As many of you readers know, I only post things that I can backup on this blog and to say the least, don’t buy the AT&T Blackberry Bold because I tried it last night and it’s as slow as your 3G iPhone.
It was my friend’s birthday in downtown San Francisco, (I also did test the 3G iPhone along with the Blackberry Bold) and had the chance to use his new AT&T Blackberry Bold.
Well, the benchmark was of course with my Sprint Blackberry 8830. Aside from mobile internet speed issues, the Blackberry Bold proved to be bulkier in size while the built-in camera was definitely a plus over my 8830.
In my speed tests, I pulled up Zedomax.com and couple of other sites. My Sprint Blackberry 8830 took about 15 seconds while the AT&T Blackberry Bold took over a minute! (Same thing happened with the iPhone 3G, which my friend’s girlfriend had in the same testing room.)
A lot of you consumers are mislead by over-fed advertising online, on TV, and elsewhere.
But I can explain exactly WHY AT&T’s network is simply too slow for mobile browsing:
1. AT&T is on HSDPA. HSDPA is simply the 3G version of GSM, which most of telecommunication companies in the world use. Now this HSDPA is SLOW in America. (I have however heard that it’s faster in Finland where Nokia is based from)
You can knock yourself out to learn about HSDPA on Wikipedia here.
Also read up on GSM, which is the backbone of HSDPA.
2. Sprint is on CDMA and EDVO. Basically, CDMA is used in only few countries such as South Korea, where CDMA proved to be super-fast, and is the backbone for WiMAX, the 4G technology.
I have lived in South Korea couple years ago and I have to say, cellphone technology is really about 2-3 years behind in the U.S. as far as customer usability goes. (Btw, WiMAX was developed in Korea, now being implemented slowly by Sprint.)
Well, before you can attack me with your comments, please do read up on these too:
CDMA on Wikipedia, which is basically backbone behind EDVO and WiMAX.
If you have took college classes on computer networking like me, you know why CDMA is faster, because it’s digital channels divided, perfect for mobile internet.
You do have to realize GSM was really built for voice while CDMA was built for making efficient use of digital signals.
Well, to sum it all up, real live testing is always a good measure of which mobile internet is the fastest. Even me, I do theorize a lot but it came to me yesterday, I was indeed right. (Thank you very much. 🙂 )
3. Lastly, but not least, AT&T is basically Cingular since they bought Cingular couple years ago. I used to be on Cingular and switched to Sprint after extensive testing of all U.S. telecommunication companies. (You will probably find a lot of data on this blog by searching for it if you really want.)
In all, I just want to inform you of the features you need to look at before buying a phone. I don’t work for Sprint, I just know that my Sprint Blackberry has the fastest mobile internet speeds.
In addition, Verizon Wireless is also on CDMA, and they are probably as fast as Sprint.
In all of my previous testings in the U.S. in SF downtown (we even rented a hotel room just for that), CDMA proved to be superior to GSM as far as mobile internet speeds go.
Now, if you don’t really browse on the internet and still want to get the Blackberry Bold from AT&T, go ahead but if you need the fastest, fastest mobile internet, I highly and strongly advise you to wait until Blackberry Bold or similar model becomes available on Sprint or Verizon Wireless.
Again, I am not biased, I can see through the mass-media marketing of telecommunication companies in the U.S. If you are pretty expert on this topic, I am sure you will agree too.
Besides the fact that CDMA is superior over GSM, another thing you have to note is the number of cellphone towers that Sprint has over AT&T is enormous, also due to the fact that Sprint bought Nextel, one of the biggest (if not one and only) walkie-talkie-style networks.
I am sure AT&T’s network can be slightly faster in certain locations in highly metropolitan areas. But overall on average, AT&T never had their own network. They bought the dying Cingular and simply marketed with billions of dollars. (Which is why they are successful)
Well, that’s enough banging for today and like I told you, I know this mobile internet stuff because I use it everyday to make sure my site is running. Everytime my site goes down for more than an hour, I am losing a lot of money so even seconds are important to me on the cellphone. 🙂
I am sure I will get a lot of positive and negative comments on this post, please don’t post dumb, negative comments, only comments that can be backed up with real facts, or they will be marked “spam” immediately and permanently IP-banned from Zedomax. 🙂
Happy smart cellphone shopping! (I know I know, Steve Jobs and AT&T hates me by now. Hey, but I am stating facts here, not just spending billions of dollars into advertising and cellphone-wash the masses.)
Here’s couple links out of many million opinions floating on the internet that AT&T 3G is freakin’ SLOW!
25 Responses to AT&T BlackBerry Bold Review – Don’t Buy It!
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I browsed to http://www.zedomax.com in 11 seconds from an iPhone 3G, using the 3G network near Portsmouth, NH.
This is a very unusual kind of post from you. So much detail and full of information. Thanks.
