Develop Bugs

[Q] HSDPA question... wtf is the deal with this?

so I just picked up a g2 yesterday and impressed with it's performance in every way so far besides the HSDPA... I got the g1 a few months after its release and always had 3g data with it. Sometimes the speeds would move a little slower than others but it standardly got 200-300kb/s down. (which was better than my dsl connection at the time < 1Mbit) So in the last 24 hours I've been going all over chicago and the suburbs of it and getting HSDPA but the speeds suck really bad. I'm cranking out less than 1mbit. Is there a fix for this or something? I really don't get why it's going so slow when tmo just opened a new HSDPA network here like a week ago... any suggestions or input on how to make this new data experience a little better would be greatly appreciate. Thanks.
Sent from my pc because I'm annoyed with the slow ass 4g.

dietotherhythm said:
so I just picked up a g2 yesterday and impressed with it's performance in every way so far besides the HSDPA... I got the g1 a few months after its release and always had 3g data with it. Sometimes the speeds would move a little slower than others but it standardly got 200-300kb/s down. (which was better than my dsl connection at the time < 1Mbit) So in the last 24 hours I've been going all over chicago and the suburbs of it and getting HSDPA but the speeds suck really bad. I'm cranking out less than 1mbit. Is there a fix for this or something? I really don't get why it's going so slow when tmo just opened a new HSDPA network here like a week ago... any suggestions or input on how to make this new data experience a little better would be greatly appreciate. Thanks.
Sent from my pc because I'm annoyed with the slow ass 4g.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I live in Chicago as well, and I had concern that there was a lack of HSPA+ in the city... And you just confirmed it!

I'm with you guys, but I live out in the burbs. According to the coverage map, HALF my town has HSPA the other is still in 3g. Well I live in the part that still has 3g. Anyway I was at my friends house and full bars w/ HSPA and my speedtest showed no more than 900 kb/s.

I had the same questions and from what I have found is there are no notifications for 3G on the G2. So when it shows H it could be 3G and maybe HSDPA, and HSPA+ this explains the speed results. I downloaded a cool widget which always shows you what you are on. Sorry don't have the phone with me right now and don't remember the name but I got it out of a thread here.
EDIT: It's called Mobile Signal Widget See here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=9052996&postcount=10

c0nvel said:
I'm with you guys, but I live out in the burbs. According to the coverage map, HALF my town has HSPA the other is still in 3g. Well I live in the part that still has 3g. Anyway I was at my friends house and full bars w/ HSPA and my speedtest showed no more than 900 kb/s.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're actually getting HSPA+, then you'd know it from speed tests. For example, I've gotten 16Mbps from it. That's faster than our home internet lol (Comcast - 15Mbps)

There's a difference between UMTS and HSDPA right? Because when I'm in my room, it says UMTS... when IU'm outside in my area... I see HSDPA... and when I'm on HSDPA is when i'm getting 2mb down and 1 mb up... I recently visited Maryland, and there i got 4mb down, and 1 mb up (on HSDPA)

ibemad1 said:
If you're actually getting HSPA+, then you'd know it from speed tests. For example, I've gotten 16Mbps from it. That's faster than our home internet lol (Comcast - 15Mbps)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
According to my Mobil Signal widget and the Phone information in About I was on HSPA.

ibemad1 said:
If you're actually getting HSPA+, then you'd know it from speed tests. For example, I've gotten 16Mbps from it. That's faster than our home internet lol (Comcast - 15Mbps)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Picture or it didn't happen.
The phone's limited to 14.4mbps if I recall correctly; that is also theoretical speeds too.

SeReaction said:
Picture or it didn't happen.
The phone's limited to 14.4mbps if I recall correctly; that is also theoretical speeds too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I unfortunately don't have a picture, but I myself still don't know if what it said was entirely correct. I'll try to get a picture next time I'm in that area. On the other hand I could just make a picture in photoshop right now... (OVER 9000 MBPS :O lol)
I was using mobilespeedtest.com's 7MB test.

ibemad1 said:
I unfortunately don't have a picture, but I myself still don't know if what it said was entirely correct. I'll try to get a picture next time I'm in that area. On the other hand I could just make a picture in photoshop right now... (OVER 9000 MBPS :O lol)
I was using mobilespeedtest.com's 7MB test.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha.
Well at the moment HSPA+ isn't fully implemented just yet. I'm wondering if the areas that is covered by T-Mobile's Very Fast Web is updated HSPA+.

