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    How fast is 3G?

    Discussion in 'Networking and Wireless' started by HTWingNut, Feb 7, 2010.

  1. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Out of curiosity, how fast is 3G, really, and why is it called 3G?
     
    HTWingNut, Feb 7, 2010
    #1
  2. Lithus

    Lithus NBR Janitor

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    3G is just a short name for a wide variety of technologies. You're sort of asking how fast a V6 engine is.

    It's called 3G because it's the 3rd generation of wide area networks.
     
    Lithus, Feb 7, 2010
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  3. crayonyes

    crayonyes Custom Title! WooHoooo !!

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    above gprs and edge ... below 3.5G / hsdpa ..not really that fast.
    hsdpa is my recommended minimum speed
     
    crayonyes, Feb 7, 2010
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  4. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    My phone flashes 3.5G whenever I'm connected to AT&T net, so I am assuming that's HSDPA? Either way it's still not that fast.
     
    HTWingNut, Feb 7, 2010
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  5. crayonyes

    crayonyes Custom Title! WooHoooo !!

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    of course, it's mobile broadband .. the fastest by now is 4G, but I'm sure it's not available everywhere yet.

    the speed.. I think 3G is 2Mbps and hsdpa 7.2Mbps in most modems.. cmiiw
     
    crayonyes, Feb 7, 2010
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  6. bmwnick

    bmwnick Notebook Consultant

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    there moving to 7 or 8 gbs on the 4g
     
    bmwnick, Feb 7, 2010
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  7. ibraveheart

    ibraveheart Notebook Evangelist

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    Who has 4g ?
    what city are they in ?
    when wil Att get 4g ?
    or which company has ?
     
    ibraveheart, Feb 8, 2010
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  8. crayonyes

    crayonyes Custom Title! WooHoooo !!

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    now that's a lot of questions LOL
    but believe me, most of the new technologies start in japan :D
     
    crayonyes, Feb 8, 2010
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  9. Mastershroom

    Mastershroom wat

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    I'm pretty sure Sprint has 4G.
     
    Mastershroom, Feb 8, 2010
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  10. Patrick

    Patrick Formerly beat spamers with stiks

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    Sprints 4G is wimax in cooperation with Clear.
     
    Patrick, Feb 8, 2010
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  11. ronnieb

    ronnieb Representing the Canucks

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    I'm pretty sure its up to 7mbps, but that's just a theoretical speed. There's a lot of factors that can affect this, such as service coverage, amount of bandwidth available (poor AT&T barely has any) and if your service provider is throttling you.
     
    ronnieb, Feb 8, 2010
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  12. william17

    william17 Newbie

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    I've had verizon 3g for about 3 years now and the fastest I've ever got was about 3mb down 1mb upwith full bars. At my house the signal isn't that great and I only get about 800kbps down and 200kbps up.
     
    william17, Feb 8, 2010
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  13. meansizzler

    meansizzler Notebook Consultant

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    I believe the poster may be refering to 3G in general as 3G/HSPA, ok from the top GPRS/GSM/CDMA is referred to as 2nd generation mobile data transmission at up to 56kb/s Download where as UMTS/WCDMA/Evdo is referred to as 3rd generation mobile data transmission I believe up to 384kb/s Download, HSPA is and extension of 3G Transmissions and sometimes referred to as 3.5G and comes in two parts, HSDPA being the download part and HSUPA being the upload part, most devices only support HSDPA so labeleld as HSDPA only where as those that support both are labelled as HSPA compliant.. at the moment HSDPA supports up to 7.2Mb/s and HSUPA 5.76mb/s....

    In real world tests HSPA speed varies how far you are from a HSPA transmitter, average HSDPA is 512kb/s and goes up to 2mb/s and 1mb/s for HSUPA, that's the speeds I have got..
     
    meansizzler, Feb 9, 2010
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  14. ibraveheart

    ibraveheart Notebook Evangelist

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    Thank you :)
     
    ibraveheart, Feb 9, 2010
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