How common is mobile broadband in the US?

[mammador]

And how much bandwidth does one usually get?

 

[corkyg]

Actually quite common. There are several providers to choose from, and some are better in some areas than others. Bandwidth depends on the level of coverage that one is willing to pay for. Contracts do not usually speak in terms of bandwidth, but indigital units per second, megabits, megabytes, etc.

If one lives in a large urban area, there are more choices. Rural areas have fewer choices. To get a really definitive answer, you need to be more specific with respect to an area or region.

 

[Brian Stirling]

Any smartphone or tablet user with mobile data service can expect anywhere from 100kbps to 50Mbps depending on the service type and system loading. On average a 3G customer may expect about 300kbps and a 4G user about 3Mbps with LTE being more like 10Mbps or more.

I had a Sprint 4G (WiMax) phone (HTC Evo 4G) and when WiMax was available I could expect about 3Mbps average and about 6Mbps max. When WiMax was not available, and that was most places, my data rate was more like 300kbps. I now have a Verizon LTE phone (Galaxy Nexus) and where LTE is available, and that is most places I've been, the average I've seen is about 16Mbps with a max of over 33Mbps. Where LTE is not available I've seen the rate drop to nearly 100kbps!


Brian

 

[Thegonagle]

Mobile broadband is very common now that smart phones such as the iPhone and various Android devices are popular.

Data plans used to be unlimited, until smartphones made them say "whoa! We never imagined five years ago you'd ever use so much data!"

Except for those lucky enough to retain one of those old unlimited plans, 2GB is the most common limit, with 200 MB being the economy option, and 5+ GB available as a premium option.

Mobile wifi hotspot (wifi tethering) is available as an extra cost option on capable smart phones, or sometimes free if you hack your phone or use certain models with certain carriers (such as the T-Mobile G2, aka HTC Desire-Z).

Options vary by carrier, of course, but those are common examples.

Verizon Wireless is USA carrier considered the farthest ahead in the game as far as deploying the latest 4G LTE network technology. They also have the farthest-reaching 3G network based on a CDMA technology called EV-DO that's capable of about 2 Mbps max. Their 4G network gives me about 8-20 Mbps download on my HTC Thunderbolt.

Verizon states they will upgrade their entire network from 3G to 4G by the end of 2013. Based on their prior track record with 3G, and the current pace of the 4G roll out, I have no reason to doubt that.