PC World's 3G Test: AT&T Comes back?

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Last spring's test:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/167391/a_day_in_the_life_of_3g.html
http://www.pcworld.com/zoom?id=167391&page=1&zoomIdx=1

AT&T really sucked. In fact I saw a few other tests where AT&T sucked too. By the summer Gizmodo showed things turning around slowly.

Well, here's this year's tesT:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/1895...rlds_second_3g_wireless_performance_test.html
http://www.pcworld.com/zoom?id=189592&page=1&zoomIdx=2

Reliability in SF is a joke though. Verizon's number seem to be suffering.

 

[vshah]

they must have tested on t-mobile using a g1 or mytouch. i've come to the conclusion that my g1 was cpu/ram limited, even in terms of network speeds.

t-mobile nyc, on my n1:

 

[BigSmooth]

vshah: the article specifically mentions T-Mobile's NYC network being unusually fast.

 

[Strk]

I don't really see the point. I don't think any argues AT&T is fast. Even those Verizon ads don't bother arguing their speed. It's just their reliability is rubbish.

 

[corkyg]

It all depends on location. Where you are. Signal strength. I have had AT&T and Sprint connection cards in the past year. In most places Sprint outruns AT&T snoot raw - AT&T in most places I travel to is at best 2 bars, and it usually gets throttled back because of weak signal. That's why these tests only are relevant to the location they were conducted in.

 

[vshah]

i guess it is more of a test of user experience. would be nice to see tests using the same handset across carriers, at various locations around each city for an average.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

AT&T is fast... when you get a good connection which is kind of like going to Amsterdam and not being able to get laid....

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I don't really see the point. I don't think any argues AT&T is fast. Even those Verizon ads don't bother arguing their speed. It's just their reliability is rubbish.

Read the article and look at Verizon's reliability numbers. Certainly not impressive. Many hover in the 70s....

 

[Pliablemoose]

ARS technicia has an interesting article about what happens with areas densly populated with smartphones, seems the way smartphones access the data with the battery saving features is what's affecting connectivity. They say all smartphones arelikely to cause the same effect as iPhones. Am posting from my phone or i'd post a link...

 

[Muadib]

AT&T is fast... when you get a good connection which is kind of like going to Amsterdam and not being able to get laid....

AT&T has been upgrading though, to get ready for LTE. I now get over 1.5 mbps at my house, where I was getting about 500-650 kbps back in Dec. It was near that when I was in NYC last weekend too. Now they need to upgrade the tower by my job.

 

[Cobalt]

AT&T has really started to speed up network upgrades over the backlash they've received lately. There are sooo many upgrades coming to Chicago this year that it's ridiculous. Everything they have laid out for expansion this year (I am an employee) is certain to boost coverage tremendously, especially here in the city.

 

[zerocool84]

AT&T has really started to speed up network upgrades over the backlash they've received lately. There are sooo many upgrades coming to Chicago this year that it's ridiculous. Everything they have laid out for expansion this year (I am an employee) is certain to boost coverage tremendously, especially here in the city.

It's kinda sad that it took this long and this amount of complaints for them to start fixing their network but it's better late than never.

 

[erwos]

ARS technicia has an interesting article about what happens with areas densly populated with smartphones, seems the way smartphones access the data with the battery saving features is what's affecting connectivity. They say all smartphones arelikely to cause the same effect as iPhones. Am posting from my phone or i'd post a link...

There was actually what sounded like a well-informed comment down a bit that said that Apple wasn't exactly following 3GPP specs in how they handled data comms, and other smartphone providers were following their (rather bad) lead. So, one might keep blaming Apple for the problems.

For my purposes, all I need is for AT&T to release the MicroCell / femtocell product so that I get decent reception in my house.

 

[Cobalt]

It's kinda sad that it took this long and this amount of complaints for them to start fixing their network but it's better late than never.

The industry was complacent before the arrival of the iPhone and the push towards data intensive devices. AT&T (and other companies) weren't and still aren't prepared.

 

[Muadib]

The industry was complacent before the arrival of the iPhone and the push towards data intensive devices. AT&T (and other companies) weren't and still aren't prepared.

