Seriously, where are you going to go if you want the latest and greatest Smartphone?  Verizon with 2 GB for $30.00 per month?  Sprint with their unusable-in-the-real-world, battery draining WiMAX network and pathetic EV-DO rev. A speeds?  I see upwards of 5 Mbit/s on my AT&T 3G connection, and I’m quite happy with it.  

In a perfect world, I’d love to get a low-end Android smartphone on a prepaid carrier and be done with it.  The challenge we’re all faced with is the fact the top-end subsidized Smartphones are only available on post-paid carriers.  If you want the latest and greatest, deal with it.

Moreover, the context of these numbers must be taken into account. Testing a newly deployed cell is one thing (the data you cite are from test results, not mobile users). Real world, full-to-capacity cells, with users on cell boundaries blasting out interference, is quite another. Still, I agree these numbers are impressive, but let’s way to see how it truly plays out in the real, real-world.The truth is that spectrum will always be *limited* and so *unlimited* data is unfortunately fantasy, at least in the context of macro cells. Capacity has for years only truly grown by shrinking the size of cells and this will continue. What you’ll end up with is a patchwork, in which you bounce in and out of macro-cells, femto-cells, wi-fi hotspots etc. Essentially, this is what the AT&T announcement is acknowledging, that the days of unlimited macro-cell data (which were only possible with few users and limited data thirst) are over.

Moreover, the context of these numbers must be taken into account. Testing a newly deployed cell is one thing (the data you cite are from test results, not mobile users). Real world, full-to-capacity cells, with users on cell boundaries blasting out interference, is quite another. Still, I agree these numbers are impressive, but let’s way to see how it truly plays out in the real, real-world.The truth is that spectrum will always be *limited* and so *unlimited* data is unfortunately fantasy, at least in the context of macro cells. Capacity has for years only truly grown by shrinking the size of cells and this will continue. What you’ll end up with is a patchwork, in which you bounce in and out of macro-cells, femto-cells, wi-fi hotspots etc. Essentially, this is what the AT&T announcement is acknowledging, that the days of unlimited macro-cell data (which were only possible with few users and limited data thirst) are over.

Any rational person’s argument (should be): Your commercials currently say you have the best network … Wait a minute, you guys are flat out lying.

Dialog Axiata PLC of Sri Lanka has begun rolling out their LTE Advanced system and they have already hit 100MBps.

So much for “theoretical” and “pure fantasy”, huh?