According to some reports, AT&T is working with Apple to change the network indicator to "4G" from "3G" for iPhone 4S.
But looks like AT&T hasn't waited for Apple to release the iOS software update to make this change as AT&T's website already claims that iPhone 4S is a 4G capable device.
As you can seen in the screenshot below, AT&T is showcasing Apple's new iPhone 4S along with smartphones like Impulse 4G, BlackBerry Torch 9810, Samsung Infuse 4G etc as a 4G-capable device on its website. iPhone 4S supports faster HSPA+ network, which is marketed by many carriers around the world including AT&T as a 4G network, so it could be the reason that AT&T considers iPhone 4S as a 4G device.
iDB who spoke to an AT&T rep about this report:
I just talked to AT&T and they do indeed consider the iPhone 4S as a “4G” device because of HSPA+. The AT&T rep I talked to agreed that it wasn’t a very fair denomination and said it was more 3.5G than actual 4G.
Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President at Apple had explained their stance at Let's Talk iPhone event:
Now, if you follow the phone industry, these numbers might sound familiar – 5.8 up, 14.4 down. Where have I heard that before? Well, this is what the majority of our competitors claim when they talk about 4G performance. The Motorola Atrix 4G, the LG Thrill 4G, the HTC Inspire 4G – they even put it in their names. We're not going to get into a debate in the industry of what's 4G and what isn't. We leave that to others to talk about. What's most important, when it comes to real-world performance – the iPhone 4S is just as fast as all these phones. In fact, we think with some of our software enhancements, it's even faster in real-world use.
In our opinion, you can probably say that iPhone 4S supports 3.5G network as it supports faster HSPA+ networks, but since it can support theoretical maximum download speeds of only 14.4Mbps, calling it a 4G device is misleading.
What do you think? Sound off in the comments below.
Marketing gimmick.
agreed
What exactly is 4g then?
According to wikipedia 4g refers to 3 technologies
WiMax
LTE
HSDPA+
Donno who is doing Marketting gimmicks but apple surely was smart enought to stay away from the what is 4g and what is not story!
Original 4g specifications were minimum download speeds of 100mbps. Carriers started using the 4g jargon without meeting that specification. With Tmobile then declaring that their HSPA+ network is also 4g, ATT jumped on the bandwagon. The ITU then caved in and dropped the 100mbps requirement to be 4g.
So in that sense, HSAP+ is now recognized by them as 4g. The whole what’s 4g and what’s not is just to confuse the regular consumer into thinking they’re getting the fastest speed possible, despite the real world experience being much slower.
It was apparent when a friend of mine showed me his new shiny HTC phone on tmobile which indicated 3 bars on 4g. He asked to borrow my phone to check football scores because his phone was stalling out and the page couldn’t load. The page showed up almost instantly on my 4s and he says wow that loaded way faster than his phone loads any page, ever. Then he says, “your phone’s not 4g? It says 3g only. How’s it faster than my 4g?”
Actually apple is apart of it thier gonna change the 3G indicador to 4g for the atat iPhone on the next update
We don’t know that they will. It’s only ATT that’s asking them to do so, which I doubt they will. I’d rather see an “H” or some other indicator for HSPA+ but I definitely don’t want to see 4g.
I updated my software this morning and now the display shows 4g.
I’ve never gotten over 4.5 down or 2 up in North Jersey
Y not call it H+
It should just be 3G+
Notice how Phil didn’t mention the Samsung Infuse or Galaxy S II, which support 21mbps down?
Seriously, does it really matter anymore. At speed of 2Mbps and up the average person should be happy. Unless u surf porn all day.
For me that bullish.. It’s just marketing campain and a way for Att come with an excuse to terminate unlimited data to existing customers that still have it.
I’m not sure about you, but when I activated my 4S is specified that my data plan was “Unlimited 4G”. Unless you make a change to your data plan, AT&T cannot change it. So those of us who started with our iPhone 1′s still enjoy $30 unlimited data plans…even on AT&T’s “4G”.
I’m McLlovin’ my unlimited 4G (speed not capacity or volume as in GB) at $30/mo. I love being grandfathered in on the pricing game change…but if they’re throttling us too…what’s the point? We’re all paying $30/mo, and it’s either we hit 4GB and then we’re done or we hit 3GB and then get throttled so that it’s nearly impossible to get over the 4GB download barrier. Cell companies are in business to make money…just ask anyone that has had their $700 iPhone stolen…all the carriers will allow the “reported stolen to the police and carrier” iPhone (or others I’m sure) to be registered again for service. Whats THAT?
Apple took the correct stance in the argument. Apple views 4G to be LTE or WiMax for the US Carriers, so while the iPhone 4S is HSPA+ compatible, they are not branding it as a 4G device as it would be unfair to Verizon and Sprint who use LTE and WiMax respectively. When iPhone does go true 4G Apple will no doubt make that a key feature in it’s marketing. But for now, they are content to release a product and let the mobile providers bicker about what is 4G and what isn’t.
