speed of edge?

hey all, i was just wondering what the speed of the EDGE network was compared to 3G?

looking at the adds it seems the iPphone is going at super broadband speeds when downloading web pages and rendering them at speed. since it downloads full pages, not the reduced ones used on other networks, is that even realistic? i have Sprint and an unlimited plan on my Treo 700wx and rendering the web in a reduced form takes a bit, even with the faster speed of the Sprint network. (anywhere from 2-5X greater i think)

so how long could it take to download entire new web pages on the iPhone?

Its faster than dialup but not blazing

I think I saw around 700-900kbps compared to upwards of 3mbps on 3g

In the ads they could be using the built in WiFi for faster loading.

AT&T is said to be updating the network for faster speeds as well...

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/exclusiv...oosted-by-atts-operation-fine-edge-265867.php

I normally get around 150kbps on speed tests with Edge, and yes 3g is a LOT faster. I am still ****** they didn't put that on the Iphone.

I think speed4tu is more in the real realm of Edge speed. They advertize something closer to 1mbps, but when I did some initial looking into 3G when it came to Indy and compared, a lot of people I talked to said their Edge averaged around 100-200 kbps.

I don't know about you, but many websites I go to are much more data-intensive these days. Fiddling with a small screen is annoying enough without the waiting time to load. I would probably end up cursing the idea of the full browser and longing for the cut down mobile versions.

One addition in the works is for a Youtube web app. Waiting for a video to load, I don't think so.

I just now realized that the iPhone does not support 3G. I find this to be really disappointing considering how much I would have to pay for an unlimited data plan if I were to get an iPhone.

According to AT&T's website, EDGE is only good for around 75-135Kbps, thats barely better than dial-up.

It has been commented on that AT&T has just about the slowest network available here in the US, so that probably answers things for you. EDGE is certainly a lot better than using a standard GSM data connection, but way behind 3G. In fact EDGE has been dubbed rather unkindly, 2.75G.

EDGE has real world speeds of 70 - 135k, so more like high speed dial up/IDSN than broadband - people claiming 200kbps or better must either be very lucky, or benefitting from data compression somewhere. I'm mildly astonished Apple went for this type of data network, but then AT&T must have made an offer they couldn't refuse.

All of the internet demos on the iPhone will have used the wi-fi but the problem with WiFi is you have to choose wisely where to sign up. t-mobile at Starbucks for example.

The real question is, what will EDGE's pricing be on AT&T... my guess is it won't be cheap.

Zoolook said:

The real question is, what will EDGE's pricing be on AT&T... my guess is it won't be cheap.

Click to expand...

I was under the impression that it would be the same plan as their other "PDA" phones(anything with a touch screen or full keyboard), which runs $40/month for unlimited use.

I'm not convinced yet that the speed of Edge is even a factor for me. At any given point in the day I am at one of two places, either my office or at home. Both of which have wifi. Most of the places I go to for lunch have wifi as well, **** even the local McDonalds has free wifi now.

Come to think of it the only place I am at regularly that doesn't have wifi is in my car on the drive from and to work and I doubt I will be surfing the web while driving.

3g is nice, thats a given. But honestly, since the iPhone is gonna jump on every wifi it comes into contact with is it really an issue? Not to mention we would be paying a lot more for 3g and with the service plans associated and its not even available everywhere.

I think Apple's approach is just fine.

iirc AT&T was upgrading the network so that 80k would be the minimum speed on EDGE (about double of conventional dialup).

activeseven said:

I'm not convinced yet that the speed of Edge is even a factor for me. At any given point in the day I am at one of two places, either my office or at home. Both of which have wifi. Most of the places I go to for lunch have wifi as well, **** even the local McDonalds has free wifi now.

Come to think of it the only place I am at regularly that doesn't have wifi is in my car on the drive from and to work and I doubt I will be surfing the web while driving.

3g is nice, thats a given. But honestly, since the iPhone is gonna jump on every wifi it comes into contact with is it really an issue? Not to mention we would be paying a lot more for 3g and with the service plans associated and its not even available everywhere.

I think Apple's approach is just fine.

Click to expand...

That's fine, but then if you're always in the office or at home, do you even need a mobile phone?

activeseven said:

since the iPhone is gonna jump on every wifi it comes into contact with is it really an issue?

