From electronista:

“French cellphone carrier Orange has admitted to imposing artificial limits on its 3G broadband network, reports say. The confession comes after complaints from a number of iPhone 3G owners, who in testing their download capacity discovered that they were limited to a maximum of 400Kbps, as compared to the 1.8Mbps possible on T-Mobile’s German network.

Most 3G networks are limited to a peak speed of 3.2Mbps, although some may support 7.2Mbps. Some upset Orange subscribers have been able to get their speeds raised by technicians, who have altered individual accounts to push speeds as high as 3Mbps. Customers have further alleged that the cap may be a violation of Orange’s service agreements, and a petition for proper 3G access has been formed online.

An Orange representative contacted by FranceInfo has stated that the cap is actually pegged at 384Kbps, and applies not just to iPhones but all devices on its 3G network. The limit was aimed at “preserving the stability of the network,” according to the representative, but Orange has since decided it will raise download speeds slightly; by September 15th, the cap should be 1Mbps.”

tags: france, iphone, 3g, 3g network speed, orange is evil