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How much do mobile network data speeds really matter?
AT&T; and T-Mobile have recently announced expanded support for a technology known as High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 7.2, designed to enable faster data connections for smartphones, netbooks and other mobile computing devices. Sprint, meanwhile, touts continuing roll-out of its so-called "4G" network, which promises higher data speeds among other benefits. But how important are such features to your business, what features and services are more important, and how well are your carriers delivering?
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While speed is definitely an important factor, I believe it is only ONE of the several features worth considering. I firmly believe that "Data expands to fill up the bandwidth available". So however fast your connection is, you may find applications that still want more. Look at the evolution of Internet apps and you will see a clear pattern - from plain text pages to HD video, we are continuously consuming more data.
Carriers are pushing the "Speed" thing down our throat, for several reasons. Speed is easily observable, can be easily manipulated, etc. As consumers, we should consider other factors such as reliability, QOS, which according to me are more important than speed alone.
For all the complaints about AT&T or Verizon's networks, I think they are doing reasonably well to handle the additional (and unanticipated) stress on their networks. It will be interesting to see how they cope with this stress in the times to come. The number of bandwidth guzzling phones and apps will continue to rise and this is where the real challenge lies. The existing networks were somehow able to handle the stress, but the future may be completely different. It will be interesting to see the evolution of various technologies being talked about - 4G, LTE, WIMAX, etc. The future surely is interesting...
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