3G, 3G: Step on the gas; 3G, 3G ain't so fast...
 

I haven't measured the speed, but 3G seems as poky as EDGE. Wi-Fi appears to be faster than both. Maybe it's my impression, but this is my story and I am sticking with it.
:?

WiFi should be faster than either.

But I can certainly tell a difference in 3G (ATT) and EDGE.

3G isn't all it's cracked up to be. One thing 3G does offer, however, is simultaneous voice and data (at least on AT&T). I actually used that yesterday while taking with one buddy on the speaker phone while chatting with another via BBM. I did it to see how well it worked, and it worked just fine.

I don't see myself using that a lot, but I suppose when someone sends you an e-mail while talking on the phone, you can open it and go over the details with the other party, all while remaining on the phone with them. That I could see being a bit more useful.

3G on my 9700 is definitely faster than EDGE was on my 8900. And when I tethered...whoa....lookout. I almost forgot I was connected through a BB.

I haven't tried tethereing and/or conference-call while emailing so those qualities are definitely worth mentioning. I find 3G inconsistent with email/PIN delivery, often there's a hiccup before delivery.

3G could be faster, but "one" problem of the US carriers is that the data pipes connecting the cell towers are not always "fat" enough to handle all the traffic. All the data coming in/out of a cell have to be funneled through the data pipes. If there is not enough bandwidth on the pipe, data traffic between your 3G phone and the cell will be slowed down.

Another problem is simply too many users using the same tower, it means over subscribed to me.

when you tether a blackberry, im pretty sure you are using the built in gprs modem. which means that all blackberrys will tether with the same slow speed whether you have a 3G device or not. so far i am not aware of an app that will let you tether using the 3G radio. theres an app for the iphone that lets you tether the 3G radio. its pretty sweet

"Pretty sure?" Shouldn't you check your facts first and confirm your statement before you make it?

I have never heard of this GPRS modem stuff. A friend of my mine has had the ATT Bold 9000 for a year or so now and has said its always been speedy.

Just sayin'....

When you tether a BB you're using whatever connection it has available to it currently. If it's a cell based 3G signal you'll go over that data connection, if the device has Wifi / UMA ability it will go over the Wifi connection.

Basically whatever connection is currently being used to connect to the BlackBerry infrastructure is where your tethered data is sent.

BTW, no app needed for this functionality. :) You can actually get away with not installing any software on most computers that have bluetooth by simply using it as a dial up modem.

While 3G hasn't been as fast as I expected and seems to be very "bursty" with it's speed overall, I could hold a phone call over a bluetooth headset and remain tethered to my laptop via bluetooth on the 3G network with no problems. That was pretty sweet to see it all work bug free! (Used it for a 2 hour remote support session last week, no drops with acceptable performance)

just because your phone indicates a 3G connection is available, it doesnt always mean that you are getting the fastest 3G speed that ATT offers... its sort of like an "Up to" statement... ATT 3G is up to ::insert speed here:: times faster than EDGE. You could very well be moving at EDGE speeds on a 3G connection. Think about it like your cable modem when your kids are downloading all day... when you want to use another internet connection in the house, its probably really slow, but you still have a cable modem connection over super duper g or n wifi, or even copper gigabit at 18mbps to the provider... blah blah blah

Tethering is when it shines.

If your testing it through the browser, sorry to admit this but the blackberry browser sucks!

Ever since 4.5, I've noticed the blackberry browser to be extremely slow, its practically unusable for me! Doesn't matter if EDGE or Wifi. Heck even on CDMA devices, and 5.0. Its just horrid.

Or maybe I'm just impatient. Before 4.5 came out, the browser was really snappy. But it didn't render like 4.5+ (more website like)

I'm just waiting for them to re haul it.

3G for me means voice and data simutaneously, well that aint such a big deal. But more of having extra coverage with the 1700 band, and programs like google maps loading much quicker. And of course the hopes that when blackberry finally does the browser, I'll be out of the dark ages.

how can ANYONE be sure of what they are saying unless they are a cell phone developer them selves. im just going by my experience and little bits of information i have picked up over the years. i have tether multiple blackberrys with the same results. just a few months ago, i tethered my 8900 and my buddies 9000. we got the same speed results using the same laptop. today i will try my 9700 and see what happens. i carefully chose my words when i said "pretty sure" because im not 100% sure. im just speaking from my experience. other people in this thread have made BOLD statements yet no one is confronting them...

So all your tethering has been at GPRS speeds? Which would be in the 30-40 kbps range?

Interesting.

no. closer to 100kbps. are you sure that gprs is limited to 30-40? when i do a speed test on my phone with a 3G connection i get over 700kbps. if i was tethering that same connection, then i should get the same speed result on the laptop. again, my speed results on the laptop are the same using a 3G device and a non 3G device

Wow. GPRS at 100kbps. That must be a record. That would be good for EDGE.
Not sure what you are testing here.

it is possible that its not a gprs connection. i have already said that im not 100% sure. what i DO know, is that from my experience, a tethered connection had the same speed result using a 3G device or non 3G device

I can guarantee you are not 100% correct.

You need to rethink (and redesign) your testing methodology. If you test a 3G connection in an area without 3G, you will get slower speeds. Kind of obvious.

GPRS speeds are slower than dial up modem. Unusable.
EDGE speeds are marginally better - and slower than the slower DSL connection

3G is totally dependent on your location, your carrier, and the amount of bandwidth they have available.

What identical speeds did you get with the 3G an non 3G devices?

i already said that the speed was around 100kbps. im in the san francisco bay area. 3G coverage is good. i just tried to do some more testing with my 9700 but i cant get a connection. i set it up using the same tutorial i used to set it up for my 8900 but i keep getting an error when connecting. i can get as far as "registering on the network" but then i get an error. it was working great with my 8900.

Have you tried the latest version of Desktop Manager 5.0.1 which has a IP Modem option built in?

no havent tried. when i tether, i use bluetooth with no DM installed. i prefer it that way. i use a hp mini and have limited hd space