3G throttling/slow data speeds - Droid Incredible Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I have been getting very slow data speeds from 3g while almost all phones around me have been getting much higher, on the same network.
I first realized this when a friend on mine was getting speeds of >1Mbps while I was getting ~350Kbps. This was farther backed up while in a Verizon store. I tested the 3G speeds of 3 or 4 phones in the store and also tested mine. They were getting ~1.4Mbps while I was only getting 350-400Kbps.
Something is definitely wrong here. I have changing radios a few times, however I'm still getting slow speeds. Honestly I don't know exactly how long this has been happening, but its been a while. I don't know what else to try and these slow speeds are really inconvenient and make things a pain when not on wifi.

Is there a way I can tell if I am being throttled?

Related

How to improve 3G?

Hey guys I have had my Evo for awhile now and Sprints network has great coverage BUT the 3g seems abysmally slow. For instance, I can rarely stream videos without it buffering - youtube videos on regular quality mind you. If I stand still in a place with good signal I will be fine but if I'm moving etc it is slow. I get around 100KB/s during daytime where I live and 130KB/s night time which is great but luckily I also get full signal where I am. On the go, it sucks.
Are there any ways to increase 3g speeds or is it purely network related?
Welcome to sprints idea of 3g
God's honst truth man... if thats all you get... thats all you are going to get because sprints 3g network is the worst i have ever seen. Bar none. Even little us cellular has better coverage and twice the data speeds as sprint does here in iowa.
There is no possible way for the phine or any hack to it to speed up sprints crap network.
My advise to you is to cqll sprint and plead your case, that you paid for 3g and are getting 1x rtt speeds 24/7 and politely demand a credit to your account like i do every month.
And then call back about 5 minutes later and ask to speak to the retention center because you want to cancel your service because you arpe not getting service you are paying for.
Then tell the retention persion you were thinking of getting the Airave but cant afford it and see if they will give it to you free on the basis of poor service and they typically will.
I did, and got one for when i am at work and the boss wont let me use it because it uses works internet for voice and data.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Figures... Should have went with ATT or Verizon.
I know in the old days of 3g internet hacks Sanyo phones had a data cap screen that was accessible via ##040793##. From there you could change the data rate, 144K/230K. Not sure if we have the same here but phone codes may be a place to start.
Mmmmhmmm. Just be glad you don't have the epic and are capped at 150kbps up.
I think sprint has finally gotten 2 good phones and 4g, so now they think they're the top dog and can do whatever they damn well please...it's like a cycle with them. Bad service>>>loose all of their customers>>>cheap, semi-good service>>>get customers back>>>become assholes again>>>loose their customers...
werxen said:
Figures... Should have went with ATT or Verizon.
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lol, good luck getting a decent phone on att or verizon. Let alone coverage. Oh and dont forget about the data caps on the phones, 100mb right? or was it 200mb?
Last-Chance said:
lol, good luck getting a decent phone on att or verizon. Let alone coverage. Oh and dont forget about the data caps on the phones, 100mb right? or was it 200mb?
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Well Verizon has amazing android phones for one. There is a data cap for ATT which is true but no cap for Verizon. You know now that I think about it I might do the force roam hack on my Evo and see if if I get better 3g speeds.
I have no idea what any if you are talking about, I get better 3g speeds on Sprint then I ever did with any other carrier I've had.
Sent from my HTC Evo 4g
am I doing something wrong?
on 3g I pull down at least 512 up
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
werxen said:
Hey guys I have had my Evo for awhile now and Sprints network has great coverage BUT the 3g seems abysmally slow. For instance, I can rarely stream videos without it buffering - youtube videos on regular quality mind you. If I stand still in a place with good signal I will be fine but if I'm moving etc it is slow. I get around 100KB/s during daytime where I live and 130KB/s night time which is great but luckily I also get full signal where I am. On the go, it sucks.
