Damn. I remember when I was estatic with 2 56k modems shotgunned. Now I'm all whiny cause I move to an area where they "only" offer 8mbs/512kbs for home and EVDO for mobile.

Dook_In_The_Urinal

I am sitting in a doctors office surfing the web with no wto on my iPhone. I'd like it faster, yes.

wcbjr

I survived 2 years with 768 DSL, I think I can live with this upgrade. That is if I can actually hit some where close to that 500 number.

thechansen

fuck 3g. if you have time to "surf the web" chances are you are either a) NOT going to do it on your phone or b)at least be in an area that has wifi. if you have enough "speed" to retrieve your e-mail in a timely manner or get weather, stocks, etc. updates(which the current edge has plenty of) then that's good enough for a phone. honestly? do people browse the web and "shoot the bull" on gizmodo.com on their cells phones while just randomly walking down the street?.....
WTF is society coming to?

izim1

I wonder if this is possible to implement in software on existing phones. Usually these type of things are only at the cell sites, and its not like you could upgrade GPRS phones to EDGE. However, it would be good for even 3g phones to support this, because then when in areas with only edge it wouldn't be so slow.

ogremustcrush

@olternaut:
Apple wouldnt dare not debut the 3G iphone, since they seem so serious about overtaking RIMM in the enterprise market. 3G iPhone+ 2.0 update + native microsoft office suite = Blackberry wat?

Alex2643

So if anyone really cares you can go take a look at a GPRS core network diagram at Wikipedia here:

[en.wikipedia.org]

When they quote "software based solution" for existing networks this means on their network equipment. The reason this is important is because, for us lonely iPhone users, it's only going to help if 1) AT&T/T-Mobile/Etc want to upgrade, which costs money, and may very well be better spent on new network tech. 2) If they upgrade it's only going to help markets with NSN BTS/BSCs.

So... neat, but kinda worthless.

Merlot

This had BETTER NOT give Apple an excuse not to debut its 3G iphone. EDGE at double its speed is stay way slower than on a 3G network.
I mean......right?

olternaut

@oakie:

Thanks, you ass. Now imma have to go to Sonic at lunch.......:D

Dook_In_The_Urinal

@SkoGoody: Me too. I've been looking for ways to improve the EDGE speed of my iPhone. This looks promising, so I'll just keep my fingers crossed.

Evangelion

zero chance of this coming to current gen iPhones. zero.

MrBlahBlah

Guys, Nokia Siemens Networks isn't Nokia. The two are separate companies. Nokia Siemens Networks is a join-venture owned by Nokia (a Finnish company) and Siemens (a German company). Nokia Siemens Networks (commonly called NSN) doesn't make phones and Nokia doesn't make networking equipment. In the same way, Sony-Ericsson isn't Sony. It's a joint-venture owned by Sony (a Japanese company) and Ericsson (a Swedish company) (commonly called S-E). This isn't just a small nuance but a huge difference. Owning something is very different from being something.

Sortof similar to how a Hummer isn't the same brand as a Buick, even though both are owned by General Motors.

Kim98

I'm more interested in the pictured Double Double. :)

HeartBurnKid

@LittleJon: Its all about sales numbers, and correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as higher-end internet phones are concerned the iPhone is one of the, if not the, biggest sellers. For example, the iPod may not be the best MP3 player out there, but it's sales have everyone else copying it's UI, design, etc.

ILikeMacsWhatAboutIT

This is great news for me even if I get a 3G iPhone, simply because 3G is not likely to come to my area in the near future. Rural areas suck monkey balls. No cable, no fiber optics, no DSL, no 3G.
:(

Babysealclubber

I think this is really good and both AT&T and T-Mo update their networks or well add this software to their towers or however it works so we can enjoy those speeds. 592kbps isnt bad at all and its a gift to those of us who are still with a phone that uses EDGE or are stuck on t-mo waiting for their 3G network.

SneakerFiend

oh, and available in Q3 2008 as an upgrade means it won't be deployed by any of the carriers until 2010. Better put a patience ham into the oven!

drewheyman

We will notice if this gets implimented in the iPhone because they will need to update their FCC report to state a new signaling mode.

FuzzysFriedChicken

@DucatiGuy: I'll thank you not to denigrate the name of Bob Ross and his pretty trees!

drewheyman

@LittleJon: aaah - so you are the guy who got it to work..how?

flyboy

@oakie: Uhm, no. That software upgrade bit is for the network. EDGE was a software upgrade for the network from GPRS. Can you update a GPRS phone or modem to support EDGE?? By and large, that's a big N.O.

Buford T. Justice

@MikeSWelch: What's wrong with the Opera browser?

LittleJon

the double cheeseburger looks mighty fine.

theconqueror

@DucatiGuy: Bob Ross? The painter? He was awesome though...

Average-Dudes

Being an iPhone owner...I have to say this makes me happy. Now, I can pretty much play coy and simmered when the 3G iPhone makes its long-awaited appearance. With those speeds, the need to upgrade is basically nil.

Thanks Nokia.

SkoGoody

@MikeSWelch: There's only one PHONE with a browser I want to surf with, not even edge specific.

bpatten

@LittleJon: There are a lot of edge phones out there...

However, there's only one egde phone with a browser that I want to surf with.

MikeSWelch

Wow! You had to mention the iPhone didn't you?

There's a lot of other EDGE phones out there, you know!

Does Gizmodo operate an Apple quota for its writers? "Every Gizmodo contributor must mention Apple, or an Apple product, in a minimum of 6 articles per day. A negative mention much be balanced out by 2 positive mentions."

Or something like that!

LittleJon

@ILikeMacsWhatAboutIT:
I'm with you. This really isn't fantastic news if the new iPhone comes out in a timely manner and is 3G. Maybe Nokia should spend a little more time on design since they've been getting their asses kicked lately. And that comes from a Nokia phone owner for the past 12 years.

Ideapimp

@badbob001: yes. did you not read the article?

and that burger is making me crave a Supersonic cheeseburger with jalapenos.

oakie

Yeah, I'm still going to wait til the 3G iPhone. Just hope my Treo lasts until then ::crosses fingers::

ILikeMacsWhatAboutIT

Can existing handsets benefit from this with a software upgrade as well? If not, then this will only benefit carriers too poor to build a 3G+ infrastructure.

badbob001

this would be great, IMO. 3g beats up battery life... and i would rather keep 3g for my data card and have this option for my phones.

oakie

An improvement to the "Bob Ross" of networks? WHY? Toss it!

DucatiGuy

They could double the speed of the fatest dial up modem and I'd care about as much.

SchruteBuck

@HeartBurnKid: That's not a double double! It's a trap!

A delicious trap, but not a double double...

Damn. I want a double double with a double double EDGE.

Damage

@LittleJon: I've used the opera browser on my Verizon Blackberry 7250 and my AT&T Pearl. It was a chore to use it, and when people asked me to look something up using it, I felt like they were asking me to cut the grass with a pair of scissors.

MikeSWelch