HSDPA or UMTS.

Hello to the community.
Can anyone tell me which they think is the faster protocol of either HSDPA or UMTS as i'm in the UK I'm finding UMTS faster as i have two 3 G broadband dongles, but the literature i've read so far says HSDPA is faster with data transfer rates, anyone point me in the right direction as to which is possibly faster and the newer technology, thanks for any help.

UMTS is the 3G standard, HSxPA is a evolution of that standard to offer faster data rates.

Hi

Also HSDPA or just UMTS is only part of the story. Speeds are also dependant on how many people are on the cell, what back-haul it has and your distance to the cell, so even if HSDPA has a higher speed, that is only the theoretical maximum.

Like most of these technologies and acronyms, the highest advertised speeds are seldom achieved in the real world.

Regards

Phil

In reply to a post by PhilipD:

Like most of these technologies and acronyms, the highest advertised speeds are seldom achieved in the real world.

Yes, I've seen Vodafone mast here in town that links as HSPA+ but only ever manages speed tests around 4megabit (even at 1am) but another Vodafone mast in a neighbouring town that is HSDPA and gets 7megabit. I assume backhaul issues on the first one.

In reply to a post by PhilipD:

Also HSDPA or just UMTS is only part of the story. Speeds are also dependant on how many people are on the cell, what back-haul it has and your distance to the cell, so even if HSDPA has a higher speed, that is only the theoretical maximum.

Shhh not so loud. Mobile companies are building a business case by ignoring those inconvenient truths

Edited by Andrue (Fri 03-Jan-14 13:32:44)

Thanks for all the response (-; UMTS is doing the fastest for me at the moment after trying both dongles. Not sure on any set speeds but fastest i have noted at about 01.00 was about 450kbs i think, but its normally more like 200kbs - 300kbs seems fast enough for me.

Largest single file download was 3.5GB took a few hours but not long.
Thanks again for the explanations.

Which operator?

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by PhilipD:

Like most of these technologies and acronyms, the highest advertised speeds are seldom achieved in the real world.

Yes, I've seen Vodafone mast here in town that links as HSPA+ but only ever manages speed tests around 4megabit (even at 1am) but another Vodafone mast in a neighbouring town that is HSDPA and gets 7megabit. I assume backhaul issues on the first one.

different areas different expectations

I consider 2mbit/sec good for 3g around here. O2 gets 2-6mbit/sec it varies. giffgaff (on o2's network) about 1-3mbit/sec. three is sub 0.3mbit and often not even 100kbit now.

As soon as I get outside the urban area's speeds shoot up.