God Bless the i(Pod)Phone for Making AT&T Boost their EDGE Network Speed

[Kris Kumar]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cutting-edge/att-edge-speeds-on-steroids-273470.php' target='_blank'>http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/cutting-edge/att-edge-speeds-on-steroids-273470.php</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/kris-jun2007-dslspeedall.gif" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><br />Steve Jobs must have gotten really angry when he tried his soon to be revolutionary mobile gadget for the very first time on AT&amp;T's EDGE network. That would explain why the AT&amp;T executives <a href="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=14661">scrambled</a> to get the EDGE data network performance up from the dismal 45Kbits/sec. I tried the <a href="http://www.dslreports.com/mspeed">DSLReports</a> a few times on my Dash, and put together the above animated image that shows the results ranging from 66Kbits/sec to 165Kbits/sec. I am easily averaging speed over 100Kbits/sec and even saw a high of 175Kbits/sec. I know it is not as stunning as the latest speed boost that the <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/29/verizons-entire-ev-do-network-leaps-to-rev-a/">Verizon EV-DO</a> customers got, but still for us EDGE users it is a big improvement. Who would have thought that Windows Mobile users will also benefit from the launch of a competitor's phone; thank you Apple. The one thing that bugs me is that how come AT&amp;T didn't perform the upgrades a lot sooner, aren't BlackBerry, Treo and Windows Mobile data users worthy of speeds over 100Kbits/sec? :evil: Anyway, lets enjoy the speed boost. Please do share with us the speed that you are getting using the test site over <a href="http://www.dslreports.com/mspeed">here,</a> and also your location.

[Bohemian]

Amarillo, TX similar results 120k-160k range

[HalM]

Davidson, NC (Charlotte suburb), Excalibur S620, was averaging 40'ish KBs. Now up into the high 70's. Also they may have done something else on the data side. My wife/partner's Blackjack used to toggle between EDGE and 3G. It now solid 3G and averages between 800KBs and 1 Mb. As a matter of fact DSLREPORTS can't perform a speed test on the Blackjack with less than a 1 Mb test file.

[webini]

As of last night I'm getting consistently 210 - 225 kb/sec in Maine on my Blackjack. No 3G up here. This is nice!

[rdecker]

150K to 175K on Edge on my Blackjack in Las Vegas
30K on GPRS
950K on 3G

[John Cody]

>

Steve Jobs must have gotten really angry when he tried his soon to be revolutionary mobile gadget for the very first time on AT&amp;T's EDGE network.

LOL - You'll notice that all of the iPhone commercials that show it viewing and zooming in on a webpage are of an *already loaded* webpage. The commercial would have been a 5 minute commercial if it tried to load the New York Times homepage in real time :lol:

[SteveHoward999]

77 - 175 here in rural Mississippi.

I get patchy signal here at my house. I'm sure if I get nearer to a decent tower I could average a lot better than 175!

[Jerry Raia]

After the fun of sliding yor fingers all over the screen wears off, you will have a real nice paper weight to play with.

[vincenzosi]

The one thing that bugs me is that how come AT&amp;T didn't perform the upgrades a lot sooner, aren't BlackBerry, Treo and Windows Mobile data users worthy of speeds over 100Kbits/sec?

I reckon it has something to do with sheer volume for one, and secondly I'd be willing to bet Apple did a little chipping in to make sure the EDGE network was up to snuff before launch. Truth is, the iPhone made a bigger wave on the industry than any other phone in history, love it or hate it.

When the 8525 launched, how many people lined up for it?

Just something to think about.

[Hyer]

Just ran the test in Denver, got a wopping 18kbs, yes only 18! It must be the altitude!

[Hyer]

Thought maybe it was my phone, so I restarted it, now only 3kb!

[Jerry Raia]

Guess this thing is not going to be a &lt;insert name here> killer.

[Kris Kumar]

Thought maybe it was my phone, so I restarted it, now only 3kb!

Yikes!

I guess the only way to fix this is to buy a $500 Apple toy and complain to AT&amp;T about poor EDGE. Without the Apple toy I am afraid AT&amp;T would not even listen to us. WinMo users are the untouchables on the network. :lol:

[Kris Kumar]

After the fun of sliding yor fingers all over the screen wears off, you will have a real nice paper weight to play with.

At least they didn't put the music player buttons like HTC and others. But you are right it seems to me like the Vista experience. Vista looked really cool to me at first, refreshing change from the dull looking XP and had some features that were worthy of the upgrade. But overall it has been an eye-wash.

[Kris Kumar]

LOL - You'll notice that all of the iPhone commercials that show it viewing and zooming in on a webpage are of an *already loaded* webpage. The commercial would have been a 5 minute commercial if it tried to load the New York Times homepage in real time :lol:

Good point. While they do show the phone doing everything else, the page is pre-loaded. I read somewhere else that Apple might have the popular site banner logos, and background etc. pre-cached on their mobile phone.

[Bohemian]

I reckon it has something to do with sheer volume for one, and secondly I'd be willing to bet Apple did a little chipping in to make sure the EDGE network was up to snuff before launch. Truth is, the iPhone made a bigger wave on the industry than any other phone in history, love it or hate it.

