Is 4G really going to be worth it?

[Lars]

Seems the phone an only handle about a 5mbps stream. When I do a speedtest over wifi that's all the phone will do. A laptop on the same connection can do 25mbps. Probably could go faster in N mode but the X falls on its face due to a bad implementation. A wired machine on my connection can do 50mbps
Seems that paying for faster network connections on phones that can't hang seems like a waste.
Maybe mifi is worth it.

 

[ZXMustang]

Yes. I just switched from my dx back to att. I got the HTC inspire 4g, rooted and the dl speeds are ridiculous. I'm getting 4.5mbps down and 1.69mbps up. Thats with the speedtest.net app through att's H+ signal. My DX on horizon was .5mbps down at best and less than that up. Pretty pathetic. The speeds seem so good so far, that I have yet to use wifi. Its worth it. Hopefully Verizon will get their shite together and get some speed. I had enough with their customer service and decided to go back to old faithful. ATT just put in a new tower in my town last year too, so now its full signal no matter where I go around my way.

 

[nycebo]

And Verizon 4G is twice as fast as the competition. It will be awesome. The real question is, will you need an ISP at home afterwards?

 

[Lars]

That's interesting that you got 4.5mbps because my suspicion is that the phone can't handle a data stream more than about 5.
For many people 4g could replace home internet but it would need to be an uncapped plan. 4g competes with dsl service. Those on cable wouldn't downgrade to 4g. I have a 50mbps connection$ 30/mo. The modem can go over 300mbps. Wireles isn't going there anytime soon.
My hope is that 4g phones will get the gobi chip like the iphone5 and do cdma/gsm/4g.

 

[nycebo]

From Walt Mossberg at the WSJ: "The results were impressive. Verizon's 4G network averaged just a shade under 16 megabits per second for downloads and 6.6 mbps for uploads. That was 15 times the download speed, and 13 times the upload speed, of a Verizon 3G modem I tested immediately afterward using the same method in the same location."

 

[Lars]

Impressive. We'll have to see what people in the wild get. Will they throttle? Will network load be a factor? How will it work in less than ideal test locations. I know VZW is upgrading to fiber backbones to it's cell sites. Must be part of their fios home implementation. Exciting stuff.

 

[cultldr]

And Verizon 4G is twice as fast as the competition. It will be awesome. The real question is, will you need an ISP at home afterwards?

Not a phone but my 4G mobile broadband from VZW is seeing speeds of 13 to 20 down and 3 to 6 up in Houston.

I've reached the 20 and 6 numerous times but average is probably closer to 15 down and 3 up.

5g plan so not feasible for home but for mobile broadband, not bad at all.

 

[wxman2003]

And Verizon 4G is twice as fast as the competition. It will be awesome. The real question is, will you need an ISP at home afterwards?

Yes, since verzion will go to a tiered system this summer. You could end up paying hundreds more a month for internet service if you use it to stream netflix, MLB, etc using your mobile phone. Unless the mobile providers stick with a flat fee, they will never compete against cable for home internet service.

 

[Lars]

At that speed of 20mbps you will chew through 5gig in 40 minutes. Cool. What happens after that? Throttling, disconnect or charges?

 

[Lars]

No matter the answer it means waiting 29 days and 23 hours to use it again. What is vzw thinking?

 

[Deleted User]

First off, fast download speeds don't equal more data usage. You need to buy an expected usage tier, regardless of the speed. It's ridiculous to say it's somehow bad that VZW offers fast downloads just because you could burn through a certain data tier.

Also, my X gets 9 Mbps on my wifi/internet.

 

[cultldr]

First off, fast download speeds don't equal more data usage.

This is a fact in my instance, I used to have a 10 meg connection and have recently upgraded in the last 3 months to 50. I am right where I was at on 10 meg +/- 500 meg a month

 

[rogue_slc_vzw_rep]

Verizon wireless had never intended their mbb service to be a home replacement. I doubt they ever well and it annoys me that some dick in marketing thinks its a good idea to include netflix as something you "can" do with vzw mbb. The service is for people on the go or someone that is a light web browser. If you like the speeds and want them as your home provider save yourself the time, the sales man in the stores time and the annoyance the customer care rep will have with you after you get your first bill of streaming 4 seasons of top gear on your 4g..

 

[trophynuts]

I'm not really concerned about download speeds.

How about voice quality/coverage? It seems not many people are concerned with this. Will it be about the same or better with 4g?

 

[bigbadwulff]

From my DX:

 

[notalent_assclowns]

It could be due to your wireless router. At home, I can only get around 5-7 down on wifi with a 12mb connection. At my girlfriends place, I get 12-16 consistently. So, the DX can definitely handle faster speeds. Especially with the next gen phones with dual core.

 

[DenverCZBob]

Seems the phone an only handle about a 5mbps stream. When I do a speedtest over wifi that's all the phone will do. A laptop on the same connection can do 25mbps. Probably could go faster in N mode but the X falls on its face due to a bad implementation. A wired machine on my connection can do 50mbps
Seems that paying for faster network connections on phones that can't hang seems like a waste.
Maybe mifi is worth it.

 

[allambition]

And Verizon 4G is twice as fast as the competition. It will be awesome. The real question is, will you need an ISP at home afterwards?

4g won't always be consistent and fiber connections will blow away any wireless connection speed-wise for a long time to come.

 

[nycebo]

@allambition, that's absolutely true, but it would be cool not to have to pay for multiple ISPs. Candidly, Verizon DSL is only giving me 10-15MBPS download and 1MBPS upload since FIOS isn't available in my building yet.

 

[Lars]

10-15 is not bad for dsl. We struggle to get 6 at our office.

 

[firetruck41]

I get 10mbps down, with my X on wifi.

 

[twistedlim]

I picked up the X last night. I was at costco and they had the x and an att htc 4g phone (can't remember which one). Anyway we did speed tests on the x 3g and the htc running 4g and the x was faster, almost 2 times as fast on every test. Yes, location probably had something to do with it but it lead me to believe that maybe we will be expecting too much from 4g phones. I am confident it will be up and running smooth and fast with good coverage in the next year or two but it does not seem to be happening now.
I chose to pick up the x for $50 bucks and maybe I will get the TB in a year for the same price. I have always been about year behind in phones but I usually pay about a third the price for them.

In michigan the only 4g area is part of the metro detroit area. Heck that is where I live. I can use wifi at home, work, coffee shop etc when I am in my home area. I really want 4g in the areas away from home when I don't have access to wifi. Then I will have something to think about.

PS so far love the X