i'm goign to a rental that has no wifi for a few days.
thinking about using wifi tethering via iphone at&t.
how slow will the connection be?
let's assume that the att connection will be good, not excellent.
if i need to download 30MB video files will i be waiting a few minutes, few hours...?
any and all advice. let's assume i'll be buying the enterprise tethering plan from AT&T.
thanks
paul
3G is 3G, so imagine trying to download a 30Mb file on your phone without tethering. In my experience, for anything other than email and basic web surfing, it will be painful, at least compared to cable or a decent speed DSL connection.
3G has a max. theoretical speed of something like 2Mbps, and reality is usually significantly below that. My cable connection at home probably averages more in the 9-12Mbps range for download (I'm pegged to a max. of 1.2Mbps upload).
I just ran SpeedTest.net on my iPhone here in my office (AT&T). I'm in Durham NC and I used Washington D.C. as the test server, and I got 0.91Mbps download, and 0.28Mbps upload, which in my experience is pretty good for my iPhone, but note that is about 10x slower then my average home connection.
Also keep in mind the difference in downloading content that has been specifically optimized for smart phone users, versus content that is optimized for higher bandwidth users (sort of like the default image resolution when sending from your phone, versus sending a high resolution image from you home computer). Content providers do package their content with the end-user device in mind, not the connection you plan to use to get it.
RATS! thanks.
iphone tethering: the good, bad and ugly?
