Most GSM-based cellphones suffer the same problem: No matter how fast they are at download, they will upload at only 384Kbps, or less, as you can see in our iPhone 3GS network test. This is because the hardware doesn't support the HSUPA (High-Speed Uplink Packet Access) standard, created by Nokia—the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) refers to this standard as Enhanced Uplink.

Some would say that this is not needed because Enhanced Uplink—which runs at 1.4 and 1.9Mbps—is not supported by AT&T yet, but in Europe there are networks that already support this standard. I would imagine that users of the popular JesusPhone would love to upload their photos and videos to Facebook and YouTube as fast as possible.

On the other side, with AT&T still struggling to get 7.2Mbps off the ground and most of the other networks having problems and slowdowns everywhere, I would be happy if they all just managed to actually deliver their advertised download speeds. [PC World]

The router looks like any other Netgear device in design, but it has a USB port for the dongle and (presumably) you configure all the settings through the router page. There's even an optional car power adapter so you can take your show on the road. The 3G Mobile Broadband router will be available in Q1 of this year for $130.

And for consumers and professionals on-the-go, NETGEAR’s 3G Mobile Broadband Wireless Router
(MBR624GU) creates an instant WiFi hotspot using 3G mobile broadband access service for broadband
access virtually anywhere, simply by plugging in any compatible 3G USB modem to the router. Mobile
users thus have the flexibility to create a WiFi network whether in a satellite office, construction site,
emergency center, vacation home, at an offsite event or campsite, or even from a moving recreational
vehicle. The 3G Mobile Broadband Wireless Router features auto detection of compatible 3G USB
modems and associated mobile carrier networks to have broadband access almost instantly. It supports
SPI, intrusion logging and reporting, denial-of-service (DoS) protection, up to five IPsec VPN endpoints,
and NAT. With Push ‘N’ Connect with WPS, energy saving features, and an optional car power adapter
to power the router while on the move, NETGEAR’s 3G Mobile Broadband Wireless Router is ideal for
sharing a 3G broadband Internet connection practically anywhere with friends, colleagues and family
members. More information can be found at
(http://www.netgear.com/Products/RoutersandGateways/3GMobileBroadband/mbr624gu.aspx).

3G Mobile Broadband Wireless Router (MBR624GU)
•
Compatible with extensive range of 3G USB Modems and networks.
•
Four Ethernet ports for LAN connectivity; USB 2.0 Host WAN port.
•
SPI, DoS, NAT, and supports up to 5 VPN endpoints.
•
“Push ‘N’ Connect” button based on WPS.
•
WiFi on/off button and Power on/off button to save energy while not in use.
•
Auto detection and installation process for easy setup.
•
Repeater configurable and static routing feature.
•
Advanced application based on QoS.

Bryant Park (Sunday, 7:25pm)
Was in Bryant park on a nice warm Sunday night. Drank a coffee, tested 3G sticks. It's in midtown, but midtown on Sunday evening is likely about as empty as these networks get in the city, so all three cards performed well here.

Upper West Side (Sunday, 9pm)
My girlfriend's 4th floor apartment in an old (read: not built for radio reception) apartment. In her living room, which is pretty much in the core of the building. So a bad reception area. AT&T took the biggest hit here, but surprisingly, this was Sprint's best performance out of the four locations.

Rockaway Beach (Friday, 3:30pm)
Sitting on a rock jetty extending into the Atlantic off of Rock-Rock...Rockaway beach, dodging salt water spray. JFK is nearby so it's not in the absolute boonies, and all three networks were pretty close, with VZW being the worst and AT&T the best.

Brooklyn (Sunday, 5:30pm)
My house in Clinton Hill/Ft. Greene. Second floor, lots of windows-never had a problem with reception. I must be right next to a Sprint tower because Sprint obliterated the other two. My neighborhood is pretty old-school, so it doesn't surprise me that AT&T and VZW aren't totally built out here yet.

Results
Sprint was way ahead of the other two, who seemed to be in a dead heat most of the time. In downloads, Verizon beat AT&T, but in uploads, AT&T beat Verizon.

