Executive summary of this post:

[EDIT: I run these tests with WiFi DISABLED, Bluetooth on but not connected, and Network mode set to 3G. Tests are performed locally on the N900 (not via tethering to a PC) and are run in the default built-in browser. Running stock kernel, PR1.3, no other network or relevant CPU load during tests.]

15Mbps!
- My HSPA+ download rates are now consistent at ~15Mbps (t-mobile usa, rates calculated from single 50MB downloads to qualify as 'consistent' in my view).

10 Mbps max?
- I thought the N900 would only scale up to 10Mbps

What is the typical experience?
- Anyone else seeing this? What are the fastest rates observed on the N900 so far?

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Now the details (including an important note on test methodology):

I've been running speed tests from my device to see if my area is covered by the latest HSPA+ improvements (tmobile usa is rolling out 21Mbps service).

In short, yes. I now get download rates anywhere from 10Mbps to 16.8Mbps for single large transfers (small transfers measure too fast to be realistic and are therefore considered faulty: one test measured 88Mbps on a 1MB transfer, clearly noise in the calculation).

I used to use these two sites for speed tests:
http://dslreports.com/mspeed
http://speedtest.net
http://speakeasy.net/speedtest

Lately, however, I have found these speedtests insufficient. In all cases, the site would begin with a ping test, followed by a download test of unspecified size. The download would start slow (0.25 seconds at ~1Mbps) before jumping to some higher rate. In these cases, it seems the download SIZE was too small (perhaps dynamically adjusted to allow a 1Mbps download to take several seconds).

In short: the above sites would arbitrarily measure my connection rate either very slow or somewhat fast, and do so in a split second (overall, about 2x the latency; visually approximated) which makes these tests useless in my opinion.

Seeking other sites I found these two:
http://www.internetfrog.com/mypc/speedtest/
http://testmy.net/download-speed-test.php

The first uses, again, an unspecified download size. However, it seems to be adequate for testing ~15Mbps connections. Results from both sites agree on overall performance (within reason).

I prefer the second site, as it allows you to specify the exact transfer size. I used 50MB transfers for my tests.

Connected to T-Mobile USA in Western MA (Near Amherst MA 01002) I am able to repeatedly test my download rate using 50MB transfers and observe 10-16.8Mbps rates; typically centered around the 15Mbps result. Occasionally I will see the rate drop to ~2Mbps (about one test in 20) with the vast majority of test results are significantly greater than 10Mbps.

Greater than 10Mbps. I was under the impression that the N900 was only spec'd to scale up to 10Mbps. How am I getting transfer rates so much faster than this? Was it part of a firmware upgrade? Or was the original spec wrong (or did I misread it)?

Anyone else out there able to breach 10Mbps transfers with their N900s?

I thought the N900 did not support the HSPA+ standard.

It supports increased speeds for sure, but the hardware is not capable of the theoretical max speed of 21Mbps

shhhhhhhh........
wish i could get anything better than gprs even edge would make me happy. right now i get 11kbps. lol

I get around 800+ kilobytes on a good day, I'm in an HPSA+ area as well, but I rarely get the 3.5G symbol.

On lower days I get 400 to 600 kilobytes. I find KB/s and MB/s easier to represent data than Kbits and Mbits.

At 2 AM, I can download a 5 MB mp3 in about 16 seconds.

@cddiede
N900 definitely supports the HSPA+ standard
- this states HSDPA and HSUPA support, but no data rates mentioned:
http://www.forum.nokia.com/Devices/D...ications/N900/

- this states 10Mbps down and 2Mbps up max rates:
http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_n900-2917.php

@cfh11
curious why you don't think the hardware can support 21Mbps; I didn't think it could exceed 10Mbps myself, and just found out I was wrong. Do you have info on the max speed the N900 hardware can support?

@somedude
11kbps would drive me insane! is that a network limitation, or the device?

@mattbutsko
800 kBytes/sec is 6.4Mbps, so that's pretty good. Prior to this recent and unexpected jump to 15Mbps I would NEVER see speeds that fast. My previous data rates always topped out around 2Mbps (~250kBytes/sec).

I'm curious about your observations regarding the 3.5G symbol. I ALWAYS see it (even when I only got 250kBytes/sec) when I have an active data connection, and NEVER see it without a data connection. I'm using ALWAYS and NEVER literally here, not figuratively.

that is a network limitation, tmobile doesnot even have edge where i live and work.

3G without 3.5G has a max of 384kbit/s, so you'd definitely see 3.5G for 250kByte/s.

@shadowjk
good point. maybe i didnt state my thought well enough: what i meant to say was that the 3.5G symbol is always displayed when actually transferring data (active connection) and never displayed when not actively transferring data (not connected, or connected but idle) - regardless of obsevable throughput.

basically, i wanted to know how @mattutsko gets ~6Mbps but doesn't observe the 3.5G symbol. i'm thinking he's looking at the status symbol only while the connection is idle (or disconnected) and he would in fact see 3.5G almost always when actually transferring data.

seriously? that sucks. i didnt even know they had any presence out there that predated EDGE. what is it, old voicestream towers in your area? or maybe a 'partner' network that only allows GPRS?

back when i had voicestream service and GPRS was the best on offer, i actually used HSCSD to dial-up internet access. for me, it was faster and i alrady had the dial-up account. i'm not even sure how you'd do that anymore. (back then i had a handspring visor with the gsm springboard adapter. serious geek cred at the time)