Couple of things, first of all, that 230 is the speed between the computer
and the phone, not between the phone and the tower. You will find actual
speeds are only about 60-90K, but still (usually) higher than dial up.
However, there are (at least) two major things that make it appear slow.
Data is sent as packets, rather than a continuous connection. There is a bit
of a delay while the data is packetized and sent. If you happen to be using
something like venturi compression, the data is sent to their server first,
processed, and then sent on to you (ergo double delays, one to venturi, and
then another to you). Second, is the amount of data. If just websurfing (IE
display a page here and there), the delay will make it appear slower because
of the delay between hitting a key and seeing the result on the screen. If
you happen to download something large (a data file, a whole website etc),
and turn off the compression, you will get an (almost) continuous stream of
packets and extremely high speeds.

Just for fun (and verification), since this is a free weekend, (turn off the
compression if it is on), go to someplace like www.download.com, and
download a large program/file (like 1 meg or more), and see how fast it
actually downloads. Unfortunately, many of the speed tests suffer the same
fate (a packet sent to a server then returned, hence double delay).

If you routinely surf the same sites over and over, then compression can
speed things up, if however, you go from site to site and don't routinely do
the same thing, turn off compression (it basically looks for the same thing
already sent and doesn't send it again).

Because of two problems:

#1 - You're really only connected to Earthlink at 14.4k.  The 14.4k
bandwidth is actually the limitation between the handset and VZW's switch.

#2 - Cellular wasn't designed to produce tight latencies like modems.
Your typical 14.4k modem will 'echo' data back to you within 50-100ms.
CDMA is typically 250-350ms.

ExpressNet improves speed to aproximately 144kbit/sec, but latency
doesn't improve much.  Also, ExpressNet on my phone (v120e) can only
upload at 9.6k (aprox 1k/sec).  If you upload, things will significantly
bog down.

JS