V1 vs 3G bars

[NickT916]

my V1 shows about 3-4 bars in my house, 3G shows 1 bar. I also compared my V1 at att stores 3Gs that are on display and my showed about 4-5 while 3G showed 2 bars, 3Gs have worse reception, could it be because of the back case replaced with plastic and not aluminum? aluminum might have worked as an antenna in a way, amplifier?

[stevetim]

3g isn't at full capacity in the mapped blue areas. I think a lot of 3g areas aren't getting the redundant/multiple 3g tower coverage needed to supply the very fast simultaneous data streams that make up 3g network.

I get 4-5 bars consistently in a major metro area like Miami.

[BigCiX]

i usually get 4-5 bars outside. right now inside my house i have 3 while on the 3G network.

[overbo0st2k4]

I almost always have my 3G disabled on my iPhone 3G(almost always around wifi), and constantly have 4-5 bars...

obviously I'm running on edge, but if the point you were trying to make is that the 3G iPhone itself is the cause of the problem, and not the network, I would have to disagree.

[Tex]

it might be less bars in some areas for the time being, but 3G is still faster than Edge. It will strengthen over time as towers are updated and the network improves.

[NickT916]

so technically 3g bars are not equal to edge bars? Foe instance 1 3g bar might equal to 3-4 bars on edge? Also if there is no 3g around will symbol change to edge? How can you disable 3g and only run on edge? I'd like to see if I can compare both on same phone in dame areas

[DUKEL]

I'm pretty sure it just has a weak 3G radio. Or they turned it down some how to conserve battery. Its not the network, other 3G phones get full service in my area.

[psylichon]

Seeing as how, by most reports, a low number of "bars" doesn't really seem to correlate to poor reception with a 3G connection, I think one should try to think of it this way:

The bars represent a percentage of available bandwidth. Check out this chart:

http://gigaom.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/att3groadmap.gif?w=625&h=468

So 4-5 bars on Edge would indicate 80-100% network capacity indicating 190-237kb/s (best case scenario, of course)... and 2 bars on a 3G would be 40% of it theoretical limit... or around 680kb/s (again, you will not see that top 1700 speed on an iPhone, as indicated by the fine print).

So, while few of us are getting maximum theoretical capacity of either network, I would say based on the math, thinking of bars as a percentage of available bandwidth yields numbers that coincide well with real-world performance.

Just my guess.

[DUKEL]

Good try but your math is not really right. The iPhone uses HSDPA not HSPA. Going by your chart HSDPA gets user 400-700. That is about the best you will likely get. Give yourself 2 bars and you are going to see speeds half that fast like 200-350 more likely. And the shaky reception, it's not the networks fault. The iPhone jumps around sometimes even to 1 or 0 bars. The 3G network is not that weak it is the iPhone itself that has weak signal capture. It works though, just gets half reception alot of times. I think it is possible they toned it down to conserve battery.

[jags86]

After tethering my 3g to my laptop, I can say that 2-3 bars 3G gives you about 1000-2500 kbps download speeds in the ny/nj metro area. Ping is in the 250ms range.

Speeds have spiked at around 7000kbps at odd hours (4 am, 6 am), during the day they are in the 1000 range. After loading pages on the iphone3g and then using the iphone 3g network on my laptop, I can assure you that the reason it takes a while for pages to load is purely the slow processor and page rendering abilities of the iphone.

[DUKEL]

After tethering my 3g to my laptop, I can say that 2-3 bars 3G gives you about 1000-2500 kbps download speeds in the ny/nj metro area. Ping is in the 250ms range.

Speeds have spiked at around 7000kbps at odd hours (4 am, 6 am), during the day they are in the 1000 range. After loading pages on the iphone3g and then using the iphone 3g network on my laptop, I can assure you that the reason it takes a while for pages to load is purely the slow processor and page rendering abilities of the iphone.


What are your speeds on the iPhone 3G itself? None of the speed tests will work with my iPhone 3G. It just says running speed test but will never finish. I have tried several iPhone specific and standard mobile speed tests and I cannot get any results whatsoever.