Well just did some testing.. And here its one of my results for my town..
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

Don't use mobilespeedtest.net guys. I've seen speeds of over 30000 kbps.
Use the speedtest.net app.

updates...
ok some stuff i noticed today, (my 2nd day of use with this handset) I went out to Aurora IL today to pick up my brother and while sitting in the car I ran the speedtest app again. Most people who frequent the speedtest.net site from the chicago area know that there's a server for testing in aurora/chicago/lincolnshire. The app told me i was less than 5 miles away from where it pinged. My test results were much better. I got about 6.5mbits. Weird thing is that my home is only 12 miles from the chicago server (also where the hspda network is supposed to be located) yet aurora is much further west. Not sure what's with it. Hope it's just a delay in getting it up and fully running.
Was out at the bar down the street just now and noticed that I get roughly 4~5mbits. Maybe it's just my location D:

dietotherhythm said:
ok some stuff i noticed today, (my 2nd day of use with this handset) I went out to Aurora IL today to pick up my brother and while sitting in the car I ran the speedtest app again. Most people who frequent the speedtest.net site from the chicago area know that there's a server for testing in aurora/chicago/lincolnshire. The app told me i was less than 5 miles away from where it pinged. My test results were much better. I got about 6.5mbits. Weird thing is that my home is only 12 miles from the chicago server (also where the hspda network is supposed to be located) yet aurora is much further west. Not sure what's with it. Hope it's just a delay in getting it up and fully running.
Was out at the bar down the street just now and noticed that I get roughly 4~5mbits. Maybe it's just my location D:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Too many buildings or trees in your way? lol j/k

naria01 said:
Too many buildings or trees in your way? lol j/k
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe, kinda sucks. I get full bars and everything. Every place I've lived always has had some sort of phone issue with connectivity. Guess I'm just doomed!

gaarry said:
Don't use mobilespeedtest.net guys. I've seen speeds of over 30000 kbps.
Use the speedtest.net app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I initially used the speedtest.net app right before the mst.net it gave me speeds of 908kb/s. Full bars and everything.

ibemad1 said:
If you're actually getting HSPA+, then you'd know it from speed tests. For example, I've gotten 16Mbps from it. That's faster than our home internet lol (Comcast - 15Mbps)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DAMN!!! Are you serious, where you live at?
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

I agree that the high speed is quite sad. I live in Salt Lake City, which they say has good coverage, and it's nothing too exciting, it's about the same as my Mytouch3G did

ibemad1 said:
If you're actually getting HSPA+, then you'd know it from speed tests. For example, I've gotten 16Mbps from it. That's faster than our home internet lol (Comcast - 15Mbps)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you mean 1.6 mbps? Isn't a standard Cox connection 1.5 mbps? Correct me if I'm wrong. I've never had cable. Always DSL.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

Bishybob said:
Maybe you mean 1.6 mbps? Isn't a standard Cox connection 1.5 mbps? Correct me if I'm wrong. I've never had cable. Always DSL.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Comcast offers five packages:
Performance: 12 Mbps download/
2 Mbps upload
(up to 15 Mbps/3 Mbps with PowerBoost)
Performance PLUS*: Becomes a new Blast! customer with speeds up to 16 Mbps download/2 Mbps upload
(up to 20 Mbps/4Mbps with PowerBoost)
Blast!*: up to 16 Mbps download/
2 Mbps upload
(up to 20 Mbps/4 Mbps with PowerBoost)
* Ultra 22 Mbps download/5 Mbps upload (up to 30 Mbps/7 Mbps with PowerBoost)
* Extreme 50 50 Mbps download/10 Mbps upload
I have the Performance Plus or Blast! I'm not sure, but my speeds are a constant 20 mb/s on speedtests.

hspa on mt3gs

Does this device recieve "4g" signal? more like hspa? Someone asked me if i could do it to their phone, but im not sure it there is an actual way to do it.

It does, but it doesn't take full advantage of it, you'll defenetly get faster download and upload speeds than other phones, if u root and flash a rom with the latest radio you'll be able to see the little H instead of 3g when you're receiving 4g speeds..
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

sxufeastkilla said:
It does, but it doesn't take full advantage of it, you'll defenetly get faster download and upload speeds than other phones, if u root and flash a rom with the latest radio you'll be able to see the little H instead of 3g when you're receiving 4g speeds..
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nop, H is the symbol that a European rom uses to stand for 3G speed. A rom from the US uses 3G as symbol, while Europe uses H, both may mean HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access)
4G is HSDPA+ which we don't have in our phones, even with lastes Radio.
I still wouldn't change this thing by a new iPhone 4G!

Tzatlacael said:
Nop, H is the symbol that a European rom uses to stand for 3G speed. A rom from the US uses 3G as symbol, while Europe uses H, both may mean HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access)
4G is HSDPA+ which we don't have in our phones, even with lastes Radio.
I still wouldn't change this thing by a new iPhone 4G!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't know that. Is there some more info on this 3G/H business?

