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Q: Actual Page Loading Times with EDGE

Dembo

Dembo

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 14, 2007
185
13
London, UK / Frankfurt, Germany
Hi everyone,

I am looking for actual page loading times using the EDGE connection (typical, high traffic pages or very static pages so I can compare things) on an iPhone. I know that the numbers for e.g. amazon.com will vary widely but it would still be nice to get a feeling.

The iPhone will hit Germany in 6 weeks or so and I need to make up my mind – I am spoiled by having access to an HSDPA PCMCIA card and HSDPA is truly all over the place over here. I need to refresh the usual 24 month contract (standard over here) in November so “just waiting for a few more months for iPhone 2.0) won’t do it (damn, damn, damn :mad:).

Cheers,
Dembo
 
I'm pulling in 130.1 kbps over EDGE

I can get close to 200 sometimes...maybe 180ish.

if you're used to a truly high speed connection, EDGE will seem slow, there is no question about it.

Whether or not that is a deal breaker for you is a question only you can answer.

The availability of wifi hotspots in your area may tip it one way or the other for you.
 
At first I really hated the slowness of EDGE, but you get used to it. It's not as bad as it seems, just be patient or stand under a wifi hotspot.
 
140 kbps
It takes some time to get used to it. Its not all that bad.
 
Dembo, I'm pretty sure that the service providers / Apple in Europe will do the same thing they do in the states in that if you buy a new iPhone then you just start a new 18 month contract so if a 3G one does come out six months down the line you could always buy that then and sell the 2G iPhone.
You might also want to look into using that upgrade to get some other phone. In the states you can get a free phone via upgrade and then transfer to the iPhone contract the very next day - could save you some dough (if Germany do upgrades).
 
If you use Web Sites designed for Mobile Devices you get much less data and it is quite fast. Sometimes split second. If you visit Web Sites that are designed for full screen PC with full graphics it is quite slow.

It is very nice to be able to go to full web sites. But for my everyday heavy use I use sites that are design for the screen size of the iPhone. In this mode it is similiar to native apps that also pull data from the web. Some example mobile sites are:

Google Calendar
Movie Schedule (a number of sites)
MacRumors has an excellent Mobile version
The Stock Quote Native App takes you to the mobile Yahoo site for more information. Very useful stock information design for mobile.
....
many more

If this works for you, you will be very happy with the iPhone and EDGE. I am.
 
gceo said:
Instead of page load times, I see most people using this URL:

http://bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/

I usually get around 200kbps in North San Diego coastal.
Click to expand...

Thanks gceo for pointing that one out to me - using my HSDPA card the site reports 330kbps on bad reception and 700+ kbps with good reception.

Hmmm, interessting - 330 kB/s feels better than I thought, so maybe 200something wouldn't be to bad after all. The pendulum starts swinging towards the iPhone again.

How does 200kbps translate to seconds when firing up, say digg.com?

Cheers,
Dembo
 
@Sobe and TurboSC:

Thank you for the numbers and pointing out WiFi. The WiFi situation over here in Germany is somewhat bleak: Carriers invested billions in 3G frequencies during the 2000 technology bubble (easily highest price in Europe, would be interesting to compare it to you guys in the US). They are now faced to either get the money back or perish.

As a result companies like T-Mobile (our equivalent of your Death Star – don’t be fooled by the name…) rushed out to set up WiFi hotspots in hotels, Starbucks and such to keep out competitors and are now charging astronomical rates. Example: Last hotel I stayed in charged > USD 15 for 30min uninterruptible WiFi. HSDPA flatrate is about USD 65 (sounds a lot but this is including VAT and the extreme exchange rate).

Furthermore T-Mobile charges companies an arm and a leg if they set up hotspots and want to link those to the T-Mobile inner city backbones – often the only backbone available. Combine this with ridiculous laws that will hand me over to our RIAA if somebody hunts for mp3s via my open access point and DSL/cable providers being sued if they ship their routers without active WAP and WiFi is not really going to help.

However, I decided that my next (smart)phone needs to be WiFi cable to avoid astronomical charges when travelling abroad – I think that is when WiFi really shines. Come to mind: Can I set the iPhone in WiFi-only mode?

Cheers,
Dembo
 
Spanky Deluxe said:
Dembo, I'm pretty sure that the service providers / Apple in Europe will do the same thing they do in the states in that if you buy a new iPhone then you just start a new 18 month contract so if a 3G one does come out six months down the line you could always buy that then and sell the 2G iPhone.
You might also want to look into using that upgrade to get some other phone. In the states you can get a free phone via upgrade and then transfer to the iPhone contract the very next day - could save you some dough (if Germany do upgrades).
Click to expand...

Things are similary but not quite identical over here: First of all minimum/standard contract length is 24 months == long. You can get a new phone after 12 months but only if you sign up for another 24 months after the initial period is over - so that'll be another 36 months with that second phone...

So two iPhone generations will tie me to T-Mobile until 2011. Scarry. I am not aware that there is an early termination fee - usualy the "fee" you pay is to let your contract run till its end...

Kinda puts the "Europeans get the N95 for USD 100, duh" talks into perspective, doesn't it :D

Cheers,
Dembo
 
@everyone:

Thanks for the kbps – does indeed give a first idea and it looks that good EGPRS is not to far away from bad UMTS…

I am still trying to find some loading times in seconds as posted e.g. here:
http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=13146

nytimes.com in 12s does sound just bearable – decidedly better than the 120s I heard floating around.

As you might see, I am trying to rationalize to purchase. After the none-3G version has been announced for Europe I looked into the Samsung SGH i600 or Nokia’s E61i as alternatives, however, it seems that El Jobso had a point when relating 3G to running times…

Cheers,
Dembo
 
152.2 here using EDGE.

Browsing via EDGE seems about as fast as using my treo 755p. Probably because safari handles pages MUCH better than blazer.
 
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