Are there any ways to increase 3g speeds or is it purely network related?
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Click to collapse
I wish I could get speeds that fast consistently. Actually what you are getting is right about on par for 3g. That's prob the avg speed one would expect to get. There are higher areas and lower areas depending on a lot of things. A 100KB connection is nothing to complain about. I've personally never had a connection over 150 KB.
Sent from your mom's phone.
Not sure if its sprint or my phone but I can't break 40kbs down on anything and 3g cuts out all the time. Crappy....
The first thing I would do to verify your 3g speeds is to unroot your phone, and make sure you are running the latest .93 hboot release and sprint ota release. If your phone is already in this state (un rooted and latest hboot) then ignore me.
You should also look into unrevoked forever if you haven't already...it runs off the current hboot, and I've noticed that something about that hboot does help 3g speeds on some rooted phones if you go that route.
I've done a ton of research and practical testing on this subject and I can say without a doubt that the evo's current rooting methods DO have a negative impact on some 3g phones in some areas. And I'm not talking about 100 or 200 kbps here or there. In the same house, same phone, 1 rooted and 1 not. That was the ONLY difference. The rooted phone got 7 kbps. The stock got 1800kbps. I swapped phone setups so that the rooted one was now unrooted and vice versa. That time the rooted one got 47kbps and unrooted was 1681 kbps...in other words the problem followed the rooting process, and not the phone. I've done dozens of tests like this and others in various areas within the surrounding wilmington delaware area.
I have access to 3 rooted evos, 1 evo that is always stock, as well as a samsung moment. The 4 evos are all rev 3 nova. I also did similar tests on the hero with the same sorts of results. Feel free to pm me or post here with any questions.
EDIT: the kbps numbers I listed were for download speeds. Upload speeds on both rooted and unrooted, regardless of build or boot version, were consistent at around 600 -700 kbps during almost all of my testing.
EDIT2: I forgot to say - this problem also happened to me when I changed recoveries from clockwork to AmonRA. So it's not JUST the rooting process that can cause this, but several low-level engineering commands, such as flashing a kernel, upgrading a ROM, etc.
Tiepoz baught two yoo bi swype"3
That's pretty crappy, I get full 3g pretty much everywhere around St. Louis until I get out to the country. And pretty good 4g around town. My 3g is about 1.5mb down. 4g is 5 to 7mb down.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Flash the PRL to connect to Verizon's towers. I get 1.2 mb/s even see 2mb/s occasionally. Of course ping times are raised.
It's pretty hit or miss here, one day I will get 50-150k down and the next it will be +1meg. Next time it get drops below 500 you can bet I will be talking to somebody about it though, their advertised 3G speed is 600kb - 1.5mb.
100kb is ridiculous
I get anywhere between 500-1mb down 100-200kb up. My 4G easily does between 2-6mb down and 1mb up. People just love to complain. You didn't realize this within your 30 day trial? If so, why didn't you switch carriers?
What should the prl be right now ? And how are you guys testing the speeds? Nvr done it
Sent from my netarchy_toast, froyo beast of a machine evo!
You live in an area with poor coverage or your phone has a faulty radio.
I get good signal and up/Downs on 3g. If I nandriod away from cm6, I can get 6-7mb down and 1mb up with 4g in San leandro CA.
evohack99 said:
What should the prl be right now ? And how are you guys testing the speeds? Nvr done it
Sent from my netarchy_toast, froyo beast of a machine evo!
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Speedtest... its in the market.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
I think it is my radio. I was getting fine speeds up until 3 days ago when I noticed severe loading lag in my tethered apps. I get decent pings ~ 200-300ms which is not too out of the ordinary. I did a speed test other day and it was 50KB/s down and 70KB/s up. I figured it was just a faulty day but it has gone on far too long now. This is with 5/5 bars too... Just gotta wait for my new Evo to come in. Seems like every hardware ****up is happening at once.

