So I’ve yet to get the Cable service hooked up yet, and we’ve been using my MDA’s EDGE connection for Internet access. Overall, I’ve been happy with the speeds I get with my EDGE connection, one time peaking at 200kbps – quite fast compared to my old phone’s (Nokia 6600) 40kpbs.
At our new home though, I get about a peak (so far) of around 127kbps, with an upstream of 74kbps. Not too much to brag about, but right in the range that I’ve seen overall for EDGE service from T-Mobile. I can live with this quite well. This is the first real need for this type of connectivity, though I have used my MDA as a modem on many occasions, it was more of a W?BIC.
So I’ve seen the best-case speeds and the average EDGE speeds, and I am happy with the service. I’ve had mobile data service with my phones for at least 3 years, GPRS was a huge improvement over the original 9.6kbps that you could get out of the standard GSM line, and again with EDGE, it is at least a threefold improvement in speed.
Will I upgrade to a UMTS or HSDPA phone when T-Mobile provides service? Yep! The ~400kpbs of UMTS and multi-megabit speeds of HSDPA will be a great experience. Of course, we’ll have to see what the service charges will be, but at the moment, you can’t get a better deal for mobile Internet access than T-Mobile’s unlimited Internet plan ($20 – its called the BlackBerry Internet plan) and for an additional $10, you can add all their WiFi hotspots as well.
Cool stuff – can’t wait for the broadband connection though!