What's your highest download speed on 3G+ / HSDPA

Has anyone hit the maximum download speed of 3.6 Mbit/sec on the 3G+ network, the closest I've got when connected on HSDPA with 5 bars signal strength was 2.5 Mbit, and that was in the early hours of the morning at around 3am when contention shouldn't be an issue. From my experiences 3.6 Mbit/sec or even 3 Mbit/sec is not possible.

6.5Mbps in West London. 4Mbps in High Wycombe. Both on the 3 network.

jayteedc

do you need to buy a 7.2 Mbit dongle to hit those speeds ?

I am on three; I was using an e169 modem, and d100 router, and I was never able to exceed 1.8mb on the download, and .345 on the upload. I have since changed both the modem and the router: I got an icon 505i modem and a Globesurfer X.1 Router. Result: well over 2.8mb on the download, up to 5.30mb at times, and biggest revelation, over 1.20mb on the upload. Makes one wonder whether Three are throttling their service by using the Huwaei modems. The icon 505 definitely outperforms the Huwei, but you need a deep pocket to afford it. By the way, PINGS down from around 185ms to 100ms, and Skype video works better. Hope this helps someone...

Completely agree Huawei E160 and E169 are pathetic modems they are an effective cap on speed. I also use Option iCON 505 and get 5+/1.5+Mbps on O2.

Mine is a Huawei e220 firmware updated to support 7.2Mbps speeds.

The E169 is supposed to support it as well but the reality is quite different.

I found this O2 mobile broadband dongle - 7.2Mbps black for £17.00 (model Huewei E169), is this dongle rubbish, O2 coverage checker says good coverage for my area.

In my opinion yes E169 could be classed as rubbish.

http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/mobilebroadband/f/3...

Good modems are not exactly cheap but if speed counts then it's worth avoiding the supplied Huawei garbage. A good modem makes no difference in areas with poor signal or congestion though - something else to consider. I wonder if O2 will let you buy the 1 month contract (ie SIM only, not PAYG) and source the modem yourself?

Funny enough it was bosie's postings which persuaded me to go with the Icon 505 and Globesurfer modem. Download speeds have immediately doubled (around 3.45 mb today), and uploads around 1.2mb. Best ever speed was 5.30mb on Speedtest.net to the Paris server. Today's PINGS were around 88ms. Yes, the Huwaei modems are rubbish, but you get what you pay for...