Is 3G this bad or is my iPad 2 defective?

[Captain America]

So I bought an iPad 2 with wifi and 3G a few days ago. I couldn't help but notice the serious inconsistencies in speed as well as how unbelievably slow it can be.

I'm talking as fast as 6Mbps one night and .04 others. Most of the time it's well below 1 and often unusable. Sometimes every other speed test (speedtest.net app) will net me a bit over 1Mbps but most are pretty well below. Is it supposed to be that slow (signal usually 3bars or more btw....doesn't seem to make much difference) or is there something wrong here?

EDIT: Forgot to mention, this is from AT&T

 

[Aspasia]

I can only comment that at my house, the "3G" service is via AT&T Edge - which totally sucks. So slow and ineffective that it's unusable (for the past two years the local AT&T reps have claimed that 3G coverage will be here in "a couple of months." And pigs fly).

If I travel about a mile north, the coverage is actual 3G - which is zippy and a pleasure to use. I've had great results with the service while traveling as well.

Does your iPad reflect you're on ATT's 3G, or ATT E, which is Edge?

 

[Captain America]

I can only comment that at my house, the "3G" service is via AT&T Edge - which totally sucks. So slow and ineffective that it's unusable (for the past two years the local AT&T reps have claimed that 3G coverage will be here in "a couple of months." And pigs fly).

If I travel about a mile north, the coverage is actual 3G - which is zippy and a pleasure to use. I've had great results with the service while traveling as well.

Does your iPad reflect you're on ATT's 3G, or ATT E, which is Edge?

It shows as 3G. Also, I've owned a 3GS, 4 and 4S, and none of them were ever this slow.

 

[seajay96]

So I bought an iPad 2 with wifi and 3G a few days ago. I couldn't help but notice the serious inconsistencies in speed as well as how unbelievably slow it can be.

I'm talking as fast as 6Mbps one night and .04 others. Most of the time it's well below 1 and often unusable. Sometimes every other speed test (speedtest.net app) will net me a bit over 1Mbps but most are pretty well below. Is it supposed to be that slow (signal usually 3bars or more btw....doesn't seem to make much difference) or is there something wrong here?

EDIT: Forgot to mention, this is from AT&T

Do you notice the same speed issues at any other location? Do you live in a high density area, like an apartment complex? Is the problem noticeable at only certain times? Are you trying to do more on you iPad than you did on your iPhones and are just noticing it now?

You can have 3 bars and 3G, but if there are another 500 (or whatever large #) people trying to connect to the same tower, the speed will slow to a crawl.