Thinking about getting a 3G phone? Think again. All these new 3G wireless networks were supposed to make it possible to surf the web on a cellphone at near-DSL speeds, or at speeds at least faster then dial-up, and certainly faster than the pokey 14.4 kbps of 2G. But it’s becoming pretty clear that it’s not turning out that way at all, with 3G cellphones having trouble connecting at anything even remotely considered fast these days. It’s making the wireless carriers that shelled out billions for 3G licenses and to build out networks look pretty foolish, it’s making it hard to convince people to upgrade and sign up for new services, and it’s also making it easier for 802.11b to get a foothold.
