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Is this fast 3G speed?

Simgar988 said:
in ks i got download of 3500-4000 kpbs and upload around 350 is that any good?
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It *might* be possible in theory, because the maximum download speed on the iPhone 3GS is 7.2 Mbps. However, I'd highly doubt we get anywhere close to that in the U.S., especially with AT&T.

I've been told that AT&T started providing the HSDPA service in the Bay Area. If it is true, then you (again) *might* get 5-6 Mbps over there.
 
moka said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A400 Safari/528.16)

Los angles, California and I get a rang from 2 to 3.1 MB. Depending on where I am...
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Bull.

As for those posting their awesome "speedtests", latency is more important than download speed (for browsing). I have browsed in 1.5mbit areas that are slower than 500kbit areas. Judging your speed from a speedtest doesn't automatically mean you'll have a better experience than someone with lower throughput.
 
usually when i'm in 3g i get between 1000 to 2300 kbps. I love the 3gs on wifi at my house, i speed tested it and ran at over 16000 kbps. Here's the screenshot for those who dont believe me
 

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On my 3GS in Connecticut I get around:

Edge: 150/50Kbps, 1500-3000ms ping (sadly, this is my signal around home)
3G: 1.3Mbps/150Kbps, ~300ms ping
Wi-Fi: 14.2/2Mbps, ~50ms ping

Interestingly, latency on my MacBook on the same Wi-Fi connection is usually around 10ms.
 
I guess I'll share my 3GS performance in San Jose, CA.
 

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I'd also like to point out, that Speedtest App that you guys keep posting is telling you WAY WAY exaggerated numbers. Real world speeds are about 1/2 - 1/4 of what that app is telling you. Google "speedtest iphone" and use countless web based speedtests. You'll then see how inflated that speedtest app really is....
 
bboucher790 said:
I'd also like to point out, that Speedtest App that you guys keep posting is telling you WAY WAY exaggerated numbers. Real world speeds are about 1/2 - 1/4 of what that app is telling you. Google "speedtest iphone" and use countless web based speedtests. You'll then see how inflated that speedtest app really is....
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It seems pretty accurate to me. Gives me the same throughput on my MacBook as those countless web-based speed tests, and gives me similar numbers on my iPhone for my Wi-Fi connection. The difference between this and other speed tests is that they have lots of local servers with huge bandwidth. This means you eliminate server-side factors and slow routing and find your true maximum bandwidth. Of course you won't see those speeds in your web browsing.

Update: tried some more web-based tests and confirmed my SpeedTest results. One thing I've noticed is that my download speeds start out slow and increase with time. Some of the web-based tests use files too small to accurately test my Edge connection unless I choose 3G. They just never have a chance to get up to speed. This of course means that for smaller files like webpages I'm never getting my full Edge bandwidth. I wonder if this is intentional on AT&T's part.
 
I live in a relative isolated rural area of Southern Ontario, along Lake Erie. Nothing but dial-up internet available here. Last week Rogers upgraded their local cell tower to 3G (from Edge) and it has completely changed my life. I'm seeing 1000Kbps+ now and tethering my Macs for their internet access. This technology is absolutely miraculous, as it easily brings the internet to areas where it was previously unavailable.
 
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