[jags86]

What are your speeds on the iPhone 3G itself? None of the speed tests will work with my iPhone 3G. It just says running speed test but will never finish. I have tried several iPhone specific and standard mobile speed tests and I cannot get any results whatsoever.

iphone speed test is in the 700-1200 range from dslreports.com, however, I think flash tests are more accurate--you can do (some) flash tests when you tether to your laptop. I used speedtest.net, however, speakeasy.com/speedtest(the one i normally use) doesn't work even tethered.

[nbdiver]

How can you disable 3g and only run on edge? I'd like to see if I can compare both on same phone in dame areas

Settings > General > Network > Disable 3G Off

[DUKEL]

iphone speed test is in the 700-1200 range from dslreports.com, however, I think flash tests are more accurate--you can do (some) flash tests when you tether to your laptop. I used speedtest.net, however, speakeasy.com/speedtest(the one i normally use) doesn't work even tethered.

I tried the dsl reports iPhone speed test and it actually worked!! The speeds I was displaying with 2-4 bars were amazing. Far faster than anything I have ever seen on a at&t 3G phone. I was getting 650-950kbps and usually 8-900kbps. I wonder if this is really accurate? If it is, the iPhone 3G is the fastest 3G device I've ever seen, even on less bars. (Normally get 350-650 on at&t 3G phones) Are there any other iPhone speed tests that have been working for you.

What do you mean by flash tests? Does that test your tethering speed or iPhone's speed. I'm only concerned with the iPhone 3G safari speeds.

[jags86]

I tried the dsl reports iPhone speed test and it actually worked!! The speeds I was displaying with 2-4 bars were amazing. Far faster than anything I have ever seen on a at&t 3G phone. I was getting 650-950kbps and usually 8-900kbps. I wonder if this is really accurate? If it is, the iPhone 3G is the fastest 3G device I've ever seen, even on less bars. (Normally get 350-650 on at&t 3G phones) Are there any other iPhone speed tests that have been working for you.

What do you mean by flash tests? Does that test your tethering speed or iPhone's speed. I'm only concerned with the iPhone 3G safari speeds.

a flash test is a test that uses adobe flash--something the iphone doesn't support. i don't know what you mean is it testing the iphone speed or the tethering speed. it's testing the 3g network speed--as it's the only thing to test when your phone is tethered...

[DUKEL]

a flash test is a test that uses adobe flash--something the iphone doesn't support. i don't know what you mean is it testing the iphone speed or the tethering speed. it's testing the 3g network speed--as it's the only thing to test when your phone is tethered...

Sorry I will explain it very simply and more detailed.

Though you are testing the 3G network speed in both cases, there is a difference between testing your tethered speeds(speeds your laptop browses using the iPhones data connection) and your actual device speeds itself.(meaning speeds of the iPhones built in safari browser) Since I don't tether I am mostly interested in the latter.

I get what your saying about testing flash sites. That has to do with the tethered speed.

[stevetim]

In Miami I stay at about 1.5Mbps. It rarely drops below that on the iPhone for downloads.

The USB 881 modem on my MacBook gets the same downloads consistently, but will max up to around 4Mbps.

[jags86]

Sorry I will explain it very simply and more detailed.

Though you are testing the 3G network speed in both cases, there is a difference between testing your tethered speeds(speeds your laptop browses using the iPhones data connection) and your actual device speeds itself.(meaning speeds of the iPhones built in safari browser) Since I don't tether I am mostly interested in the latter.

I get what your saying about testing flash sites. That has to do with the tethered speed.

the tethered speeds or the speeds on the iphone are exactly the same. you just can't run an as detailed speed test on the iphone directly. as i said before, the main limiting factor on the iphone is the phones relatively slow processor. what takes 20 seconds to load on the iphone browser takes 6 or 7 seconds on a computer.

[DUKEL]

the tethered speeds or the speeds on the iphone are exactly the same. you just can't run an as detailed speed test on the iphone directly. as i said before, the main limiting factor on the iphone is the phones relatively slow processor. what takes 20 seconds to load on the iphone browser takes 6 or 7 seconds on a computer.

Well they would be the same was it not for other factors like the hardware(processor, browser etc.). I've always found tethered speeds to be faster than my device speeds on pretty much all my mobile phones.