Does anyone's network say HSPA+ yet?

[JetBlk]

I can tell you right now the sim has nothing to do with HSDPA and HSUPA. I have my iPhone sim as ive had for the past 2 years. HSUPA is just enabled in the firmware of the iphone and DISABLED in the ROM of the inspire. It is enabled when you root and use the Desire HD ROM from Europe. the build.prop of android is where you can turn off HSUPA or turn it on.

Be patient, like most said, the backend updates havent been turned on yet, and probably wont be until march 1st at the least.

 

[emuneee]

If that were true, why waste the money and resources on manufacturing these 4G SIMs in the first place?
Why conveniently are the 4G SIMs only avaiable in the select 4G markets and nationwide after March if the 4G SIM wasn't integral to full usage of the HSPA+ network?
And to those who point to HSPA+ being a derivative of the current network that shouldn't require a new SIM, recall the iPhone and HSUPA. HSUPA is an implementation of AT&T's network everywhere, yet only phones with an iPhone SIM have access to that part of the network. Wouldn't it make perfect equal AT&T sense to also parse the HSPA+ part of the network off to only those who have a 4G SIM, and pay for a special data plan?

HSUPA is NOT a function of the SIM card. I have a Samsung Captivate and if I flash an HSUPA capable modem to it, BAM, I have HSUPA speeds...very similar to what iPhone 4 users experience on AT&Ts network. You can do the same as the previous poster said, flash a custom ROM to your Inspire 4G (aka around the world as the Desire HD).

4G SIMs will be required for AT&Ts LTE rollout. Either AT&T is:
1) relabeling their old 3G SIMs to 4G SIMs, but they are just 3G SIMs.
2) the 4G SIMs are indeed 4G (real 4G aka LTE) SIMs. When inserted into a 4G capable device (I mean real 4G aka LTE, HSPA+ is still 3.XG technology, not 4G) you are able to access the LTE network. AT&T is readying for the rollout and delivering 4G SIMs to limited AT&T locations. 4G SIMs are backwards compatible with 3G handsets. They'll need to be anyway. The first LTE phones will still have 2G/3G radios to use for voice and fallback for data when LTE is not available.

I'm inclined to go with option 2.

 

[Roofing Calculator]

wow... my phone also says "umts" ... how do i make it hsdpa/hsupa??? i got my inspire 4g in part, for the 4g feature of it...

 

[JetBlk]

wow... my phone also says "umts" ... how do i make it hsdpa/hsupa??? i got my inspire 4g in part, for the 4g feature of it...

Well HSDPA isn't HSPA+ either sooo.... "4G" HSPA+ isn't turned on yet until march

 

[netposer]

One of the reps at the ATT store said H+ was just 3G. I think he personally didn't consider it 4G and that's why he said that. Edge shows up as an E though.

From what I heard the towers will show H+ but the back haul is still UMTS.

I've seen EDGE and I saw for a brief moment a "G" and my MicroCell shows "H+"

 

[dcdenonda]

4G for AT&T isnt ready so the G speed is delivered by HSPA+ with enhanced backhaul. I consider HSPA+ to be on the highest of spectrum for 3G, just getting to 4G speeds.

 

[anon62607]

Someone mentioned before that the rep says H+ is an enhanced 3G technology. He was right. From a technical standpoint HSPA+ is not 4G.

HSPA+ is comprised of two technologies, HSDPA (which is enabled) and HSUPA.

For whatever reasons unknown to me, AT&T disables HSUPA on their smartphones (except the iPhone 4). HSUPA enables the higher upload speeds you see iPhone 4 users getting (most times 1+Mbps). Other positive side effects (YMMV) include lower latencies and sometimes higher download speeds. Without HSUPA, the highest cellular upload speeds you will see will be around 400Kbps.

Finally, there is not special SIM card for HSPA+ AFAIK. If you have a recent 3G SIM card, well you should be able to use that same SIM card in yout HSPA+ enabled device, because again, HSPA+ is a 3G technology. The only reason you would need a new SIM is if the one you have is ridiculously old or a 2G SIM (like my wife's SIM when we traded in her BB 7XXX, LOL). You will however need a new SIM when you make the transition to an LTE device.

HSPA+ is not simply HSDPA and HSUPA, HSDPA was defined in rel 5 of the spec, HSUPA in rel 6, and HSPA+ in rel 7 and beyond.

HSDPA allows for a device to receive up to 7.2 mbps by using 10 of the available 16 spreading codes on a 5 MHz channel at iirc a code rate of 3/4 and using up to 16QAM modulation. I talk about this in more detail in another post.

HSUPA is the reverse channel version of this. It allows for uplink of around 5 mbps.

HSPA+ in rel 7 allows for use of 64QAM and 15 of 16 spreading codes or 16QAM, 10 codes, and MIMO, for 21 mbps or 28 mbps in 5 mhz channels, respectivly.