I have the sprint 8830 and i compared it to my friends bold over the weekend. We were on Long Island, NY and the Bold internest speed was a lot slower than the 8830. I do love the 8830 but I want the Bold but I will not switch over to At&t to get it. I just hope sprint gets it soon. No, I do not work for sprint either. Just a happy customer.
Hmmm…. that’s hard to believe, I’ve never seen an iPhone that fast but yes, maybe there’s a lot of cellphone towers at NH.
Yes, I have the same phone, same thing for me, AT&T Bold is really slow. I hope Sprint gets it soon too. =)
Yes, I sometimes have this urge to tell people the truth behind technology, especially if I really know deep down AT&T is trying to make fool out of consumers.
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My Bold loaded zedomax in about 10 seconds (or so, OK MAYBE it was 12). When I’m getting 3G it’s pretty fast loading pages. I’m west of Los Angeles.
Yeah I think that’s the problem with it, AT&T can be fast or slow depending on where you are located. But based on intensive testing on different locations, iPhone 3G didn’t have a fast speeds on average where Sprint and Verizon loaded fast regardless of locations.
But yes, it’s hard to say bad things about your own phone.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the iPhone, I hate AT&T.
Like NIch said, this is a very not like your usual post. But I do agree with you. I had a similar ordeal. I bought a Blackberry Bold in August and stopped receiving email for 2 days before I realised that my emails were piling up but my Blackberry Bold failed to forward them as promised.Now it’s so slow and unbearable as I need something fast.
Yeah, AT&T is simply still a developing company sorta like a developing country in a sense. Well, my advice is just boycott AT&T for anything and everything if you really want to be a smart consumer and not fall to mass-media.
Sprint or Verizon is pretty fast still, they were both on 3G for couple years while AT&T tried to market their 3G like it’s something new. (IT’S NOT, AT&T is basically saying they have HDTV now when everyone else had them. This reminds me of a Comcast commercial…not that I like Comcast either.)
I believe there are various errors on your post, I will not waste time telling you off, but dude! Check your grammar. Oh and by the way, AT&T is one of the oldest phone companies here in the US, and you must have smoked some good weed because CINGULAR aquired AT&T and eventually decided to re-birth the AT&T brand http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T_Wireless_Services. Gosh!
Lol, yes maybe too much purple but this still stands:
“Cingular became wholly-owned by the new AT&T in December 2006 as a result of the new AT&T’s acquisition of BellSouth. After the merger, Cingular was renamed AT&T Mobility in early 2007.”
It loaded for me in about 12 seconds on my Bold, so I am not sure what your problem was or how extensive your testing was… You are the only person I have found to say do not buy the Bold. And I have to say reading this page was painful with the amount of underlined ads and ad spam. Not a site I plan to bookmark.
my company has 338 bolds from Ny To Fl and la they all work great and have 240 more on order all my people love them we do have sprint with a few 8830 thats a joke, You want to test come over to my company
From Steve
Interesting, I will have to go over there and test, but my tests may be relevant to the west coast, maybe AT&T is okay over in east coast but I’ve done enough testing over here, my 8830 still beats iPhone/Bold, that is the only reason why I haven’t got a new phone.
Your are crazy!!
AT&T is basically Cingular since they bought Cingular couple years ago? ha ha ha wrong facts again. AT&T was AT&T and temp sold their wireless to Cingular know it was gonna change the name back to at&t
AT&T is on HSDPA. HSDPA is simply the 3G version of GSM? HSDPA has been long gone!
Sprint? LOL! Please! at&t is NOT on HSDPA which is now an ancient technology
Everyone who knows anything KNOWS the 2 major players are at&t and Verizon as far as network.
I bought the bold and it is an awesome phone! NOT slow at all! I love everything about the phone so far. don’t be hattin lol
I am an AT&T customer.
I got the Bold, a Nokia e71 and an Iphone.
I can switch my phone just pulling in my sim card and I can do that in two seconds.
Try to do that with a CDMA.
The 3G internet service with AT&T is fast enough for the use I need to do.
I have an older Sprint Blackberry 8830 that does SIM and CDMA, that’s 2 years ago. Well, all Blackberries support it so that’s not something because it’s 3G, just my 2 cents but thanks for leaving a comment.
I totally disagree! The bold is just fantastic! i “was” on sprint and now at&t.. no comparison. Not only is my service faster on at&t I now have no dead spots or drop calls. I made the right choice
Hello Max…. you may want to have a look at this link!
http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/…
Hmmm… I will wait for the next Blackberry, why r u giving me this link btw, i hate AT&T!
Hmmm… I will wait for the next Blackberry, why r u giving me this link btw, i hate AT&T!
very happy with my purchase of the 9000. it’s smaller, faster, and easier to use. i wasn’t sure about this one when i saw the 9550 come out because the marketing was better for that but i’m glad I went with this over that and the droid. it’s great for my business and I love the internet surfing. got it at gsmauthority.com and def 2 thumbs u