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Smartphones and Cell Phones

Matthew Miller
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T-Mobile's HSPA+ will soon be fastest data network in the US

By | March 24, 2010, 8:35am PDT

Summary: Sprint has done a good job of making everyone think 4G is the fastest wireless data speed around, but T-Mobile actually will soon have double that 4G speed with HSPA+ and it seems few people even know about this. Maybe T-Mobile should call it 5G.

I was all caught up in the excitement of specifications when I posted on the amazing HTC EVO 4G on Sprint and was getting all set to pack up my Pre Plus and return it within the 30 day window while skipping the HD2 launch from T-Mobile. I have had some more time to think about making this move and may make a few interim actions before the EVO 4G launches and may even end up skipping the EVO 4G. As I thought more about the T-Mobile HD2 that I felt sure I was going to buy before the EVO 4G announcement, I took a closer look at the T-Mobile and Sprint high speed data networks and am finding that T-Mobile USA may be the better choice for me. It seems that everyone is all excited about 4G, but the label may keep you from knowing that T-Mobile HSPA+ is twice as fast.

I tested the 4G Overdrive and found actual download speeds of over 4 Mbps while T-Mobile measured 1.6 Mbps with HSPA. Sprint states that their theoretical download speed for WiMAX can be over 10 Mbps with actual downloads generally in the 3-6 Mbps speed. T-Mobile now has their HSPA 7.2 Mbps network out in most areas and I have seen 3 Mbps regularly on my Nokia N900. T-Mobile is also rolling out HSPA+ across their network and that is stated to have theoretical download speeds of 21 Mbps, which is double the theoretical speed of Sprint’s 4G network. However, T-Mobile is not promoting this as 4G or even 5G so I don’t think people completely understand that by the end of 2010 T-Mobile USA will have the fastest data network that may even be faster than LTE that starts to roll out from other carriers in 2011. T-Mobile also stated that a smartphone supporting HSPA+ will be available before the end of 2010 so I think it makes the most sense for me to stick with T-Mobile and buy the HD2 to take advantage of the 7.2 Mbps current network and future HSPA+ network (not through speeds, but data availability).

As my friend Michael Gartenberg recently Tweeted, T-Mobile needs to tell the story of their wireless data network. They may have been last to the high speed wireless data party, but they came out swinging and are jumping to the lead over all the other major wireless carriers while still maintaining extremely high customer service standards and phone capability (I never get dropped calls on T-Mobile).

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Topics

4G, Data Network, Network, T-Mobile, Mbps, Cellular Phones, Wireless And Mobility, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Matthew Miller

Matthew Miller started using a Pilot 1000 in 1997 and has been writing news, reviews, and opinion pieces ever since.

Disclosure

Matthew Miller

Matthew is a professional naval architect by day and a mobile gadget freak at all other times. He purchases his own devices and then sells them on eBay or Craigslist to buy more. Many other devices are sent for review on a 30-day loaner basis and then returned to the carrier or manufacturer. If any are provided as “long term loaner units” this will be clearly disclosed in his reviews.

Biography

Matthew Miller

Matthew Miller started using a mobile devices in 1997 and has been writing news, reviews, and opinion pieces ever since. He is a co-host with GigaOM's Kevin Tofel on the MobileTechRoundup podcast and an author of three Wiley Companion series books. Matthew started using mobile devices with a US Robotics Pilot 1000 and has owned over 125 different devices running Palm, Linux, Symbian, Newton, BlackBerry, iOS, Android, webOS, Windows Mobile, and Windows Phone operating systems. His current collection includes an HTC Radar 4G, Dell Venue Pro, Apple iPad 2, HTC Flyer, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Nokia N9, Apple iPhone 4S, MacBook Pro, and many more, along with tons of accessories and classic devices like the Apple Newton MessagePad 2100 and Sony CLIE UX50. Matthew can be found on various discussion forums under the user name of "palmsolo".
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RE: T-Mobile's HSPA will soon be fastest data network in the US
lapss321 3rd Nov 2010
the actual rate your
device can support will probably have a
different, lower limit based on client hardware
limits. http://www.tbuymobile.com/
And the network policies will set
another limit.
View in thread
0 Votes
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There is a lot to like about T-mobile GSM based network but -
ibap 24th Mar 2010
first you have to be able to get a signal! Too many places where I live there is none at all
0 Votes
+ -
Agree, very spotty coverage from T-mobile
tgschmidt 24th Mar 2010
I like T-mobile. My Ex wife has it, so my kids do
too. I have Verizon. When we go on trips &
camping, they lose service allot & have trouble
getting a solid signal unless we are in the city
or near a major freeway. They complain allot & ask
to use my phone. If I had to switch to any other
carrier, I would switch to T-Mobile though. I
think they have great plans for the future.
0 Votes
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getting a signal
SpectreWriter 25th Mar 2010
Same problem here. I live in a 2 block outage pocket in the middle of a 2G area, and couldnt' get more than 1.5 bars standing in the middle of my residential neighborhood. 1/4 mile away, it was 5 bars. BUT...

