Post by: Director of Communications - Rich Tate

Here at Alford Media Services we are always on the lookout for new technologies and updates to existing technologies that can make our lives easier, give us new ways to do things and provide new business applications.  Internet connectivity and networking come up more often than not.  Almost every device is connected these days and that applies to the ones in our pockets and the ones backstage.  In the AV industry wireless control has really come on strong recently and it’s not unusual at all to see Audio Engineers and Lighting Designers walking around a ballroom tweaking their rigs from an iPad.  Our Video Engineers and Projectionists are getting a lot of use out of the L5 infrared remote hardware and software on their iPhones.  You won’t see them lugging around multiple remote controls now that they can have them all contained in one app on their iOS device.  So when Apple announced the iPad 2 and iOS 4.3 we were paying close attention.

One thing that got us excited was the addition of the Personal Hotspot feature.  Tethering has been around for a bit but the idea of being able to set up a shared connection anywhere our phones had 3G service was very appealing.  iOS 4.3 was officially released yesterday and we immediately began benchmark and real-world testing on the Personal Hotspot and on a few other features in the latest and greatest from Apple.  We also wanted to test those claims by Steve Jobs that the Safari browser was now two times faster than before.

The first thing we tested was the reported speed increases in Safari due to the addition of the Nitro JavaScript engine under the hood.  Check out this video we shot of an iPhone 4 running iOS 4.2.2 versus an iPhone 4 running iOS 4.3.

 

While the progress bar doesn’t seem to complete too much faster on 4.3, the page loaded much faster, giving you the perception of increased speed.  What we are seeing is that they’ve optimized how a page loads. The progress bar finishes just a little ahead of 4.2 but if you look closer you’ll see that the page renders and is readable on the 4.3 phone long before the 4.2 phone. Page loading is definitely optimized and there is some electronic sleight-of-hand but a real improvement. We’ve noticed that mobile sites do load almost exactly twice as fast.  Try it yourself on your compatible iOS device!

The next significant upgrade in iOS 4.3 that we were excited about was the Personal Hotspot function.  While Verizon iPhone users got this from day one, AT&T die-hards have waited for the life of the iPhone to be able to do this.  Yes, tethering came around last year but the Personal Hotspot is a different animal.  Being able to set up and share a connection with up to 5 devices via USB, Wi-Fi or BlueTooth really opens up your options.  We have been using Sprint 3G/4G cards out in the field for a couple of years now and more recently we have even added a few Sprint Overdrives to our arsenal.  The Sprint cards were great when they became available because we were able to stay connected on show site without having to rely on in-house or guest wireless networks that were usually slow, expensive or both.  The Overdrives gave us that portable, shared network on site with up to 5 simultaneous connections.  Enter the AT&T Personal Hotspot for iOS and a head-to-head comparison to see what technology worked best for us was born!

The first thing we had to do was to call AT&T and change the data plan for my phone.  I was still grandfathered in on the original, unlimited data plan but I was going to have to give that up to get the tethering turned on.  In my opinion, AT&T is going to get rid of all unlimited data in the near future anyway so I was comfortable making the switch.  The new data plan is 4GB per month and after checking my usage on my phone, I realized I wouldn’t even come close to breaking that limit.  After a lengthy but ultimately successful call to AT&T to get my plan changed, I went in to set up my Personal Hotspot.

I already had downloaded iTunes 10.2.1 to my Mac and iOS 4.3 to my iPhone 4.  Initially I had some trouble getting the feature working but force quitting the Settings app using the multi-tasking function in iOS enabled the change and allowed me to turn Personal Hotspot on once I re-opened the app and went back to the Network settings.  It was very simple once it was activated.  You just go to Network in Settings and there is a Personal Hotspot menu item.  Go into that menu and turn on the Personal Hotspot.

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There will now be a wireless network showing up as the name of your phone.  For instance, my network shows up as Rich Tate’s iPhone.

You have to have a password set and the stronger the password the better.  Now ANY device with wireless can get on the internet via the 3G connection on the phone. When a device is connected to your phone via the Personal Hotspot your menu bar will change to blue and it will show you how many are connected.  It even shows up when the screen is locked or when it is syncing.

 

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You’ll note that the wireless in your phone is not active when the hotspot is on.  For one, your wireless is now being using for the hotspot function and there is no reason to share a wireless connection with other devices that can already utilize wi-fi.

Getting it running was pretty simple but what I really wanted to do was put it through its paces.  We went and grabbed Dave Pooser’s iPad and connected to the phone via wi-fi.  It worked like a charm and the speed was pretty good.  We also tested the distance by walking the two devices in separate directions at the office to find out how strong the signal was.  We were actually able to get over 100 feet apart inside a building before the wireless signal got weak.  Not bad.  This was an important test because the Sprint cards and Overdrives don’t move around during a show.  They are either connected directly to a laptop or desktop computer or are placed in a common area.  A phone on the other hand is getting carried around most of the time and won’t always be right next to the computer or wireless devices it’s providing network to. Distance and signal strength were important but we also wanted to see what kind of speed we could get from AT&T’s 3G, especially compared to Sprint’s 3G and 4G network.

