No HSDPA+ so far in 2 cities tested.

[macguy360]

I have been using my girlfriends iPhone 4 to compare data speed results with my 4s. Both are on AT&T.

I live in Oxford Mississippi. According to the AT&T data map, I should have HSDPA data speed here. I have tested both my 4s and my girlfriends 4 using speedtest.net app and both have similar results within 1mb of each other. Sometimes the 4 is faster and sometimes the 4s is faster but the 4s does not outperform the 4 by any margin.

I then went to Memphis this weekend and while I was there I remembered to test the data speeds of both phones at different areas of Memphis. This is another city which is supposedly a HSDPA+ area. During the tests I again got similar results from both the 4 and 4s with 1mb of each other. Around 4mb download and 1mb upload consistently.

I have so far not found an area where my 4s was able to get over 6mb of data speed and outshine the 4 in speeds.

Take this with a grain of salt because there are obviously plenty of other big cities that might have better HSDPA+ speeds.

 

[bowlerman625]

I'm in the west suburbs of Chicago. The best download speeds I saw was for the first few days with the 4S. A number of times around 6 Mbps. Since those first few days the best I've seen was around 3.7 Mbps, that's it.

 

[macguy360]

I'm in the west suburbs of Chicago. The best download speeds I saw was for the first few days with the 4S. A number of times around 6 Mbps. Since those first few days the best I've seen was around 3.7 Mbps, that's it.

Do you know what iPhone 4 speeds are currently for that area for comparison?

 

[bowlerman625]

Do you know what iPhone 4 speeds are currently for that area for comparison?

I can tell you that these results are very similar to what my iPhone 4 was getting........and a number of times my iPad 2 3G is a bit faster than the 4S.

 

[ZBoater]

I can tell you that these results are very similar to what my iPhone 4 was getting........and a number of times my iPad 2 3G is a bit faster than the 4S.

Same here in Tampa. I smell rat.

 

[macguy360]

Same here in Tampa. I smell rat.

Now, I am not complaining about data speed by any means. I am very happy with my 4-6mb data speed.

I am just curious if HSDPA+ does exist and if it is possible to get any real world benefit from it. I kinda feel like HSDPA+ for 4s is on the same lines of believing in Santa Claus. Sure it gives me a nice, warm and fluffy feeling thinking that my 4s is faster than the other 2 networks but am I really getting this or am I just being told stories to make me feel good.

 

[mpossoff]

Now, I am not complaining about data speed by any means. I am very happy with my 4-6mb data speed.

I am just curious if HSDPA+ does exist and if it is possible to get any real world benefit from it. I kinda feel like HSDPA+ for 4s is on the same lines of believing in Santa Claus. Sure it gives me a nice, warm and fluffy feeling thinking that my 4s is faster than the other 2 networks but am I really getting this or am I just being told stories to make me feel good.

The 4S isn't an HSPA+ device to begin with. It's HSPDA and should be faster than the other 2 networks.

 

[smithrh]

The 4S isn't an HSPA+ device to begin with. It's HSPDA and should be faster than the other 2 networks.

Bing bing bing we have a winner.

There is HSPA+ (which is not implemented on the iPhone 4S), there is HSDPA, but there is no HSDPA+.

 

[macguy360]

The 4S isn't an HSPA+ device to begin with. It's HSPDA and should be faster than the other 2 networks.

So why did AT&T try and push to get the 4g tag for the 4s?

Wasn't the entire premise the fact that it could get theoretical 11mbps or something like that speeds?

 

[dccorona]

have you made sure you are on the iPhone 4S data plan, not the normal iPhone data plan? I had the same problem and calling ATT to change my plan fixed it

 

[macguy360]

have you made sure you are on the iPhone 4S data plan, not the normal iPhone data plan? I had the same problem and calling ATT to change my plan fixed it

I checked online to make sure and it said I was under the iPhone 4s data plan. I might go ahead and call AT&T and see how it looks on their end.

BTW what kind of data speeds are you getting now that you have changed it?

 

[nunes013]

i have same issue. i live in the area that says i should get the "4G". however my speeds are exactly the same coming from the 4 to the 4S. its around 2-3 mb/s. i know i wasn't going to get the 11 that they say is possible but 6-7 would be nice. Im not complaining as it is fast. i would just like to know why its faster if they advertise it.

 

[MorganB]

There is HSPA+ (which is not implemented on the iPhone 4S)

The 4S is HSPA+.

 

[mpossoff]

The 4S is HSPA+.

No it's not. It's HSPDA.

 

[reclusive46]

No it's not. It's HSPDA.

It is...Its 14.4mb/s. There was a big debate about this on the UK news channel and just because it lacks one thing in the HSPA+ standard does not make it HSPDA. Its impossible to to be HSPDA if it has MIMO.

 

[profets]

No it's not. It's HSPDA.

If you search there's been a lot of discussions about this.

It is hspa+ 14.4mbps. The qualcomm chip in the 4S is hspa+.

 

[zephxiii]

WOW Lots of misconceptions here.

The 4S is on the same network as the 4, however:

The 4S has a higher peak throughput via higher efficiency on the air interface and ability to grab more resources when compared to the 4 (15 HS-DSCH codes vs. 10 for the 4).

Also Qualcomm states that the MDM6600 IS in fact HSPA+ so it must have some Release 7 features in it. The 4S uses a variant of it (MDM6610) so it could actually have some of those Release 7 features making it technically HSPA+ and better than the 4.

On average the 4S should have higher throughput, but if the site is really loaded down you may not see that.

 

[thelatinist]

The issue is backhaul. It doesn't really matter how fast the phone can receive data if the cell tower doesn't have enough bandwidth to supply it. AT&T has been improving its speeds, but I imagine that there are very few placed where a congested cell tower could provide multiple users with HSPA+ speeds. This is in fact why I'm not fussed about 4G/LTE: because I don't really expect much real world increase in data throughput.

 

[SooneratND]

The issue is backhaul. It doesn't really matter how fast the phone can receive data if the cell tower doesn't have enough bandwidth to supply it. AT&T has been improving its speeds, but I imagine that there are very few placed where a congested cell tower could provide multiple users with HSPA+ speeds. This is in fact why I'm not fussed about 4G/LTE: because I don't really expect much real world increase in data throughput.

I think this is the real issue. Here in Cincinnati, I got 6-7 mb/s the first night I had my phone, but now I get closer to what I used to get on my 3GS. I'm thinking as more and more 4s phone hit the network, the cell towers got more congested and speeds fell.

 

[trouble747]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Wow, I have yet to hit 6 Mbps on any speed test here in Austin, despite several tests in different parts of the city. 3G slows to a crawl in downtown Austin during the day. If you're hitting 4-6, I envy you!