Brian's Brain

Beginning last Thursday evening (examples: coverage on Engadget and Gizmodo), on the eve of the iPhone launch, folks began reporting turbocharged download speeds on their formerly pokey EDGE cellular data connections. As my October 2002 feature article pointed out, EDGE has always been capable of such speeds, but carriers' fiscally-conscious conservative network build-outs, as well as the prioritization of voice over data in those networks, had left EDGE (and GPRS) timeslot-starved. Apparently the data-centric nature of the Apple iPhone has finally persuaded AT&T to open up the purse strings and the wireless pipes, along with the wired or microwave pipes feeding the base stations.

My just-taken (noon PST) hands-on data concurs with the speed-up that others are reporting, and best of all, I'm not even using an iPhone ;-) Instead, a Windows Mobile 5-based and EDGE-capable iMate SP5m is in my pocket. As I mentioned earlier today, the GSM network here in Sacramento is a mix of AT&T (which my phone still identifies as Cingular) and T-Mobile cells. I just ran a dozen consecutive BroadbandReports mobile benchmarks on the phone, using the largest-possible 1 MByte download option for each test iteration in order to average out any moment-by-moment speed irregularities.

The slowest downstream bandwidth metric I measured on AT&T's EDGE network was still greater than 150 Kbps. The fastest download ran at a 194 kbps average clip, with a sub-1.5 second latency between the phone-initiated download request and when the bits began arriving. Note, folks: I took this data at lunchtime, when cellular network use is presumably spiking. Granted, it's the day before the July 4^th holiday, but still....

Conversely, the mixed GPRS-and-EDGE T-Mobile network here remains molasses-slow. The only BroadbandReports test I could get to (occasionally) compete on T-Mobile (EDGE, at least according to my phone) was the smallest 5 KByte download payload option, which clocked in at an underwhelming 6 Kbps (and 5.5 second request-to-response latency) clip. Larger benchmark payloads hung partway through the download with a network timeout error indication. Granted, T-Mobile's data plan, at $20 for unlimited per-month cellular usage (and $30/month for unlimited cellular plus T-Mobile Hotspot Wi-Fi access), is cheap....but perhaps this is a case of 'you get what you pay for'? Although, as I've just demonstrated, it does also give you access to AT&T's EDGE network where available....

Sigh....will the iPhone/AT&T competitive combo be sufficient motivation for T-Mobile (perhaps in conjunction with a hardware partner such as Danger?) to loosen its own purse strings? One can only hope....I'm getting tired of waiting for T-Mobile USA's HSDPA/UMTS promises to turn into reality, and anyway I'd prefer a near-term EDGE boost so that I can tap into higher cellular data performance without having to replace my phone.

Readers, what are you seeing on AT&T's EDGE network these past few days?

Followup: I just happened to be in another area of Sacramento, also serviced by T-Mobile EDGE, and re-ran my bandwidth test there. Result: 195 kbps downstream (43.399 seconds to download a 1 MByte test payload), with a 1.772 second latency. Now I'm really confused....