Click to expand...

Free WiFi isn't really that common in public places. While there are a few restaurants that offer it, if you are in places like airports or hotels, then you are more than likely going to have to pay for it and it isn't cheap.

EDGE is acceptable if you don't mind waiting for things to load. The full browser won't be that big of an issue on the iPhone because of the way it's designed (Opera Mini uses a similar model and it's not that bad using EDGE).

However, the 3G network is FAST. It was ridiculous how fast webpages opened on 3G compared to EDGE. I really think it was a big mistake not to include 3G, though I understand why it wasn't included. 3G still isn't as widespread as the EDGE network, so 3G wouldn't be a selling point overall, and thus it made sense to save the money in implementing it. Now if it isn't included in iPhone 2.0, that would be REALLY stupid because 3G will definitely be far more widespread in a couple of months

Kash said:

Now if it isn't included in iPhone 2.0, that would be REALLY stupid because 3G will definitely be far more widespread in a couple of months

Click to expand...

Months are not going to make any difference in terms of including or excluding such fundamental features. EDGE has been chosen plain and simply because it is what AT&T are pushing. When iPhone goes on sale in Europe and APAC, it'll likely have to support another format. 3G is virtually universal in Japan I believe.

Zoolook said:

EDGE has been chosen plain and simply because it is what AT&T are pushing.

Click to expand...

Don't be so sure on this one. This was not the direction AT&T was going in before iPhone.

It's true that a couple of months won't change the 3G footprint. It will take a lot longer than that. What is true is that AT&T was putting ALL of its resources into the 3G network until the iPhone came to light. I will leave it at that.

Original Nerd said:

Don't be so sure on this one. This was not the direction AT&T was going in before iPhone.

It's true that a couple of months won't change the 3G footprint. It will take a lot longer than that. What is true is that AT&T was putting ALL of its resources into the 3G network until the iPhone came to light. I will leave it at that.

Click to expand...

i wish i knew how your so smart about this iphone.
lol

I'm tired of people whining about no 3g. All I have had is T-Mobile's gprs connection. Yes, gprs, like 10-20kbps(real world). When I go to larger cities, its like Im going from dial up to broadband. I can't wait to get the "slow" EDGE network you folks speak of.

Original Nerd said:

Don't be so sure on this one. This was not the direction AT&T was going in before iPhone.

It's true that a couple of months won't change the 3G footprint. It will take a lot longer than that. What is true is that AT&T was putting ALL of its resources into the 3G network until the iPhone came to light. I will leave it at that.

Click to expand...

I concur. Cingular was working on rolling out 3G, and it did a great job. I remember when it first came out, it was only available in the Manhattan area. When I checked it a couple weeks ago, it had the area all the way down to central Jersey (don't know how far it went in the other directions, but then again, I didn't care to look). That was actually one of the deciding factors for me to upgrade my 8125 to the 8525 since the latter supported 3G.

red93xj, EDGE may seem faster for you, but I have the 3G network and to be honest, even that can be a bit slow when using a full browser (in my case, there's Opera and it does the same thing the iPhone browser will).

On my Blackberry, Edge seems ok, loads web pages with pictures, etc in a descent amount of time. Is it super fast? No. And I live in Manhattan.

Zoolook said:

That's fine, but then if you're always in the office or at home, do you even need a mobile phone?

Click to expand...

Absolutely! Being at work or at the office in no way means I am sitting at my Mac in my den or even at my desk where I work.

Of course, the iPhone isn't really "just" a phone either. During large portions of my day I have my iPod on, listening to music or podcasts. The BIGGEST pain for me is when I am using my iPod and my cell phone rings, the mad scramble to pull out my ear buds, dig my phone out of my pocket and answer a call is such a huge issue for me. With an iPhone I can just click the button on the headphones and thats is. The merging of a cell phone and an iPod is one thing I truley need.

Of course everyone is different, but my point is, that while many are complaining about lack of 3g or whatever I have taken a good look at my daily habits and found that the issues people are most complaining about....are actually non-issues for some of us.

The iPhone is perfect, for me. Is it for everyone? Prolly not. But can anyone truly argue that it isn't a great piece of electronic equipment?