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3G vs WiFi Speed tests using two iPads side-by-side

very cool! nice to see a direct side by side comparison. checked out a few of your other videos and like how you present them.

Thanks
 
I guess, u had a high speed internet. if u do it in my home, 3G would win :)

does 3G have a weak wifi reception as well, or its better ?

thanks
 
The OP's download via WIFI is so slow. I'm getting 9000+ Kb/s on my wifi via ipad with the exact same app and test.
 
Wait, wait, wait. The 3G is slower just loading up apps? Can you test the 3G and Wi-fi only both on a wireless network to verify that they both have the same processing speed.
 
Jarmel said:
Wait, wait, wait. The 3G is slower just loading up apps? Can you test the 3G and Wi-fi only both on a wireless network to verify that they both have the same processing speed.
Click to expand...

The only difference in speed was the loading of online content. Which app loaded slower beyond the content?

I've already done a wifi on wifi comparo just as a control for this demo, and they loaded at the same speed. I should have filmed that test for the video.
 
I can't find what speed tester you were using, is it still available? If so can you sent me a link?
 
Thanks for your videos DetroitBORG. If it's not too much to ask, I have a request. Could you do a wifi vs wifi test? I want to see if the wifi antenna on the 3g models have better reception/performance than the standard non-3g models.
 
p-rice said:
Thanks for your videos DetroitBORG. If it's not too much to ask, I have a request. Could you do a wifi vs wifi test? I want to see if the wifi antenna on the 3g models have better reception/performance than the standard non-3g models.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm wondering the same thing. Specifically I'm very curious about signal reception.
 
DetroitBORG said:
The only difference in speed was the loading of online content. Which app loaded slower beyond the content?

I've already done a wifi on wifi comparo just as a control for this demo, and they loaded at the same speed. I should have filmed that test for the video.
Click to expand...

Some of the apps seemed to load up slower but I guess it was just the online component. I'm also curious about the signal reception. However again thanks for running these tests.
 
jjahshik32 said:
The OP's download via WIFI is so slow. I'm getting 9000+ Kb/s on my wifi via ipad with the exact same app and test.
Click to expand...

Not everyone has super speeds. I am lucky if I get 5mb per minute from Verizon. Ppl act like 20 mb per min is the norm. I wish I could get fios but not in my area
 
nolesfan said:
I can't find what speed tester you were using, is it still available? If so can you sent me a link?
Click to expand...

This is the app I used for the speedtest. There are others out there which I haven't tried.

p-rice said:
Thanks for your videos DetroitBORG. If it's not too much to ask, I have a request. Could you do a wifi vs wifi test? I want to see if the wifi antenna on the 3g models have better reception/performance than the standard non-3g models.
Click to expand...

Zubba said:
Yes, I'm wondering the same thing. Specifically I'm very curious about signal reception.
Click to expand...

Jarmel said:
Some of the apps seemed to load up slower but I guess it was just the online component. I'm also curious about the signal reception. However again thanks for running these tests.
Click to expand...

Sure, I'll put together a quick video today per viewer request.

ClaireL said:
Not everyone has super speeds. I am lucky if I get 5mb per minute from Verizon. Ppl act like 20 mb per min is the norm. I wish I could get fios but not in my area
Click to expand...

I have AT&T U-Verse so I should get 6MB down and 1MB up. The service itself is fiber to the node and is capable of 35MB down and 5MB up. Sadly, most of that bandwidth is use for the 6 TV receivers in the house (AT&T U-Verse is IP TV). I believe I could get a faster data plan, but I haven't bothered to look yet.
 
One thing that's impresses me about my iPad 3G is the better reception. I finally have all 5 bars, while my iPhone 3GS has only 3 next to it. My download speed is also about 200-300 Kbps faster too.. Got to love how they use the body of the iPad as an antenae..
 
bursthead said:
One thing that's impresses me about my iPad 3G is the better reception. I finally have all 5 bars, while my iPhone 3GS has only 3 next to it. My download speed is also about 200-300 Kbps faster too.. Got to love how they use the body of the iPad as an antenae..
Click to expand...

No they didn't, they used the frame of the screen, not the larger aluminum back. Take a look at the ifixit teardown.
 
Thanks for posting this. It's good to see the difference between a normal wifi signal and a normal 3g signal as a level-set to understand what to expect.

Another test I'd find useful would be between a weak wifi signal and an average or strong 3g signal. The reason is that sometimes I'm in places where wifi is shared with many devices, or I can barely pick up the wifi at all because I'm far from the access point. I'm not sure in those situations which would be faster between wifi and 3g.
 
wombat888 said:
Thanks for posting this. It's good to see the difference between a normal wifi signal and a normal 3g signal as a level-set to understand what to expect.

Another test I'd find useful would be between a weak wifi signal and an average or strong 3g signal. The reason is that sometimes I'm in places where wifi is shared with many devices, or I can barely pick up the wifi at all because I'm far from the access point. I'm not sure in those situations which would be faster between wifi and 3g.
Click to expand...

The biggest issue with 3G is not the speed, but latency.

cube said:
OK, but do you actually get a 7.2 Mbps signal? HSDPA comes in many speeds.
Click to expand...

Yep, I don't get that sort of performance and I don't think many people are.

goobot said:
it seems like it takes the ipad 2-3 secs to connect to the 3g network to start loading.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's the latency issue.
 
The best 3G speed I saw were around UCSD (San Diego) and the poorest were at my home.

Results are from iPad App SpeedTest. Numbers are kilobits per second. So the 23609 reading is about 2.9 million bytes per second and the fastest 3G speed was about 305 thousand bytes per second.
 

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