That is not true as I am clearly in the United States and I see the H symbol now and never 3g and my download speeds are faster than ever.
Tzatlacael said:
Nop, H is the symbol that a European rom uses to stand for 3G speed. A rom from the US uses 3G as symbol, while Europe uses H, both may mean HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access)
4G is HSDPA+ which we don't have in our phones, even with lastes Radio.
I still wouldn't change this thing by a new iPhone 4G!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

My understanding was that we would benefit from the 4G upgrades made to towers and whatnot, but we wouldn't get 4G speeds obviously.
I was thinking it would be like a, "3.25G" ... as I think somebody said in some thread somewhere.
Somewhat related, I noticed on CM7 when my phone idles it'll say 3G, with whatever bars and then when I use the network, the 3G will become an H.
I think the confusion is because they decided to use an "H" instead of something else, so you don't know what you're on.

The latest tests I've done using the new radio and CM7 yield me around 2450 each time.
Close enough. 4G is around 2500.

PcFish said:
The latest tests I've done using the new radio and CM7 yield me around 2450 each time.
Close enough. 4G is around 2500.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh wow, so I was in 4G territory here, huh. Nice
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

I'm LOVING CM-7 now! In CM6 I barely got over 1 mbps download speed even with the newest radio.

Tzatlacael said:
Nop, H is the symbol that a European rom uses to stand for 3G speed. A rom from the US uses 3G as symbol, while Europe uses H, both may mean HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access)
4G is HSDPA+ which we don't have in our phones, even with lastes Radio.
I still wouldn't change this thing by a new iPhone 4G!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, thats right. No 4G on the MT3GS...
3G is pure W-CDMA/UMTS. H is the upgrade HSPA...
You can take a look on the test menu (*#*#4636#*#*) > Phone Information...
regards

iDaZzLeFatHoeZz said:
That is not true as I am clearly in the United States and I see the H symbol now and never 3g and my download speeds are faster than ever.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is true, I said it appears on European Roms, even if you are in the US (I am too) and use a port of a rom from a european phone/rom, you'll get the H.. Comprende?
I had a rom like that, and now on the unofficial release of the OTA, CR_Mod rom and I get the 3G just like the H and my download speeds I get only reach up to 300kps few times, and even on full 3G coverage. Most of the time it goes about 100kps most of the time... though I have the lastest radio as on last january...
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

Um H comes on USA roms too that's what use to show up when I was both in 3g and 4g area when my g2 was stock...
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

Speedtest
Not gonna get into the argument over what H means. I am getting almost identical bandwidth and latency results using speedtest.net before and after rooting/CM6(down 3.6Mbps/up 1.3mbps). With stock ROM it said 3G, with CM6 it says H. But there is no difference beyond that in my case at least.

New radio
Ok so after flashing the new radio my downlink jumped to 4.07mbps. The uplink was unaffected.

jrgraber said:
Ok so after flashing the new radio my downlink jumped to 4.07mbps. The uplink was unaffected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah my up seems to be the same.
Not very good.

At my GF's house I test randomly and get about 4 - 5.3 down average, at my house I get aprox 3.5 - 4 average and both places maintain a steady 1.6 up. I've read specs on the phone that states the slide (in perfect conditions I assume) is capable of 7.2 Down...

Whoever is saying that H is european only is a moron. To clarify, when you see an H, you are connected to the "3.25"/"3.5"G network, HSDPA. When it just shows 3G, you are connected to the UTMS (3G) network. Speeds on HSDPA are significantly higher, but not the same speed as the HSDPA+, 3.75G or tmobile's "4G". Our phones do not have hardware capable of HSDPA+, just HSDPA. I get around 2-4 mbps with the radio update on hsdpa. In most areas, it seems that your phone will idle on 3G (UTMS) and when data is being actively sent/received, your phone activated HSDPA, but in some areas I've been, such as washington D.C., the phone will idle on HSDPA at all times, rather than switch between 3G and HSDPA. On some stock roms, namely sense ones, there is no separate icon for HSDPA in the framework, hence why you only see a 3G icon on said roms, but on an aosp based rom like cm6, or cm7, or arayraymod, you will see an H when connected to HSDPA.
As for the specs of the slide, yes, HSDPA is *capable*, theoretically, of that 7mbps, but real life speeds don't get that high. Similarly, hsdpa+ is theoretically capable of some 20 or 40 mbps, I don't fully remember, but real life speeds never get above 8 to 16 or something, again, I don't fully remember.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide

It's always nice to see someone come into a thread like this with real information.
MusicMan374 is exactly right. The reason I bought this phone when it came out was that it was using HSDPA and would be faster than straight up 3g. And indeed it is. Like others have mentioned, typical dl speeds are in the 2 to 4 Mbps range for me, but I have gone up over 5 Mbps in some locations. I am in the Philly area and my phone idles on HSDPA (i.e. I haven't seen the "3G" symbol on any CM roms I've tried on this phone).
You can see what network type the phone is using under settings -> about phone. In the CM roms you'll find it under status -> mobile network type. Don't remember if it is in the same location for stock rom, but I remember it is there.

