How Fast is Your iPhone 3GS Data Connection?
Part of the “S stands for Speed” boost in the iPhone 3GS‘ bullet points is support for faster HSPA 7.2Mbps data transfer. The giant honking asterisk at the end of that sentence, however, is usually “where supported by carriers, real-world speed will be epically slower”.
So, real world TiPb community, just how fast is your new iPhone 3GS? I posted a few results above for what I’m getting on Rogers in and outside Montreal. Let us know what carrier you’re on, and what speeds you’re averaging?
June 25th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
What app are you using to test speeds?
June 25th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
AT&T in Miami, FL.
Down: 1.32 Mbps Up: 0.24 Mbps
I cant imagine it being 7.2 Mbps >_<
June 25th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Using a free app called Speedtest that Jeremy recommended.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
wow… your speeds are much faster then mine… im on att in central new jersey and my faster dl speed was 1127 kbits/s and thats full 3g signal
June 25th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
According to Gizmodo AT&T was testing their 7.2 speeds in Chicago….i peeked at 2185 kbit/s 5 mins outside the loop.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
OMG….. I just pulled down .056 kbits/s in my house…. AT&T Phx,AZ.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
About the same as my 3G was. Between 600K and 1.2M in Las Vegas, NV. They don’t have 7.2 lit up here yet.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
I recommend using Speedtest.net application because the one from the screenshots isn’t very accurate. Speedtest.net has hundreds of servers around the globe and uses the best available, and you can choose others just to be sure.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
God. First time I’ve ever had 3G. It fluctuates soo much it’s not even funny. Sometimes I get 3 mbps, sometimes I get .01 mbps, sometimes it won’t even connect. About 300 kbps up, though.
I’m on AT&T in Reno, NV.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
1190 down, 251 up in the Hudson Valley in NY state, on AT&T of course.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Download speed: 176.9 Kbits/s (Max: 176.9 Kbits/s) Upload speed: 14.2 Kbits/s (Max: 15.5 Kbits/s) Network: EDGE Sandusky,Ohio.area is this good/ bad?
June 25th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Just outside Atlanta I’m down 2143 and up 250. this is on the 3G network. My phone is faster on the 3G network than on regular wifi.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
AT&T Jupiter, FL. Mine varies widely. Best is 1510Kb down & 239Kb up. Worst is 508 Kb down and 37Kb up. About the same as the speeds I was getting form my 3G.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Download speed: 2675.8 Kbits/s (Max: 2676.4 Kbits/s) Upload speed: 448.0 Kbits/s (Max: 449.6 Kbits/s) Network: Wi-Fi – Private oh yea AT&T
June 25th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Dayton, OH: 3G Avg D/L = 823 kbits/s Avd U/L = 253 kbits/s
June 25th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Larkspur, CA 2191kbps down, 276kbps up using speedtest.net’s app
June 25th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Best I got was 3.2MBps. It ranged from 2.5-3.2MBps. I live in Winnipeg, MB and I’m on Rogers.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
AT&T NW of Mpls MN 236 DL – 114 UP on 3G 2553 DL – 380 Up on Wifi ‘G’
June 25th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
AT&T SE Portland, OR
300kbps/300kbps using Orem UT speedtest.net server 870kbps/340kbps using Dallas TX speedtest.net server
June 25th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Wow. I maxed out at 1.3 download in Long Island New York
June 25th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
2311 Kbps Down 278 up Huntsville AL on 3G (Atlanta Ga server)
6746 Kbps Down 2511 up on My private WIFI in house – Wish this was 3G speed
June 26th, 2009 at 12:21 am
I get between 700k and 1.5mb in Miami. I usually use my own test site (My 3G Speed)…b/c I made it. I also use the app one and testmyiphone site.
June 26th, 2009 at 1:15 am
Thanks to everybody for posting your benchmarks – the upload scores confirm my decision not to get the latest iPhone and to wait for next year. I’m getting the same upload speeds from my 2007 WM MID here in Japan and Apple simply screwed up by omitting HSUPA. It will take ages to upload videos taken with the 3GS and the measly 300 kbps are just not enough… especially when tethering.
What’s worse is that this is a purely artificial limitation because it would have barely made a price difference to go for a chipset that supports HSUPA. These are pretty much standard in modern smartphones and Apple is not exactly targeting the low budget segment either. It would have cast a bad light on AT&T’s crappy infrastructure though and that seems to be reason enough to castrate what is otherwise really good hardware.
June 26th, 2009 at 1:16 am
Down 1146 and up 226 on 3G in Belfast UK.
June 26th, 2009 at 1:46 am
currently in Laval (Montreal) with Rogers got a whopping 6527kbps down and 744kbps up !!! wow… and tested it 3 times just to make sure and always got more than 6200kbps down !
June 26th, 2009 at 2:08 am
824 down, 129 up…Honolulu (Manoa), Hawaii.
June 26th, 2009 at 2:59 am
Full bars of 3G here outside Boston, and I’m only getting 298k down/141k up. I never think of it as being that slow (comes from too much time traveling in Edge-only areas!).
June 26th, 2009 at 3:01 am
LOL just ran the test again with a different app (speedtest.net) and got 2023kbps down / 92kbps up. I give up!
June 26th, 2009 at 3:13 am
Full bars, 2168kbps down, 99kbps up.
From San Diego, CA.
June 26th, 2009 at 5:20 am
I’m in Homestead, FL. I’m averaging usually around 2500 kbps down and around 250 kbps up.
