AT&T: 2.5G upgrades won't make iPhone Web surfing faster
AT&T says it has spent an additional $50 million in the months leading up to the iPhone launch to upgrade and add more capacity to its 2.5G EDGE network, but a company official said that subscribers shouldn't expect to surf the mobile Net any faster.
"We don't want to set unrealistic expectations," said Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T. "We have been upgrading the network on an ongoing basis, and we've made an additional investment in anticipation of demand for the iPhone."
AT&T has spent over $16 billion since 2005 upgrading the EDGE network.
The iPhone has been criticized for the fact that it works on AT&T's 2.5G network instead of its faster 3G network. But in the last few days, some AT&T subscribers have been reporting noticeably faster data speeds using their 2.5G handsets. And there has been speculation that AT&T gave EDGE a "boost" in the days and weeks leading up to the launch, which happens Friday at 6 p.m. local time.
But AT&T's Siegel said that what customers are likely experiencing are bursts in speed.
"The connection speed depends on so many things," he said. "It depends on the site you're connecting to or the size of the file you're downloading. And sometimes users experience bursts that are above what is typical."
He said the company has not changed what it cites as the average data rates for the EDGE network. He said on average subscribers should expect between 100 kilobits per second and 130kbps.
But even if some users get bursts of faster speeds from time to time, the EDGE network is still much slower than a 3G network. AT&T's 3G network, which uses a technology called HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), gets average data rates of between 400kbps and 700kbps. Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel, which use a 3G technology called EV-DO (Evolution Data Optimized), also offer data rates between 400kbps and 700kbps.
So unfortunately, for all the soon-to-be iPhone users, AT&T hasn't magically increased the speed of its network. For truly faster speeds, iPhone fans will have to wait for the next-generation device that will work on a 3G network.
Marguerite Reardon has been a CNET News reporter since 2004, covering cell phone services, broadband, citywide Wi-Fi, the Net neutrality debate, as well as the ongoing consolidation of the phone companies. E-mail Maggie.
...and Wi-Fi makes 3G look archaic.
iPhone will find known Wi-Fi spots and automatically switch to
them. Do not overlook this important feature.
Game, Set, Match.
iPhone: When you are riding through town in a cab, for example,
constantly switching wi-fi signals isn't that great at all - even if
the iPhone does find new spots automatically.
Plus, municipal wi-fi always seems like a bad idea to use
frequently to me; particularly when you are dealing with
sensitive data, as most iPhone business-users would be.
Adding 3G to the phone would have been a wonderful addition. I
don't know much about AT&T's 3G service, but the Helio Ocean
(also a nice phone) uses 3G + wifi, so I know the service exists
someplace in the US. Apple should definitely look at adding this
to the 2nd generation iPhone.
It also doesn't surprise me that EDGE is deemed to slow by most
reviewers (Arstechnica called surfing using EDGE on the iPhone
"doggedly slow"), but I wonder if they are going to have to add
3G to the Europe iPhone launch?
AT&T service contract - $40/month
AT&T data plan with slow EDGE - $50/month
Additional HotSpot account - $40/month
Not buying an iPhone and sticking with a legitmate SamrtPhone with 3G - priceless
(well not really but much less expensive than becoming an iPhone drone)
I'll give you that the price for the phone is high. Many smart phone are below $300, but the iPhone can do some things better than some smart phones.
Don't badger me either for/against the iPhone/smart phone, I'm waiting for something that's better than anything that's out now, and that includes the iPhone.
about 2.5G vs. 3G. (Or their blatant untruth) This is a completely
made up story... 3G is not available in the US with ANY carrier
except for a handful of cities. The day 3G is mainstream and
available everywhere, then it will be a real story.
Can you hear me now?
on Verizon's nationwide network. Of course you get out of the
big cities and it drops to 128K at best. Needless to say I did not
have it very long. I really think wireless has done very little to
speed things up. All they have done is compress data. Actual
speed of data has not changed that much. The US still has a lot
of old copper as the pro's say. We really need to invest in our
landline backbone in order to handle more data and increase
speed. Trouble is we have people in congress who think the
internet is a bunch of tubes. So they are not much help.
in this case not at all)? I expect that with my browsing habits I'll
take EDGE/WiFi over only 3G any day. 3G is still a dog compared to
WiFi.
Architecturally, WiFi is a wireless micro technology meant for fixed devices, while 3G is a wireless macro technology designed for mobile devices.
- Maybe YOU need a smarter smart phone
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by kirasaw
June 29, 2007 9:53 PM PDT
- Yes the iPhone is $500 but the rest of your prices are wrong the
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Reply to this comment
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- Your post was not very clear.
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by Vegaman_Dan
June 29, 2007 11:04 PM PDT
- The iPhone requires the AT&T service at a minimum of $59.99 a month. That is required even to have the wi-fi side of the device work at all.
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(11 Comments)AT&T service is $60 a month and many WiFi HotSpots are free
but if you wish to use a paid WiFi HotSpot then it is your choice
to buy such a service it is not mandatory. Seeing how I doubt
that a HotSpot would cost an iPhone user $40 a month but be
free for your "samrtphone" this point was totally pointless.
Maybe at least if you had an iPhone you would know that it is
smartphone not samrtphone or you could just buy a Mac that
spell checks for you LMAO must be really sad time to be a
microsoft fanboy your computer is attacked by a slew of viruses
adware and malware - the Zune is a flop - Vista is a flop - so
sad
You can choose to use a wifi spot if you want, but you can't avoid that monthly fee regardless. If you want to use the internet and your phone features at the same time, you will need to use wifi as the phone cannot do both at once on the EDGE network (3G phones can do this natively.
It should be interesting to see how this plays out.