An iPhone User's Guide to 3G

home DSL gives me about 2.5 Mbps of real downstream service. While 3G is fast, Wi-Fi can be faster. Wi-Fi typical tethers you, and 3G does not.

The future of 3G is pretty grand, based on what's already known about new and evolving standards. AT&T's network will likely jump to 7.2 Mpbs in the not-too-distant future, and there are leaps to double and quadruple that on the current roadmap. AT&T plans to move to a fourth-generation network--all Internet protocol as opposed to today's networks--using LTE (Long Term Evolution), which may offer 50 to 100 Mbps of downstream service by as early as 2012. Verizon and T-Mobile are also on track for LTE, while Sprint is pursuing the near-term deployment of an incompatible standard (backed by Intel) called WiMax that might offer 5 to 15 Mbps downstream as early as late this year in certain markets in the U.S.

Apple's move to 3G with the iPhone is part of a larger trend for wireless devices: giving those devices not just the freedom to move about, but the power of real broadband, extending their usefulness for downloading and streaming video, as well as providing a real alternative to a laptop.

[Glenn Fleishman writes daily about wireless networking at his site Wi-Fi Networking News. He also runs the Glenn Fleishman on Hardware blog at PC World.]