The folks at Wired.com are compiling an iPhone 3G performace map and are asking iPhone users to participate.
So, if you have 5 minutes, you can submit your speeds.
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Wired's Global iPhone 3G Performance Study
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The folks at Wired.com are compiling an iPhone 3G performace map and are asking iPhone users to participate.
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They would steal my idea.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/543903/
edit: Oh well, the map is slow as hell to load, and some people actually uploaded their actual house address.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/543903/
edit: Oh well, the map is slow as hell to load, and some people actually uploaded their actual house address.
SO poorly executed. Why not create a native app that automatically calculates your speed and sends it to them along with lat/long coords, and whether you are actually on an iPhone 3G and not on Wifi? Basically a mobile version of speedtest.net.
Wired is a huge company with millions of dollars, couldn't they hire a programmer?
Wired is a huge company with millions of dollars, couldn't they hire a programmer?
If you actually looked at the map (or the map that the first poster made) you'd see a good mix of both. You'd also note that San Diego, California has moved to Russia... heh.
Sebastian
Ah, glad I'm not the only one who had that problem. The first time I did it for Fulham, London it ended up in Norway
The goal of a USEFUL survey isn't to have a "mix" that looks "good"--it's to have an ACCURATE mix. The survey is NOT useful data on how common any problems are, if a person with a problem is more likely to respond than someone without a problem.
And that's the case. This is NOT a random sample, it's a self-selecting sample. It's part of mini-media-storm that draws those with a problem, and will show a higher rate of problems than reality. The faster/better your connection, the less likely you are to respond to this study.
But even if it can't tell us how common problems are, it may still be useful to compare one geographic region with another. (Such as.... Russia vs. California?
)Beyond that, it sounds like ad bait.
All they had to do, at minimum, was announce an iPhone study and NOT say it was about performance. And collect other data so people don't know the performance data is the main goal. And especially, NOT slant participation by actually mentioning performance problems in the lead-in to the study.When a "study" uses loaded language like "grindingly slow" in its invitation to volunteers, you know you're not talking about something scientific
The map crashed Safari on my iPhone when it completed loading. Given the sloppy implementation, I wouldn't put much stake in their survey.
10 out of 10 for good ideas, but minus a million for execution.
Allowing people to enter their own download times is dumb. Allowing them to enter their own UNITS is beyond stupid.
I mean, right here in the ALB, I see that one guy has blindingly fast edge speeds of 1100 Kbps, while another poor shmuck has horrible speeds of only 137.5 KBps!
At least they're both doing better than this guy whose edge speed is a paltry .14 MBps.
Proving once again that Wired is the best place for mouthbreathing geeks to whine about things they barely understand while being sold vodka.
Allowing people to enter their own download times is dumb. Allowing them to enter their own UNITS is beyond stupid.
I mean, right here in the ALB, I see that one guy has blindingly fast edge speeds of 1100 Kbps, while another poor shmuck has horrible speeds of only 137.5 KBps!
At least they're both doing better than this guy whose edge speed is a paltry .14 MBps.
Proving once again that Wired is the best place for mouthbreathing geeks to whine about things they barely understand while being sold vodka.
Slow WIFI...
The really strange part with this test is that 3G connections give me far better downstream rates than WIFI connections.
3G connections are about 7.8 times faster than EDGE connections. But WIFI is about the same speed as EDGE!
On upstream connections WIFI clearly wins though.
The really strange part with this test is that 3G connections give me far better downstream rates than WIFI connections.
3G connections are about 7.8 times faster than EDGE connections. But WIFI is about the same speed as EDGE!
On upstream connections WIFI clearly wins though.
It's the dropped calls, stupid.
Honestly, I don't think the big problem with iPhone is data speeds as much as it is dropped calls. I was at the Apple Store in SF and they were disabling 3G on dozens of customers phones. The Genius' told me they all had disabled 3G on their phones.
Honestly, I don't think the big problem with iPhone is data speeds as much as it is dropped calls. I was at the Apple Store in SF and they were disabling 3G on dozens of customers phones. The Genius' told me they all had disabled 3G on their phones.
Cupertino
I was having problems with the map loading earlier this week, but it seems to be working fine now. Putting the fact aside that users are entering their own info which may or may not be accurate, I think it is hilarious that Cupertino has a red bar indicating low-to-no 3G connection speeds.
I was having problems with the map loading earlier this week, but it seems to be working fine now. Putting the fact aside that users are entering their own info which may or may not be accurate, I think it is hilarious that Cupertino has a red bar indicating low-to-no 3G connection speeds.