I have an iPhone 5 on AT&T. When LTE is not available, I see the connection at 4G speed. When that is also not available, the connection is E which I assume is for EDGE, which si very slow. I have never seen 3G, I think 3G should be faster than E and a little slower than 4G. This is the AT&T model of iPhone 5 on AT&T network.

For the record, wife has an unlocked iPhone 5 (purchased before the unlocked model was made compatible with T-mobile. When we are in an area where T-mobile did not reform the spectrum, she gets E (EDGE) speeds, but on a few trip to NYC where T-Mobile change the spectrum she got 3G I believe (that was before T mobile carried the iPhone) and more recently she got LTE as well after latest software updates.

Seems like T mobile calles 3G whatever is in between EDGE and LTE while AT&T calls the same technology 4G, or did I get these wrong?

my AT&T 4S shows 4G, even though it's technically HSPA+

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Has 3G been switched off in Preferences?

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testcase
Has 3G been switched off in Preferences?

No such thing

Only cellular data ON/OFF and LTE ON/OFF and data roaming ON/OFF

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space-time
I have an iPhone 5 on AT&T. When LTE is not available, I see the connection at 4G speed. When that is also not available, the connection is E which I assume is for EDGE, which si very slow. I have never seen 3G, I think 3G should be faster than E and a little slower than 4G. This is the AT&T model of iPhone 5 on AT&T network.

AT&T renamed their 3G network. They now call it "4G." It's just a new name. It's still the same 3G network.

The actual 4G network is the LTE network. (Barely. It's more like 3.5G. But that discussion is best put aside for now.)

So, yes. Your expectations are correct. The 4G (3G) network is faster than EDGE (2.5G) and slower than LTE (4G).

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Chakravartin

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space-time
I have an iPhone 5 on AT&T. When LTE is not available, I see the connection at 4G speed. When that is also not available, the connection is E which I assume is for EDGE, which si very slow. I have never seen 3G, I think 3G should be faster than E and a little slower than 4G. This is the AT&T model of iPhone 5 on AT&T network.

AT&T renamed their 3G network. They now call it "4G." It's just a new name. It's still the same 3G network.

The actual 4G network is the LTE network. (Barely. It's more like 3.5G. But that discussion is best put aside for now.)

So, yes. Your expectations are correct. The 4G (3G) network is faster than EDGE (2.5G) and slower than LTE (4G).

That's correct. 4G is 3G. AT&T named it as such (on supported devices, for iPhone, it's 4S and up) because it's faster than "traditional" "original" 3G.

At the end of the day, all those designations - EDGE, 2G, 3G, 4G, etc, are all marketing designations to try to make sense of speed improvements to customers. LTE is at least a standard. Although they often tack 4G onto the moniker, it's not technically true.

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DRR
At the end of the day, all those designations - EDGE, 2G, 3G, 4G, etc, are all marketing designations to try to make sense of speed improvements to customers. LTE is at least a standard. Although they often tack 4G onto the moniker, it's not technically true.

Uh, EDGE and 3G are standards.

4G is a very, very loose standard.

more of a marketing term, really.

it's complex and fuzzy at the same time.

[en.wikipedia.org]

[en.wikipedia.org]

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2013 09:43PM by decay.

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decay
4G is a very, very loose standard.

more of a marketing term, really.

it's complex and fuzzy at the same time.

[en.wikipedia.org]

[en.wikipedia.org]

Sure. 4G got a bit loosey goosey, but the other terms do denote something related to actual standards. Although EDGE or EGPRS might technically qualify as 3G, it tends not to hit the required speeds in any real world deployment, hence the 2.75 (unofficial?) designation.

The problem with 4G is it really shouldn't have applied to anything less than 100Mbps peak mobile transmit rate. As the official designation called for such speeds, but the real world of marketing got a hold and transition anything faster than around 6Mbps or so as 4G. I've been using a "4G" network for a few years now with Clear WiMAX. While WiMAX can be pretty fast, 13Mbps down for my mom as one example, even that is a bit on the low side to be considered 4G, at least as the standard was originally designated.

However, this is all moot, as the ITU-R had ruled the following [www.itu.int]:
"Following a detailed evaluation against stringent technical and operational criteria, ITU has determined that “LTE-Advanced” and “WirelessMAN-Advanced” should be accorded the official designation of IMT-Advanced. As the most advanced technologies currently defined for global wireless mobile broadband communications, IMT-Advanced is considered as “4G”, although it is recognized that this term, while undefined, may also be applied to the forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMax, and to other evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed. The detailed specifications of the IMT-Advanced technologies will be provided in a new ITU-R Recommendation expected in early 2012."

In other words HSPA+, WiMAX, and LTE are all now 4G according to the standards makers. For better or worse. Note, this update was release almost three years ago. Not sure why there is still so much handwringing.