Despite AT&T’s decision to slap “4G” right in the name, the new HTC Inspire 4G smartphone doesn’t even feature full compatibility with the “4G” HSPA+ AT&T network. Following T-Mobile’s lead, AT&T announced at CES that its 3G HSPA+ network is now a 4G HSPA+ network. With that announcement came the unveiling of several smartphones, one of which — the HTC Inspire 4G — launched last week. But users taking delivery of the device noticed immediately that while download speeds were on par with other HSDPA-enabled AT&T smartphones, upload speeds seemed quite slow. The explanation is simple enough: HTC’s Inspire 4G either doesn’t feature compatibility with AT&T’s HSUPA service, or the carrier has disabled it in the phone’s firmware. Wow. We’ve already expressed our feelings on 4G, but we never imagined carriers would push things further still and smack “4G” stickers on smartphones that don’t even support their fake 4G networks. Let this be a lesson, subscribers… Buyer beware. Not all 4G is created equal and not all fake 4G phones are even compatible with fake 4G networks. But who would want the Inspire 4G anyway, when you could have the Morris 4G?
AT&T’s HTC Inspire 4G isn’t even fully compatible with fake 4G
Updated Dec 19th, 2018 7:03PM EST
If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.
Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.
His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.