JTownBrewer said:
You can see what network type the phone is using under settings -> about phone. In the CM roms you'll find it under status -> mobile network type. Don't remember if it is in the same location for stock rom, but I remember it is there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In stock rom CR Mod actually, on Settings then About Phone then Network. I'm on stock and it says HSDPA and I have the 3G icon, in other Sense roms it always showed the H, but I been always on the same area... @[email protected]
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

Tzatlacael said:
In stock rom CR Mod actually, on Settings then About Phone then Network. I'm on stock and it says HSDPA and I have the 3G icon, in other Sense roms it always showed the H, but I been always on the same area... @[email protected]
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the stock espresso rom does not show H when connected to HSDPA, it just shows 3G, but if it says HSDPA in mobile network type, you're on hsdpa. Hsdpa for me greatly increases dl speeds. When HSDPA isn't active, just regular 3g, I get about up to 1 mbps, most of the time under. Almost as bad as edge.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide

Inc 2 - poor data speeds?

for the hell of it i just did a speedtest on my Inc2 and these were the results:
Ping - 219ms
Download Speed - 0.29 Mbps
Upload Speed - 0.26 Mbps
my phone is currently showing 3 bars.
when i had the Thunderbolt it was showing like 7 Mbps DL & 2 Mbps UL in this area(without 4G).
does anyone else have crap speeds to?

You are comparing a 3G phone (Inc2) to a 4G phone (Thunderbolt)... Ofcourse its going to be slower...
Sent from my Incredible 2 using Tapatalk

he said without 4G... should be the same.

I find it highly suspect that a 3G connection was generating 7mbit. The maximum burst rate (meaning: not streaming rate) is 3mbit for EVDO Rev.A. Both the Thunderbolt and the Incredible 2 have 3G radios using Rev.A, not Rev.B.
I've noticed sometimes the connectivity indicator has a delayed update and I can be connected to 3G before the icon changes from 1x to 3G coming out of the parking garage at my office (I can tell because streams that don't work on 1x would start up fine).
I've been able to get over 1mbit consistently on my Inc2, and have been able to exceed 2mbit in some areas.

voxigenboy said:
for the hell of it i just did a speedtest on my Inc2 and these were the results:
Ping - 219ms
Download Speed - 0.29 Mbps
Upload Speed - 0.26 Mbps
my phone is currently showing 3 bars.
when i had the Thunderbolt it was showing like 7 Mbps DL & 2 Mbps UL in this area(without 4G).
does anyone else have crap speeds to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea... mine has been annoying me too. I always seem to get a higher upload than I do download speed.
This is after 4 tries back to back, all of them upload speed was higher.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Houston, Tx by the way
Even though Tmobile sucks when it comes to coverage area, I kind of miss the 3g speeds I had with them. My Vibrant would hit 5 mbps constantly

Just used the same SpeedTest.net app, after three back to back tries:
Down: 1742, 1192, 1894 kbps
Up: 589, 675, 543 kbps
Ping: 185, 140, 220 ms
Full bars in northern NJ

Full bars
signal around -71 dBm
Ping: 211ms
Download: 884kbps
Upload: 699kbps

jrizk07 said:
yea... mine has been annoying me too. I always seem to get a higher upload than I do download speed.
This is after 4 tries back to back, all of them upload speed was higher.
Houston, Tx by the way
Even though Tmobile sucks when it comes to coverage area, I kind of miss the 3g speeds I had with them. My Vibrant would hit 5 mbps constantly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what rom are you on?

andybones said:
what rom are you on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock rooted Gingersense, I took a screenshot back at my desk where I have no bars but was outside when I ran the test.
Had full bars and i'm on the new radio.

