Shortly after beginning the shutdown process of AMPS and TDMA networks, and just hours before the launch of the EDGE-capable iPhone, a number of users are reportedly seeing dramatic increases in EDGE throughput. After questioning whether the mobile was actually using WiFi, a New Yorker began to see if fellow AT&T customers across the nation were also noticing the substantial boost in speeds; sure enough, it looks like quite a few others are seeing speeds upwards of 200Kbps.
Update: We tried some speed tests on an EDGE handset ourselves, and though it’s been a little inconsistent, we’ve been shocked to find a number of runs over 200kbps. True, these kinds of speeds are theoretically possible (actually, little known fact, the ITU technically defines EDGE as a 3G standard), but we’d never expect to see them in practice. Should make the iPhone’s browsing experience a little more bearable if it holds up!
A running list at one site showed speeds from 160-365kbps.
Seeing this referenced at a telecom site, I Googled for a spell and found forum discussions with AT&T engineers going back to February about this. Generally, no one believed they were going to bring their system up to the speeds they predicted.
A nice bit of tweaking that benefits all AT&T EDGE customers. Though I [almost] hate to tell you what the official project was called inside AT&T:
Getting “iReady“.
I can’t wait to test it as soon has at&t activates my iPhone. It’s been over 12 hours now. at&t has totally messed up this roll out. I also blame Apple for not letting you be able to use the iPhone without it being activated. I should able to use the iPod and Wifi without a active Phone account.
#1
Those ATT guys are all union. Take a chill pill they will get to it sometime on monday.
Hey did anyone see in the disection the upgrade to the iPod batteries? Now the batteries are not even Apple replaceable. So you get about 400 charges on a device that has to be charged everyday and has a one year warrenty with a two year commitment.
I remember a song back in the early 90’s
Things that make you go Hmmmm
Makes perfect sense, Apple wouldn’t pick a data network that is inferior to something else, now that the speed is faster it’s just at the right speed for the iPhone to operate comfortably, using EDGE probably reduces cost too.
I’ve seen EDGE speeds on my iPhone equal to the EVDO speeds I saw on my RAZR with Verizon. Not the greatest comparison, I know, but it works for me.
#1 – My activation wasn’t snappy, but it worked. I’m now waiting on the number portability part of the equation.
#2 – I had the same thought.
#3 – I’m pretty sure that references the batteries in the test models, but nevertheless I have the same concern. Built in upgrade path?
#5,
Wow you were nice to me that time. So I will confess, but you already knew this.
OMG it hurts, I WANT ONE SOOOO BAD.
Ummm,
Ya,
OK…I live in a part of the country that HAS little access, and that, that we have….Is CRAP…
I will bet that many of those features WONT work here, or near here.
But are you iReady?
EDGE? I’m still working on getting me one of them AT&T telegraphs.
RBG
10—NO ONE should buy anything with non-consumer replaceable batteries.
Slave to the machine.
Hmmmmm… This post is interesting. Sort of repudiates what AT&T said yesterday:
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.
Here’s the site.
EDGE? I’m still working on getting me one of them AT&T telegraphs.
RBG
-.-- --- ..- / ... .... --- ..- .-.. -.. / --. . - / --- -. . / ... --- --- -. .-.-.- / .--- -..-. .--. -...- ..--..http://morsecode.scphillips.com/jtranslator.html
J/P=?
#12, J/P=?, sorry but the darned wordpress gizmo tends to merge double dashes together, so your morse code won’t translate. Nice idea, though. Wish I knew how you could repost without wordpress messing with your typing.
I fixed it.
Here’s the translation. I hid it in case you’d rather find out for yourself. (Drag your mouse between the braces.)
{ YOU SHOULD GET ONE SOON. J/P=?}
How dare you insult Apple innovative “feature”? It encourages its groupies to invest in the future iPhone model.
sorry but the darned wordpress gizmo tends to merge double dashes together, so your morse code won’t translate
Weird, I am using FireFox 1.5, and it’s showing fine, even did a translate back from the post via the link. It had problems with IE (tab), but apparently not from the blog software for me
J/P=?
John – I added code tags and it separated out the dashes.
12 / 14. Nice. Got it from memory with a bit of rust. As a kid I had a ham receiver. (Muslims wouldn’t … oh never mind.) I once built myself a morse code flashing light and stuck it in a model war ship: “The Sullivans”). It ran off of the sound output from a cassette tape recorder to an LED. (Uh, Is this more information than you really wanted to know?)
RBG