud computing, and be able to handle broadband-like mobile computing needs on my iDevice, something 3G just can't deliver...for example, uploading a video to YouTube == This is a pain and a hassle on 3G but would be much mor feasible with 4G speeds. So, I am hyped about this news.
 
HSPA+ is still part of UMTS specification. Even if it is the latest and fastest version of this norm, it is still a 3G standard.
It is not an "intermediary".

Honestly, the idea of dividing technologies into 2G, 3G, 4G, etc. is just a marketing gimmick. They all encompass a variety of different technologies which have a range of speeds. Yes, there are official dividing lines, but since they're just marketing gimmicks anyway, it's kind of pointless to argue about what goes in what category. If you really care exactly how fast your connection is, you need to look at the precise technology being used, the same as with a wired connection.
 
Many had been hoping that the next iPhone would support the even faster LTE standard that has begun rolling out on a number of carriers...
There go my hopes of having an iPhone that could reach its 5GB data cap much faster and have substantially worse battery life. :(
 
I was holiding out hope for LTE, but it looks like no iPhone for me for at least another year. I get a large discount from my employer for Verizon and unlimited data so switching is not an option for me. Also I use the hotspot on my phone a lot and on Verizon 3G that can be painful. On LTE, data is just as fast as my wi-fi at home and with my grandfathered plan unlimited 4G hotspot is only an extra $20 a month for me right now. I picked up a Bionic to try and while it does have its bugs it is lightning fast. Battery life does suck on LTE but I am at my desk or in my car most of the workday so I bought the desktop dock and car dock and on the weekends when I am not using my phone as much it gets through the day just fine.

I would love to get an iPhone and it will be a great device but there is no way I can lock into a contract on a non LTE phone at this point. I depend on the hotspot too much and if I went to a dongle or mifi I would be capped.
 
This was my fear for upgrading I asked around and yes we/I have unlimited 3G data plans- I talked to a friend of mine who works for sprint and I will be moving to sprint unless this question gets answered.....

If you have a 4G phone do you have to use 4G or can you stick with the 3G connection?

edit: so you can keep your unlimited plan?

From the AT&T, it's not really true 4G. It uses the same radio as the 3G chips, just allows faster speeds. It's not a different radio like 4G LTE or WiMax is. And yes, if you upgrade to a new phone, you can keep your unlimited, even if you're out of contract. The key is to have maintained your current smartphone plan with no changes and no breaks.
 
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