Perfect response
HSPA+ is now faster than LTE due to a dual carrier solution it now has a top of 168 mbps and is a official 4g candidate.
So to make a long story short, its a 4g candidate phone just like all the other mislabeled phones that use HSPA+, LTE, and WiMAX
Your wrong apple is going to change the 3G indicator to 4G for atat so Steve jobs is dead and already apple is making bad decisions
Don’t go dis Jobs.
they were not dissing Steve Jobs they were stating that Steve was the thing that kept apple going
NO LTE here so what is the claim about?
Its funny this whole 4g thing cause when I got my girlfriend her new 4s te Att rep told me its is 4g and I looked at him and said you mean hspa right and he said no it is 4g so I said I didn’t know we had let here and he said we don’t so I said its not true 4g just higher speed 3G and he didn’t seem to like that answer lol.
blend over and take it up the ass! learn english!
It’s ironic that you make a spelling error when correcting someones post.
Hahaha, right?!
I believe you meant ‘someone’s post’, but I could be wrong.
I believe that “someones” would have been a grammatical error not a spelling mistake. Man, 3 for 3 wrong!
just because it doesnt have the update to ENABLE it, doesnt mean the phone isnt CAPABLE.
derp
I’ve gotten only about 5.88mbps down with my 4s so far.
6.9mbps down and 1.5mbps up, that’s not 4g here in PA.. During the day it’s half that.. Let me guess AT&T, your gonna charge us more now for this bullshit..
4G speed test from my HTC Thunderbolt on Verizon LTE.
College Station TX to Dallas TX – 38.85mbps Down, 3.41mbps Up
College Station TX to Los Angeles CA – 30.10mbps Down, 3.07mbps Up
Tested using Speakeasy Speed Test.
I guess Apple will remain behind the curve for yet another year.
Whoa! 38.85 mbps, that’s insane!
Somebody had their wifi on. lol
Anyone else get their AT&T bill with a new “Data Unlimited on 4G for iPhone 4S” fee on it?!? $9 in addition to the $30?!? I certainly don’t think I’m getting 4G speed, especially when there are so many dead spots around Chicago.
Yeh Same here, except the charge was for $10 !! Whats going on with that.
Has anyone got the txt that says there the to 5% of data users and that they will revive a cut in speed?
Speakeasy speedtest uses flash to run whick app;e does not allow
I’ve gotten that 5% text twice already. I received an e-mail in the morning saying this was going to start happening, got a text that night saying I was in the top 5% and my data speeds would slow down. Thing is, when I DL most of my data, I’m at home using my wireless connection.
I use my data alot i even go over but i never got one, but my buddy has an old pantech and got one with no data plan. So im calling fake on those text
Thats why you all have to go to Sprint!!!! Sprint still offers unlimited 4G service for no extra cost!!! yay!! Go SPRINT!!! I have the iPhone 4 and with Sprint the EVO 3D. . Yeah the EVO… So much better!!!
Just got Sprint, Samsung Galaxy 2S Epic 4G. No 4 G towers here, but it’s as fast as my home wireless PC! Incredible speed, incredible prices – Thanks Sprint!!!
The reason Sprint still allows unlimited data, is the same reason you could ‘hear a pin drop’ on their voice network. (From an old 1980′s marketing campaign)
There is nobody there!
So it my data going to be tethered at 3GB (3G) or 5GB (4G). I wonder what AT&T does to fix the unlimited issue. I bet they advertise 4G iPhone 4S and unlimited users get tethered at 3GB of data. Only AT&T can have one’s cake and eat it too.
I meant throttled, not tethered.
I was surprised the other day when my iphone 4S went from 3G to 4G on my phone’s indicator. A pleasant surprise since I did not know that ATT was going 4G in my area this soon (East Idaho). Normally 3G was about 1-2 Mbps down load and at the most .11 Mbps upload on my speedtest. Now I am getting up to 4.5 Meg download and over 1 meg upload! This rocks!
Yeah I notice my iPhone change from 3G to 4g 2days ago after I update my iPhone to 5.1.
I don’t see any different in speed but they both still loading page fast as slways
Have any of you guys tried watching netflix or any music videos
On your iPhones 4s… without using wifi as your source for internet
Man 3G does suck in that department..a lot of long buffering and interuptions with the buffering as well..will 4g make a difference right there??? I mean other than this my iphone 4s 64 gb is the business..
Just hate i can’t watch a video or Netflix for a little past time that’s all..
Oh bigger screen could be nice as well .. Looking forward to iPhone 5
I bought an iPhone 4S when they were released. I have AT&T service. My iPhone, until recently, said 3G. About 2-3 weeks ago, I think, I wirelessly updated the phone and since the update my phone has said 4G where it used to say 3G. The performance does seem to be much faster.