The new iPhone 15
scv913's profile

Contributor

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2 Messages

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 9:55 AM

iPhone WiFi Hotspot Speed

If you are using your iPhone as a hotspot, what download speed do you get on a tethered device (such as iPad) and what download speed do you get on the phone itself?

 

I am thinking about changing my unlimited data plan to 4 GB with tethering, but I like to know what kind of download speed I can expect to get on tethered device.

 

If I get download speed of 700 Kbps to 1 Mbps on my iPhone 4, can I expect to see that same speed on my wifi iPad 2 or will I see slower speed?  If slower, how much slower?  By 10%?  20%?  30%?

 

Thank you for your help.

Accepted Solution

Official Solution

Scholar

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346 Messages

12 years ago

Lol, this is funny:

 

iPhone

Ping: 128ms

Down: 1.79Mbps

Up: 0.69Mbps

 

LG Thrive (tethered to iPhone)

Ping: 171ms

Down: 2.02Mbps

Up: 0.70Mbps

 

The devices were tested directly after each other and the same server was used in SpeedTest. Lots of iPhone users here so it's probably impossible to do a more consistent test. I don't have my iPad with me right now so I can't test with that. I think the speed hit is going to be negligible if you only have one device tethered. Although if you have multiple devices (I believe you can connect up to 3), the overhead might be worse and you might take a bigger hit. Just a warning, though, tethering drains the battery like crazy. I usually have my iPhone plugged in to a power outlet when I tether, else, it'll be out of juice by end of day.

Scholar

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112 Messages

12 years ago

When you go through a device like , it'll have slower speeds on a 3rd device. I belive the max on the iPhone 4 and below is about 7mbps. However, on something like the 4S (with HPSA+) you should get about a theoretical 14mbps. Probaly better to just get a hotspot...

Scholar

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331 Messages

12 years ago

Bear in mind that once you change to another plan from unlimited, you can never get unlimited back. It's gone forever once you drop it.

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