No, I think you're right, it seems like there's a discrepancy between the protocol specification and the implementation (I suppose it's not the first time that's happened).
Some quick Googling turns up a lot of people who complain about latency issues with 3G (which bizarrely enough, I've never noticed. Must be the one situation where I'm not being screwed over by ATT), but I don't actually see a consensus around what's responsible for it.
It looks like the SGSN is the likely culprit, as I see some proposals to bypass it completely (or install a Gateway when PDP is detected).
Those ping times are rough, I'd be pissed too if I saw that.
Some quick Googling turns up a lot of people who complain about latency issues with 3G (which bizarrely enough, I've never noticed. Must be the one situation where I'm not being screwed over by ATT), but I don't actually see a consensus around what's responsible for it.
It looks like the SGSN is the likely culprit, as I see some proposals to bypass it completely (or install a Gateway when PDP is detected).
Those ping times are rough, I'd be pissed too if I saw that.