To be completely honest in the almost 12 years I've been with Sprint I never once checked my speed. Since getting my first Android (Hero in '08) phone 3G service has been decent. When I got my EVO 4G it's been fine. And now my iPhone is fine too. First of all like I already said I don't constantly check how fast or slow my 3G connection is. To me the important thing is my user experience and thus far it's been fine.
I generally view sites that are mobile optimized and for the most part I actually use apps if available rather than the browser (Like for news as an example). I think it's very easy to get caught up in the numbers and specs and all that stuff. I almost got caught up too after reading this post. I decided to check my speed and it didn't look great. So I started testing my wife's EVO 4G vs my iPhone back and forth and so on. SOmetimes the EVO loaded faster and sometimes the iPhone loaded faster. I did notice if I had both phones side by side loading times ere slower for both. So then I started taking them outside one at a time and on my third time going out I stopped and realized what I was doing. Like I said before, I was okay with the speeds I was getting. I have no idea what they were but if I went to msn.com, nfl.com, mlb.com or yahoo.com they all loaded fast. All the sites loaded within a few seconds and were navigable almost immediately.
I don't doubt for a second that some of you are having issues and are very dissatisfied. If you came over from AT&T I wouldn't blame you for wanting to go back if your service happens to be in one of the good areas. Quite frankly I've read about and heard first hand about horror stories about AT&T's service and I for one would never switch. Compared to what I've heard Sprint sounded much better. However, Sprint probably is busting at the seams with the amount of data being transferred since Friday but I've seen enough to know that they will work on it and will make it better.
The other thing I think a lot of people have to consider is, why did you buy an iPhone? If you bought it to specifically surf the web using desktop mode then perhaps you made a mistake. If you on the other hand like me bought it for the Apple ecosystem, the incredibly good apps, the camera, 1080p video, having the ability to be truly productive like for example being able to create a quick wireframe or a last minute presentation with Keynote or any number of other productivity abilities then you bought the right phone. If you bought it for the solid operating system that wont reboot on you like my EVO did on me a number of times at the worst possible times, then you have to take that into consideration too.
I guess what Im saying is you have to look at the whole package. Is the rest of the good stuff worth being patient and dealing with a possibly slower data connection for a little while? We are on the verge of Sprint beginning LTE implementation next year. They say by mid year LTE will start being deployed and finished by the same time 2013. I for one, a long time customer, am willing to wait one more year and one more version of the iPhone. I bought mine full price as I wasnt eligible for an upgrade yet. It would be just as easy for me to quit Sprint and move to Verizon for approximately the same amount of money. But Im going to stick it out for another year or so. Can you do the same thing and does it make sense for you?
Its easy to get caught up in knee jerk reactions and see nothing but negative things. You have 2 full weeks to bring it back if you so decide. So take those 2 weeks and if youre really dissatisfied and none of the other things I mentioned mean anything to you, just bring it back.
Good luck to all and I hope all you end up enjoying whatever device you end up with