You need to turn on Roaming I know it doesn't make any sense
Wireless & Networks - Mobile Networks - Data Roaming Checked & CDMA Options - SYS select automatic. There I bet it's fixed.
I live in Philly across from a major hospital with thousands of people inside.
I have 3 bars at my house usually. When I first got my OG Droid it was faster than my DSL at 2200k. Then after I guess more people got smartphones it got slower and slower.
I was getting max 200k oftentimes 80k at my house since Fall '10. At work it is much better around 1200k stable but at 5pm at work used to kick me off the network. No biggie right I have wifi at home. Well it is a pain if you take a walk outside and there is a dead zone around your house.
So I decided to try a friends Sprint phone. SAME EXACT signal readings same speed. Got an Inc 2 finally I thought my droid was crap. Same thing with new phone.
Then I started trying everything. Turned on Roaming as noted above bingo!
I have a feeling Sprint / Verizon towers are used jointly? Like you need roaming for things to work properly in downtown philly. I don't know but I don't loose connection anymore whenever I have bars showing. Where in areas that there are a large number of people I had problems previously at peak hours. Now everything is stable now.
It doesn't make any sense to me at all. It is turned off by default on all phones?? But the difference is like night and day. I mean I know Verizon/Sprint share networks but that should only be in the boonies? I would love an answer. Just don't go overseas with that enabled.

i am satisfied with my inc2 data speeds. i put my inc2 next to an evo 4g (running in 3g mode because there is no 4g in my area)...and the inc2 loaded all the websites i tested quicker than the evo.
the inc2 was showing 1 to 2 bars, the evo showing full bars... i would click on a link at the same time on both phones and inc2 won everytime.

I average a MB up and down, zero complains. Running 2.3.3 (recent upgrade).
Sent from my ADR6350 using XDA App

I used to get atleast 1MB with 3+ bars on stock froyo before S-OFF, but after I installed CM7 Beta 1 I'm getting lower bars than I did before, is that happening with anyone else, or is it one of those things you just randomly notice?

pinakaeus said:
I used to get atleast 1MB with 3+ bars on stock froyo before S-OFF, but after I installed CM7 Beta 1 I'm getting lower bars than I did before, is that happening with anyone else, or is it one of those things you just randomly notice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't look st the bars. They are set to show so many based on signal and that changes from Rom to Rom (why a dx can show 4 bars but I have 2) go to settings about phone and look at your signal strength.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using XDA Premium App

Yianaki said:
Wireless & Networks - Mobile Networks - Data Roaming Checked & CDMA Options - SYS select automatic. There I bet it's fixed.
I live in Philly across from a major hospital with thousands of people inside.
I have 3 bars at my house usually. When I first got my OG Droid it was faster than my DSL at 2200k. Then after I guess more people got smartphones it got slower and slower.
I was getting max 200k oftentimes 80k at my house since Fall '10. At work it is much better around 1200k stable but at 5pm at work used to kick me off the network. No biggie right I have wifi at home. Well it is a pain if you take a walk outside and there is a dead zone around your house.
So I decided to try a friends Sprint phone. SAME EXACT signal readings same speed. Got an Inc 2 finally I thought my droid was crap. Same thing with new phone.
Then I started trying everything. Turned on Roaming as noted above bingo!
I have a feeling Sprint / Verizon towers are used jointly? Like you need roaming for things to work properly in downtown philly. I don't know but I don't loose connection anymore whenever I have bars showing. Where in areas that there are a large number of people I had problems previously at peak hours. Now everything is stable now.
It doesn't make any sense to me at all. It is turned off by default on all phones?? But the difference is like night and day. I mean I know Verizon/Sprint share networks but that should only be in the boonies? I would love an answer. Just don't go overseas with that enabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if I enable roaming though it gives me a warning about extra charges. is that true?

voxigenboy said:
if I enable roaming though it gives me a warning about extra charges. is that true?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well yes, if you're roaming.

voxigenboy said:
if I enable roaming though it gives me a warning about extra charges. is that true?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Verizon has a roaming agreement with sprint. I think it would only come into play overseas. In Europe that setting could get you in to trouble.
Had Roaming on from NY to SC not a peep from Verizon billing.
It's much faster right less data drops too.

Yianaki said:
Verizon has a roaming agreement with sprint. I think it would only come into play overseas. In Europe that setting could get you in to trouble.
Had Roaming on from NY to SC not a peep from Verizon billing.
It's much faster right less data drops too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's true
Sent from my Incredible 2 using XDA Premium App

Yianaki said:
Wireless & Networks - Mobile Networks - Data Roaming Checked & CDMA Options - SYS select automatic. There I bet it's fixed.
I live in Philly across from a major hospital with thousands of people inside.
I have 3 bars at my house usually. When I first got my OG Droid it was faster than my DSL at 2200k. Then after I guess more people got smartphones it got slower and slower.
I was getting max 200k oftentimes 80k at my house since Fall '10. At work it is much better around 1200k stable but at 5pm at work used to kick me off the network. No biggie right I have wifi at home. Well it is a pain if you take a walk outside and there is a dead zone around your house.
So I decided to try a friends Sprint phone. SAME EXACT signal readings same speed. Got an Inc 2 finally I thought my droid was crap. Same thing with new phone.
Then I started trying everything. Turned on Roaming as noted above bingo!
I have a feeling Sprint / Verizon towers are used jointly? Like you need roaming for things to work properly in downtown philly. I don't know but I don't loose connection anymore whenever I have bars showing. Where in areas that there are a large number of people I had problems previously at peak hours. Now everything is stable now.
It doesn't make any sense to me at all. It is turned off by default on all phones?? But the difference is like night and day. I mean I know Verizon/Sprint share networks but that should only be in the boonies? I would love an answer. Just don't go overseas with that enabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is often the case that providers will share towers. Many communities hate the sight of towers in their area (they're ugly...yes, this really does happen) so they are forced to keep them to a minimum. They share towers but not necessarily radio equipment, so you may not be necessarily be running through Sprint on a Sprint tower.