I'm told they just updated the towers, bringing in 3G to my area, so I now need to go through it all again, see if there's T-mobile signal strength here or not.

You're spot-on about their tech support, though. People were extremely helpful, and if they could get me a signal, I'd still have an iphone with them, even if it's only 2G, instead of this stupid Rumour II from Sprint.
0 Votes
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RE: T-Mobile's HSPA will soon be fastest data network in the US
xxrafaelxx3 24th Mar 2010
Yeah, I completely agree with this one; it seems T-Mobile
is a lot like Apple in the sense that they don't release
their plans till the last moment.
0 Votes
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Fastest Data Network Is Great
Lucky2BHere 24th Mar 2010
But, not to be dismissed lightly, their customer
service is even better. I've been with them for
four years now and can't say enough about how I've
been treated. Even when I goofed up.

I've had a Cliq for a while, now, and the whole
experience is excellent. Can't wait for 2.1 to be
pushed out, and to enjoy higher network speeds
this year. All good.
0 Votes
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Fast is great, when you can access it!
thefoff 25th Mar 2010
I love T-Mobile... when I'm in Los Angeles, but I like
to travel. I like to travel to really super exotic
places like the Pacific Coast in Northern California,
Oregon, and Washington.

T-Mobile's service when I travel is, well, spotty at
best. Since the phones never roam on to Verizon's
network, but only to the equally spotty ATT, I find
that my phone has no signal at all while my friends
with Verizon enjoy full phone capabilities. I'm
considering adding skype to my phone so I can use it
at least where there are wi-fi hotspots that my
android phone can access so I can use the phone to
make calls (even though I can't receive them there).

Oh, T-Mobile, if only you would strike a roaming deal
on Verizon's network, my life could be complete. Or,
even better, work on expanding your coverage so that
those of us who travel to the most exotic places on
earth can still use our phones.
0 Votes
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It'll never happen.
ratsttam 25th Mar 2010
Oh, T-Mobile, if only you would strike a roaming deal on Verizon's network, my life could be complete.
T-Mobile is GSM, Verizon is CDMA, they are not interchangeable. You would need a phone that is capable of both, however that is a very rare exception.
0 Votes
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RE: T-Mobile's HSPA will soon be fastest data network in the US
worldbfree4me 25th Mar 2010
The Arthur fails to mention that T-Mobile will cap usage at 5gigs per month!
Where as Sprint/Clear offer no cap. I downloaded Alice in Wonderland in SD
format a few days ago and it weighed in at 4.3 Gigs. How the heck is T-
Mobile's plan or speed a good deal if you hit the cap on 2 downloads?
0 Votes
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no 5g cap
zachg@... 25th Mar 2010
tmobile used to have a 5gig cap. now they will only possibly reduce your speed if you go over.

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/addons/services/information.aspx?PAsset=InternetEmail&tp=Svc_Tab_TMobileG1
0 Votes
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RE: T-Mobile's HSPA will soon be fastest data network in the US
kmccalmon 25th Mar 2010
I've tested Verizon and T-Mobile around the Denver / Ft. Collins area and they are about equivalent. T-Mobile works a little better at my house, so I went with them. They also cost much less.
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RE: T-Mobile's HSPA will soon be fastest data network in the US
b1thunt3r 25th Mar 2010
Of what i have read, 4G (LTE) in Sweden supports a theoretical download speed of 80Mbps.
0 Votes
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It depends
dave@... 26th Mar 2010
LTE is also the 4G technology being started by
Verizon sometime this summer, and AT&T next
year, both in the 700MHz band (so it has good
range and good penetration through buildings
and forests).

The maximum speed per cell for LTE is currently
360Mb/s down, 80Mb/s up (like all protocols,
they'll keep improving this once it's out). And
just like HSPA+ or WiMax, the actual rate your
device can support will probably have a
different, lower limit based on client hardware
limits. And the network policies will set
another limit.