Future versions of HSPA+ allow for 42 mbps with 64QAM, MIMO and 15 codes (35/36 code rate also) or dual carrier (that is, using 2x 5 MHz carriers for forward channel).

Finally the end all be all of HSPA+ allows for about 80 Mbps for all the techniques listed above and to include dual carrier (64 qam, mimo, 15 codes, 35/36 rate). This should exceed the performance for download of the LTE network that verizon is currently deploying.

It's also important to note that HSPA+ implies some back end packet handling features (not just backhaul but making it more "all IP") that is lacking in HSUPA+HSDPA.

 

[Lefty2004]

Very informative stuff. Can someone explain to me why, when I have my mobile network set to off and have added a blank APN to completely disable data except when I'm on wifi, do I still have the H+ icon? On my previous phone (Nexus One) my 3g status icon would disappear whenever I was on wifi or had deselected mobile network.

 

[emuneee]

HSPA+ is not simply HSDPA and HSUPA, HSDPA was defined in rel 5 of the spec, HSUPA in rel 6, and HSPA+ in rel 7 and beyond.

HSDPA allows for a device to receive up to 7.2 mbps by using 10 of the available 16 spreading codes on a 5 MHz channel at iirc a code rate of 3/4 and using up to 16QAM modulation. I talk about this in more detail in another post.

HSUPA is the reverse channel version of this. It allows for uplink of around 5 mbps.

HSPA+ in rel 7 allows for use of 64QAM and 15 of 16 spreading codes or 16QAM, 10 codes, and MIMO, for 21 mbps or 28 mbps in 5 mhz channels, respectivly.

Future versions of HSPA+ allow for 42 mbps with 64QAM, MIMO and 15 codes (35/36 code rate also) or dual carrier (that is, using 2x 5 MHz carriers for forward channel).

Finally the end all be all of HSPA+ allows for about 80 Mbps for all the techniques listed above and to include dual carrier (64 qam, mimo, 15 codes, 35/36 rate). This should exceed the performance for download of the LTE network that verizon is currently deploying.

It's also important to note that HSPA+ implies some back end packet handling features (not just backhaul but making it more "all IP") that is lacking in HSUPA+HSDPA.

Very informative, thanks.

 

[anon62607]

Very informative stuff. Can someone explain to me why, when I have my mobile network set to off and have added a blank APN to completely disable data except when I'm on wifi, do I still have the H+ icon? On my previous phone (Nexus One) my 3g status icon would disappear whenever I was on wifi or had deselected mobile network.

No idea but I bet there was an edict from the marketing department saying "it shall say H+ if it is receiving a UMTS band carrier if any kind". Making the notification icon useless.

 

[amaranojr]

considering they pushed up the release of the atrix to this tuesday 2/22...that will be 2 "4G" phones available on ATT...they should tweak their towers or something because there are going to be a lot of new "4G" customers who are going to realize their data speeds are the same as an iphone4.

 

[Roofing Calculator]

considering they pushed up the release of the atrix to this tuesday 2/22...that will be 2 "4G" phones available on ATT...they should tweak their towers or something because there are going to be a lot of new "4G" customers who are going to realize their data speeds are the same as an iphone4.

Correction - same as iphone 3g/3gs, because up speed is about 250-300 kbs ... but yea - what a scam.

So my question is are we locked into umts, unless we root and f with the radio? or when they open the valve on Mar. 1st, we will get "4g" (hspa+)?

 

[Shad0w26]

I just rooted my Inspire 4G and in fact I AM getting higher download and upload speeds...

 

[grasstrout]

I just rooted my Inspire 4G and in fact I AM getting higher download and upload speeds...

interesting...

 

[Shad0w26]

I know it kind of weird... I'm not experiencing advertised 4G speeds but I'm definitely getting higher speeds that I was getting before rooting. Before I rooted the phone, I was getting ~900kbs down and ~400kbs up. Now I'm getting this:

I'm in South Nassau County, Long Island (Near NYC)...

 

[Roofing Calculator]

rooted as in "installed custom DHD rom"? what has changed (besides the speed of course)? did the new rom unlock hsdpa/hsupa?

 

[bigmacwrap]

I get about 6 mb per second download in Canton Ohio. I had the iPhone 4 and used to get between 3-4 here.

 

[ARTO]

mine says HSDPA

 

[manny05]

so should we wait until at&t enables it via update or root it?
and if we should root..should i do it now? (im new to the rooting scene..although im very familiar with jailbreak with the iphone and all. although im sure its completely different)

 

[y2jdmbfan]

so should we wait until at&t enables it via update or root it?
and if we should root..should i do it now? (im new to the rooting scene..although im very familiar with jailbreak with the iphone and all. although im sure its completely different)

Rooting is not going to enable HSPA+. The only think rooting will do will enable HSUPA. AT&T needs to turn on HSPA+ in their system for "4G" download speeds, but they are never going to enable the HSUPA uploads from what we can tell.