AnandTech Explains Why US Carriers Are Not Throttling Data Speeds on iPhones

Remember those allegations US carriers were somehow throttling data speeds (the original source post has been since removed) on iPhones and iPads? Well, those allegations are completely false, as Brian Klug from AnandTech explains in technical detail why:

At a high level, some of this seemed plausible at first, as this wouldn’t be the first time that a handset maker throttled devices via some on-device setting at bequest of a network operator. If you’ve been with us long enough you’ll probably remember the case of the HTC Inspire 4G and Atrix 4G, two handsets which AT&T disabled HSUPA on, and later re-enabled with an update. Later there was the AT&T Nexus S which also had its HSDPA and HSUPA categories limited via build.prop.

Thankfully this is not the case currently with any iOS devices.

There’s no arbitrary capping of UE Category (User Equipment speed category), throttling on-device, or anything else that would prevent the device from attaching and taking full advantage of whatever the network wants to handshake with. If you’re going to read anything, just take that away with you, as the full explanation gets technical fast. If you’re willing, however, let’s walk through it.

You can check out the post in detail here, if you can follow along. Some Canadian users who managed to install the carrier profiles over at iTweakOS say after doing so, their data speeds did in fact increase, as noted in the comments. Whether or not this is related in Canada remains to be seen, as AnandTech’s report is related to US carrier bundles.