Back to main Coast-to-Coast 3G Data Test story

The Test
3G is more important now than ever before. Obviously, AT&T made a big push over the summer to augment 3G for the arrival of the updated iPhone, but almost every smartphone and most standard phones in the three largest cell networks runs on a supposedly fast 3G network, and T-Mobile's 3G network is in the works. The technology can, at least on paper, rival home broadband. AT&T's HSPA network, for instance, is supposed to deliver data at up to 3.6Mbps downstream, while letting you upload at 1.4Mbps. Meanwhile, the EVDO Rev. A that Sprint and Verizon use promises a comparable "burst rate" of 3Mbps up, with 1.5Mbps down.

Like a lot of business travelers, we bloggy types have a particular interest in 3G USB dongles, since we're often trying to file stories far away from any decent wi-fi. Figuring out who has the best service quickly becomes a fixation, which becomes an obsession, which, as usual, becomes an ultimate Battlemodo.

In lieu of jetsetting all around the country, we FedExed our testing package from one staffer's home to the next, until we'd hit eight of the country's biggest cities. In each city, testers were instructed to put the three cards—one each from AT&T Sprint and Verizon—through some pretty rigorous paces. (Note: In case you're wondering why T-Mobile isn't represented, the carrier doesn't yet have the coverage required, nor does it yet offer 3G USB dongles or cards like the ones we used in testing. Next year, maybe.)

The testers chose three to five locations (preferably including one suburban spot). Parking themselves somewhere, they would connect each card to the laptop, running Speakeasy's bandwidth test five times for each device, and then follow it up with an auxiliary battery of repeated pageload and file download tests, in order to verify Speakeasy's readings.

The Gear
The USB dongles we used for testing were typical 3G cards from the carriers: AT&T's Sierra USBConnect 881, Sprint's Sierra Wireless Compass 597 and Verizon Wireless's Novatel USB727. We used both a Lenovo and a MacBook Pro, but at any given time the cards were being tested on one or the other, in order to keep hardware from being a comparative issue. (After all this extensive testing, we don't think results have much to do with your platform or laptop of choice—even the USB dongles' antennae didn't have as much relevance as sheer position to cell tower.)

While it may sound like hopping around town testing cards is easy, rest assured it was plenty challenging. Any test where any of the three cards wasn't playing well with a laptop, and the whole test had to be scrapped. This may not be a clean-room lab study, but we kept firm to our methods and the results speak to that. There's a reason this may be the most information anyone has gathered, independently, on the subject.

Download Performance
As far as download performance goes, Sprint won overall, beating AT&T five cities to three, and handily beating Verizon in four cities while losing close contests in four more. To round it out, Verizon beat AT&T in four cities, tied in one, and lost in three.
These results aren't so random when you plot them on the map. Besides proving that Sprint is a serious contender in almost any location—and should be taken seriously as a 3G and 4G data service provider, no matter what your feelings are about its basic phone service—we have confirmed what we thought, that the regional Bell heavies (and the former GTE) hold their own where their real estate holdings are most vast.

AT&T had troubles in the Northeast and Chicago, but down the coast in Raleigh and over in Austin, it's probably no surprise that the southern Bell conglomerate came out victorious. On the West Coast, it was a toss-up except in Portland, where Verizon couldn't quite keep it together.

Upload Performance
What are more surprising are the upload performance results: AT&T totally kicked ass here, winning six cities and barely losing to Sprint in the other two. Verizon was the slowpoke here, though it did nudge Sprint out of the way twice, and beat it soundly once.
Although the same regional attributes crop up here—AT&T is at its weakest in Boston and Chicago—AT&T clearly has a technological edge with HSUPA. Well, it's either that or all of the 3G build-out meant to lure iPhone 3G customers has left the carrier with an awful lot of unused upstream bandwidth, since smartphone users download a lot more than they upload. (This is assuming that upstream and downstream operate independently, as they seemed to in AT&T's case.)

Even when the download performance was crappy, AT&T's upload talents shined through, indicating that the congestion argument could hold merit. So, for the time being anyway, if you're into sending big files, or running some kind of masochistic mobile torrent service, AT&T is the right choice.

