I was able to collect 74 data samples from more than 40 people. I chose to include more than one result from one person if an individual gave them because either they were different connection types, or they varied much in their speed. The full datasheet is available as a Excel Spreadsheet here.

What I found was that the average speed for Sprint Vision based off of 45 samples was 10.508 KB a second. For reference, a standard 56k dialup modem has a technical limit of 7 KB a second, but generally users only see about 5 as a max. Therefore Sprint Vision on the Treo is about twice the speed of dialup. Compared to GPRS it is 4.5 times faster, and it is 14 times faster than the average CSD (dialup) rate. Sprint Vision's cost is unrivaled, and the more you use it the more the per megabyte costs drop. At the recommended plan of 10 MB for Treo's, Sprint Vision only costs $1.00 a MB.

GPRS had 16 responses from 3 different carriers. (Cingular, T-Mobile, and Fido). Its average speed was 2.3 KB a second. This is as to be expected as Handspring themselves only claim a max of 2.5 KB a second. Cingular had the fastest GPRS at the highest cost. Their average speed was 2.4 KB a second. However for the recommended plan of 7 MB it is $4.28 a MB. T-Mobile was slightly slower with an average speed of 2.1 KB a second. Their costs were half as much as Cingular with only $2 a MB at the recommended 10 MB plan. Fido had an average speed of 2.3 KB a second. On average, GPRS was 3.1 times faster than CSD.

There were two kinds of results for CSD (Dialup). If you did not have Cingular Wireless Internet you had an average of 1.02 KB a second. If you did use Cingular Wireless Internet you had an average speed of 0.55 KB a second. The Treo can only communicate through CSD at a max of 1.2 KB a second, so if you use a normal ISP you are maxing out your benefits. If anyone has an explanation on why Cingular Wireless Internet as an ISP is so slow, I would be glad to hear it.

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Read Merciful by Casey Adolfsson