No sooner did Rene get his shiny new iPhone 4S than he put he through its 3G HSPA 14.4 Mbps data speed paces and… almost 9 Mbps down and just over 1 Mbps up in the real world on Rogers in Montreal. Not too shabby! Have you tested your iPhone 4S speeds yet? If so, let us know how fast, what network, and what area you’re in!

As TiPb feared, This Is My Next says AT&T may indeed have plans to seize some competitive advantage over Verizon and Sprint by using a little faux 4G, just as they’ve been doing with Android for a while now.

the carrier is apparently “working with Apple” to change the indicator in theiPhone 4S (which tops out at 14.4Mbps, up from the iPhone 4′s 7.2Mbps) to show “4G” in the status bar as well.

Apple has a history of not allowing carriers to manipulate any aspects of the iPhone so hopefully AT&T won’t get too far with this. Apple themselves don’t even mentioned HSPA+ in their iPhone 4S specs, even though it technically qualifies as HSPA +. Likewise, Apple SVP of marketing, Phil Schiller mentioned during the Lets Talk iPhone keynote that Apple won’t get into the business of determining what’s true 4G and what isn’t.

Given that Verizon and Sprint are only getting the same EV-DO rev A radio speeds as iPhone 4, it’s easy to see why AT&T is pushing so hard. In fact, they’ve even put out a handy infographic to push the point:

Source: This Is My Next, AT&T PR

There were rumors the 2011 GSM/AT&T iPhone would have an HSPA+ radio for faster download speeds but when Apple announced the iPhone 4S, while they said it would do 14.4 mbps, they only listed it as an HSPA device.

Now, some are of the opinion that anything under 21 mbps should qualify as HSPA+, so iPhone 4S with only 14.4 mbps speed shouldn’t qualify. However, 3GPP release 7 doesn’t mandate that faster speeds are necessary to qualify as HSPA+ — a device can support any 3GPP release 7 feature and still be classified as HSPA+. The Qualcomm chipset in iPhone 4S uses 3GPP features, and so it’s an HSPA+ radio, speed be damned.

So while iPhone 4S did indeed get its HSPA+, it didn’t get the 21 mbps or 42 mbps speed to go with it that many were hoping for. Also, Apple chose to neatly sidestep the whole 4G/fake 4G issue, so we won’t open that can of worms here either.

Note: This applies only to the GSM/AT&T iPhone 4S. The CDMA/Verizon/Sprint iPhone 4S retains the same EV-DO rev A radio as the iPhone 4.

More: AnandTech

Thanks: @nerdtalker, @justin_horn, @varek, @shuxley

Right now iPhone 5, like any dark matter, can only be observed by its effects on others, including the log traces it leaves and the cases manufacturers leak. This time it’s TechCrunch, citing an undisclosed developer who’s iOS app, points to records of a never-before-seen dual-mode GSM/CDMA world phone.

The logs show that the app has been briefly tested by a handful of people using what is almost certainly an iPhone 5, evidently running iOS 5, sporting two distinct sets of mobile network codes (MNC) / mobile country codes (MCC). Those codes can be used to uniquely identify mobile carriers.

Sure enough, some registrations for the app – which the developer also asked not to be named – were logged from a new Apple device, using the MNC/MCC codes from both Verizon and AT&T.

Apple has had theoretical support for a world phone since switching to Qualcomm chips, but previous iPhone 4 models haven’t enabled the feature. Turning it on would likely be bad news for those hoping iPhone 5 would sport LTE (the faster and closest to a “real” next generation wireless technology). HSPA+, a not-quite-as-fast but far more widespread “4G” protocol looks like a safer bet, though it would leave Verizon behind on the same EVDO Rev A speed the current iPhone supports. (See TiPb’s guide to wireless network terminology for more on what this all means.)

In other words, Verizon could advertise a world phone but AT&T could say they have a 4G iPhone.

[TechCrunch]

There are a couple of conflicting stories this weekend about wether or not Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5 — which could be set for launch on October 7 — will have 4G LTE wireless networking built in.

BGR claims to have caught a glimpse at a plist file (preferences list) from an iPhone carrier that shows some interesting LTE info:

BGR has obtained evidence of an internal iOS test build from one of Apple’s major carrier partners, and buried in the firmware is a property list (.plist file) for LTE. This doesn’t necessarily mean every Apple device that’s about to be released will feature an embedded 4G LTE modem, but it certainly means Apple isn’t sitting on the sidelines as 4G LTE networks continue to roll out around the world.

The Cell Phone Junkie, however, points out that the chips Apple probably wants to use still won’t be ready until 2012:

Typically, a switch in chips would require a 3-4 month production process on Qualcomm’s part for the initial order. This would mean if the iPhone 5 was using anything other than the MDM6600 for an October release, we would have likely heard about a leak (like the one from the The Street for it launch) for the switch to something different. And unless Apple is pushing the device launch into early 2012, I don’t see a chip switch happening this year.

So how do we reconcile these apparently conflicting reports? Apple almost certainly has LTE iPhones in the labs so they no doubt have iOS builds that can run the radio. It’s possible the plist entry exists for lab testing but not for real world use.

That means we’d still get an HSPA+ “4G” iPhone 5 in 2011, but would still be waiting on an LTE 4G iPhone 6 in 2012.

Unless of course Apple’s managed to work a miracle and decided to make iPhone 5 the first AT&T LTE device…

[BGR, The Cell Phone Junkie]

A Canadian buffet of Rogers news today, with Q2 financial results, an update on the current out-of-stock situation at Rogers, Fido, and Apple Canada, and the beginning of an HSPA+ super-fast 3G rollout.

First up, Bloomberg (via MDN) reports that Rogers that ARPU (average revenue per user) was down $1.47 as customers curbed long-distance and travel, while total sales rose 3.1%. As to the iPhone in particular, the introduction of the iPhone 3GS and $99 price point for the iPhone 3G helped Rogers add 148,000 subscribers this quarter.

Second, TUAW reports that Rogers, their subsidiary Fido, and Apple Stores (which just began carrying the iPhone in Canada on June 19) are all in short supply or completely sold out of iPhones. Given that Apple reported 5.2 million sold last quarter amid shortages, and is planning to fill out 80 countries by the end of the year, we can only repeat Dieter’s abject shock at the continuing sales volumes…

Third, and funnest (TM iPod touch),Engadget Mobile says Rogers is ready to rock and roll with HSPA+ at 21Mbps. Zoom. Zoom. The GTA will get initial love, though Rogers says it will expand quickly to other cities. Since the iPhone 3GS only supports up to 7.2Mbps, we’re not likely to benefit directly, though we only get half that currently so who knows…