3.5g on T-Mobile UK

By on July 29, 2007 in News

I tell you what, I am getting oodles of pleasure out of seeing this new mini 3.5g icon on my N95. No end of pleasure.

It seems to me that the whole thing is much faster, although I’m wondering if there’s possibly some rose-tinted perspective going on there.

Either way, I love my 3.5g icon.

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Ewan is Founder and Editor of Mobile Industry Review. He writes about a wide variety of industry issues and is usually active on Twitter most days. You can read more about him or reach him with these details.
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  • http://www.mytxt.co.uk Chris Hunter

    Welcome to the world of HSDPA!

    /Chris

  • Andy Duncan

    As I believe it’s only calls and text’s that are sent over the 2G/3G/3.5G network, it shouldn’t affect the way it does anything, in any noticeable way. I personally hate the N95, but I know it’s got a nice display and works well, when it works.

  • Chris Hunter

    Andy,

    Not quite… 3.5G = HSDPA (High Speed Download Packet Access). When you move into an area of coverage where the B Node has been upgraded, your N95 (or any other HSDPA capable device) will be able to transfer data at a significantly increased rate. In practical terms on the handset, you will notice very little difference.. however, if you connect the handset to a laptop, you really will notice a difference.

    HSDPA doesn’t impact or enhance voice or SMS in any way.

    HSDPA, in my view, is very under rated.

    /Chris

  • Mike

    @ Chris: ‘In practical terms on the handset, you will notice very little difference’

    er… in my experience HSDPA makes a bloody huge difference. Just as going from dial-up to broadband makes a huge difference to PC’s. Granted, some sites have the bottleneck at the server or nation’s international gateways / Peering sites, but HSDPA removes the bottleneck from where it always was worst – the air interface to the mobile.

    Try looking at a fast site on 3G (BBC), then try the same site again on 3.5G. A world of difference – not only because of raw speed, but also latency improvements.

    Cheers,

    Mike

  • Chris Hunter

    Mike,

    I had an interesting experience at Manchester airport recently. I needed to send a large file and assumed that the lounge hotspot would be the fastest method. The speed was really slow and just to make sure it wasn’t the receiving server, I tried my Voda HSDPA card – the results were amazing. The Voda HSDPA service was miles faster…

    I think the interesting debate here is why it’s taken Orange and O2 so long to spend the cash and upgrade their networks. Have either of the these networks publically given dates on availability? Hats off to T-Mobile and Voda for deploying so quickly.

    /Chris

  • njar

    Presumably O2′s rubbish 3G coverage is in itself a larger concern.

    I believe O2 is losing out on corporate handset deals to T-Mobile due in part to T-Mobile’s 3G data card offering being better. This will really start to focus their minds if they lose too much ground!

  • stephen

    Does anyone know whether a 3g phone will be faster sending 150 SMS’s than a GSM phone…

    Additionally is HSDPA faster at sending SMS than 3g?

  • Stu

    How did you get the 3.5g logo to show on your phone? Mine should but doesn’t (Nokia 6120c) and CS aren’t any help! If you connect to your PC what connection speed does it show you are getting?

  • Iain C

    Yes I am getting this now from my local T-mobile mast! Its seriously quick on the web browsing!
    I think my mobile data connection is now faster than my broadband…. ;-) well, maybe not…
    My N95 likes it but the memory fills up quick. I need to figure out how to have push email stored on
    my 8GIG card rather than phone memory….

    I'm using emoze – very nice program but eats battery while it's on but has good snooze and connection time
    out options for when I'm roaming outside my home WLAN.

  • http://www.mobileindustryreview.com smstextnews

    Faster than your broadband? Nice!

    2008/9/1 Disqus <>

  • Iain C

    Yes I am getting this now from my local T-mobile mast! Its seriously quick on the web browsing!
    I think my mobile data connection is now faster than my broadband…. ;-) well, maybe not…
    My N95 likes it but the memory fills up quick. I need to figure out how to have push email stored on
    my 8GIG card rather than phone memory….

    I'm using emoze – very nice program but eats battery while it's on but has good snooze and connection time
    out options for when I'm roaming outside my home WLAN.

  • http://www.mobileindustryreview.com Ewan @ MIR

    Faster than your broadband? Nice!

    2008/9/1 Disqus <>

  • Iain C

    Yes I am getting this now from my local T-mobile mast! Its seriously quick on the web browsing!
    I think my mobile data connection is now faster than my broadband…. ;-) well, maybe not…
    My N95 likes it but the memory fills up quick. I need to figure out how to have push email stored on
    my 8GIG card rather than phone memory….

    I'm using emoze – very nice program but eats battery while it's on but has good snooze and connection time
    out options for when I'm roaming outside my home WLAN.

  • http://www.mobileindustryreview.com Ewan

    Faster than your broadband? Nice!

    2008/9/1 Disqus <>

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