You know what would be lame...

[Left Coast DJ]

When the "superphone" Atrix drops with the latest whizbang gizmos and its multicore processor, but creeps along at 1.5 Mbps (see Engadget review) on AT&T HSPA+ while Verizon throwsdown the Thunderbolt around the same time with its oldschool Snapdragon, but on LTE and it goes to blaze at 17+ Mbps (see Wirefly's iPhone 4 vs. Thunderbolt video).


A game-changing phone like the Atrix needs to be on Verizon's LTE! PERIOD!

 

[s.m.knipe]

Isn't that the Bionic?

 

[aztooh]

Yeah, VZW is just plain awesome EVERYWHERE, huh?

For those who want to be with VZW, there will be options with all the whizbang gizmos

 

[NJR]

Yeah, VZW is just plain awesome EVERYWHERE, huh?

For those who want to be with VZW, there will be options with all the whizbang gizmos

And since HSPA+ has not even been turned on in most places yet the OP's speed comparison makes no sense since that 1.5 is a 3G speed which is faster than VZW's current one....

 

[Left Coast DJ]

And since HSPA+ has not even been turned on in most places yet the OP's speed comparison makes no sense since that 1.5 is a 3G speed which is faster than VZW's current one....

This is exactly my point. See the Engadget's Atrix 4G review, under the "Data" section. They say their Atrix got an average of 1.5 while the HSPA+ symbol was displayed.

 

[Willy Willy]

This is exactly my point. See the Engadget's Atrix 4G review, under the "Data" section. They say their Atrix got an average of 1.5 while the HSPA+ symbol was displayed.

And.... We all now hspa+ is not live

 

[s.m.knipe]

This is exactly my point. See the Engadget's Atrix 4G review, under the "Data" section. They say their Atrix got an average of 1.5 while the HSPA+ symbol was displayed.

HSPA+ is live and available (why the phones were showing the H icon), but until they physically put in and implement (switch on, by whatever that entails) the "backhaul" or additional bandwidth-carrying cables and equipment, the speeds will be 3G speeds because that is what it is. The radio is reading it as a HSPA+ signal, but the speed is 3G until the additional backhaul is in place.

[Edit] and my additional understanding is that the physical pieces are actually mostly in place, just not connected to the AT&T network yet, that way they can "switch on" several towers covering a wider area at once by connecting the backhaul. That could be wrong but that was how it was described to me after the AT&T CEO made those comments back in January that the HSPA+ network was rolled out already...

 

[Left Coast DJ]

And.... We all now hspa+ is not live

If HSPA+ is not live, why would Engadget post their Atrix displayed HSPA+ during the data testing? Something doesn't add up here...

Edit: SM Knipe's post makes sense. But I think there'll be a lot of unhappy/confused people if the connection on their phone shows it's on the "4G" network when in fact it's not and they're getting 3G throughput.

 

[s.m.knipe]

If HSPA+ is not live, why would Engadget post their Atrix displayed HSPA+ during the data testing? Something doesn't add up here...

Edit: SM Knipe's post makes sense. But I think there'll be a lot of unhappy/confused people if the connection on their phone shows it's on the "4G" network when in fact it's not and they're getting 3G throughput.

There will be lots of confusion, but I think they will roll it out starting sometime in march and it will be quick and quiet...