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Why is my data so fast on 3g?

A

astral125

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 24, 2011
288
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I noticed that downloading podcasts in Pocket Casts that my downloads on 3g were incredibly fast when I have a good signal. Since I can watch the large files download, I began to think that they appeared to be downloading too fast. So I downloaded the speediest.net app (which I am sure someone will point out is flawed for some reason), and tried it out. The results seemed to match what I was seeing while downloading podcasts.

If I have 4 or 5 bars of 3g signal I get about 5.5 mbps down and 1.5 mbps up. That is the same down and faster up than my cheap qwest dsl at home.

I'm on ATT in Phoenix and Scottsdale. I have tried this in different areas with the same results. My friends on Verizon get a fraction of this speed.

edit: iPhone4
 
Sounds about right to me. I get similar results with the Speedtest app in NY on ATT. Sounds like it's working fine. :)
 
astral125 said:
I'm on ATT in Phoenix and Scottsdale. I have tried this in different areas with the same results. My friends on Verizon get a fraction of this speed.
Click to expand...
Perfectly normal. Verizon's 3G and AT&T's 3G are very different technologies, and AT&T is much faster. That's a big part of the reason many AT&T users aren't bothered if the next iPhone doesn't have LTE.
 
seanfranklin said:
Perfectly normal. Verizon's 3G and AT&T's 3G are very different technologies, and AT&T is much faster. That's a big part of the reason many AT&T users aren't bothered if the next iPhone doesn't have LTE.
Click to expand...

Actually, they're more similar than different, since 3G for both networks is done via a CDMA radio, and even some of the implementation details are close.

The major difference is that UMTS uses more bandwidth (Wide CDMA) and faster clocks in order to support voice+data and higher speeds.

That's why it has taken longer for AT&T to deploy 3G (and they're still in the process)... first, they had to wait for the bandwidth to open up in the USA, and then they had to add a WCDMA radio in every tower next to the usual TDMA radios for 2G GSM.

So they were able to get higher speeds, although less fully deployed across their footprint.
 
I notice this too.

5.02 Mpbs
1.52 Mpbs
98 ms
NYC Queens

I never used to have Ping that low.
 
The speedtest app was updated a month or two ago that has a new calculation for ping, so everyone's ping looks better than it did in the spring, even if the connection speed hasn't gotten better.
 
The radio in the iPhone 4 tops out at 7.2 Mbps and with AT&T finally finishing up the backhaul upgrades in Phx, you will see improved performance.
 
I tested my iPhone 4 w/ my coworkers. They were on 4G and me of course on 3G.

iPhone 4: 4.83 mbps / 1.06 mbps
Droid Charge: 4.38 mbps / 800 kbps (4G) 775 kbps / 300 kbps (3G)
HTC EVO 3D: 5.00 mbps / 1.30 mbps (4G)
HTC EVO Shift: 8.63 mbps / 2.00 mbps (4G)

I rounded up some. But AT&T's 3G in South Miami is faster than Verizon's 4G. I also killed their 3G.

Can't compete with Sprint though.. For now. Sprint is very common in my area.
 
RotaryP7 said:
I tested my iPhone 4 w/ my coworkers. They were on 4G and me of course on 3G.

iPhone 4: 4.83 mbps / 1.06 mbps
Droid Charge: 4.38 mbps / 800 kbps (4G) 775 kbps / 300 kbps (3G)
HTC EVO 3D: 5.00 mbps / 1.30 mbps (4G)
HTC EVO Shift: 8.63 mbps / 2.00 mbps (4G)

I rounded up some. But AT&T's 3G in South Miami is faster than Verizon's 4G. I also killed their 3G.

Can't compete with Sprint though.. For now. Sprint is very common in my area.
Click to expand...

Verizon's 4g lte is much quicker than sprints wimax 4g...
 
vistadude said:
The speedtest app was updated a month or two ago that has a new calculation for ping, so everyone's ping looks better than it did in the spring, even if the connection speed hasn't gotten better.
Click to expand...

Yea your right, the FCC test is showing me at 200ms. Same speed.
 
jredecop said:
Verizon's 4g lte is much quicker than sprints wimax 4g...
Click to expand...

That's what I thought. However, Verizon says they have a minimum of 5 mbps and a max of 12 mbps (4G).

Sprint is just much faster around that area I guess. After a few tests, Verizon couldn't surpass Sprint.
 
Back in March there was an AT&T on campus where I work. He was trying to get access to the tower in a campus building and since I work in facilities I was able to help him out. I picked his brain a bit and asked what he was doing. He said you'll notice a much faster network in the region. He was right. At the time I was test driving a VZW iPhone, I was on AT&T. After this upgrade my AT&T iPhone literally blew away the VZW iPhone in the Philly region. Not even a contest.
 
You people have no idea how jealous I am. Here are my speedtest.net results just now:
165ms ping
0.07 Mpbs down
0.83 Mbps up

This is with 4 bars of "3G" on at&t in Houston, TX. Not really sure why I pay $30 for unlimited data at these speeds.
 
OP, just why??
People complain if their speeds are too slow, speeds are too fast?!
For the record, I get 6Mbps download and 3Mbps upload with 3.
 
cambookpro said:
OP, just why??
People complain if their speeds are too slow, speeds are too fast?!
For the record, I get 6Mbps download and 3Mbps upload with 3.
Click to expand...

I noticed these speeds that I am pretty sure were non existent when I got the phone, so naturally I was curious why it changed. I was sure that with the technical knowledge here someone would be able to explain it to me, and I was right. Don't get me wrong, I like faster speeds, and if I didn't I would just turn off 3G.

rgarjr said:
Just goes to show that some complain about anything.. :D
Click to expand...

I'm not complaining, just curious.

Thanks for the answers guys. Seeing these speeds make me less concerned with getting a 4G iPhone. I already have a Verizon LTE mifi, so I don't really need LTE in the phone. I don't think ATT even has LTE here yet.

I just wish that Apple would open some things up now that our data speeds can handle them like facetime and the 20MB app download limit.
 
Tokyo is interesting to me because of the following...

My home internet is 100 up and 100 down for about $50 a month.

My Softbank iPhone 4 is lucking to hit 0.4 up and 0.1 down. lol
 
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