AT&T customers seeing sudden boost in EDGE speeds?

Shortly after beginning the shutdown process of AMPS and TDMA networks, and just hours before the launch the EDGE-capable iPhone, a number of users are reportedly seeing dramatic increases in EDGE throughput. After questioning whether the mobile was actually using WiFi, a New Yorker began to see if fellow AT&T customers across the nation were also noticing the substantial boost in speeds; sure enough, it looks like quite a few others are seeing speeds upwards of 200Kbps. Of course, the usual banter over the legitimacy of speed tests conducted on mobiles inevitably ensued, but we're leaving it up to you. So, dear readers, hop on AT&T's 2.5G highway and give it a go, but be sure to return and let us know whether the increases are for real.

[Thanks, Peter]

Update: We tried some speed tests on an EDGE handset ourselves, and though it's been a little inconsistent, we've been shocked to find a number of runs over 200kbps. True, these kinds of speeds are theoretically possible (actually, little known fact, the ITU technically defines EDGE as a 3G standard), but we'd never expect to see them in practice. Should make the iPhone's browsing experience a little more bearable if it holds up!

[derek @ Jun 28th 2007 11:26PM]

that's really interesting... could just be a spike, let's see if it lasts though...

[dan @ Jun 28th 2007 11:30PM]

I heard about this on Howard forums. I believe its true.

[Brad @ Jun 29th 2007 5:03AM]

I just got 884kbps on my Sprint connection, in Goleta, CA.

Seems a little slow today...

[John Bartley @ Jun 29th 2007 4:53PM]

Old news... I wrote about why, on 5 June:

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/tech-news/?p=565

[John Bartley K7AAY @ Jun 29th 2007 5:20PM]

Old news... I wrote about why this happened on 5 June:

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/tech-news/?p=565

[David C Dunlap @ Jul 1st 2007 3:08AM]

YOu guys seem to know wha tis happenting with this Edge system.. I had a Repeater for my ATT, runjning at 1900Khz pickin up the Edge signal. About 2 mo ago the repeater would not pick up Edge but reverted to the the other signal, but the phone would swithch to the weaker Edge. The repeter manufacturer suggested the ATT may have switched the EDGE to the 850MH to prep for iphone. My repeter is only 11900MH. ATT won't give me any info, you guys know if this is what they did??

Dave

[mark adamcik @ Jun 28th 2007 11:33PM]

Yes, I can watch slingplayer on my 8525 on Edge and was wondering why! lets hope is stays!

[John Doe @ Jun 29th 2007 12:26AM]

It won't. I'm going to be interested in seeing how well Crapular's network handles the load from the on slot of iPhones soon to hit its network. My guess is this "speed bump" is to counter the iPhone.

[Mike Klein @ Jun 29th 2007 3:46AM]

Let's also hope you don't get booted off of cingular for violation of your terms of service.

Cingulatt doesn't allow streaming of any kind on their network...unless it's their cnn/britneySpears/UsaToday kind of garbage and delivered from their WAP portal. They specifically disallow voip, sling, etc.

Sucks hard I know. What am I paying $45/mo for...pulling html only? Laptop tethering plan has same restrictions.

Cingular wants you to forget the fact you have a data plan and charge extra for services you should already have access to (gps location, videos, ...).

Sprint is ONLY carrier that doesn't have these restrictions...this is what JustinTV streams on...EV-DO and Sprint.

[Seth @ Jun 29th 2007 10:39AM]

8525? Are you sure you didnt have an HSPDA or wireless connection?

[Mobilehavoc @ Jun 28th 2007 11:32PM]

Make sure you read the entire thread, especially the part about how these tests are completely false. What AT&T probably did is add bandwidth from their proxy servers to the internet but in the end the EDGE speed is the same.

[Geoffrey Sperl @ Jun 28th 2007 11:40PM]

Ahhh... but what is true and what is perceived to be true can be two different things, and if the perception of the truth is prsent then most will think the perception itself is "true" (even though some of us understand differently).

[LordFarkward @ Jun 29th 2007 12:05AM]

ahh geoff, i see that you took the red pill

thanks to my blue pill, i'm still as awesome as i think i am

[eas @ Jun 29th 2007 4:02PM]

The removal of a major bottleneck would still seem to be a very good thing though, wouldn't it, especially if it leads to such a noticeable improvement?

[Ryhan @ Jun 28th 2007 11:33PM]

My cingular phone actually did speed up about two hours ago when I checked my email...but as of now it is going at the same old slow speed. (its 11:30 here)

For those who care, I'm in columbus, ohio (USA)...

[Bjorn @ Jun 29th 2007 9:54AM]

I don't care!

(I'm in Sweden, running 3G!)

[Brad @ Jun 28th 2007 11:37PM]

Yesterday and today I have noticed that when I manually send/receive on my Blackjack through POP outlook, it processes it in no more then 6 seconds. Normally it can take up to 30 seconds. I am in NYC where it is completely 3G.

[Nick @ Jun 28th 2007 11:37PM]

EDGE is still slow as hell on my Palm Treo 650. MySpace took over a minute to load, Engadget (the mobile version) took over 15 seconds, m.twitter.com took 18 seconds, and m.facebook.com took the shortest amount of time at 11 seconds. This is at full signal strength in Orlando, FL.

[Tony @ Jun 29th 2007 12:23AM]

Often MySpace takes over a minute to load on my 3Mbps connection. Heh.

[Cal @ Jun 29th 2007 12:30AM]

if you're using the built in browser on your treo 650, everything is slow as hell no matter what. I have one too.