So, let's assume you're close enough to get the
full 360Mb/s from your local LTE service. Your
4G phone hardware might set an 80Mb/s limit
("theoretical limit"), but the network policies
might cap it at 20Mb/s.

There are good reasons for establishing these
caps. Once is certainly to allow easy sharing
of the network between multiple users. But the
other is customer satisfaction... and no, I
don't think this is opposite day.

Basically, when no one's around, maybe you
could get 80Mb/s to your device. But on a
crowded day, it could fall to 5Mb/s, let's say.
When you're expecting 80Mb/s and getting 5Mb/s,
you're probably getting frustrated. If your cap
were at 20Mb/s or 10Mb/s and you're getting
5Mb/s, you don't see this as such a problem, by
comparison. They don't want the peaks to be too
much higher than the practical speeds (which
also change as you move away from the tower),
or customers tend to complain more.
0 Votes
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RE: T-Mobile's HSPA will soon be fastest data network in the US
Masari.Jones 25th Mar 2010
The problem is T-Mobiles coverage area... it's probably the
worst of all the carriers.
0 Votes
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Im using hspa
gwhyte01 25th Mar 2010
Im a mod over at tmonews forums who lives in new york. im actually using hspa+ now and my nexus one gets 5to6mbps download and 3mbps upload speeds. heres a speedtest i did a couple of days ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x796niqzR68
0 Votes
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Hmm....
dave@... 26th Mar 2010
I though the usual limit for upload on an HSPA+
device was about 2Mb/s. Anyway, an AT&T
customer could see similar download speeds. The
problem with T-Mobile is finding any HSPA+
cell.. the problem with AT&T is that 100 other
iPhone users are also trying to get bandwidth.

One thing for sure... no iPhone user will see
anything like your upload speeds, HSPA+ or not.
All iPhones are limited to the original 384Kb/s
upload speed, peak, of original the UMTS/R99
protocols.
0 Votes
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RE: T-Mobile's HSPA will soon be fastest data network in the US
dave@... 26th Mar 2010
Don't confuse apples and oranges here.

The 7.2Mb/s per device is a cap set by the network
providers on a per device basis. A device will never
go faster than that, even if it can, unless the
network policies are changed (I don't frankly know if
this is a hard limit on the client or not). Each HSPA+
cell, using a full 20MHz cell, can do 56Mb/s and
22Mb/s up. But obviously, if you let one device go
that fast, no others get any bandwidth from that cell.
And even the 7.2Mb/s is a dream if you're in a crowded
area (more clients sharing that 56Mb/s) or at a
distance from the cell.

Sprint (Comcast, Clear) have similar issues with
WiMax. They're capping the per-device limit at
somewhere around 10-12Mb/s... it depends on who you
ask, and each of the partners may have different caps,
but they're all on the same network. WiMax itself can
do 144Mb/s down and 35Mb/s up, peak, per cell, and
clients can handle at least 20Mb/s down, if they
weren't capped by network policies. And as with all
radio, it drops off over distance. Clear and Sprint
have a relatively huge chunk of spectrum, as much as
90MHz in some areas, but it's at 2500MHz, which limits
range and transmission through buildings and forests.
0 Votes
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RE: T-Mobile's HSPA will soon be fastest data network in the US
bedwa 29th Mar 2010
Investing in HSPA+ in Europe where LTE has already
taken off is good to placate those who don't have it yet, but
with the theoretical up to 100mbps LTE offers this is not a
wise investment at this point. It shows T-mobile's
dedication to their customers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP_Long_Term_Evolution
0 Votes
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RE: T-Mobile's HSPA will soon be fastest data network in the US
phat78boy 22nd Apr 2010
What?! How is you could even write this article and not research anything you are saying? WiMax has by FAR the most bandwith theoretical and currently in practice/use. Its not even close. I'm not trying to be a fanboy, but please atleast do basic fact checking. Sprint is limiting the speed ONLY to keep people from abusing. If they so choose, it could be increased at will.

I still can't believe you wrote this article and did ZERO fact checking. Wow, they let anyone blog for zdnet now days.

http://www.wimax.com/education/faq/faq38
0 Votes
+ -
RE: T-Mobile's HSPA will soon be fastest data network in the US
lapss321 3rd Nov 2010
the actual rate your
device can support will probably have a
different, lower limit based on client hardware
limits. http://www.tbuymobile.com/
And the network policies will set
another limit.

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