Does AT&T's slow 3G upload speed bug you?

[barefeats]

The iPad "+3G" using AT&T's 3G network never logs an upload speed over 357kbps (speedtest.net). Ditto for the iPhone 3Gs.

Compare that to the iPad "WiFi only" using the Sprint 4G Overdrive portable hotspot that reaches upload speeds as high as 989kbps.

Compare that to the iPad "WiFi only" using the Sprint 4G Overdrive in "3G only" mode where I've seen upload speeds as high as 600kbps.

Compare that to the Droid Eris using the Verizon Wireless 3G network where I saw uploads as high as 835Kbps.

Am I the only person bothered by the iPad 3G's slow upload speed?

 

[eneisch]

I'm not all that bothered by it because it don't do that much uploading from my iPad. The only real uploading I do is forwading e-mails with attachements. I just downloaded Dropbox though, but haven't started using it yet. That may change my opinion.......

 

[ipadfanatic]

The iPad "+3G" using AT&T's 3G network never logs an upload speed over 357kbps (speedtest.net). Ditto for the iPhone 3Gs.

Compare that to the iPad "WiFi only" using the Sprint 4G Overdrive portable hotspot that reaches upload speeds as high as 989kbps.

Am I the only person bothered by this?

And what about you Verizon MiFi and Clear Spot users? What upload speeds are you seeing?

Thats not a fair comparison as you are comparing 4G (limited areas) to 3G service. What is the upload for Sprint/Version 3G service?

 

[vw195]

Thats not a fair comparison as you are comparing 4G (limited areas) to 3G service. What is the upload for Sprint/Version 3G service?

Actually I think it is an apt comparison since Sprint probably has almost as many 4G coverage area as AT&T does 3G

 

[whickey]

REALLY? I mean seriously...do you not understand how technology works? Any provider is going to have asymmetrical service..its the same as your cable modem provider or DSL provider. If you want symmetrical service, you are going to have to pay for it.

Even though it's dated by a year, here is a chart. Find me a provider that has parity upload and download.

http://www.pcworld.com/zoom?id=167391&page=1&zoomIdx=1

 

[MisterMe]

Actually I think it is an apt comparison since Sprint probably has almost as many 4G coverage area as AT&T does 3G

I will assume that you are joking. Otherwise, your statement is absolute nonsense. Among the cities without Sprint 4G coverage are New York City, Pittsburgh, PA, Washington, DC, every city in the State of California, and every city in my state.

 

[barefeats]

Thats not a fair comparison as you are comparing 4G (limited areas) to 3G service. What is the upload for Sprint/Version 3G service?

That's a fair point. Since the Overdrive does both 3G and 4G, I will do some 3G testing and report back. Also if anyone will post upload speeds for a 3G MiFi from Verizon or tethered Android 3G phone, that can add perspective.

It is my understanding that the iPad's 3G radio is capable of much faster upload speeds but that AT&T has set an arbitrary limit.

 

[nj-mac-user]

delete

 

[chris975d]

This has always irritated me as well. The iPhone 3GS's (and I'd assume iPad uses the same radio) slow upload speed is actually purposely hardware limited. You can Google search for iPhone 3GS slow upload speed and see that it's actually the 3G radio used in the phone.
Here is a link... http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/slow-chip-iphone3gs/

I can attest that it's not actually the AT&T network's limit (at least not in my area), as my Nexus One (with AT&T 3G bands) can routinely hit over 1200kbps on the upload. Often times, it's actually higher on the upload speed than the download, for example my last Speedtest.net Nexus One test came in at 1052kpbs upload, and 1328kbps download. It's pretty nice when picture messages and emails take only a few seconds to upload, rather than the 30 seconds to a minute some of my emails with attachments would take on my 3GS to upload.

Edit: I added a screencap from the Nexus One on AT&T's network of some Speedtest.net results. The results with the "tower" icon are over cellular data. The tests with the wifi "curved signal lines" icon are obviously done over my wifi networks. You can see that AT&T's network can easily handle upload speeds of over 1000kbps. You can also see the the upload speeds are actually A LOT more consistent than the download speeds, which in my area can range from below 1000kbps to over 3400kbps.

 

[barefeats]

REALLY? I mean seriously...do you not understand how technology works? Any provider is going to have asymmetrical service..its the same as your cable modem provider or DSL provider. If you want symmetrical service, you are going to have to pay for it.

I am not expecting upload speeds equal to download speeds. But when I typically see 3000kbps download on AT&T 3G, why is 1000kbps upload so unreasonable to expect?

