Mobile Broadband Speeds Up 300% Since March 2010

U.S. mobile broadband "typical" speeds have increased 300 percent from March 2010 to March 2011 in tests run by PCWorld.

Overall, average download speeds for laptop-modem users have grown more than 300 percent, as carriers have activated or extended their fourth generation networks.

Laptop modems sold by the leading four carriers have a collective average download speed of roughly 3.5 megabits per second in13 testing cities, compared to an average speed of about 1 Mbps a year ago.

But typical speeds depend on which device is used. In general, PC modems (dongles) run faster than smartphones. The T-Mobile HTC G2 PCWorld used for testing produced a 13-city average download speed of almost 2.3 Mbps; that's about 52 percent faster than the second-fastest phone, Sprint's HTC EVO 4G, which had an average download speed of 1.5 Mbps.

4G Wireless Speed Tests: Which Is Really the Fastest? - PCWorld