We used the SpeedTest.net app on our iOS devices and the SpeedTest.net web site for our laptop to do some network speed testing.  In our Coppell, TX headquarters we tested our wired Ethernet connection, our building wireless connection and then compared those to the Personal Hotspot’s AT&T 3G connection.  We also tested the Sprint card on the same 17″ MacBook Pro laptop that we ran our other tests on.  Check out the results below.  The wired Ethernet and office Wireless are here for comparison.  Really take a look at the results below those.  That’s where you get an idea of what kinds of speeds are being shared off of the 3G connections.

OFFICE WIRED ETHERNET

WAREHOUSE WIRELESS

LAPTOP RUNNING OFF PERSONAL HOTSPOT ON IPHONE


LAPTOP RUNNING OFF SPRINT CARD

IPHONE 3G NETWORK SPEED DIRECTLY ON PHONE

As you can see, at our office we’re getting really good 3G network speed from AT&T.  Unfortunately, our Sprint coverage here is pretty weak.  We only get 3G and don’t have 4G at all.  Of course, this will vary from location to location so depending on the area you are in, one network or the other will be stronger.  One very positive aspect of the test is that the signal being passed over wireless appears to be full strength.  The signal from the iPhone is being shared 100% by connected devices.  Adding additional devices to the connection will bring down the overall speed but one-to-one it’s very good.

I also decided to do even more testing from home.  I felt it would be a good to get away from the office and try out the two cellular networks from a location that is 25 miles away from Coppell.  It turns out that the Sprint coverage in my neighborhood is actually stronger than it is by our headquarters.  I did many of the same tests that I did in the office with a few additional ones to test the Personal Hotspot connections.

In the tests below I also tried all three connection options available from the Personal Hotspot.  You can connect up to three devices via Wi-Fi, three devices via BlueTooth and one device via USB.  The wireless setup is the easiest, you just turn it on.  For BlueTooth and USB you have to have new network interfaces set up on your Mac or PC.  In the Mac OS it’s pretty easy.  You plug in the iPhone via USB and it recognizes it as a new network interface and sets it up for you.  The same applies with the BlueTooth setup but you have to pair the two devices before you can access it as a network interface.  Via USB, if the Personal Hotspot is on, then the USB network connection automatically is active.  For BlueTooth you have to go in and click on the Connect button to activate the network.  I would recommend that if you are using the iPhone for an extended period as a Personal Hotspot that you plug it in to an outlet or plug it into your computer.  The battery drain will be significant.

WIRELESS – CABLE MODEM


LAPTOP RUNNING OFF PERSONAL HOTSPOT ON IPHONE – USB (FASTEST)


LAPTOP RUNNING OFF PERSONAL HOTSPOT ON IPHONE – WI FI (FASTEST WIRELESS CONNECTION VERY CLOSE TO USB)

LAPTOP RUNNING OFF PERSONAL HOTSPOT ON IPHONE – BLUETOOTH (SLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)


LAPTOP RUNNING OFF SPRINT CARD USING SPRINT SMARTVIEW SOFTWARE (GREAT!  NO 4G AVAILABLE)

IPHONE 3G NETWORK SPEED DIRECTLY ON PHONE

I really enjoyed this test because it showed the abilities of the Personal Hotspot.  I have to admit, the BlueTooth performance was very disappointing, especially since it accounts for three of the usable connections, but the wireless and USB make up for it.  Both Wi-Fi and USB connections were stable and fast.  The results were very similar to what I found in the office and I was able to try out more options on the Personal Hotspot.  The Sprint was much speedier on the download side but the upload speed was still very slow.

The one thing I wanted to test was how well it worked on the move.  I grabbed an old, unactivated iPhone 3G that we use as an iPod Touch and connected it to my phone’s wireless Personal Hotspot connection.  I then launched the Netflix app and started playing a movie.  As soon as it started streaming to the iPhone 3G I headed to work.  Over my 25 minute drive the movie only paused once in an area that is known for having almost no cell coverage.  Other than that, the movie ran smoothly the entire time even though I was driving across the DFW metroplex.  I even got a phone call during my drive and answering it did not drop the connection and it didn’t make the movie stall.  When I got into the office I set my phone down on my desk which is on the far West side of the building.  I then grabbed the iPhone 3G that was still streaming Netflix and I started walking around the office.  The farther I got away from my office, the more that my wireless bars dropped but I was able to get all the way into the warehouse, 200 feet or more away from my desk, and still have the movie playing.  The phone, the Personal Hotspot and AT&T all did a great job of keeping and sharing a network connection on the move in a big city.

I am very excited about how well this is working and how easy it is to use.  We’re going to keep testing it and will come back and update this blog page as we learn more about the Personal Hotspot. At this point we can’t say if the Sprint Card, Overdrive or Personal Hotspot is the best for us.  I’m guessing that we’ll have to decide that on a case-by-case basis.  For me, it’s working great and is very convenient.  I think the cost savings in my case is significant.  I’m paying a little more for my phone data plan but I don’t have the added monthly expense of a Sprint card tied to me now.  It’s cheaper for me to have my phone and the added data versus having my phone and a sprint card.  I’ve already handed my Sprint card back in for someone else to use.   If you have any comments or questions please post them below.  We’d love to try and answer them for you.  If you would like to share your own experiences feel free to use the comment section as well.