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T-Mobile moves up to 75 live HSPA+ markets, says it's running the largest '4G' network in the US -- Engadget


"T-Mobile is announcing this evening that it's now got 75 live HSPA+ markets online, with coverage for roughly 200 million Americans up and running by the end of 2010. That footprint will start off at a theoretical max downlink of 21Mbps, but the carrier will be looking to scale that to 42Mbps in 2011 with the capacity to upgrade to 84 and 168Mbps down the road -- all without ever worrying about LTE. The veracity of T-Mobile's insistence that this is a "4G" network remains debatable -- particularly in light of the ITU's ruling that only LTE-Advanced and WiMAX 2 qualify -- but then again, that same ruling would mean that neither Sprint, Verizon, nor T-Mobile really have 4G up and running in the strictest of terms, and it's hard to argue that these guys are pushing speeds that meet or exceed what either LTE or WiMAX can offer today...."


If they can get 42-84Mbs, let alone 168Mbs, does it matter if its "4G", based on an institute's specifications? Especially if you can get those speeds for $10 (w/unlocked phone). For all intents and purposes, anything over a reliable 3Mbs, via a phone, is gravy IMHO.
 
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T-Mobile moves up to 75 live HSPA+ markets, says it's running the largest '4G' network in the US -- Engadget


"T-Mobile is announcing this evening that it's now got 75 live HSPA+ markets online, with coverage for roughly 200 million Americans up and running by the end of 2010. That footprint will start off at a theoretical max downlink of 21Mbps, but the carrier will be looking to scale that to 42Mbps in 2011 with the capacity to upgrade to 84 and 168Mbps down the road -- all without ever worrying about LTE. The veracity of T-Mobile's insistence that this is a "4G" network remains debatable -- particularly in light of the ITU's ruling that only LTE-Advanced and WiMAX 2 qualify -- but then again, that same ruling would mean that neither Sprint, Verizon, nor T-Mobile really have 4G up and running in the strictest of terms, and it's hard to argue that these guys are pushing speeds that meet or exceed what either LTE or WiMAX can offer today...."


If they can get 42-84Mbs, let alone 168Mbs, does it matter if its "4G", based on an institute's specifications? Especially if you can get those speeds for $10 (w/unlocked phone). For all intents and purposes, anything over a reliable 3Mbs, via a phone, is gravy IMHO.

You won't even see over 10mbps on a consistent basis with this unless your on top of a tower. T-Mobiles backend simply isn't strong enough, and HSPA+'s main weakness is it has a terrible Quality of Service over distance vs WiMax and LTE (Which is why I believe the ITU won't adopt HSPA+ as a 4G contender.)
 
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You won't even see over 10mbps on a consistent basis with this unless your on top of a tower. T-Mobiles backend simply isn't strong enough, and HSPA+'s main weakness is it has a terrible Quality of Service over distance vs WiMax and LTE (Which is why I believe the ITU won't adopt HSPA+ as a 4G contender.)


So T-Mobile has stopped upgrading their infrastructure? I was getting 7Mbs back in July, only 3 miles from my house, while only getting 900Kbs "at" the house. In late Sept., I started getting 4Mbs at the house. Shouldn't we wait until T-Mo is "finished"? I understand there isn't blanket coverage for a large part of the nation w/T-Mo, but the majority of where I dwell is pretty well covered with 3.5G (per my N900).

The few posts regarding WiMax on my Nokia board, from European members, stated that all the implementations had sporadic/inconsistent coverage. Given the reports I've read on the Evo board (e.g. - I get full bars in one part of my office, but little to no reception down the hall, etc.) I don't see it being superior to T-Mo's experience...yet. However I would think that WiMax's benefits would be negated by the higher frequency range allocated to Sprint, et al.

Either way, again, I'm happy with 3Mbs - 8Mbs for $10. I don't really need more than that for my phone...even when tethering. If its not the ITU's definition of 4G, so be it.
 
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You won't even see over 10mbps on a consistent basis with this unless your on top of a tower. T-Mobiles backend simply isn't strong enough, and HSPA+'s main weakness is it has a terrible Quality of Service over distance vs WiMax and LTE (Which is why I believe the ITU won't adopt HSPA+ as a 4G contender.)

For this year maybe but man when they roll out 42mbps the average speeds will rise as well and 7.2 hspa handsets will most likely be hitting their max or close to it. HSPA+ simply in itself isn't finished upgrading. There are plans for hspa+ to go 168mbps and I don't doubt it, t-mobile is going to ride HSPA+ until some other speeds can beat it.:cool:
 
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