Not terrible. Houston

4G symbol

is there a 4G symbol next to the signal strength or does it say LTE? mine says 4G but they show LTE on the nokia website. i didnt upgrade my plan so i was wondering if i have LTE enabled or not.

When the "4G" shows, you're connected to HSPA+. When LTE shows, you are in fact on the actual LTE network.

slojko said:
is there a 4G symbol next to the signal strength or does it say LTE? mine says 4G but they show LTE on the nokia website. i didnt upgrade my plan so i was wondering if i have LTE enabled or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? You need a lte dataplan to have lte.

When you upgraded, your provider should have offered the LTE Data Plan upgrade also.
One thing I've noticed is that I'm ALWAYS showing 4G now. I cannot wait to be able to look at the registry, so I can check it. I believe they set normal 3G to show 4G now. I've never gotten HSPA+ here in the house, and now it's ALWAYS on? hmmmm
Still love the phone, but that's a bit misleading...

just looked at my plan on the AT&t website and i have a unlimited LTE plan, but i still dont see the LTE symbol
Closest LTE tower is 40 miles away

Looks like Nokia's doing exactly what Apple did with the 4.1 update.
Even though you're most likely still using 3G speeds, the phone will display 4G.
Misleading. Anything under 6mbps is 3G.
The phone will only show LTE when you're in an LTE city. If you live in the bay area you're in luck. Anywhere else, not so much. (except if you live in the other major markets)
As far as the folks still grandfathered into the unlimited data plan, the good news is since your device is LTE your speeds will not be throttled until you hit 5GBs.

As soon as we have registry access, I'll be changing it to show 3G when it's actually 3G. I don't like being deceived, especially when I'm trying to download something...

I asked about this in the store and got flat out lied to by the representatives. Saying how we were in a 4G area now and my speeds will be improved. Did a bandwith test at home and still was only getting 3.5 down. Coverage map according to at&t is the same at my house and the corporate store 12 miles away.

Yeah, I'm kinda irritated about this too. Even my microcell is being labeled as "4G". When I was at work yesterday, I tried a speed test on 4G and got .8 Mb down. You don't want to know what my upload speed was.

Compupaq said:
Yeah, I'm kinda irritated about this too. Even my microcell is being labeled as "4G". When I was at work yesterday, I tried a speed test on 4G and got .8 Mb down. You don't want to know what my upload speed was.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did your upload speed require a stamp? :-D
---------- Post added at 06:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:45 PM ----------
mistergreen said:
I asked about this in the store and got flat out lied to by the representatives. Saying how we were in a 4G area now and my speeds will be improved. Did a bandwith test at home and still was only getting 3.5 down. Coverage map according to at&t is the same at my house and the corporate store 12 miles away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel your pain, but why would you ever believe a sales rep about anything other than the amount charged to your credit card? They are salesmen. Next week it might be dishwashers, after that an underground sprinkler system. Though I feel you, you had that coming.

Just as I suspected. They've changed the Registry to show 4G even when it's definately NOT 4G. I am only able to read the Registry, so am still stuck with it, but at least I can confirm they have tried to pull the wool over my eyes as I thought.

How are they getting away with that ? Is that legal ? It must be something to do with Windows Phone, both my symbian Nokias are showing 3.5G symbol for HSPA+, not 4G.
I just looked at this wiki page, I don't know how accurate it is, but it shows the following:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
What is the difference between LTE and LTE Advanced ? According to this, even LTE is not 4G, its 3.9G.. and HSPA+ is 3.5G
Oh, here we go.. according to International Mobile Telecommunications this is what you need to market a device as a "4G" .. but I guess no one cares since most iPhones I see are showing 4G and they don't even have the radios for it. I guess this is the "loophole"
"On December 6, 2010, ITU-R recognized that these two technologies, as well as other beyond-3G technologies that do not fulfill the IMT-Advanced requirements, could nevertheless be considered "4G", provided they represent forerunners to IMT-Advanced compliant versions and "a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed"."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMT-Advanced#Requirements