When the 8525 launched, how many people lined up for it?

Just something to think about.

When looking for quality and true functionality, I always look for the one the masses are flocking to.

[dstrauss]

Since yesterday, speed of EDGE has doubled in Midland, TX. Consistently 65-80kb before, now 145-180, generally averaging at 170k. I don't care what Steverino did, this is great for my Blackjack, because we don't have 3G here; at least not until Steverino releases the 3G iPhone II at Xmas. :D

[SteveHoward999]

At least they didn't put the music player buttons like HTC and others. But you are right it seems to me like the Vista experience. Vista looked really cool to me at first, refreshing change from the dull looking XP and had some features that were worthy of the upgrade. But overall it has been an eye-wash.

Most people turn off all that swishy, slidey, wobbly stuff pretty quickly.

I've been working in multimedia for about 10 years. After the Flash Explosion of 2000 or so, when we all learned to love the Skip The Effin Intro button, clients briefly asked for stuff that slid in and out, transitions everywhere etc etc. Then quickly got sick of them and asked for them to be taken out.

All those transitions slow things down, they are distracting, annoying, and add nothing to usability.

But they look cool.

For ten minutes.

Or on tv ads :-)

[djdj]

I feel bad for you Cingular/AT&amp;T customers that have had to put up with bad speeds like that.

Doing the same test on my Dash with T-Mobile has given me results of 175, 186, 200, and 203 kbps the four times I ran it. (and it has been about that fast as long as I have had an EDGE capable phone) I had no idea that AT&amp;T's EDGE had been so slow up until now. I'm sorry to hear you've been suffering with expensive slow data.

[Wyld1]

Wooster, Ohio
Blacklack-WinMo6
IE-290
Opera-190
Both on Cingular Edge. Speed difference is odd seeing they were run within 1 minute of each other sitting in the same spot.

[SteveHoward999]

Speed difference is odd seeing they were run within 1 minute of each other sitting in the same spot.


You need to run several tests on each to get a spread and an average. Speed varies a lot.

[amg212]

In Northern NJ, I've been clocking EDGE speeds on my BJ this weekend always well over 200K, peaking at 290K.

Anywhere else I go, I've been using 3G and I haven't bothered testing EDGE.

[Kris Kumar]

It seems like Blackjack shows more speed than Dash(?). Is it possible? Is it because of processor differences?

[mhynek]

Just tried it a few times on my Q and got 370, 327, and 760 in Peoria, IL. I'm blown away! I didn't think those speeds were possible. Has anybody else gotten speeds like this?

I should add that although I maybe new to the forum, glad to be here, I am not new to the technology. I also understand the differences between EDGE and EVDO but was still shocked at the speeds I witnessed.

[Wyld1]

Speed difference is odd seeing they were run within 1 minute of each other sitting in the same spot.


You need to run several tests on each to get a spread and an average. Speed varies a lot.

Ok more tests, these were run Opera Mobile then IE through the day so far.

Opera-190, 176, 143, 187, 201
IE- 290, 281, 276, 288, 297
Still a ~100kb difference between the 2 browsers here.

[peephole]

In CT, I did the 1mb test on a blackjack and ATT and have been getting 600kb w/.44s latency. The highest was 787kb. Is this the same network all of you are on?! :?:

I just saw this article quickly and didn't go thru all the posts. So it's probable there's an easy reason why my numbers are different (Is EDGE their 3G network)?

[peephole]

I just read on Engadget that the iPhone is not 3G...eww!

[WorksForTurkeys]

>

Steve Jobs must have gotten really angry when he tried his soon to be revolutionary mobile gadget for the very first time on AT&amp;T's EDGE network.

LOL - You'll notice that all of the iPhone commercials that show it viewing and zooming in on a webpage are of an *already loaded* webpage. The commercial would have been a 5 minute commercial if it tried to load the New York Times homepage in real time :lol:

I love how everybody has an expert opinion without any empirical evidence: I'll perform an informal test for all you geniuses and load the NYTimes front page on my iPhone via EDGE from scratch: &lt; 10 seconds to load the NY Times front page just now; 2 seconds more for the images to populate.

On my Q with EVDO: 9 seconds with no graphics.

Gee the iphone is a real performance dog!

:roll:

[John Cody]

I love how everybody has an expert opinion without any empirical evidence: I'll perform an informal test for all you geniuses and load the NYTimes front page on my iPhone via EDGE from scratch: &lt; 10 seconds to load the NY Times front page just now; 2 seconds more for the images to populate.

On my Q with EVDO: 9 seconds with no graphics.

Gee the iphone is a real performance dog!

:roll:

Did the URL of the nytimes.com homepage you loaded happen to change to "mobile.nytimes.com"? Thats the mobile version and why it loaded in 10 seconds (because nytimes detected your viewing it on a mobile device).

But as the iPhone commercial says "this is the real web, not a mobile web..."

So, when you can load the homepage of nytimes so it looks identical to how it appears on your desktop pc's browser (and how the iphone commercials show it), then you will see it takes a lot longer then 10 second to load.