The Cities
Want to check out your city or region? Have a look at the eight contestants in this round, and while you're at it, you'll get to know a little more about the Giz staffers who took time to test the gear. If we didn't get to your town this time around, don't fret—maybe we'll get to it next year...or when we eventually test LTE vs. WiMax.

• Austin
• Boston
• Chicago
• New York City
• Portland
• Raleigh-Durham
• San Francisco and the Bay Area
• Seattle

Thanks to Mark, Sean, Andi, Eric and Jack for testing. Special shout-out to Mahoney for helping put together the testing regimen and instructions, and to my brilliant wife for working her Excel bar-graphing magic on our unwieldy spreadsheets .

Googleplex (Wednesday, 1pm)
Having been born and raised in Silicon Valley, I like to brag that Google's Headquarters is just 10 minutes away from my house. Even though the Googleplex itself isn't all that interesting, it's incredibly ginormous, and you get free Naked Juice and candy at the Visitor's Center! Plus, it's Google!

Golden Gate Bridge (Thursday, 3:30pm)
The Golden Gate Bridge is what connects San Francisco to the North Bay—without it, the city would be a secluded island, susceptible to Cloverfield-like attacks. Oh, wait, we're NOT on an island?! My bad...

Oracle Arena (Friday, 12:30am)
Across the street from where the Oakland A's play ball lies the home of the Golden State Warriors. Oakland is in the East Bay, an area I like to avoid because of my allergy to bullets; but my boyfriend took me here anyway for a concert where we rocked out to The Killers (and where I got my mack on with Andrew McMahon from Jack's Mannequin)!

Marin Civic Center (Friday, 10:30am)
In 1997, The Civic Center served as a prominent location in the movie Gattaca. Ten years later, the Peking Acrobats dazzled the hell out of me at a show here, which made me believe I could be a Chinese acrobat too! That didn't work out so well, so I now stick to attending Ryan Adams's concerts at the Civic Center instead.

Golden Gate Park (Friday, 1pm)
My lover lives across the street from Golden Gate Park, where the homeless people show me their wieners, hippies have drum circles on sunny Saturdays, and sketchy men sell me beers from their rolling suitcases. Despite the crazies, it is a nice place to take a stroll on a lazy Sunday to the Botanical Gardens, deYoung Museum, and the Academy of Sciences.

Results
Though AT&T only beat the others twice, it handily won the upload contest. Peaks for all three carriers were really great, but there seems to be some volatility in more congested areas. Blam thinks AT&T's Bay Area coverage map looks like leopard spots, and our tests justify his gripes (though the same could be said for Verizon).

Back to main Coast-to-Coast 3G Data Test story

PGE Park (Saturday, 12 noon)
Home of the Triple-A Beavers, among other minor league sports teams, it's a centrally located venue for fun stuff in Portland. Surprisingly, there was a Starbucks conveniently located right nearby.

Portland State University (Saturday, 1pm)
Surprisingly, the park bench near the university where I tested was not very far from PGE Park, just a few miles, but the reception was quite different, proving that you need diversity of locations to do a proper 3G test.

Vancouver, WA (Saturday, 10am)
Up across the Columbia River from Portland, the "other" Vancouver is a low-key city whose residents score a sweet double-whammy: No income tax (in WA) and no sales tax (if they shop down in OR).

Results
Sprint had a strong showing, with some blistering download speeds at Portland State University. Reception wasn't hot for anyone at PGE, though in Vancouver, Sprint again was the winner. AT&T, as expected, managed high upload speeds in Portland, though the fire wasn't there in Vancouver.

Back to main Coast-to-Coast 3G Data Test story

My Apartment in Austin (6:30pm)
My apartment is on the northwest side of Austin, in a quiet neighborhood between the denser central part of the city and the outer suburban areas.

Suburbia - Round Rock, TX (4:30pm)
Round Rock may be home to Dell, but it's largely a sleepy suburb. I parked in front of someone's house and they actually came home from work while I was testing, giving me an odd look like they thought I was casing their house.

South Austin Coffee Shop (2pm)
Dominican Joe's is a bit of a drive from my apartment, but worth it to get what I consider the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted. Their coffee is not bad either.

Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Statue, Austin (3:30pm)
The Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial is in a beautiful park on the bank of Lady Bird Lake (formerly known as Town Lake). It is just east of Zilker Park, where Austin City Limits is held every year.

Downtown Austin - Congress Ave. (4:30pm)
Downtown Austin is rapidly expanding upwards—three new high rises went up in the past year or so. This location is very central, near the intersection of 6th St. and Congress Ave.

Results
Upstream and down, AT&T was strong with a few exceptions. Verizon was a decent contender, while Sprint was unpredictable. When it comes to downloads, the downtown density (either buildings or cell users) has a severe impact on bandwidth.

Back to main Coast-to-Coast 3G Data Test story

Living near the capital of North Carolina made my location choices clear. Technology plays an important role in the lives of college students, and some of the biggest colleges in the country are located right in my backyard. Plus, it made sense geographically given that the colleges are located in major cities.

The big three colleges are as follows: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill), North Carolina State University (Raleigh) and Duke University (Durham). Wake Technical is the biggest community college in the area, and it's country Raleigh location made for an interesting comparison.

Research Triangle Park (RTP), my fifth location, is one of the oldest and largest science parks in the US. It's also home to over 170 companies like IBM, Cisco, Lenovo, Red Hat and Verizon. Because the area is so wired, it was a must-have on the list.

Results
AT&T was the clear winner here, with just one minor hiccup in an otherwise perfect game. Verizon had a few moments of glory, but not enough for a trend, and Sprint, well, Sprint didn't pull off much here.

Back to main Coast-to-Coast 3G Data Test story

For Gizmodo's tour of Chicago, I tested the Southside, Northside and sort of Middleside of the city. So I started in the lot of Comiskey Park (Go Sox), checked out reception a two blocks east of Michigan Ave by the Water Tower and then finished things off at a Starbucks in Wrigleyville (Clark & Belmont). It's sort of like our own Crosstown Classic, minus the urinal trough with some shopping sprinkled in.

Results
On downloads, Verizon won two contests, while Sprint won one. AT&T never managed to grab a brass ring. Even in uploads, where AT&T is strong, it only managed to win one round. Verizon isn't the clear winner, though, since the downtown location (Streeterville) caused reception difficulties.

Back to main Coast-to-Coast 3G Data Test story

Gov't Center (5pm)
Government Center is a hub of public affairs, adulterous affairs and current affairs. It's also the home to one of the ugliest public buildings in the world (our City Hall). With thousands of wired, connected and gadget-toting workers converging on it every week day, it's a great place to test 3G wireless speeds too.

South Boston (8pm)
If there's one thing I think about when I visit South Boston, it's whether or not my wireless connection is going to work. Oh wait, no no no. That's not it at all. Where's the frickin' beer? Was that Matt Damon? Anyway, wireless networks and their reliability are a close second though, after the beer. And the bars. And the women of South Boston deserve a mention too, now that the place has become a hive of recent college grads. Did I say the network was second? Who knew 3G tests could be so conflicting?

Harvard Square (4pm)
Sweet, glorious Harvard. The smells, the sites, the history. It's also a clusterfuck of students, protesters and people trying to look educated and important without really accomplishing either. And it only took three minutes for a passing homeless man to sit down next to me during the tests and start talking about how Barack Obama was a babykilling devil. Bastion of liberalism my ass!

Waltham (12pm)
There's no place like home, and there's nothing quite like 3G tests on the front porch with a slick looking Lenovo laptop. But put them together and, well, it was just peachy keen, but I'm no longer allowed to be unsupervised on my porch anymore. Note to self: Pants are your friend.

Results
Sprint clearly played to win, here, with Verizon holding on and AT&T throwing in the towel. Even in uploads, where AT&T is generally the strongest competitor, it was a pretty matched fight.

Back to main Coast-to-Coast 3G Data Test story

Maple Leaf (Wednesday, 4pm)
Dining room table at our lovely rental house in this mostly residential upper Seattle neighborhood.

Redmond (Thursday, 4pm)
Hitting the Tully's at Redmond's artificial little town square was daunting for two reasons: one, I was toting not one but two MacBook Pros while surrounded by Microsoft employees, and two, something was blocking most cell towers, so I got poor reception across the board.

