It can transmit reasonable quality video at 450 kilobits per second, which is a fairly low speed.
Bluetooth transmits data far more slowly than Wi-Fi, about 720 kilobits per second versus 11 megabits per second.
By comparison the high-speed internet access BT is starting to roll out only runs at 512 kilobits per second.
Since the service is shared, individuals get about 100 kilobits a second each.
Eventually speeds of over 300 kilobits per second would allow MP3 files and low-resolution videos to stream right to handheld devices.
The result is a cleaner connection at speeds of 200 to 500 kilobits per second, reaching as far as 24, 000 feet.
Most computers still hook into the Net at 56 kilobits a second.
Gill says one customer in North Carolina gets 300 kilobits per second, even though the signals travel 30, 000 feet, almost 6 miles.
Now EDGE's successor, a 3G-wireless technology called HSDPA (High-Speed Download Packet Access), provides transmission rates of 400 to 700 kilobits per second.
With Urban Media, each user will get 200 kilobits per second--for free.
Not by coincidence, Apple earlier this year boosted the bit rate for iTunes downloads to a noticeably improved 256 kilobits per second.
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At 56, Metcalfe looked fine and fit, pulsating through the phone wires at 384 kilobits per second on an Avistar desktop videoconferencing system.
Most WAP phones download data at 9.6 kilobits per second, a snail's pace compared to the typical desktop dial-up speed of 56 kbps.
Using a new CDMA technology known as 1xRTT, it will be able to transmit data at a speed of 144 kilobits per second.
Transmission rates for so-called "2.5G" networks are slower about 144 kilobits per second compared with up to 2 gigabits per second for 3G.
The Openworld connection works up to 10 times faster than the 56.6 kilobits per second possible with the best modems currently on the market.
It allows for connections at about the speed of current dial-up modems, several times faster than the 9.6 or 14.4 kilobits per second now available.
With Urban Media, each user will get 200 kilobits per second--free.
The data-transmission rate will also double (each channel now carries only 64 kilobits a second, which accounts for the jerky pictures that the system produces).
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In my tests of numerous devices over the years, most 3G phones attained download speeds of between 500 kilobits per second and 4 megabits per second.
Most European companies now plan to gradually move over to 3G with upgrades to existing equipment that will double speeds to 20 kilobits per second, then double that.
Dubbed EDGE (for Enhanced Data for Global Evolution), it is available in more than 7, 500 cities, but offers slower download speeds of around 100 to 130 kilobits per second.
About 1, 000 people and businesses already have the service, which provides data transmission speeds at a minimum rate of 256 kilobits-per-second, 4.5 times faster than the speediest phone circuit.
To send that information stream over the Net with the kind of modem most people use (one that can handle 28.8 kilobits a second) would take nearly four hours.
Third-generation wireless (the first two were analog and the current version of digital) can move data at 384 kilobits a second, six times the speed of a good computer modem.
Cable firm NTL said in August it had 300, 000 high speed subscribers, while the UK's second cable operator, Telewest, claimed 192, 000 broadband customers in the higher band of 152 kilobits per second.
Main.net's gear already serves 10, 000 European homes at speeds of 500 kilobits a second, roughly equal to average cable and digital subscriber line (DSL) speeds, but a tenfold increase over standard dial-up modems.
In a real world application, that is about 15 million times faster than the 64, 000 bits -- 64 kilobits -- a second you are most likely getting from your home or office telephone line.
Compare that with average speeds of between 50 and 70 kilobits per second on Sprint PCS ' (nyse: PCS - news - people ) PCSVision service, or about 57 kbps for GPRS services.
The iPhone features an integrated Web browser, tiltable 7.4-inch gray scale touchscreen, an e-mail client, a 56-kilobits-per-second modem, two phone jacks, a full duplex speaker phone, and a keyboard that slides under the phone to save space.
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