Our average download throughput was just 368 Kbps. While 's load time wasn't bad, those speeds averaged slower than every other card we tested in this location. In New York's Long Beach, Long Island, with 3 bars of service, CNN.com loaded in 32 seconds, in 18 seconds, and in 33 seconds, a bit too slow. The AT&T USBConnect Mercury, by comparison, had an upload rate of 1.1 Mbps and a download rate of 620 Kbps. Using to confirm our results, we saw download throughput in the area of 594 Kbps and upload speeds at a somewhat faster 323 Kbps. Downloading a 7.2MB installation file from took 1 minute and 50 seconds, a rate of 536 Kbps that's not bad for having 3 to 4 bars of service, but it's on the slower side. We uploaded a 6MB image to Flickr in 3 minutes and 15 seconds, which translated into an upload speed of 242 Kbps. However, we were able to read most of the text on all of these sites after 11 or 12 seconds, and the additional time was spent downloading media on the page. With T-Mobile service fluctuating around 3 to 4 bars (out of 5) from our Manhattan office, we were able to load in 23 seconds, in 21 seconds, and CNN.com in 19 seconds. So it's no surprise that T-Mobile is targeting what it calls "locally mobile" customers, who don't move far outside their coverage area. By comparison, The New York Times reported that AT&T covers 258 million people (AT&T currently has 3G coverage in nearly 350 major metropolitan areas, an AT&T representative confirmed) Sprint and Verizon Wireless said they reach at least 270 and 280 million people, respectively. T-Mobile's HSDPA network is available in 130 cities covering 100 million people, and the carrier plans to reach 200 million people by the end of the year. Other carriers such as AT&T offer similar solutions online, but T-Mobile's meter is conveniently built directly into the Connection Manager. The connection manager includes two nice extras: you can send SMS messages directly from your computer and access T-Mobile's bandwidth usage meter, so you can see how much data you've already used throughout the month. You also have to enter in your T-Mobile username and password. For now, you'll have to disconnect and then reconnect to the available hotspot. The webConnect lets you access T-Mobile hotspots for free, but T-Mobile is still working to make the switch between its 3G network and a Wi-Fi access point seamless.
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