Edge vs 3G
 

Which has better service and which carrier has what?

EDGE... TMO... 3G isn't out yet so EDGE is the best for now.

Is Edge on all carriers? I was told 3G was on ATT currently.

ATT has 3g in some areas, depending on who you ask, EVDO is 3g on the CDMA side. Tmobile doesnt have 3g in this country. Both Tmo and ATT have EDGE. The networks are layered. GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G for ATT, same for TMO (minus 3G)

So since sprint is on CDMA, I have EVDO?

yes, thats their high speed network

EDGE is like 2.5G; 3G is for what is and faster than EDGE

Wirelessly posted (RIM BlackBerry 8300 Curve: BlackBerry8300/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/122)

You should move to Australia - our main service provider (Telstra) currently offers 3.5G/UMTS/WCDMA with HSDPA data speeds on their "NextG" network up to 14.4MB/s, with plans to increase this to 21MB/s by the end of the year!

To put this into perspective for you, 14.4MB/s is the same speed as what ADSL 2 can theoretically reach here, and 21MB/s is slightly faster than what cable is in most areas (Sydney & Melbourne can reach slightly faster cable speeds)...

Now all we need is a BlackBerry device that can reach these speeds, or at least something faster than EDGE!

that makes me soo jealous

Wirelessly posted (RIM BlackBerry 8300 Curve: BlackBerry8300/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/122)

Telstra even won a world record in the Ginesis (yes I know it's spelt wrong...) book of world records recently, for having the world's fastest mobile phone network!

I don't think it's been published yet, but I would imagine that there would be something on the Ginesis site...

Just wondering how will this make my phone, texting and e-mail any faster, more efficient or more secure?

</sarcasm>

Good point (sarcasm noted!). Unless you tether, I'm not sure there are a lot of advantages. My email comes instantly, texts close to instant, my battery life is great, and the web pages I visit download within seconds. I'm not saying there aren't some specific, individualized tasks that could benefit from 3g, just that most people think it can provide more than it can.

It's basically for consumer items like streaming video, Youtube, etc. I went to a demo years ago where Sony showed a 3G two way video between phones in Tokyo. Interesting, but basically useless :-)

It will be cool when it is here, but I'm not waiting for it!

I'm sorry but how can you say EDGE is best for now? I have Sprint and the EVDO network runs circles around EDGE. My son-in-law has a AT&T Curve and it's painfully slow accessing web sites. My Pearl2 is much, much faster. I believe Verizon also uses the EVDO network.

I also think EVDO is a bit faster. My sister just got a blackjack yesterday w/ATT and she was told she would be on 3G. I was websurfing on it yesterday and I'm sorry I think my pearl on sprint is alot faster.

quick question.....I have the 8130...is that a Pearl 2? Need clarification on what the Pearl 2 is.

You will probably see more difference when you tether and perhaps when surfing as more and more websites become optimized for mobile users. Email, SMS, etc won't show any difference I think. Or at least none that you will notice anyway.

Battery life will most likely decline when using 3g, but you will be able to use voice and data at the same time, i.e. send and receive email while using the phone.

The homepage on my ATT EDGE Pearl and 8800 is NYT and it loads within 4-5 seconds. There is no situation, in my personal experience, where I need it to load faster with a resulting decline in battery life. That is just my opinion, I'm not saying that 3G may not load it faster. I think the point is that not many people (the average consumer, not necessarily people on here) need 3G for what they do with their cells or even smartphones. That's why Blackberry is slow to integrate it, it won't effect email which is their strong point.

That's why I noted TMO is my carrier. I've never used EVDO so can't vouch for it.

I will also say when teathering on EDGE my computer runs slower than dial up. If EVDO is similar then it's really a non issue, it works ok on the device but nothing to argue about.

EDGE avg speed - 200-400kbps
EVDO rev0 avg speed - 400-700kbps

EDGE average speed is 50-125 kbps, generally, the max is about 300 kbps since most towers are modified. The absolute max is 384 kbps, AFAIK.

You are correct on EVDO, max Rev 0 is 1.2 mbps and Rev A is about 2.4 mbps, I think.