Slow Data, Low Signal Strength

I've had this phone for about a year now, but for some reason I just came to these realizations. This was my first smart phone, so I was blinded by all the fancy things that come with a smart phone...
Anyway, I'm currently running CM7 stable, 1.6.37.6 incredikernal, 2.15.00.11.19...
I'm always at 1 bar or less, around -90 dbm, and I just started running speedtests but my highest was 597 kbps down and 460 kbps up. This is complete ****.
Is my device a POS? or is Verizon network a POS?
Keep in mind, although I just started running speed tests, my data has always seemed slow... I just figured that's the way it was suppose to be...
I live 30 minutes from NYC if you are going to factor in location
Its Verizon, lately may be the iPhone effect?
In metro areas I can get downloads that are slower than upload. On the flipside in rural areas that have more cows and goats per capita than humans I can get 2+mbps.
txvstar said:
Its Verizon, lately may be the iPhone effect?
In metro areas I can get downloads that are slower than upload. On the flipside in rural areas that have more cows and goats per capita than humans I can get 2+mbps.
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I thought about the whole iphone craze, but I feel like it has been slow all along...
I have wondered about the dInc so I ran side by side test with an OG droid. Same crappy results in some cases. In a few moments of good signal the bone stock OG Droid was at least 200kbps faster.
I have also wondered if I am being throttled due to high data usage.
If you're speeds were throttled you should have an icon in your notification bar, Verizon isn't supposed to throttle without letting you know.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
txvstar said:
I have wondered about the dInc so I ran side by side test with an OG droid. Same crappy results in some cases. In a few moments of good signal the bone stock OG Droid was at least 200kbps faster.
I have also wondered if I am being throttled due to high data usage.
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I really don't use that much data on my phone, so I don't see why I would be throttled...
However, after 2 years of no dl'ing music, I did got on a binge a few weks ago and dl'd about 20 gigs. But I don't think this would affect my wireless account, and I could of sworn Verizon prided themselves on not throttling...
I have seen same results and its not just on the incredibles. I believe its Verizon network. Makes me wonder if its them working on trying to go 4g or what?? I know its not the incredible because I have had same result in certain areas getting 2mbs others i get 200kbs. Its just the network
bjohnson8949 said:
I have seen same results and its not just on the incredibles. I believe its Verizon network. Makes me wonder if its them working on trying to go 4g or what?? I know its not the incredible because I have had same result in certain areas getting 2mbs others i get 200kbs. Its just the network
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I'm going to class in the city right now, i'll see what kind of results I get...
You have to factor in alot of things. Your radio version. What tower your on and how many people are using that tower. Location location location. ROM (Although I don't think the problem is related to CM7)
The condition of your phone. Weather. Your PRL, try updating your PRL to make your phone search for a better signal.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Just ran a test in the Bronx, NY. 3 bars, 1020 kbps down, 165 kpbs. What a piece of garbage.
I'm going to unroot and have them give me a new one....
Doubt they'll do anything as that's right in the middle of their advertised 3g speed range.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

3g speeds

I have an EVO, my dad has the epic and we have an aircard and lately we have all seen a major decline in 3g speeds. What would cause this. My radios are up to date is there anything we can do to fix them?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Sprint's 3g speeds are crap, simple as that. I get 50kbps on my evo. Yes, that's dial-up speeds.
But they were fine its just recently we have noticed
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Sprint has been downgrading towers. Sure we can have unlimited data... *well, they lied about that. haha* but sadly, we get slower speeds therefore takes us longer and discourages us from using their network for data. in return allowing more customers to be on the same network at the same time.
OR
there are too many people in your area that have sprint and they are using up all the bandwidth.
PS.... THERE HAS BEEN NO MAJOR CHANGE IN THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE on their network... running speed tests and also just in the field use.. the speed has really dropped by half. used to get as close to the capable Sprint 3G speeds as possible. now getting 800-900 max during the complete off time of the network. 3-5am. upload speeds have also gone down. the simple fact is that they don't care about us anymore. haha.
just wait until LTE picks up. haha. all these worthless 4G phones they have will be a waste of money. they aren't going to keep wimax. they are liars if they say they will. my next phone WILL BE a LTE phone. NOT wimax!
OF COURSE STUPID ME. LOL. SO I JUST RESTARTED MY PHONE. AND THE SPEED WAS THERE AGAIN. I'M AN IDIOT! WENT FROM 900 to 2.3M on the 3G. so in other words. lol I think memory on our phones is a big part of why it is so slow.
Yeah i noticed slower speeds as well. Hell a friend had uscelluar and we was getting the same app off the market and they beat me out by like 8 seconds. its kinda sucks that I have to use 4g just to beat out everyones 3g speeds
Crap indeed they are. My Evo is like owning a Lamborghini with a boot on all 4 wheels.
Sent from hell.

