3g speed
3g speed
If you believe the hype about 3G phones, then the major companies will have you believing that you’ll always be downloading things to your phone or other 3G device at the same speed as home broadband. Is that really the truth about 3G speed? The truth is, it’s possible, but the 3G speed doesn’t always reach it’s maximum potential as promised. Each of the major companies wants to promise you the best possible speeds, but they may not always be able to deliver. Of the four major providers of 3G wireless technology, there are two different types of technology used. AT&T and T-Mobile both use a protocol called HSDPA, which stands for High Speed Download Packet Access. These networks can theoretically support speeds of up to 14.4 Mbit/s, working their way up to 42 Mbit/s in the not-so-distant future. As far as download speeds go, these networks have some really amazing 3G speed potential. Just keep in mind that these speeds represent the maximums, and not the average speeds that they offer. Still, in terms of 3G speed, they do blow away the competition. Verizon and Spring both use EV-DO technology for their 3G networks, which stands for Evolution Data Optimized. The top speeds of EV-DO are only around 3.1 Mbit/s, which is quite good enough for most basic needs, but nowhere near as fast as the competition. However, you have to consider more than just 3G speed when it comes to choosing a network. You should also think about coverage areas. Also, keep in mind that in order to reach those maximum speeds, you have to have a lot of things going for you. You’d have to be in absolutely perfect outdoor area, and no one else nearby would be using their 3G devices for data transfer at the time. You’d want a battery that was maxed out, and you’d even have to rely on the weather being perfect. Only when all those factors were lined up could you really get the maximum 3G speed. If you aren’t meeting those conditions, then you could get signals that are comparable to plain old 2G or 2.5G levels of data transfer. This is especially true with the newer HSDPA networks, which have much smaller coverage areas overall than the EV-DO networks. All in all, it’s important not to be too drawn in by the promise of 3G speed. Since technology moves so fast, it may be a good idea to wait it out a little while longer and let the technology get both cheaper and more widespread.