Seattle Center (Thursday, 2:30pm)
Sitting under the Space Needle on a chilly day, I got a few funny looks from people, but thankfully no one trying to make friendly conversation.

South Seattle (1pm)
I decided to hit the polar opposite of my neighborhood, so I stopped by Columbia City, a cute little area with restaurants and shops. Somehow, I ended up choosing Starbucks. Don't judge me.

Results
All three carriers held their own except in Redmond, where there was a lack of reception across the board—though somehow AT&T managed stellar uploads anyway. On the flipside, AT&T disappointed at the Space Needle where Verizon did okay and Sprint did great.

Back to main Coast-to-Coast 3G Data Test story

Their HSPA network will then be finalized, bringing 1.4 Mbps (Down) and 800 Kbps (Up) to all users in its range. AT&T's next move will be offering HSPA in more markets. By the end of June, HSPA will be in 275 US markets. But by the end of the year, AT&T plans for that number to grow to 350. [AT&T via Phone Scoop]

GSM is the most widely used mobile standard—210 countries—and by AT&T and T-Mobile in the US. What's groovy about GSM is that any device that'll take a SIM card—"subscriber identity module" is a chip that identifies you to the network and allows you to get on—can get you on a local network. Hence the market for "unlocked" phones that aren't tied to any carrier, which you can just pop an AT&T or T-Mobile SIM card in. It's also AT&T's response to Verizon's open initiative: GSM networks are technically already open.

CDMA is a competing voice-and-data standard that is smaller in distribution—but highly prevalent in Korea, Japan, South America and the US, on the networks of Verizon Wireless and Sprint (including MVNOs such as Helio and Virgin Mobile). CDMA is actually more efficient in terms of the way it uses channels, but it doesn't have GSM's "open" advantage of SIM card swapping. (This is why you can't take your iPhone to Verizon.)

2G refers to any second-generation networks—like CDMA and GSM/GPRS—that are digital, and not analog (which would be 1G). It's mostly for voice, but there's some slow data, too. (Remember WAP?)

2.5G are data upgrades to 2G networks that allow for faster data transfer. EDGE is the best known, used by T-Mobile and AT&T (and the bane of iPhone owners everywhere) and a transitional tech to 3G. Still pretty pokey, topping out at 200kbps downstream real world. Verizon and Sprint have a 2.5G technology called 1XRTT.

3G Now we're talkin'. Third generation is what we finally call "mobile broadband," with the potential for early DSL-like speeds. In the US, this involves two standards: the CDMA-based EV-DO for Verizon and Sprint, and HSPA for AT&T (running now) and T-Mobile (coming this year). Japan, parts of Asia and Europe also make use of W-CDMA. Despite the name, it's actually a GSM technology developed by NTT DoCoMo. For Americans this doesn't matter and only confuses things, so forgetaboutit.

HSPA High-Speed Packet Access is the umbrella term for two complementary GSM technologies, HSDPA and HSUPA, with the D and U standing for "downlink" and "uplink" respectively. Currently HSDPA can pull down info at speeds up to 14.4Mbps, but in the US it's more like 3.6, and only under amazing conditions. AT&T plans to hit 7.2 later this year. HSUPA is an add-on to HSDPA, rolling out in the US this year, which can transmit data at up to 5.7 Mbps, up from 384Kbps.

EV-DO is CDMA's 3G data service, used by Sprint and Verizon. There are different revisions, called Revs. The latest, Rev. A, is capable of 3.1Mbps downstream and 1.8Mbps up in ideal conditions. Though its specs are not as hot as HSPA, it is the most robust and widespread 3G network currently in the US.

4G is the near future of wireless data, with download speeds equivalent to or faster than most US broadband networks.

WiMax is 4G ultra-high-speed mobile broadband developed by Intel, Motorola and Samsung. In the US, Sprint is the only carrier planning to deploy it nationwide. WiMax promises incredible long range and connectivity on par with what you can get at home—think of it as Wi-Fi on 'roids. It was supposed to roll out hard this year, but Sprint has been having a lot of internal problems, necessitating cash injections from partners like Intel. Consequently, you probably won't see WiMax till '09 or '10.