[Alex Padilla @ Jun 29th 2007 12:43AM]

@ Nick

You happen to go to UCF?

[Nick @ Jun 29th 2007 1:46AM]

@Alex

Nope, but I have several friends that do.

[Graham Gunst @ Jun 28th 2007 11:40PM]

San Francisco is only registering 38kbit/sec on my treo 650... blah

[Greg @ Jun 28th 2007 11:40PM]

I just tested on my 2125 and came back with 239!

[tommy @ Jun 28th 2007 11:42PM]

I am getting 186-212 kbit/s on the speed test for my Treo 680 on att. I did notice that when using my phone as a bluetooth modem for my laptop, the performance was surprisingly faster than I expected. I guess this explains it. Not too shabby!

[jeremy @ Jun 28th 2007 11:54PM]

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f165/goulav/n75EDGE.jpg

Nokia N75 on EDGE network.

[LA650 @ Jun 29th 2007 12:16AM]

My Treo 650 registers in at 78 kbps in Los Angeles.

[Horace @ Jun 28th 2007 11:54PM]

Actually, I was surprised to see that I now have 3G access at home, where previously, it was only EDGE access.

[aaron @ Jun 29th 2007 12:01AM]

My Blackberry is running at 1485 kbit/sec currently in NYC

[Constable Odo @ Jun 29th 2007 1:49AM]

iPhone Halo.

[Tim @ Jun 28th 2007 11:55PM]

I'm in NYC here - my Cingular 8125 is surfing the web the fastest it ever has - seems like the web is actually usable on the phone for the first time ever...

[JJP @ Jun 29th 2007 12:01AM]

Tested 3 times and here are the numbers..

kbit/sec:
267
275
259

Nice upgrade!!

[JJP @ Jun 29th 2007 12:04AM]

Numbers from Orlando.

[jaysins @ Jun 29th 2007 12:44AM]

I've been getting those numbers for a few weeks on my N95 and I really don't see an increase on DL speeds for the Orlando area, at least where I am. However, latency definitely has gotten a boost. I'm inside my apartment by UCF and I for the first time ever got less than a 1 second for it.

It is sad that they have been feeding us poor EDGE speeds and finally got around to updating after so long. If my girlfriend and family weren't so hell bent on at&t I would opt for tmobile in a second. Consumer reports constantly have verizon 1st and tmobile 2nd for best networks with at&t usually last or close to it.

[LiQuiD_FuSioN @ Jun 29th 2007 12:01AM]

What was the speed before?

[Jordan McFurber @ Jun 29th 2007 12:05AM]

linking to the enemy? tisk tisk tisk

[Brad Fisher @ Jun 29th 2007 12:03AM]

My Blackjack is getting 204Kbps in Springfield, MO

[JJP @ Jun 29th 2007 12:05AM]

Speeds from Orlando.

[oki @ Jun 29th 2007 12:13AM]

the treo 650 users wont notice much difference, the 650's were always slower than the 680 on the speed of internet even though almost the equalvant hardware. seems the 680 might be taking advantage of the boost. which is great!

[doyouflip @ Jun 29th 2007 12:12AM]

I've seen the other blogs about how AT&T beefed up EDGE speeds, so let's cast doubt aside for a minute and assume this is a true, lasting upgrade.

Why the hell did it take a new entrant into the mobile arena to get a US network provider to give its customers exactly what they should have been giving them anyway at a plan price equal to or less than what they were previously charging?

Great for customers now. Pathetic for how they've been treating customers and for what it took to get them to budge.

From a technical perspective, it's pretty cool to think that they kept the battery efficiency of EDGE while finding a way to improve speeds. It's not 3G speeds, but it's not 3G battery drain either.

[Karan @ Jun 29th 2007 5:50AM]

Exactly - you see this change, and you think "Why, in retrospect, was it hampered so severely previously?" It's worth complaining about, especially if it forces others to behave themselves too.

[Steve Max @ Jun 29th 2007 10:35AM]

Actually, if you get over 200 kbps, it's defined as "3G speeds". The fastest Edge networks are indeed (barely) 3G, and it seems like AT&T has just joined that group of 3G Edges.

[Jason @ Jun 29th 2007 10:55AM]

Businesses need to have valid, monetary business reasons to add or improve a service. They're not in the philanthropy business. Such reasons include customers leaving because of poor quality, contractual agreement with a partner company (such as at&t agreeing to improve service upon iphone release), or preventing mass disappointment when expected usage rises.

If the numbers say that customers were satisfied, no amount of whining on blogs is going to make them put money into improving their service. Money talks.

[Scott @ Jun 29th 2007 12:14AM]

Can anyone post Detroit and Cleveland numbers, please?

[charliex @ Jun 29th 2007 12:23AM]

forced my Blackjack into EDGE data... 257 kbit/sec!

[CharlieX @ Jun 29th 2007 12:26AM]

oh, this is in Los Angeles....

2nd test: 176
3rd test: 179

[carlo @ Jun 29th 2007 12:25AM]

No change in Arizona.

[mckoder @ Jun 29th 2007 12:25AM]

What does this speed increase mean? How long does it take for a page like nytimes.com home take to load?

Also, anyone got Seattle speed?

[Joe stalin @ Jun 29th 2007 9:54AM]

NYtimes loads whenever Chairman Hillary says so.

[Tim Stytle @ Jun 29th 2007 12:32AM]

I feel left out tmobile is clocking in at 1