AT&T 3G -> 0.03Mpbs?

well yeah, you're getting UNLIMITED internet for $30, surely you didnt think they're gonna give you the same thing they charge others $60/mo for? Of course it'll be different -- at this rate, looks like its capped to 400kbit. I dont agree with it, but you gotta be realistic, $30 unlimited cell data...

... surely you didnt think they're gonna give you the same thing they charge others $60/mo for? Of course it'll be different -- at this rate, looks like its capped to 400kbit. I dont agree with it, but you gotta be realistic, $30 unlimited cell data...

No it's not different. I don't know about Australia (and thus I won't guess), but the speed is not capped in the USA. I've gotten as high as 2+Mb/sec on AT&T's 3G, although it's usually less than 1Mb/sec

My 3G seems to vary greatly. Sometimes its super fast and others sloooooooooowwwwww. It doesn't
look like the number of bars make any difference.

If I stop what I am doing and reload or restart the app a couple times its usually faster.

Weather also plays a big impact on the speed on the network. Inversions, wind, precipitation will all have an effect. When I have a strong south wind at home, speeds will drop to 100 to 200 Kbs through verizon. Otherwise it will be around 400 Kbs. Same at work. Normally 1.2 to 1.6 Mbs, but today, it is windy, and am only getting around 400 Kbs. Weather has a greater impact on digital signal than the old analog signal.

The Pink Furby wrote:
well yeah, you're getting UNLIMITED internet for $30, surely you didnt think they're gonna give you the same thing they charge others $60/mo for? Of course it'll be different -- at this rate, looks like its capped to 400kbit. I dont agree with it, but you gotta be realistic, $30 unlimited cell data...

I pay $30 a month for my iPhone 3G data plan and get speeds around 1800kbit (avarage) and I would think it would and should be the same for the iPad. I'm tring to get my hands on one but all sold out at our local Best Buy store.

update: speaking to AT&T a few times now, with a call back this a.m. and they sent me HSPA vs UMTS specs sheet. AT&T said unless you live on top of a tower you're not getting HSPA speeds. UMTS avg. down is 220-330kbps, max 384k. HSPA is 700k - 1.7 MB. You can't stream Netflix w/ 384k of bandwidth. Netflix is a WiFi-only application, folks.

Netflix can be used on 3G network, along with the latest ABC app. I am doing that right now 🙂... Quality is not bad at all.

Pork Farm, what speeds are you getting ?

I am consistently getting 2100 - 3300 kbps download speeds on 3G. I live in Indiana and have been to 2 different cities with 3G coverage, with very similar results. On Friday and early Saturday most test were around 1mbps, likely due to network congestion. I have yet to get a slower speed test on my iPad than on my iPhone 3G. Netflix and ABC apps work great for me over 3G - never skipped once! Web browsing seems a bit slower than wifi but much quicker than on my iPhone 3G. Seems like some of you are having problems with AT&T, not the iPad itself. I even used mine in a spot where I never get signal on my iPhone and had 4 bars and a 2mbps speed test. iPhone wouldn't even connect at all. In my experience the 3G radio in the ipad has great reception and excellent speed. Probably can't say the same for AT&T however. I have a 3G netbook and when traveling have noticed a few areas where EDGE actually runs faster than 3G, probably due to faulty cell sites.

For all of you having trouble, just keep on AT&T and they may fix it for you. The ipad is not at fault, so wait to take it back unless AT&T will not help you. If that ends up being the case I suppose you can always get a mifi from Verizon and a wifi iPad.

No you pay $30 Extra and thats on a 2year commitment, so to them its a solid source of $, and the average ARPU on a 2yr plan is much higher then that on a casual $30/month plan.

Minimum you'd be paying is $70/mo for 2yrs (+ tax?)-VS a casual $30 plan... Do the math. Coupled with the fact that average iphone user chews about 300meg/month and ipad probably higher....

Again, Im no supporter of them, and I dont like what they're doing, but I just been researching plans with various telco's and am just describing what I see from my research of these telco's.

To me it sounds like one or a little of both of two issues...My pick is mostly the first item below

1) AT&T just can't handle the additional load...that's why they STILL haven't released tethering for iphone even after a whole year since OS 3.o came out!!!

2) Maybe there are hardware or software issues with this 3G radio... I remember when the 3GS released many people myself included got horrible results both Up and Down on 3GS but got great speeds on the original iPhone!! Now that was the WIFI radio not 3G radio but still...could be the hardware of combo of hardware and software that is causing this...in addition to the fact that their network is just not great lol

On an average day, I usually get about 1.2-1.6Mbps down and 300kpbs up.

around 5pm - 7pm is a little slow, but bearable. I live in Phoenix Arizona.

The is only one data plan for AT&T smart phones (with the exception of the original iPhone) and it is $29.95 per month. There is not higher priced plan that gets you higher speeds, etc. If anyone has an iPad that is getting less than even Edge speed, everywhere they try to use, I would suspect they have a hardware problem with their iPad.

Well this is hopeless my speeds have been steadily getting worse. At first I was getting about 4X dialup yesterday I was getting 120kbps and today I'm getting between 0 and 10kbps...any idea how slow this forum is??? iPad is going back, this fiasco is costing me about $120 for the apps, music and books I bought plus $700 for a macmini that is too late to return plus return shipping. How many apple products will I buy in the future? Zero.

Message was edited by: iCreature