LTE Long-Term Evolution is the other major 4G ultra-high-speed mobile data dealio. It's a GSM-based technology, and quickly emerging as the dominant next-gen standard, in part thanks to WiMax's stupor and Verizon's adoption of it. Though Verizon and AT&T have competing formats currently (CDMA and GSM respectively), both pledge to roll out LTE in the US. Verizon will do this as an overlay to its current network, meaning both CDMA phones and new LTE devices will work throughout the footprint. You'll start seeing LTE in the US in 2010 with mass coverage by 2012.

We skipped over some acronyms, and sped past others, but this should be all you really need to know to navigate Giz's mobile device coverage, so do yourself a favor and bookmark it.

Do you want Giz Explains to clear up any areas of overwhelming confusion? If so, fire a message to our Tips line with the subject "Giz Explains," and we'll see what we can do.

Plus, it'll also help the push to next-generation mobile broadband like LTE and WiMax, since carriers' current infrastructure apparently can't meet the exponentially higher bandwidth requirements. Neatly cyclical conclusion: Use more bandwidth, get more bandwidth! [GigaOM]

T&T PLANS MAJOR EXPANSION OF 3G WIRELESS BROADBAND SERVICE IN 2008

Company to Expand 3G Service to More Than 80 New Cities, Complete Upload Broadband Speed Enhancements

New Milestones Mark Next Step in Direction Toward Long-Term Evolution (LTE)

SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 6, 2008 — AT&T is casting a wider Net for mobile customers this year by building out its network to make catching a high speed wireless Web connection easier coast-to-coast.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) today announced highlights of the company's 2008 wireless network expansion plans, including the deployment of third-generation (3G) wireless broadband service to more than 80 additional cities in the United States through the course of the year. The planned expansion is expected to deliver AT&T 3G services to nearly 350 leading U.S. markets by the end of 2008, including all of the top 100 U.S. cities. The 3G initiative will include the roll out of more than 1,500 additional cell sites nationwide.

Other plans for the new year include completion of the nation's first High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA)-enabled network by the middle of the year. The AT&T 3G network now delivers typical downlink speeds ranging between 600 and 1,400 Kilobits per second (Kbps), as well as faster uplink speeds, ranging from 500 and 800 Kilobits per second (Kbps). The faster uplink speeds allow AT&T's HSUPA-enabled laptop users to more quickly send large files and take full advantage of the latest interactive Internet and business applications.

The company's wireless network is based on GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) technologies, the most open and widely used wireless network platform in the world, supporting 86 percent of the people worldwide who use wireless devices. This platform also positions AT&T to continually adopt next-generation technologies.

"Fast wireless broadband is the foundation for a whole range of new and emerging applications that our customers are adopting, including everything from social networking to sending live video and large business files," said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO for AT&T's wireless unit. "With these aggressive initiatives, we're expanding the scope and the speed of our 3G capabilities, connecting people with their world and enabling more customers to do more with their wireless devices, wherever they may be.

"We're also planning for the future by establishing a clear path to a 4G network that will meet the needs of our customers for years to come," said de la Vega.

The deployment of HSUPA this year is the next step in the evolution of AT&T's 3G network, with further enhancements and speed boosts expected in the near future. This year's HSUPA deployment will complete the transition of the AT&T 3G network to High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) standards, marking the only full transition by any wireless provider in the United States to this latest generation of wireless broadband capabilities.

As customer needs continue to evolve and grow in the future, AT&T's global leadership in deployment of GSM technologies positions the company to continuously evolve its network to meet those needs. The evolution towards HSPA+ and LTE technologies will enable the company to continue to deliver higher speeds and capacity in the years to come.

"From the beginning, our wireless network has been designed with the future in mind," said de la Vega. "The capabilities of 3G standards will continue to expand over the next several years, enabling us to stay well ahead of our customers' broadband needs. And looking even further into the future, our existing technologies provide the ideal platform for a smooth transition to next-generation platforms."

AT&T's GSM technology also offers customers the largest international roaming footprint. AT&T devices work in 196 countries and regions - accounting for more than 90 percent of the planet. All GSM customers in those countries can roam on the AT&T network in the United States as well.