Just so you know. UMTS is a spread spectrum technology. look up W-CDMA, and in case you were confused UMTS is a subset of W-CDMA. CDMA with out the 'W' is a different technology. Both are spread spectrum.
Just my 2 cents: All this discussion is interesting, but pointless, to the average consumer. Here's my experience using the iPhone (so far), at home with my wifi setup I got reasonable access to the internet. Outside (using EDGE) I was "disappointed" when trying to access the web. Disappointed because I'm accustomed to quick access and when I don't experience it....waiting...can become frustrating. Before home broadband access to the internet became available we had 56K Modems, and we accepted the waiting because that was the best "home" technology could do; after experiencing broadband access (cable modem) I couldn't go back to 56K modem use. My experience would be too "frustrating".
Apple has given us a cell phone with a great user experience; AT&T has given us a 56K type modem user experience. I'm willing to "put up" with AT&T because the iPhone features are much better than current cell phones. For the most part, I think the average consumer is also willing "to put up" AT&T because of the iPhone features. But the user experience is still "frustrating".
Sirus, yes, I do know that UMTS is a spread-spectrum technology. I thought I had said that, but looking back, apparently I hadn't.
All that said, I stand by my point: bandwidth, latency, error rate, and power consumption are all factors that affect the user experience. And companies that can figure out how to work in the constrained environment of today's real networks will do better than those that assume 3G everywhere.
Carl
Your argument suffers from a lack of focus, not a lack of clarity. You can't base your argument on bandwidth and latency and then swing back in at the end and say "well, 75% of of people don't care anyway."
One of those two positions can be your hypothesis, but not both--they are mutually exclusive based on the way you formulated the entirety of your argument.
The user experience of verizon EVDO is much better than anything I have ever used on GSM. I dunno why, but it flies... I had a card for my powerbook for a year, and I really could tell no difference between it and my DSL line.
Carl,
We know why EDGE vs. 3G doesn't matter much to you -- you have an iPhone.
You can rationalize it however you want, by trying to talk about latency, but then you bump up against the fact that you haven't actually tested latency on an EDGE network and, when you do, you'll find out that it's actually pretty bad.
I've got measurement data that shows latency is typically around 130 to 160 ms on 3G networks, including AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon. 2G networks, by comparison, usually have 250+ ms latency, and are often in the 300 to 600 ms range.
Even if you're right, and latency matters more than bandwidth, EDGE doesn't win the competition.
Okay, so what about real-world application performance? You've pointed out that someone who can optimize their applications to make maximum use of network and phone resources will be able to deliver the best applications.
Well, on average, wap.google.com takes 11 seconds to load over 2G networks vs. 8 seconds for 3G. That might serve to strengthen your point, because performance isn't significantly worse on EDGE.
However, wap.mapquest.com takes 27 seconds to load over 2G vs. only 8 to 11 seconds for 3G. Perhaps you think that's Mapquest's fault. Or the phone carriers'. Either way, the difference between 2G and 3G networks clearly does matter to end users, particularly when being limited to 2G networks can make connecting to some sites take 2 to 3 times longer.
Since not all sites are lightweight enough to perform equally well on both platforms, the easily perceived performance differences between EDGE and 3G networks will continue to matter to end users.
-DaveU
Dude. Just give up. You are making yourself look even more fanboyish and stupid with every post.
Imho youyr blog is great. Using Iphone and PPC6800 (sprint Mogul). So I can compare.
And I need to agree
Commenting by HaloScan
