The new iPad will accommodate 3G speeds up to 42 Mbps in the UK according to this report in PocketLint. The website contacted all the major carriers to get the lowdown and came up with some encouraging results.
The iPad 2 was limited to 14.2 Mbps, although I can’t ever remember being aware of even that quickness. The new iPad will allow up to 42 Mbps on 3G and this gives scope for 3G speeds to be boosted up to the DC-HSDPA standard. For the time being, actual results will be lower than that and will depend very much on where you are. In big cities you will be best off; out in the country you are likely to see much lower speeds.
Vodafone came out best in PocketLint’s survey with a promised offering of up to 28.8 Mbps. O2, Three and Everything Everywhere will be topping out at 21.1 Mbps.
We should all be reasonably happy with these speeds. After all, they are faster on paper than many of our home broadband services. Only my Virgin service is likely to out-perform the advertised 28.8 Mbps of Vodafone.
As with all cellular data services, however, the results are only as good as the signal quality. Even Vodafone is a bit iffy in many areas of London, the capital city, so imagine what it is like in rural areas. We can be reasonably optimistic, nonetheless. For the moment, our new iPads will be capable of much faster speeds than the networks can offer. Things can only improve.