 

[kevink2]

ATT seems to be limiting the upload speed in many markets for normal WAP data plans (Treo, iPhone, etc) severely. In many markets, I'm seeing a consistant 56-59kb/s upload speed. Some other markets, considerably faster.

 

[richard371]

Crappy chipset. I am sure the ipad contains the same.

That’s probably because Apple didn’t want anyone to know that the iPhone 3GS contains a 3G chip with a surprisingly low upload speed — a Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systemchip High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (UMTS HSDPA) chip, one of the earliest 3G technologies that phones were using years ago, according to Tero Kuittinen, an MKM Partners telecom analyst.

A teardown by iPhone repair company RapidRepair revealed the UMTS HSDPA chip, whose upload speed is capped at 384 Kbps — significantly slower than its 7.2Mbps downlink capability. A combination of a high download speed and a low upload speed was typical for most mobile chips two years ago, but today, most high-end smartphones offer 2 to 5 Mbps upload speed, Kuittinen explained.



Read More http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/slow-chip-iphone3gs/#ixzz0oQ94bYim

 

[jraybo]

The above posters correct the current iphone and ipad will never get above the 384kbps rate as it does not support HSUPA (upto 2mbps on the uplink) which require both the network and handset to support it.

The poster above who says that there nexus gets much higher upload this is because if you look at the specs for the nexus one it does indeed support HSUPA.

Btw HSUPA is hardware related so cannot be a software update

Iphone network supported specs

Cellular and wireless

* UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
* GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

Nexus one

Cellular & Wireless

3 UMTS bands (either 900/AWS/2100 MHz or 850/1900/2100 MHz)
HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
HSUPA 2 Mbps
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

 

[jraybo]

Sorry forgot to add Ipad Cellular specs

Wi-Fi + 3G model

* UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
* GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

 

[GFLPraxis]

My iPhone, being unlocked to T-Mobile, only gets EDGE.

So the new world of 3G to me feels incredibly fast, even with slow upload speeds- it's leaps and bounds snappier xD

 

[mstout]

For those posting on the slowness of AT&T's 3G, there were about a million threads on how much AT&T sucks. I don't know why anyone is surprised. That's why so many of us just got the wifi version. AT&T just sucks. End of story. I wish it weren't so, but it is. Good luck if you have 3G with AT&T. Sometimes it will be ok, many times it will not.

 

[chris975d]

For those posting on the slowness of AT&T's 3G, there were about a million threads on how much AT&T sucks. I don't know why anyone is surprised. That's why so many of us just got the wifi version. AT&T just sucks. End of story. I wish it weren't so, but it is. Good luck if you have 3G with AT&T. Sometimes it will be ok, many times it will not.

This has more to do with the limited 3G radio in the iPhone itself than AT&T's network. No matter what network the iPhone is on, it's not ever going to get more than a 384kbps upload speed. AT&T has the network to go much faster, look at my above posts to see that.

 

[richard371]

Chris is correct. When I had the nexus one AT&T it uploaded much faster. I snapped high res pics and they uploaded in a few seconds.

 

[Spudracer]

This is exactly the reason why I don't view the iPad as a mobile device outside the home. Cellular networks seem slow as molasses after wifi. I'll put up with it on my iPhone for portability but carrying a 1.5 lb device that is painfully slow somehow doesn't seem that attractive. Oh, and there's the little matter of another data plan to pay for so you can enjoy the painfully slow experience. No thanks.

 

[barefeats]

Thats not a fair comparison as you are comparing 4G (limited areas) to 3G service. What is the upload for Sprint/Version 3G service?

As promised, I did some limited testing of the Sprint Overdrive in "3G only" mode. I saw uploads as high as 600Kbps (Sprint 3G network). That's still faster than the 357Kbps max I saw on the iPad 3G using AT&T's 3G network.

I stand corrected on the cause for the slow upload speed. The iPhone 3GS and iPad "+3G" both have a 3G radio that is limited to 384Kbps upstream even though it is capable of 7.2Mbps downstream.

BTW, when I tested the Droid Eris, it attained 835Kbps uploads on the Verizon Wireless 3G network.

 

[Jaxdialation]

There are millions of threads around the 'net, explaining that -all- providers suck. Yours is just another one of those meaningless opinions that have no data to back them up.

For those posting on the slowness of AT&T's 3G, there were about a million threads on how much AT&T sucks. I don't know why anyone is surprised. That's why so many of us just got the wifi version. AT&T just sucks. End of story. I wish it weren't so, but it is. Good luck if you have 3G with AT&T. Sometimes it will be ok, many times it will not.