H in the status bar instead of 3G.

[pittsm]

Can anyone explain to me a little more about the H instead of the 3g in the status bar when using a custom rom. I heard it means its faster, but how is that possible, when att only puts out a 3g signal where i'm at?

 

[s2h2golf]

Having "H" in the status bar simply means that HSUPA is enabled with the modem you are using. Having HSUPA enabled means that you are able to get higher upload speeds, and as a result of that, your download speeds are typically higher as well.

 

[pittsm]

So your saying that the stock captivate is limiting the att network speed?

Sent from my SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

 

[s2h2golf]

So your saying that the stock captivate is limiting the att network speed?

Sent from my SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

Upload speeds only. They are capped. The only ATT phone (except for the Inspire) that I know of that does not have the upload speeds capped is the iPhone.

 

[pittsm]

interesting. i did not know this. so would that mean faster web browsing, downloads etc?

 

[s2h2golf]

Yes. I do not know the technical details, but from what I understand, because you are opening up the higher bandwidth for uploads, you also see higher download speeds. For example, when I was using Cognition back in December, I was getting download speeds around 600kbps and upload speeds around 250kbps. Since I went to the JK4 modem, which is a HSUPA-enabled modem, I have seen 5500kbps downloads and 1500kbps uploads. All ATT modems for the Captivate are not HSUPA-enabled, but the ones for the international Galaxy S I-9000 are.

 

[loraque]

Even the Inspire is capped for the high speed upload. Only the iPhone 4 is "allowed" to access this. Cognition puts the H in the bar, but HSUPA is NOT working... I think it just means it is available. If you are running pretty much any other custom ROM and see the H, you have the higher speed upload.

This does translate into faster web browsing, even though the download is more important for speed almost all the time. The reason for this is the chattiness of web browsing. We are constantly talking back to the site, telling it that YES WE HAVE RECEIVED, PLEASE SEND MORE. That happens faster, with reduced latency with HSUPA. This translates into an overall faster experience.

The latency is probably the item that helps the most.