Mobile
PC World’s 3G Tests Worth Reading
Kevin Tofel calls it a must read and I have to agree with that assessment. PCWorld sent some folks out in the field to do some testing of the various 3G Networks and how they match up in 13 different test cities. The results in the report titled A Day in the Life of 3G are not really that surprising if you string the oceans of data that come from users anecdotal reports together that you can find all over the web.
What is worth gleaning from this report though is how it lays out the differences geographically and for this treatise on why you may see ‘more bars’ but still have frustrating results.
Of course in the end it is all relative to many factors and we should all know that. But I would think this report would be worth keeping on file and I hope PC World would consider updating it every year or so, to see how things might change.
JimAtLaw
06/30/2009 at 7:05 pm
I can confirm the study’s finding that in the Bay Area, there is no apparently correlation between bars displayed on the phone and actual service quality.
My iPhone drops calls constantly even showing 5 bars and not moving.
JimAtLaw
06/30/2009 at 7:07 pm
Oh, and lest that be misconstrued, the finding I’m talking about was only for AT&T and in some geographic areas more than others – for other networks and other areas their results (correlation between bars displayed and service) varied materially.