I came across this little bandwidth test in the App Store and decided to install it, just…because. For all that my cable connection is slow (and 5Mb/s is their second tier–they offer 3, 5 and 10, all for arse-rape prices), at least I’m not stuck with only Edge! That was one of the iPhone’s selling points; I wasn’t sure what 3G was, or whether we had it here (and indeed, we don’t–it doesn’t exist yet in this area), so I wanted a phone that could use wifi as well. I’d thought the iPhone was really cool right from the day L. sent me the video “tour” of it, but when he said that it would still be perfectly useable even if I had no wireless data plan at all, I really got interested. I do have unlimited data, of course, because it comes with AT&T’s “default” iPhone plan if you don’t specifically state that you don’t want it, and because P. wanted the phone to be as much fun as possible, but given the speed and latency of Edge (it was at five bars for the test, but dropped one when I moved to another room), it’s easy to see why I use wifi any time it’s available!

(Blogged from my phone, over wifi, of course, or the images would still be uploading!)

EDIT: Gawd, I just looked at the Edge screenshot and remembered something. The first time I took my phone out to the park (day after Christmas), I’d had it for less than a day, and since the last time I’d had a mobile before that was ten years ago, I knew so little about modern wireless phones as to be essentially nothing. I had put Fring on so I could use MSN/Google chat, and L., bless his iPhone guru heart, “went with me” (virtually) to the park. I wanted to test connectivity, so he stayed on IM, talking to me as I moved around. I remember asking him whether I should turn on the 3G because at the time, I wasn’t quite sure what it was (except for faster), and had no idea of how much coverage AT&T might have in the area, and he told me to go ahead because it was worth a shot to see whether there was coverage. There wasn’t, and I distinctly recall asking him, “What’s the blue E?” I suppose I might have clued in after a while because I knew from the wifi symbol that the spot was for information about the connection, and I’d have to be pretty stupid to not get “E for Edge” eventually, but he didn’t bat an eye–just said, “Edge”. Hahaha! I’m a lot more up to speed on wireless now (mostly just whatever the iPhone uses), but god it’s funny to think back on how patiently he’d answered what were impossibly stupid questions. I really didn’t know, though; hadn’t had a mobile phone since (I think) 1998, and hated it when I did have one back then, plus I’d read many horror stories about US wireless companies, so I wanted nothing to do with them now, and I remained deliberately ignorant.