Actually, I have no problem with them labeling HSPA+ as 4G. That's ok with me. But they've marked UMTS as 4G. Now that seems downright dishonest... It's my guess that was done by AT&T, not Nokia/Microsoft, since it directly benefits them...

yea this does blow
i look to be just on the outskirts of the Baltimore LTE signal for ATT, and would really like to know what sort of connection I actually have, not what they want to con me into thinking. thought I'd assume if I actually did have LTE, it would be saying so, at least hopefully.
it blows - there are three towers within 10 miles of my house, but none of them put off the LTE signal. they seem to have one every exit up and down I95 in the Baltimore/Metro area

emjlr3 said:
yea this does blow
i look to be just on the outskirts of the Baltimore LTE signal for ATT, and would really like to know what sort of connection I actually have, not what they want to con me into thinking. thought I'd assume if I actually did have LTE, it would be saying so, at least hopefully.
it blows - there are three towers within 10 miles of my house, but none of them put off the LTE signal. they seem to have one every exit up and down I95 in the Baltimore/Metro area
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, the LTE symbol is set correctly. It will only show when you are actually connected to LTE. The only one I see set incorrectly is the UMTS. It's set to 4G instead of 3G. Unfortunately, UMTS is what I normally have at home. On rare occasion, I can get HSPA+. But it's just nice to know exactly what connection I have in case I'd like to download a larger file.

SuperSport said:
When you upgraded, your provider should have offered the LTE Data Plan upgrade also.
One thing I've noticed is that I'm ALWAYS showing 4G now. I cannot wait to be able to look at the registry, so I can check it. I believe they set normal 3G to show 4G now. I've never gotten HSPA+ here in the house, and now it's ALWAYS on? hmmmm
Still love the phone, but that's a bit misleading...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I spoke to At&t about this. They told me the towers software is upgraded before the hardware. When that happens it will show 4G when you are getting 3G speeds. I may be wrong, but as I understand it 3G and 4G HSPA+ the difference is Fiber between towers instead of cable. Maybe someone can clarify for us if that's true.

Seed 2.0 said:
I spoke to At&t about this. They told me the towers software is upgraded before the hardware. When that happens it will show 4G when you are getting 3G speeds. I may be wrong, but as I understand it 3G and 4G HSPA+ the difference is Fiber between towers instead of cable. Maybe someone can clarify for us if that's true.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's very possible, but the issue I am having is that they simply changed in the Registry to show UMTS as 4G. That's just dishonest, unless they have some magical way of making UMTS 4G?
I'm sorry I keep going on about this. I'll stop... You won't normally see me complaining about this type of thing on these forums, I'm just a bit frustrated that it's been so blatently thrown in our faces. I still love the phone, and I actually don't mind the AT&T service I recieve, but they should TRY to not be dishonest as much as possible.

new to tmobile and in a dilema.

i left verizon yesterday and switched over to go gsm but also to save money and get unlimited data back. i got the note 2 and my wife got the gs3. great phones and they work fine except my data speeds are horrid. i live in a superb coverage area to, i get 3-4 bars constant but cannot pull even close to 1 meg down on 4g or edge. this is happening on both phones. :crying:
i called tmobile today and they say it sounds tower related as i live right by it. they opened a ticket to have it looked at but im fearing if i wait this out and it doesn't get fixed im stuck, i believe i can return the phones and cancel the contract within 14 days. do you guys think i could have a couple bad sims cards or does this sound tower related? i did port our number over from verizon too. both phones are rooted with the toolkits and unlocked bootloader if that makes a difference.
i need advice as i hate to leave and go to at&t or sprint which is far worse.

fix-this! said:
i left verizon yesterday and switched over to go gsm but also to save money and get unlimited data back. i got the note 2 and my wife got the gs3. great phones and they work fine except my data speeds are horrid. i live in a superb coverage area to, i get 3-4 bars constant but cannot pull even close to 1 meg down on 4g or edge. this is happening on both phones. :crying:
i called tmobile today and they say it sounds tower related as i live right by it. they opened a ticket to have it looked at but im fearing if i wait this out and it doesn't get fixed im stuck, i believe i can return the phones and cancel the contract within 14 days. do you guys think i could have a couple bad sims cards or does this sound tower related? i did port our number over from verizon too. both phones are rooted with the toolkits and unlocked bootloader if that makes a difference.
i need advice as i hate to leave and go to at&t or sprint which is far worse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Goto settings>About Device>Status and post your Signal Strength data. With -83dBm and 15 asu I get a constant 11mb down with speedtest.net.
Where else have you tested your data speeds?

mdt73 said:
Goto settings>About Device>Status and post your Signal Strength data. With -83dBm and 15 asu I get a constant 11mb down with speedtest.net.
Where else have you tested your data speeds?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have not tested it anywhere else but will tomorrow.
im getting 89 dbm 12 asu on 4g. i cannot even get close to 512 on speedtest.
does it take time for data to provision or something? i know he told me it could take up to 24-48hrs for my number to be ported. but that happened late last night.

