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Help Confused about Inspire 4G speeds

S

Soundchasr

Member
I'm with ATT now and I'd like to get the Inspire but all the different discussions about its 4G speed have me confused. Some people say it "should" go this fast, or "could" or "will" or "might" go this fast. And some reviewers aren't getting speeds they "should". :confused:

So, I'm wondering whether the lower speeds are because of the network or the phone? I don't mind waiting until the bugs are worked out but I don't want to wait for nothing. If I buy the phone this weekend, can I be sure it will reach speeds of, say, Verizon's phones?

Thanks
 
it's AT&T's network. HSPA+ piggybacks 3G coverage, so anywhere you get 3G, theoretically should be H+ as well. AT&T has to engage their backhaul though to get the up and down speeds to the H+ range, but they haven't done it.

It's not anyone's fault really, it's just the technology hasn't fully launched
 
antioch216 said:
it's AT&T's network. HSPA+ piggybacks 3G coverage, so anywhere you get 3G, theoretically should be H+ as well. AT&T has to engage their backhaul though to get the up and down speeds to the H+ range, but they haven't done it.

It's not anyone's fault really, it's just the technology hasn't fully launched
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Ok, thanks. So, in time (hopefully soon!), we'll be seeing ridiculous speeds? :D
 
antioch216 said:
it's AT&T's network. HSPA+ piggybacks 3G coverage, so anywhere you get 3G, theoretically should be H+ as well. AT&T has to engage their backhaul though to get the up and down speeds to the H+ range, but they haven't done it.

It's not anyone's fault really, it's just the technology hasn't fully launched
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This. Basically, in a couple of weeks (beginning to mid march) att will turn on the infrastructure to support HSPA+ (or 4G as its called). The phone is OUTSTANDING, but only as fast as the network its attached to. Ill be getting this phone,and enjoying the speeds I get until the activate the infrastructure. then it should go significantly faster.

And it will continue to get faster throughout the year as the infrastructure expands.
 
Along these same lines, if I get an HSPA+ phone now, what happens when ATT's "real" LTE system rolls out. Will these HSPA+ phones be able to take advantage of the further speed increase or are they forever "HSPA+ -only" phones?
 
Short answer: No.

Keep in mind att is still rolling out HSPA+ until middle to end of the year. LTE will start to roll out at the end of 2011 and be finished, I beleive, by the end of 2012 or 2013, I cant remember exactly.

You'll get 1 + years out of the Inspire before you would consider upgrading solely based on network speed.
 
kb58 said:
Along these same lines, if I get an HSPA+ phone now, what happens when ATT's "real" LTE system rolls out. Will these HSPA+ phones be able to take advantage of the further speed increase or are they forever "HSPA+ -only" phones?
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I would assume when AT&T rolls out their LTE network you would have to buy a LTE compatible phone. While thats bad, the good is by the time its rolled out to enough cities to make it worthwhile you will be likely out of contract and ready for a new phone anyhow :D
 
Yes it was just explained to me that HSPA+ and LTE are completely different technologies, so short of having two completely separate RF sections in the phones (not likely) there's no way one phone can work on the other band.

I agree that the timing should work out fine, even with a 2-yr contract, by 2013, LTE will finally be up and working everywhere, and by then, everything will be dual or quad-core, so a HSPA+ phone now will be just fine.
 
PSXBatou said:
I would assume when AT&T rolls out their LTE network you would have to buy a LTE compatible phone. While thats bad, the good is by the time its rolled out to enough cities to make it worthwhile you will be likely out of contract and ready for a new phone anyhow :D
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Wait, what?! So, ATT can't really compare to the speeds of Verizon for at least a year then, right?
 
Soundchasr said:
Wait, what?! So, ATT can't really compare to the speeds of Verizon for at least a year then, right?
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At CES, they tested Verizon's LTE (almost completely unused as there are no 4G phones, only dangles) and it was on par or may by SLIGHTLY above att. Tmo's hspa+ was significantly better than both. keep in mind this was att's 3g network, not hspa+

So, essentially, Verizon's LTE network is still in infancy. It's not very fast yet, but will get much faster as the months go on.
 
Soundchasr said:
Cool. Thanks. Couldn't tell if Pittsburgh was covered but I'm sure (hopeful) it is.
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I just check and I'm pretty sure that it is. Because on the rest of the map, anything that is HSPA+ is under the 3G coverage. (Light blue is under dark blue), and I saw a small amount of HSPA+ coloring right on the 3G coverage in your area, so I think your in HSPA+ coverage. I think that I am as well, but we will see Sunday:D!!!

Matt
 
Where is there an HSPA+ coverage map? I was to understand one didnt exist. At least according to the ATT rep over the phone.
 
mattbe213 said:
I just check and I'm pretty sure that it is. Because on the rest of the map, anything that is HSPA+ is under the 3G coverage. (Light blue is under dark blue), and I saw a small amount of HSPA+ coloring right on the 3G coverage in your area, so I think your in HSPA+ coverage. I think that I am as well, but we will see Sunday:D!!!

Matt
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Cool. Thanks!
 
4G on _any_ network is advertising hype at the present. If you get hyper focused on buying the fastest phone from the fastest carrier you will be extremely disappointed in it's Real World, day to day performance.

I'm carrier & platform neutral as a hard core mobile communications & computing professional. Your business is very important and these carriers will tell you any lie they can get away with to lure you go their company. In my opinion, there's only two major carriers with the money & expertise as we go forward to establish true 4G. Verizon & AT&T. I use both and have four lines so I can have some choices in the smartphones I use. If I had to choose just one it would be AT&T. Why? Because unlike Verizon, AT&T is the one with GSM. The global standard which passes both data & voice concurrently.

Cheers... :)
 
Everything said here...or you could nit-pick out the one or two things that you have to DIG to complain about that wont effect 97% of the users and then scream that mundane detail that wont effect anyone from the roof tops the way SOME people here do....

Personally i choose to stick with the reasons pretty much listed above already like a sane person.

In an unrelated to coverage comment. 1) AT&Ts customer service is about 100xs better than verizons (they take care of you..verizon could care less) and 2) Data is way more important than voice to me.
 
Allenfx said:
Everything said here...or you could nit-pick out the one or two things that you have to DIG to complain about that wont effect 97% of the users and then scream that mundane detail that wont effect anyone from the roof tops the way SOME people here do....

Personally i choose to stick with the reasons pretty much listed above already like a sane person.

In an unrelated to coverage comment. 1) AT&Ts customer service is about 100xs better than verizons (they take care of you..verizon could care less) and 2) Data is way more important than voice to me.
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Quoted for truth
 
4G LTE phones will be reverse compatible with 3G, so if you're in the market for a phone today, you might as well get an LTE phone if you could. So when you're outside the LTE coverage area, you still got your 3G, or 3.5G HSPA!
 
"4G", even though implied, is still very unlikely. To get true 4G speed, you would need full bars on mobile data service. Otherwise, it will be like 3G.
 
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