The iPhone antenna is getting a lot of negative press, but I think it’s a double edged sword. The antenna is very large and exposed on the edges of the phone. You can strangle it by covering it with your hand and slow down your data speeds. But you can also get amazing download speeds in areas of AT&T’s HSDPA coverage. There is no map of this coverage area but it seems to be he entire DC Metro area and at least 25 miles into the western suburbs. 4 megabits down is damn fast. That’s as fast as cable Internet, I don’t wait for downloads on this phone in this area. 1.5 megabits up is ridiculous, that’s above the upload speed of most people’s Internet service.
I like the FCC mobile broadband app much more than the Xtreme speedtest app I was using before, cleaner interface, no ads, and the test lasts a few seconds longer allowing the iPhone more time to ramp up to impressive download speeds. The Xtreme speedtest would end as the download speed was still increasing so I didn’t get as fast of a result.
This weekend I’ll do side-by-side comparisons with a 3GS.
In the city and in the suburbs, depending on where I am I’m getting 3mbps download speeds and almost a megabit up. That’s significantly faster than I ever got with my 3G or 3GS. The 3GS HSDPA antenna is capable of these speeds but I’ve only gotten two megabits, maybe the difference was due to network conditions. I’ll do a side-by-side sometime. I never got more than 1.5mbps with my 3G.
How fast is that? That’s twice as fast as a T1 DSL connection and almost as fast as cable. Enough to play 720p YouTube with no waiting.
I uploaded that speed test picture in about one second. There is no waiting while surfing and large email attachments download in a few seconds.
Update: HOLY CRAP. I just broke my record and got 3.5mbps in a vehicle moving 60mph. I did another test a mile or so down the road and got 2.5mbps even while gripping the antenna “that way”.
I can’t reproduce the antenna problem outside but inside I have dropped two calls until I adjusted my hand posture. I’ve tried strangling the antenna in the middle of a speed test and it doesn’t slow down at all, sometimes it goes faster (tested in a moving vehicle).
On a side note don’t let some Sprint fanboy tell you their network is better because it’s 4G, it’s not. Whether or not WiMax is faster than HSDPA I don’t know because I haven’t tested it yet. Sprint commercials that say they have the first 4G network is false advertising. There is no 4G protocol and there are no 4G networks, their won’t be for years. WiMax is a 3G protocol as is AT&T’s HSDPA Verizon’s LTE. At least AT&T and Verizon don’t claim that these 3G enhancements are 4G. Wikipedia has a good explanation of 4G. A Sprint engineer I talked to confirmed that their network is not 4G but he did mention that WiMax offers much greater coverage radius per tower as WiMax was designed for very long range.
Yay my iPhone works inside some metro stations. I tested the network performance at each station on my way from Ballston to L’enfant Plaza. True to their word, WMATA has completed installation of 850 mhz cell service in major metro stations.
I had signal in all but three stations (filled red), the stations filled green had great signal, and I pulled decent download speeds at all of these stops. The slowest download speed was 618 kbps at McPherson Square. 1400kbps speeds at L’enfant Plaze and Foggy Bottom are just shy of the maximum download speed of the iPhone. All speed tests were conducted from inside the train car. There is no signal in the tracks, unlike with Verizon your signal drops as soon as you enter the tunnel.
Surprised by receiving a call, I immediately tweeted. These tweets indicate service started 3 days ago.
Update: I tested a few more stations. Gallery Place, Archives, and Farragut North are indicated on the map. Service inside tunnels is planned to be complete by the end of 2012.
From AT&T’s press release:
AT&T plans to begin deployment of HSPA 7.2 in six major U.S. cities, including Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami, with initial service availability expected in these markets by the end of the year. All told, the company plans to deploy HSPA 7.2 in 25 of the nation’s 30 largest markets by the end of 2010, and to reach about 90 percent of its existing 3G network footprint with HSPA 7.2 by the end of 2011.
Gee I’m so glad I bought this new iPhone that supports HSDA, which won’t be available in my area until after the next iPhone is out. Way to go AT&T.
High Speed Data Access will be about twice as fast as existing 3G speeds. 3G is capable of a little more than 2mbps on most devices, though the iPhone is capped at 1.3mbps to limit power consumption. HSPA has a theoretical limit of 7.2mbps, though in reality you will get half that which is still very nice. Though by the time AT&T gets it rolled out Verizon will probably already have 4G deployed in major areas. I expect a mass exodus from AT&T back to Verizon when they get the iPhone.
It’s about time. Hopefully it will work in the tunnels like Verizon, not just the station platforms.
From wmata.com
Metrorail riders soon will be able to use four major cell phone providers to make calls or access the Internet from 20 of Metro’s busiest underground stations.
Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, AT&T and T-Mobile began installing hardware at designated Metrorail stations this weekend that will allow Metrorail customers to make calls, send text messages or surf the Web from 20 stations starting Friday, October 16.
During the next two months, the companies will install a wireless network at the following Metrorail stations: Ballston, Bethesda, Columbia Heights, Crystal City, Dupont Circle, Farragut North, Farragut West, Federal Center SW, Foggy Bottom-GWU, Friendship Heights, Gallery Pl-Chinatown, Judiciary Square, L’Enfant Plaza, McPherson Square, Metro Center, Pentagon, Pentagon City, Rosslyn, Smithsonian and Union Station.
Customers at those stations will begin to see large, cabinet-like enclosures that will house the hardware at the ends of station platforms or on mezzanines, in areas that will not impede the flow of customers or impact the safe operation of the Metrorail system. New cables and antennae also will be installed as part of this work, which will take place late at night when the Metrorail system is closed.
Holy crap I can’t believe I didn’t know about this. There are several ways to enable tethering, but this is by far the easiest. An awesome dude showed me this last night. Visit http://Help.benm.at/help.php to effortlessly enable iPhone tethering. It works with the USB cable and Bluetooth. I get the same data speeds I get with the iPhone, 1mbps down/384kbps up. Don’t worry, AT&T has indicated they will not punish those who unofficially enable tethering.. Just stay under your 5GB monthly limit. I wouldn’t be surprised if this hack is disabled once AT&T rolls out it’s official tethering app, rumored to cost $55 a month and could arrive as early as the end of July.
Scroll down to tethering and click download.
After choosing your country and carrier you can install.
After rebooting you have tethering options in your settings app (General, Network, Tethering).
Using 3G and Bluetooth will drain your battery about 4 hours. Blogged from my iPhone.
The new AT&T iPhone app is pretty cool. It let’s you manage your wireless account from your phone with much of the same features available on AT&T’s website. You view your bill summary, pay it, and even view a PDF of your full bill. You can add and remove features from your plan, such as text messaging and roaming packages. It’s also nice to finally be able to view your minutes usage without having to request a text message from AT&T.
Download from iTunes
I just got my 16GB black iPhone. I was first in line on launch day to get the iPhone 3G back on July 11th, and the shipment of black 16GBs hadn’t arrived yet, so I was forced to purchase the paltry 8GB model. The 16GB one I ordered finally came in after 2 weeks and I swapped it at the AT&T store. While I was there the sales rep asked me if I wanted the corporate data plan. The corporate data plan allows you to access exchange email with push support, and VPN, and other unspecified business solutions, said he. I already use exchange and VPN on my iPhone with the normal data plan. So what the heck is the corporate data plan for? Nobody at the AT&T store could explain it to me. It’s $15 more so it’d better be something cool.
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