Deleted. shinkinrui you were right. Thank god I use titanium backup.

It sounds like a bad tower
-81 dBm 18 asu here
15.06 mbps down 1.71 up
You should go out and see if you get better speeds around where you are. If you go a few miles away and get great speeds then it's the tower for sure

Agree, it could be a bad tower. They were working on a tower near my office, exact same scenario. A week later, works like a charm.

mdt73 said:
Not sure. You can try to enter *2767*3855# in the dialer and reprovision. Might have to do it two times to get it to stick. That will force a reprovision.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This code is the factory data reset code for most Samsung devices. It doesn't have anything to do with provisioning.

my money is on bad tower too. just switched yesterday from sprint. i got the note 2, girlfriend got the s3. our speeds are INSANE compared to sprint

stretchwookie said:
my money is on bad tower too. just switched yesterday from sprint. i got the note 2, girlfriend got the s3. our speeds are INSANE compared to sprint
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My dead cat can transfer data faster than Sprint...

Drive somewhere else in their HSPA+ coverage area and run the speedtest again to verify.

It's T-mobile, when I get on train station I get constant -53dBm and below 0.05Mbit, Wanna proof ?

Try the app "fresh network" , and look at your speed test app to see that you are on HSDPA, and not umts.
Sent from my HTC Sensation using Tapatalk 2

fix-this! said:
i get 3-4 bars constant but cannot pull even close to 1 meg down on 4g or edge. this is happening on both phones. :crying:
i need advice as i hate to leave and go to at&t or sprint which is far worse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the tower. The T-Mobile tower near my house has line of sight and it went down to edge speeds (like .12Mbps down, .002Mbps up) last month. I called them on the 15th and it took them about two weeks to fix it. My speeds are back to normal now, so my advice would be to notify them that the tower is FUBAR, and wait it out. That is of course assuming you get normal speeds other places too, but it would be a moot point if your home has crappy speed. Here's my latest ST:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

Different areas different speeds me and my wife got the same phones and we get average 8mbps down.
Sent from my Beast of a Note 2

The cause of slow speed might be the fact that T-mobile is restructuring their 1900 band on certain towers. Here in California, I happen to live in an area where they are restructuring the cell tower I am using, so I get download speed of 0.01mbps to 0.15mbps. However, as soon as i walked out of the range of that particular tower, my download speed goes up to 12mbps to 15mbps.

haha438 said:
The cause of slow speed might be the fact that T-mobile is restructuring their 1900 band on certain towers. Here in California, I happen to live in an area where they are restructuring the cell tower I am using, so I get download speed of 0.01mbps to 0.15mbps. However, as soon as i walked out of the range of that particular tower, my download speed goes up to 12mbps to 15mbps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope this is true. I'm a new T-mobile customer and have had the spottiest reception in the bay area. I've read this article (http://blog.t-mobile.com/2012/11/20...-metro-areas-just-in-time-for-holiday-travel/) and am crossing my fingers. I'm constantly stuck on EDGE when i'm indoors as well.

Same here, I pop in the TMobile sim and I get 1.5Mbps and .3 up. Pop in ATT and I get 6Mbps and 1.2 up. So it's not the phone. I'll try different areas. So far I'm not impressed with their Customer Service and Data. I was happier on GoPhone.

haha438 said:
The cause of slow speed might be the fact that T-mobile is restructuring their 1900 band on certain towers. Here in California, I happen to live in an area where they are restructuring the cell tower I am using, so I get download speed of 0.01mbps to 0.15mbps. However, as soon as i walked out of the range of that particular tower, my download speed goes up to 12mbps to 15mbps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah that's what was causing it as i called tech support. the issue was resolved within 24hrs. i have decent speeds again now.

I had a similar issue when I first bought my note 2 on release day. Was getting on average about .22 down speed and the up speeds where so slow the speedtest app could never finish running it. Called tmobile and they opened a ticket and got it working within the week. Now I get anywhere from 14-16 down at home and roughly 3 up. Guve it some time if they say they are working on it its just a matter of time.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium

fix-this! said:
yeah that's what was causing it as i called tech support. the issue was resolved within 24hrs. i have decent speeds again now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear your problem is fixed. I've found T-Mobile to be iffy sometimes. But 99% of the time my phone has very acceptable data speeds.