Unusable 3G... Speeds are barely above dial-up.

I don't even know what to say here. I have a Epic 4G Touch and the speeds suck.
I can barely use the 3G data services. Things simply do not load when I'm on 3G.
An average speed test for me is roughly 900~1000 Ping, 7~13kbps down and maybe 40~70kbps upload.
4G is fine but we only have 4G in ONE small area of the city. When I'm on 4G, I see like 10~12Mbit easy.
I use my phone for work. I need to be able to tether or load pages on the phone when I'm on the go and this just doesn't work for me.
Normally when I'm running these tests, I have 4 or 5 bars. I also work about 45 minutes from home and I experience these speeds in BOTH areas and everywhere in between.
Would calling Sprint and complaining be worth while? Any fixes?
kdoggy said:
Normally when I'm running these tests, I have 4 or 5 bars. I also work about 45 minutes from home and I experience these speeds in BOTH areas and everywhere in between.
Would calling Sprint and complaining be worth while? Any fixes?
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It is sad right?.....I been dealing with 50k-maybe break 100k for a long time in my area. That is just the way it is in "your area" at this time for 3G. Maybe when they start upgrading their tower things will get better. The reason I say it is their network "Area", is that I can go to San Antonio and 3g works great nice speed..etc., but every time I go back to my GF house in South Texas 4-5hrs away I can't break 100k download on 3g again that has been going on for 1yr or more.
There is a link floating around that will give you info on towers being upgraded.
I agree, in Chicago 3G speeds suck worse than my first internet computer in mid 1990's.
I have had the EVO 4G and now the Galaxy SII. Both get 50-75k/sec download. Searching web sites is insanely slow. YouTube is a joke buffering non stop.
4G. LOL. What a gimmick. Very spotty hard to hold a connection which always drops. And big baggy drainer. I never use 4G.
Sprint Galaxy S2 w/ Calk's 1.5a + ICS 1.6
Welcome to the club. I came from T-Mobile where I was enjoying download speeds that are 10x faster then I get now with Sprint's 3G.
4G in my area is not bad ~1MB/sec but I don't get it consistently..
3G upgrades are badly needed, the Sprint tower upgrade site says the towers in my area were already upgraded within the past 6 months, I'd hate to know what it was like before those upgrades..
Zorachus said:
I agree, in Chicago 3G speeds suck worse than my first internet computer in mid 1990's.
I have had the EVO 4G and now the Galaxy SII. Both get 50-75k/sec download. Searching web sites is insanely slow. YouTube is a joke buffering non stop.
4G. LOL. What a gimmick. Very spotty hard to hold a connection which always drops. And big baggy drainer. I never use 4G.
Sprint Galaxy S2 w/ Calk's 1.5a + ICS 1.6
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LOL, I visited Chicago for 4 days over Veteran's Day and thought to myself "Wow, these speeds are awesome!" I was getting >1 MBit on 3G and 5-8 MBit on 4G in the center of town.
I live in Vegas and thought Chicago was at least twice as fast as here...
I hear you!
I live in the SLC area of Utah and came from T-mobile. With T-mobile I could get 1-3MB with a low 3G signal on my Vibrant, now on Sprint I get much lower than that with full 3G bars and WiMax is a joke in UT still..
Memphis Tn and I am getting speeds like the OP is getting. I have tried three modems and they are all the same. I am hoping it is due to something with Sprint going on right now. Before this weekend I was getting some where near 900 down and 400 up going over 1000 at times. This is really BAD.
Yeah it does suck. We have such a nice phone but its pretty much all data driven. I don't even like to usr y phone unless I can connect to wifi cause 3g is so slow. Sprint needs to do something fast. I can't take it.
Sent From My Evo Killer!!!
kdoggy said:
I don't even know what to say here. I have a Epic 4G Touch and the speeds suck.
I can barely use the 3G data services. Things simply do not load when I'm on 3G.
An average speed test for me is roughly 900~1000 Ping, 7~13kbps down and maybe 40~70kbps upload.
4G is fine but we only have 4G in ONE small area of the city. When I'm on 4G, I see like 10~12Mbit easy.
I use my phone for work. I need to be able to tether or load pages on the phone when I'm on the go and this just doesn't work for me.
Normally when I'm running these tests, I have 4 or 5 bars. I also work about 45 minutes from home and I experience these speeds in BOTH areas and everywhere in between.
