We’ve all seen the announcements where AT&T claimed the Inspire would be on of the first 4G (HSPA+) devices coming this year. Well, apparently they put the 4G name on it but forgot the network to go with it.

According to customers, the new Inspire 4G doesn’t even feature full compatibility with the “4G” HSPA+ AT&T network. While they told everyone at CES it will in fact be a 4G device, this has been proven wrong. Several users noticed instantly that while download speeds were on par with other HSDPA-enabled AT&T smartphones, upload speeds seemed a bit slow.

This could be because of two different reasons: HTC’s Inspire 4G either doesn’t feature compatibility with AT&T’s HSUPA service, something they forgot to check, or the carrier has disabled it in the phone’s firmware. If disabled, doesn’t this defeat the purpose of even purchasing a 4G device? Let us know what you think!

UPDATE: Looks like AT&T just didn’t let customers know this service is turned off by default. The phones seem to need a ‘rooting’ before you can unlock the faster 4G speeds. Is that what customers want? I don’t think so. Let us know what you think.

Source: BGR