"3.5G" iPhone 4 Blazes (Where Supported)

[Paul Daniel Ash]

With little fanfare, Apple has added High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) support to the iPhone, and it significantly improves performance. A report in ZDNet over the weekend indicated about 60% faster downloads and a 500% in upload throughput. The results will vary depending on the support for HSPA on the local AT&T cell: in Boston, I'm getting about double the download throughput I used to get with my iPhone 3G, and somewhere between eight and ten times the upload. Zowie.

The iPhone 4's support for HSUPA as well as High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA, which was also supported by the iPhone 3GS) makes it Apple's first "3.5G" phone. AT&T is using HSPA as an evolutionary step towards its 4G LTE network which will begin deployment in 2011. The carrier has begun testing its advanced 3.5G network, capable of up to 7.2 Mbps downloads, in six cities - Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami - with 19 more to come by sometime this year. HSUPA adds an additional transport channel called the Enhanced Dedicated Channel (E-DCH), which will allows for uploads as fast as 5.8 Mbps.

ZDNet did their testing out in Louisville, Kentucky which - though not a major city - has a solid network: they saw downloads in the 2 to 4 Mbps range and uploads consistently around 700 Mbps. Gizmodo tested the iPhone 4 in New York, with its notoriously congested network, and still found 5 to ten times improvement in uploads.

[PhxBlue]

We are seeing some 3.5G here in the Phoenix/Valley area in AZ. Its super nice!

[TheOrioles33]

Nice! Im getting 2,123kbps right now in central CT. Cant wait!

[gafu]

hmmm,interesting

[PlatoTheForms]

That's really great. . I've also seen tests of att's 3g network vs sprint's 4g with htc evo, and the difference is not so much, the iphone 4 even wins in some cases. It all depends on the area that one resides.

[sparko]

I average 3200 to 4800 Kb/s in Winnipeg, Canada on my 3GS. It'll be interesting to see if there's any increase to those rates once the iPhone 4 is available.

[rhekt]

Good to see improvements where it lacked previously

[staterunner180]

Bahaha, instead of making already fast speeds faster, why doesn't AT&T expand their network? My dad has the 3G through his work and at best he gets 2 bars and Edge at home, and WiFi isn't fast either because we are stuck with satellite internet out here, 1 Mbps, at best.

Speaking of my dad's work, he says that he and all other managers at Sunbelt Rentals might be upgraded to iPhone 4. They have about 320 stores nationwide and about 5 to 6 iPhones per store. You do the math, that is a lot of iPhone 4. It makes me wonder; if Apple can barely keep up with consumer demand, then how are the possibly going to be able to give all the corporate companies the iPhones they need? Just a thought

[bsltiger]

Isn't the 3G[s] compatible with the HSPA 7.2?

[pwntbywombat]

yes, the 3GS will do 7.2 down, but it still limited to 384KB up. The iPhone 4 supports 5.8mbps up. I see 3.2 down and 1.5 up in pittsburgh. Im happy with that for now.

[adp]

2Mbps down in South Florida...nice

[evolasme]

I found it weird that when i got my Iphone 4 and switched to the Mini-sim the carrier logo went from "T-mobile" to "telekom.de"... Now its starting to make sense as i never got speeds like this before. not as fast as some but ill try some other servers. but still not bad

Guess i should mention im in Germany =0)

[nomad707]

Im in Houston and my best results are so far are 2986k and 1282k.

[CaptainChaos]

I can't wait until 2015 when AT&T has 3G continent wide.

[lsixecho]

ZDNet did their testing out in Louisville, Kentucky which - though not a major city - has a solid network: they saw downloads in the 2 to 4 Mbps range and uploads consistently around 700 Mbps.

700 Mbps!? Now that's fast. I assume that's a typo?

[LastSonOfKrypton]

Awesome! Hey AT&T, how about you focus on getting 3G to your customers who don't have it before you worry about 4G? Try catching up to Verizon in 3G coverage first!

Ugh, I essentially live along the NY State Thruway more or less and I live in the one area of the thruway without 3G. It's about a 60 mile stretch with no 3G and yeah, my area isn't the most populated but jeez!

One of the mods on here knows where I live (I forgot who though)

[justinpotter81]

During a thunderstorm, still getting decent speeds on my i4....2.2mbps down and 1.3 up. Straight out of Dallas

[DarkDragonAn]

My wife has tha htc evo and browser is really fast it feel like she is on wifi, it is that fast the web pages on the spot the loading time is about 3 to 4 seconds maybe more but is fast on 4g and my iphone 4 move fast but not as fast as her's. I feel a little jeolous.

[topless1967stang]

Wow.. Gee.... on the 23rd when I got my iPhone 4 I posted a reply in the iPhone 4 Review article that I got got 500% faster download speeds on the AT&T network. Wow.... great idea on an article. I should start writing articles and reviews.

[alex1000]

Also in Dallas and am seeing 2.0 mbps down and 1.2 up.