Would calling Sprint and complaining be worth while? Any fixes?
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Click to collapse
It might be the towers.
network.sprint.com
Guess what me too lol. The tower I use from my house is less than 50 kbits anytime of the day no matter how close I am. And thats 3g not 1x.. Even better they say theres no tower upgrades planned and the tower functions just fine
Yet, everyone else with sprint here has the same results.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Just ran a speed test.net from around Allentown, PA. 5 bars, ping 86ms, 958kbps down, 701kbps up. Fairly typical for this area, however no 4G here. Generally I've had pretty good luck with 3G.
3g and 4g in SoCal..
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
I Get 2-3mbps on the down and 1-2mbps on the up here in Salem, NH and its a heavily populated area....Might just be your towers
I remember back when I was using an HTC Mogul and they first turned on EvDO Rev. A. I was getting maybe 600-800k/sec down and honestly that was fine. I would *still* be fine if I could get 600-800k down on 3g. The problem is that my speeds are now somewhere around 10-20k/sec down if speedtest.net is to be trusted. I broke my launch day Evo and upgraded to the e4gt about a week and a half ago. I hoped that would fix things but so far it's just as bad. I think the highest I've gotten on any speed test this past week is still under 50k/sec with more typical speeds around the 15-20k mark.
I just did a backup so I can restore this phone back to stock and stop by the Sprint store tonight. I'm curious as to their explanation. I'd also like to see if their demo units and personal units have this issue. Honestly if they can show me that it's a defective phone I will be thrilled because I am still in my 14 days and can have it swapped out. If it turns out to be a software bug endemic to the phone then I'm in a less pleasant spot. I could wait to see if the rumors of the new ICS build pan out and fix anything but by then I am past my 14-day window.
If I'm stuck waiting around for a newer phone down the line I might just have to suck it up and swap for an iPhone since I can sell it for more in 6-8 months. I just don't really want an iPhone. I use my girlfriend's and it's pretty well built but the screen is so tiny and I hate losing built in Google Talk, Nav, etc.
Freaking annoying.
I live in Aurora, CO and work in Broomfield, CO (approx 50 miles away). Between the two, I'm lucky if I'm able to get 350kbps down. Worst of all is the inconsistency. Connections drop constantly, making it impossible to stream music.
I remember when I first came to Sprint, I could stream music almost non-stop on my 700wx from the time I left my house till I got back home. Those days are loooooong gone.
I don't understand how Sprint stays in business with such a low speed 3G network. I also get VERY slow data in my area and was very close to leaving Sprint, but they offered me an airave, so I can now use my phone in my house. 90% of the time, the data speed is terrible anywhere I travel. I like to stream some music (foreign radios) on my way to and from work and it is terrible: constant buffering. I was tempted to switch to T-Mobile since they have great coverage in my area, still thinking about it...
Very frustrating!
Welcome to Sprint, the Now Our 3G is SCREWED Network.

anyone else experience slow network speeds ?

I came from a nexus 5 to the edge. Ran speed test in the same spot of my house I usually spend my time , and I always ran about 15-18 MB download on 3g/hspa+ on the n5. On the edge I get about 5 on 3g/HSPA+ and forget about LTE.. It was below 1mb... On the n5 I got about 15mb but the signal was less than just 3g hspa. Worked for.me cause it was faster and saved me battery. Anyone else experience the drop in speed coming from a different phone ?
I'm experiencing these slow network speeds I'm coming from an s4 and I was getting well above 20mb now I'm not even getting 1mb on lte. I thought it was just my phone
theman1111 said:
I'm experiencing these slow network speeds I'm coming from an s4 and I was getting well above 20mb now I'm not even getting 1mb on lte. I thought it was just my phone
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I wonder what it could be ? Maybe old radios ?
Im on ATT getting really low speeds too, even on wifi. I think my (Spigen Neo Hybrid) case was interfering because once i took it off it got a little better.

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