Edge (Speed) Vs. WiFi (Speed)

When the iPhone was first released, there were lots of
comments posted by those seeming to have knowledge
about the speed of the Edge Network verses the WiFi
connection speed.

Having traveled between Ohio, and Michigan quite
frequently in major metropolitan areas such as
Detroit, Chicago, Grand Rapids, Columbus, and so on...
I always end up shutting off the WiFi, because the Edge
Network connection seems to load websites a tad bit faster.
(Is this just a sense of illusion, or does it actually work faster?)

Does it for you?

And if so, would it be because of the various ways
the WiFi would actually be connected to the web?
(A DSL connection verses cable, and so on.)

Just a curious question from,

John

I have never had EDGE speeds that even came close to how fast my Wifi is. I just went to San Francisco and used A LOT of different Wifi connects (some of which I didn't even know from where they came) and none of them were even close to as slow as EDGE.

Maybe my EDGE just sucks? :frown:

EDGE is horrible...my WIFI is over 10x faster than EDGE!!!

I have definitely encountered WiFi hotspots that were slower than EDGE.

Houston IAH airport on a busy day for instance, when everyone and their uncle is using WiFi. I barely got over 75 kbps one time, whereas EDGE was 165 kbps. Of course this doesn't count the time spent/wasted searching for/connecting to the WLAN in the first place (plus the false starts: WLANs in range, but not usable).

I've even seen EDGE faster than WiFi in certain stores (e.g., the Staples by my house).

Obviously WiFi is faster most of the time (certainly at home/work), but not always. As for me, if I just need to lookup something quick I'll use EDGE. By the time I would have found and connected to a WiFi network, if there is even one around, I would likely already have what I wanted via EDGE. There's no point in spending 2 minutes to just find or connect to a WLAN when in 1 minute you could be done under EDGE.



--
Mike

I agree I have encountered many wifi networks that were much slower than edge....


FWIW, I have noticed DRASTIC edge data transfer and response time improvements in NYC.

Using EDGE all over San Diego it seems like I get drastically different speeds depending on where I am... maybe sometimes I'm not getting an EDGE and it is switching over to whatever the slower thing is...

I'd think a city as big as San Diego would have EDGE covering the whole place?

Ok...

Glad to know my observations about the WiFi vs. the EDGE
network speeds were not an illusion.

Thanks for the replies.

John

I wouldn't say EDGE is horrible but wifi is like a freaking cable. I can surf at blazing speed with wifi while EDGE takes a while to load webpages

Posting this from Austin airport. Edge tested at 182 kbps. A friend sitting next to me got 156 kbps on WiFi--that he paid $7 to get.


--
Mike

Here is a nice speedtest for iphone for both edge and wifi
http://i.dslr.net/tinyspeedtest.html

needless to say, wifi is only as fast as the internet connection its connected to. edge for the most part is between 90-180 kbps. i've found that the iphone's wifi seems to cap at around 6 mbps--based on the fact my computer gets between 11-13 and then the iphone speed test on the same site gives around 6.

of course if the wifi is connected to 768 kbps dsl and 20 people are on it, then its safe to say edge will be faster.

i get around 150kbps or so here .. i normally keep wifi off because of how badly it drains the battery. EDGE is plenty fast for what i need it for .. checking stocks on scottrade, weather, and email. i dont view complicated sites very often on the phone ..

My EDGE tested at 139 kbps (home)

My WiFi tested at 3070 kbps (home)

WOW!

How do u test it? Any device you use?

Yeah, what program on your iphone did you use? Or are these readings from your browser on your computer?

I usually use speedtest.net on my firefox, however the iphone does not support flash :foot:

This program from dsl reports is specifically designed for the iPhone to test both edge or wifi speeds.

Point your iPhone Safari browser to:

http://i.dslr.net/tinyspeedtest.html

Cool im always in transit to Austin airport. I prolly wont buy internet at airports anymore.

Great little tool thanks!!! I've been looking for something like this.

Here are my results.

EDGE (Work) - 122kbps
WiFi (Work) - 4431kbps

Im using Tmobile Total Internet Package $19.99, I just test my EDGE speed and it only 18-33Kbps..

Is it the phone problem or Tmobile problem? Anyone getting better with Tmobile?

Lots of people have. The speeds you are reporting sound more like GPRS. It's possible you are in an area with only GPRS (this has happened to me even on AT&T). Try another area with known EDGE coverage. If you are in a known EDGE area perhaps your reception was poor and/or the network/tower was busy/crowded.



--
Mike