How Much Faster is Tethering on 9700 vs. 8900? (Tmobile)

[EliasZuniga]

I currently use an 8900 to tether twice a week; I am considering upgrading to the 9700 only to increase tethering speeds. For everything else, the 8900 suits my needs just fine. It's a lot of money, but if tethering is significantly faster, I wouldn't mind paying for it. Can you guys tell me how much faster tethering with the 9700 is? Thanks for your help.

[Krispykrink]

It all depends on your local 3G coverage. I could go on and on about the 3G speeds I get, but in reality it has no bearing on what kind of speeds you'll get.

[sw.cdn]

It depends on who your provider is and where you will be using it. I use Telus in Alberta on the 9700 and speeds are very good, and more often than not are higher than when I was using a 1X data card.

[EliasZuniga]

Originally Posted by Krispykrink

It all depends on your local 3G coverage. I could go on and on about the 3G speeds I get, but in reality it has no bearing on what kind of speeds you'll get.

Thank you all for the help so far. I live in Long Beach CA, near Los Angeles, so I get good 3G coverage.

[czaplin]

I live in Chicago. I compared 8900 and 9700 with my laptop and can't see any differece. Not to mention I got to turn 3G off because of constantly dropped calls. When T-Mobile is going to fix that?

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[Krispykrink]

Originally Posted by EliasZuniga

Thank you all for the help so far. I live in Long Beach CA, near Los Angeles, so I get good 3G coverage.

Now you gotta ask yourself if 3G speed is worth it to upgrade. If you're only tethering twice a week. I personally tether every day, and 3G is a must have. One thing that may happen, is you're perfectly fine with EDGE speeds, but once you try 3G you'll wonder what took you so long to get it. You may find yourself using more data heavy apps likes streaming radio or video.

Try heading into a local T-Mobile store and see if any of the employee's have a 9700 and would be willing to demo it for you?

[SteveStrike]

My tethering speeds with the 9700 were garbage. 64-224kbps, mostly under 200.

[donniesd]

Originally Posted by EliasZuniga

I currently use an 8900 to tether twice a week; I am considering upgrading to the 9700 only to increase tethering speeds. For everything else, the 8900 suits my needs just fine. It's a lot of money, but if tethering is significantly faster, I wouldn't mind paying for it. Can you guys tell me how much faster tethering with the 9700 is? Thanks for your help.

dont do it unless the phone is free and you wont be bound to extending your contract. i have a 9700. gf has a 8900. her speed is faster. i am in houston and according to the map, i am covered with 3g.

had same results on az, nm and cali this past week.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[SteveStrike]

I am in Houston also, and as I already mentioned, terrible tethering speeds with my 9700

[Mikethaler]

Hmm. I guess I won't rush to upgrade my TM 8320 to the 9700. One reason for doing so was to get a solid Pandora connection in the car. Will the 9700 at least give me that? I probably don't need tethering more than a dozen times a year - mostly in airports that don't yet have free wifi.
...mike

[Artemis68]

I think it's easy to get a solid Pandora connection in the car over EDGE as well as 3G. Unless the 3G is good in your area, I doubt you'll see better streaming rates because it may lag/buffer when switching between EDGE and 3G.

I have the 8900 (EDGE only) and my streaming with Pandora has been very good. I think it depends where you are and the coverage there.

[EliasZuniga]

Wow thanks all for the replies and help! At least for now I think I won't rush to get the 9700. I wonder why donniesd (or anyone else) would get faster tethering speeds with 8900 than the 9700.

[dvaskelis]

I get much better tether speeds on 3G compared to EDGE now that I've moved from an 8900 to a 9700 with T-Mobile in Chicago.

Even though 3G is clearly better than EDGE for data here, I've found tethering to be somewhat frustrating with either device, in that speeds seem like a crapshoot and highly variable even minute-to-minute. I imagine that's just the way T-Mobile's data network in the Chicago area works. Sometimes I swear the 3G is almost like being on a DSL, and sometimes it doesn't feel a whole lot better than an EDGE connection. Overall, the "feel" I get in Chicago is that 3G tethering is 2-3x the speed of EDGE.

I just played around with speedtest.net, and best results with 3G of six tests that ranged from 0.31-0.81 Mb/s download:



And best results with EDGE of six tests that ranged from 0.09-0.21 Mb/s download:



The results of the tests were highly variable, even right after another. These were all while sitting on my sofa at home while USB tethered to my Apple MacBook Air.

[Aburt]

I've been collecting 3G speed test results on the 9700 so you might check those out to get a sense (please add any you do). It varies a lot even minute to minute, by area, carrier, and there are a lot of other variables. For me, all in all, I'm vastly happier with 3G than EDGE, and love my 9700.

[pro-gadgeter]

When i try to hook my 9700 up to my Mac via Bluetooth, it asks for a username, password and phone number too i believe. how do i get all this info. i have tmobile. and will i have to pay extra to use my phone 3g for my laptop?