June 26th, 2009 at 6:16 am
In the GTA I am getting 3.5 in Oakville Ontario. I have been testing the network all over the GTA using the speedtest.net app. The highest I have seen is 6.2Mbps on the 403 near Square One Mall in Mississauga. I was amazed, but no one else in the car seemed to care
I need more geek friends.
June 26th, 2009 at 6:56 am
3993 down 142 up (Ottawa)
June 26th, 2009 at 8:44 am
110kbps down, 83kbps up, Orange, Paris, France. iPhone 1st Gen.
June 26th, 2009 at 9:30 am
AT&T Tyler, TX D: 1.53 U: .05
June 26th, 2009 at 9:33 am
Boise, ID – used Speedtest and Speedtest.net Speedtest – max download 1124 kbps, max upload 254 kbps Speedtest.net – max download 829 kbps, max upload 340 kbps
June 26th, 2009 at 9:44 am
in Hamilton Ontario…..crappy speeds….
3228kbps Down
288kbps Up
June 26th, 2009 at 9:53 am
It’s weird….when I changed the server on speedtest.net to Toronto’s server my speeds increased…
down 4992kbps up 92kbps
June 26th, 2009 at 11:12 am
In Union, NJ I was able to get 872/339 on my first test and on a subsequent test I received 1103/351 using Speedtest.net against a server in Columbus, OH.
June 26th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Ug…speed on ATT in Socal:
841 down 215 up
My wifi download is barely faster than Rene’s 3G. WTF???
June 26th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
@ Justin
I’m in Dayton, OH too… but my speeds are a bit better. I’ve done it 10 times in the last day. I’m averaging 1552 down (1798 high, 1142 low) and 328.5 up (353 high, 292 low).
I wonder why such a difference in our numbers.
June 26th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I’m having serious issues with 3G here in San Antonio, average speeds are around 150 Kbits down and 200 Kbits up, however off-peak (12:00 am and 745 am respectively) I was able to get 1307 Kbits and 2101 Kbits down.
June 26th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
San Diego area: 4667 down 668 up 3Gs
June 26th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I have a 3GS and am located in Richmond, VA. Tested both 3G and WiFi:
ATT 3G: 998kbps down / 235kbps up
WiFi: 15.61 Mbps down / 4.51 Mbps up
June 26th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Iphone 3GS
ATT: 1134kbps Down / 216kbps Up
June 26th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
oh yea im In Hollywood CA.
June 27th, 2009 at 3:39 am
I’m at full bars and I’m only getting 508kbs avg down and 249kbs up
Austin, TX
June 30th, 2009 at 12:56 am
Why do you think there is such a difference between what the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3Gs is capable of versus what they actually upload and download at? Presumably the fact that both phones are not downloading at what they are capable of suggests that there are hardware bottlenecks. Does anyone have insight into this?
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:28 pm
The bottleneck is likely not related to the hardware. Its the carrier. AT&T doesn’t like to give away much bandwidth for a $30 data plan.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:57 pm
The reason why only Canadians see speeds above 6mbps is simple: Rogers has HSDPA at 7.2mbps speeds (theoretical) while AT&T doesn’t.
Speaking of which, I’ve been very pleased with my new Rogers modem, which I picked up for $100 with a $100 credit. I now get 9.4mbps down, 1mbps up on my 10mbps plan over wifi. (I used to avg. around 2-5mbps on my 7mbps plan.
I especially like how much speedier the new 3GS feels compared to my older 3G, even with the 3.0 speed improvements. Especially over wifi, I now feel like the 3GS can keep up with the data, whereas before I used to wonder if the phone was slowing it down.
I haven’t yet taken the 3GS out with me to explore Toronto’s network speeds, but you can bet I’ll do so tomorrow. In my house right now, I’m getting (with 5 bars of 3G, so we know bars don’t matter), 798kbps down, 148kbps up on the 3G network. I remember being near Sheppard & Bayview and getting 300KB/s down, which is pretty much 3mbps maxed out. (3000/8=375)
So I can imagine that getting 700KB/s (or roughly 7mbps) will not be unknown to me, but simply a bit rare. And Rogers loves to cap upload speeds in exchange for faster downloads, so I wouldn’t expect too much there. Still, if nothing else, I have to admit I love being in Canada for the iPhone on Rogers. I’ve a feeling that if I move to the States, the first thing I’ll miss is reliable, fast iPhone service. Just a hunch, I’m sure in many places I’m wrong, but ..
July 8th, 2009 at 12:17 am
I can’t get full bars anywhere in my house. I’m on Rogers on the iPhone 3gs. in Mississauga Ontario, The best I got was 2.5 mb down. I’ll test it again next time I’m out. Somebody said they got over 6 mb down near sq1 mall!! That’s the other end of mississauga for me. I was there the other day using 3g, I was so worried about my battery dying while I was using the Internet that I didn’t think to do a speed test. Canadians pay way more for data, we better be getting faster speeds!
July 8th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Laval (Montreal) 3GS Rogers Highest avg: 4241 Normal range: 3700-4100 Tested using Speedtest app (Extreme Labs)
Also tested at various points during drive home from downtown Montreal to Laval from inside my car:
Downtown Montreal: ranged from 1600-2500 Other areas in Montreal: from as bad as 900 to as good as 3500. Typical range was 1700 to 2600.
Best results were in Laval from my 2nd floor condo with consistent results over 3700.
All uploads were between 230 and 260.
November 1st, 2009 at 2:19 am
AT&T Seattle 150kbps down