No one could have been prepared for the iPhone. Having said that, I must give at&t credit. It's been about 6 months since I got my 3gs. In the first month, I went from averaging around 900kbps to about 490kbps. I ran another test today, and this is what I got:

Not bad. Not bad at all.:awe:

 

[zerocool84]

No one could have been prepared for the iPhone. Having said that, I must give at&t credit. It's been about 6 months since I got my 3gs. In the first month, I went from averaging around 900kbps to about 490kbps. I ran another test today, and this is what I got:

Not bad. Not bad at all.:awe:

Well since you got it so late I guess it's been good for you but the problems have been there for many years.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

what's a good speedtest to do on a non iphone phone?

speedtest requires flash =/

edit: ok well android is ok to test on...

fail. not in SF either. in San Jose where the reliability is supposedly better...

Edit2: Results very inconsistent. Got 2 fast tests, 2 slow tests...

not too shabby though if the latter is true...

 

[secretanchitman]

wow! just ran speedtest on my 3GS and have been getting 1.5mbps download and 250kbps pretty good att

 

[Muadib]

Well since you got it so late I guess it's been good for you but the problems have been there for many years.

I had a 3G before the 3GS, so I'm not all that late. I agree with you though, there have been problems, but it hasn't been all at&t's fault. The radios in both 3G and 3GS are horrible. Apple knows it too, which is why they changed the bar levels on the phone back with firmware 2.1, instead of doing a recall. I gotta hand it to them, because for them, the scam worked. People now got 5 bars everywhere they went, so people then put the blame on at&t.

Firmware 2.1 did fix the main problem with the iPhone 3G, and that was the way the radios would drop your connection every time it went from 3G to edge. I was ready to give up on the 3G, because of that issue, but stuck it out due to my love of the phone.

Due to the call drop issue, I found out that if you leave it in edge, calls rarely dropped, so I left it that way anytime I needed to make a call, or when I was in the car. Using that method, I almost never dropped a call, and that includes trips in & out of NYC. Even after the 2.1 fix, I kept doing it anytime I went into NYC & Philly, because I heard that people there were still unhappy. I however, by then was quite content, which is why I got the 3GS.

3GS sales for at&t have been crazy!!! They sold almost 1.9 million during the 4th quarter of 2009, and 3.2 mil in the 3rd. The 3GS sold over a million during the first 3 days it went on sale. Keep in mind that 3G sales were still going on then too. Sure, at&t was unprepared, any carrier would be.

Compare that to the Nexus 1, which didn't break 100,000 during the first month it went on sale, or the Droid, which sold 525,000 it's first month. You really can't compare them, because it would be a joke.

I had planned to sell my 3GS, and get the Verizon version of the N1, but I think I may sit tight for now.

 

[dguy6789]

Make no mistake, the Iphone doesn't sell well because it's the best phone. It sells well because it is a decent device made by Apple. Brand name and marketing is more important for sales than the actual product itself. Apple has proven this time and time again.

 

[Muadib]

Make no mistake, the Iphone doesn't sell well because it's the best phone. It sells well because it is Apple. Brand name and marketing is more important for sales than the actual product itself. Apple has proven this time and time again.

Sorry, but that ain't the case for anyone I know that has the iPhone. Hell, before the iPhone, I avoided Apple products. I did have the first ipod Nano, but only because someone gave it to me. At the time I got it, the iPhone couldn't be touched by any other phone.

Even now, only the new Android phones can touch it, IMO, but they're messing that up with all of the fragmentation of the firmware. Apple knows they need to catch up hardware wise. An announcement of iPhone 4 has to be soon if they want to release it by summer. I can now wait until then.

 

[dguy6789]

Sorry, but that ain't the case for anyone I know that has the iPhone. Hell, before the iPhone, I avoided Apple products. I did have the first ipod Nano, but only because someone gave it to me. At the time I got it, the iPhone couldn't be touched by any other phone.

Even now, only the new Android phones can touch it, IMO, but they're messing that up with all of the fragmentation of the firmware. Apple knows they need to catch up hardware wise. An announcement of iPhone 4 has to be soon if they want to release it by summer. I can now wait until then.

