HSDPA - when will it perform as promised?

[Khyron]

Hi Guys,

I decided yesterday to check what HSDPA can really do and parked with my laptop and HSDPA Card right next to a base station and started running speed tests. It was around 6pm so users connected to this particular base station's 3G network should have been low as people are on their way home/cooking/watching Egoli at that time. There were also no clouds in the sky and no wind blowing, so for all intends and purposes conditions were optimal.

After 30 minutes of testing I came to the conclusion that HSDPA in reality only performs at around half the speed as advertised. I do understand the concept of bursting, but it was never noticeable. Is there any chance that this is still teething trouble or is this as good as it is going to get?

I also recently heard that the City of Tshwane's IT Dept had to purchase additional bandwidth themselves to get their HSDPA speeds up to something that they could work with. Apparently the problem was that there was a bottleneck between Vodacom and the upstream bandwidth provider. Could this also be the problem for existing problems in other areas?

 

[NeBo]

I updated my iPod today and was 'bursting' at around 180kBps and peaking at 208kBps (or 1.73mbps). I'm very happy with the speed. Its just trying to stay connected recently.

 

[CeeBee]

perhaps you too close to the tower, signal broadcasting over you
suppose it all depends on the area u'r in.
I get full signal but max speed about 800kbps, other places I'll have 50-75% signal and get 1200kbps, ave about 500kbps
but yes, I would like at least 80% of the speed, at least 80% of the time, to feel that it's a decent service (hmmm...dream on!), instead of 30% speed most of the time...... Imagine what your boss would say if you only wanted to work 30% efficiency, yet still want full salary