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Nyc New york city 3g speed experience

i agree with the above posters that for most people the 3g speeds have been less than advertised/expected. i live in philly, and the 3g speeds and connection are horrid. most of the time, i just switch over to edge and leave it there.

if i would have know this, i would have stuck with my 1st gen, b/c there really isn't a ton of difference so far between them, besides consmetics and gps which has horrible software to support regular use.
 
ivtecDOu said:
your thread title makes me want to go kick babies
Click to expand...

lol, reminds of this buddy I had in college -- he would always say things like that. its sad, but I would laugh at his humor all the time.

I agree, the title is very convoluted....
 
for at&t to roll out 3g service like this is disgraceful. i'm sure it is an embarassment for Apple, but what can they do aout it? They only make the hardware/software.
 
In Brooklyn the speeds are horrible. I have 2 bars at my house and several dead zones while I'm walking around my neighborhood.

In Manhattan by 1st and 23rd, the signal is iffy. I work on the 16th floor and I get 2-3 bars there. Calls keep dropping, outside the signal is pretty good from Broadway n 23rd down to 1st ave and 23rd.

I ended up just using edge, because I have wifi at work and drop calls get pretty frustrating.
 
in central NJ (Monmouth) EDGE is very decent (close to 200 kbps).

My work day in Jersey City (right across the river from downtown) is intolerable. Lucky to get 50 kbps, usually around 20 kbps.

If only Apple went with Verizon. I wonder what it would be like. I can only dream...
 
I work in midtown manhattan (52nd and 6th ave) and on my 3g iphone i got 404 kbps using the iphonespeedtest.com site. my coworker with the first gen iphone got 95 kbps using the same site. Assuming those numbers are accurate, i would say 4x the speed of the first gen iphone is pretty darn good.

I was down in philly this past weekend as well and i didn't have any problems with the iphone, speedwise or coverage wise and i was staying in a hotel in rittenhouse square. Drove down to the jersey shore for a day to stroll along the beach and except for a few times when coverage switched over to edge, i had no problems there as well. GPS also worked fabulously in both philly and the jersey shore, in and out of the car.

All this complaining is deja vu. I remember when the first iphone came out everyone complained about how horrible edge was and now the same thing for 3g. I'm sure you have your fair share of tmobile and verizon users bitching about their provider's coverage and service as well.

The only issue with the iphone in manhattan is that the gps doesn't always work, and that's most likely due to the skyscrapers blocking gps signals and that's not something apple has control over. other than that, i've had very little issues with the 3g iphone in manhattan. i'm sure the speeds will vary depending on where one is or time of day, but overall, i have very few complaints personally

To those with crappy speeds using the native inetwork app, I suggest trying the iphonespeedtest.com site and see if the speeds match up.
 
Just as your bandwidth at home, the more people who are on the network, the slower it's gonna go. When I go to Angel games in Anaheim, I can get NO speed. There's too many people on the network. The second I leave the stadium, my speed goes back to normal. I think Manhattan is sharing this trouble due to the insane amount of people per mile. The good news is, the more people there are, the quicker they will fix the problem. Or so we hope.

I have a feeling certain big cities are going to have issues initially. It should get better over time though. ATT just rolled out free WiFi, so that's good. Once people are aware, it may reduce the demand for 3G. I would guess there are more WiFi hotspots in Manhattan, than anywhere else in the country.
 
Edge vs. 3G in NYC

I have a first generation iPhone and have been considering upgrading to the 3G version. After reading some of the reports in this thread, I went to the Apple store on 14th Street, and compared the 3G speeds side by side with Edge on my 1st generation iPhone.

I tried loading about 10 websites - CNN, MSNBC, NYTIMES, etc. on both phones at the same time. Unbelievably EDGE on my 1st Gen iPhone beat the 3G on 9 of 10 tries. I was pretty shocked. I figured it'd be close, maybe EDGE would win one or two, at least keep it close. But, it wasn't close at all. EDGE was clearly the winner.

I realize there are loads of variables, but at this point, I see no reason to upgrade, particularly given the higher monthly fees for 3G. Will wait for the next iPhone incarnation.
 
Looks like the 3G issue has been resolved in NYC.

I'm consistently getting great speeds (and more bars) on all iphone speed test websites. Other users are reporting the same.

Check yours.
 
sikuss said:
Sorry to thread-jack for a moment, but do any of you also notice that, once the phone switches from 3G to EDGE, it is EXTREMELY reluctant to return to 3G without manually switching 3G off and then back on. I actually don't think I can ever recall the phone going back to 3G on its own...
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I have also noticed this, sometimes it doesnt switch back at all. I have to manually turn off then back on 3G, then sometimes it still wont work.
 
bigdaddymac said:
I have a first generation iPhone and have been considering upgrading to the 3G version. After reading some of the reports in this thread, I went to the Apple store on 14th Street, and compared the 3G speeds side by side with Edge on my 1st generation iPhone.

I tried loading about 10 websites - CNN, MSNBC, NYTIMES, etc. on both phones at the same time. Unbelievably EDGE on my 1st Gen iPhone beat the 3G on 9 of 10 tries. I was pretty shocked. I figured it'd be close, maybe EDGE would win one or two, at least keep it close. But, it wasn't close at all. EDGE was clearly the winner.

I realize there are loads of variables, but at this point, I see no reason to upgrade, particularly given the higher monthly fees for 3G. Will wait for the next iPhone incarnation.
Click to expand...

Are you sure your 1st gen iphone wasn't on Wifi in the apple store? because when im on edge compaired to 3G its a world of difference.
 
WPB2 said:
Are you sure your 1st gen iphone wasn't on Wifi in the apple store? because when im on edge compaired to 3G its a world of difference.
Click to expand...

Before today 7 out of 10 times my Edge connection would be faster than the 3G connection. This is also the case with a few of my friends, so I believe bigdaddymac.
 
I'vebeen finding it fairly quick 80% of the time. I have not done any speed checks, but I did have 5 bars of 3g last night in the Village. I still think my former VZW EVDO was slightly faster, but this is still manageable.

As for call quality, ATT sucks compared to VZW in NYC. I gotten at least one dropped call every day so far. I did not have one for years with Verizon.
Oh well, I'm still very happy with the iPhone and would probably keep it even if I couldn't hear anything :)
 
WPB2 said:
Are you sure your 1st gen iphone wasn't on Wifi in the apple store? because when im on edge compaired to 3G its a world of difference.
Click to expand...

Definitely was not on Wifi. I switched Wifi off before trying the comparison.

Has anyone else in NYC tried side by side speed comparisons with the 1st Gen on Edge and the 2nd Gen iPhone on 3G? If so, what was the result?
 
I am definitely seeing increased speeds. In weaker areas I'm getting 200-300kbps, where I previously got under 100. In strong spots I'm getting 500kbps and up. Still not 1mbps, but it's improving. I was in Filene's basement on 6th Ave. at 18th St. the other day (which is literally in a basement) and got 900kbps, way at the back of the store.
 
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