When Iphone first came out, it was probably the best device, but that time has long since passed. Droid and Nexus One outpace the Iphone on every level of functionality. It's virtually impossible to read about the tech specs, the OS, all of the things the phones do, and think without bias that the Iphone is better. The only thing the Iphone has going for it is a larger app store, but it's not like the Android Market is low on apps. Due to the open source nature of the market, it's only a matter of time until the Android Market is larger than the Iphone store. Once they get Flash, the gap will widen considerably. Iphone 4 won't even have flash.

Android 2.1 is going to be released for every single Android device ever made. I don't see a firmware fragmentation problem.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I don't think one can count the iPhone out by any stretch, it works and it sells like crazy.

The real problem will be manufacturers will have to provide a reason to buy one Android phone over another. Right now, that's not a difficult choice, you go with the 2 hottest phones, Moto's Droid, or the N1. There are cheaper Android phones for the lower price points. As the OS and the market mature, the reasons for selecting one phone over a another will diminish.

Android's lack of a polished MP3 player is also problematic...

The real winners in all of this is us, the consumer, Google is forcing Apple's hand and forcing it to step up it's game.

For me, Flash is a non issue, and I enjoy not having Flash ads that will slow the hell out of my phone while browsing.

Microsoft's OS change up will be impressive, however, it's vaporware at the moment, not due till Q4 this year, and every day it's not released gives Android and the iPhone a distinct advantage.

 

[Muadib]

When Iphone first came out, it was probably the best device, but that time has long since passed. Droid and Nexus One outpace the Iphone on every level of functionality. It's virtually impossible to read about the tech specs, the OS, all of the things the phones do, and think without bias that the Iphone is better. The only thing the Iphone has going for it is a larger app store, but it's not like the Android Market is low on apps. Due to the open source nature of the market, it's only a matter of time until the Android Market is larger than the Iphone store. Once they get Flash, the gap will widen considerably. Iphone 4 won't even have flash.

Android 2.1 is going to be released for every single Android device ever made. I don't see a firmware fragmentation problem.

The need for flash is highly overrated, IMO. In the year and 1/2 that I've had an iPhone, I've only really needed it to watch the Sunday ticket on my phone. That need vanished when the Slingplayer & Sunday ticket apps came out. Having said that, flash is a must have for some people, at least that's what they think now, because they haven't used it on a phone.

It's sluggish as hell on a netbook, and except for maybe the N1, or any other Android phone using a 1Ghz cpu, that ain't changing. Apple has the right idea with dumping flash, as it's a cpu hog. Google knows this, which is why youtube is moving to HTML 5. I'm willing to bet that by the time LTE phones become commonplace, flash will rarely be needed.

I agree with you on the latest Android hardware. It is superior to the current iPhone. However, a new one should be out by summer. I heard that Google planed on upgrading all Android phones to 2.1, but I still haven't heard when. The first Android phone is over a year old. Is it even at 2.0 yet?

 

[zerocool84]

The need for flash is highly overrated, IMO. In the year and 1/2 that I've had an iPhone, I've only really needed it to watch the Sunday ticket on my phone. That need vanished when the Slingplayer & Sunday ticket apps came out. Having said that, flash is a must have for some people, at least that's what they think now, because they haven't used it on a phone.

It's sluggish as hell on a netbook, and except for maybe the N1, or any other Android phone using a 1Ghz cpu, that ain't changing. Apple has the right idea with dumping flash, as it's a cpu hog. Google knows this, which is why youtube is moving to HTML 5. I'm willing to bet that by the time LTE phones become commonplace, flash will rarely be needed.

I agree with you on the latest Android hardware. It is superior to the current iPhone. However, a new one should be out by summer. I heard that Google planed on upgrading all Android phones to 2.1, but I still haven't heard when. The first Android phone is over a year old. Is it even at 2.0 yet?

Seeing as there are many major sites that are flash only, I say Flash is an important part of web browsing. Also they did a test of Flash 10.1 on the Nexus One and it had a minimal impact on battery life. We all know Apple hates Flash cus you can just look at their desktop machines and all that fiasco they've had to know the only reason Apple isn't using Flash is cus the hate they have for each other.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/flash-10-1-might-not-be-a-battery-hog-on-android/