Develop Bugs

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?
Click to expand...
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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Click to collapse
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.

LOS finally hit me... and hit HARD!

I was at the Brewer's game last night, and the loss of service was horrible. I literally rebooted 18 (I counted) times during the game, that was just to get my missed text messages.
Scary thing is that I had nearly full bars showing for the cellular signal, but the 3G was terrible. Every time the 3G dropped too low, it took both the 3G and cellular service with it, and it never came back. At one point, I rebooted 5 times in a row, and still had no service (no data, and texting/calling would not work), even though I was showing nearly full reception.
I couldn't keep the radios working long enough to even successfully use Roam control. By the time I was able to switch to roaming (on Cellular One, apparently), the radios were already crashed, and I still had no service (even though I still had no indication).
About halfway through the game, I finally started getting the triangle notification "You have lost data services be...." Toggling roaming policies and roam guards did nothing to make this go away... Whether I was in forced roam or on Sprint.
I assume that there was a lot of network congestion at a playoff game, but clearly this phone does not handle network congestion well. I never had this problem with the Samsung Moment, and it saddens me to think that that piece of crap does ANYTHING better than the ET!
I wonder if the low data signal somehow creates a cascade of events that tells the phone to shut down the radios?

I never experienced LOS until yesterday and it's hit me 5 times now since. I reverted back to stock kernel for the time being, but I'm afraid it'll happen again since it's even a stock problem (from what I've heard.)

There is a kernel in the dev section to fix LOS. Take a look at lostkernel.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

Damn, y'all got me scared to get this phone.

Khilbron said:
There is a kernel in the dev section to fix LOS. Take a look at lostkernel.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Seems like some are getting in on Jmthat one as well.
Sent From My Evo Killer!!!

Dalmus said:
I was at the Brewer's game last night, and the loss of service was horrible. I literally rebooted 18 (I counted) times during the game, that was just to get my missed text messages.
Scary thing is that I had nearly full bars showing for the cellular signal, but the 3G was terrible. Every time the 3G dropped too low, it took both the 3G and cellular service with it, and it never came back. At one point, I rebooted 5 times in a row, and still had no service (no data, and texting/calling would not work), even though I was showing nearly full reception.
I couldn't keep the radios working long enough to even successfully use Roam control. By the time I was able to switch to roaming (on Cellular One, apparently), the radios were already crashed, and I still had no service (even though I still had no indication).
About halfway through the game, I finally started getting the triangle notification "You have lost data services be...." Toggling roaming policies and roam guards did nothing to make this go away... Whether I was in forced roam or on Sprint.
I assume that there was a lot of network congestion at a playoff game, but clearly this phone does not handle network congestion well. I never had this problem with the Samsung Moment, and it saddens me to think that that piece of crap does ANYTHING better than the ET!
I wonder if the low data signal somehow creates a cascade of events that tells the phone to shut down the radios?
Click to expand...
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What kernel are you on?
Sent From My Evo Killer!!!

musclehead84 said:
What kernel are you on?
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I'm running the stock with root (flashed CWM, then flashed the root .zip).
I forgot to mention that after the game in the parking lot (about 4 blocks from the stadium) a reboot set my phone working perfectly fine again, so I'm thinking its a combination of something Sprint's network tells our phone, and then something in Samsung's kernel goes "Duh...."

Brewers suck. Go Cards!
Sent from my Epic on Midnight or my Galaxy Tab rooted (feels naked without a ROM) from good ole St Louis Missouri.

lancelane said:
Brewers suck. Go Cards!
Sent from my Epic on Midnight or my Galaxy Tab rooted (feels naked without a ROM) from good ole St Louis Missouri.
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(It was a great game Let's hope we keep it going at home tomorrow!! Go Cards!!)
That stinks about the phone though :-( I hope it's something that gets resolved, sorry you had to mess with it during the game.

Roam Control periodically does a license check when you start it. If you don't have data, and it decides to check the license, you are SOL.
As for rebooting, it was necessary to reboot because that's the only time I got text messages. We had two sets of two seats, and texting was the only way to communicate with people 3 second away.
Perhaps you should spend some time with kindergartners and take some etiquette lessons. Although they might be too advanced in that area for you to learn much.

nabbed said:
Perhaps you should try to stop texting to people who are 39 seconds away.
And Roam Control required internet? Really?
What version of this ridiculously hypocritical app do you use?
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It does do checks every so often... Cum on men, give the guy a break.

nabbed said:
Perhaps you should try to stop texting to people who are 39 seconds away.
And Roam Control required internet? Really?
What version of this ridiculously hypocritical app do you use?
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Click to collapse
Great. Let's see you try to set up meeting places, or exit strategies with people you can't communicate with. Or are you the rude type that would barge into the middle of somebody else's section?
As for Roam Control, it just updated from the market, so its the latest version. Try reading the description.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

BethyM said:
(It was a great game Let's hope we keep it going at home tomorrow!! Go Cards!!)
That stinks about the phone though :-( I hope it's something that gets resolved, sorry you had to mess with it during the game.
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Click to collapse
I preferred Sunday's game myself.
Despite how it sounds, I spent more time watching the game (such as it was!) than messing with the phone. Reboots and clicking resend on a text doesn't really take that long, thankfully!
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

Sprint's 3G in Milwaukee is not working at all. Sprint offered to let me out of contract free because of the 3G being out since June and still not fixed.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

I live in Milwaukee as well and I can vouch for how terrible the 3g is here. I only use about 1 gig a month in data on a light month and about 2 gigs a month on a heavy month. I even tried using my slingplayer as much as I could keeping it on for a few hours at a time for a whole month and I barely used 3 gigs!! When Verizon gets a nice phone with LTE I'm ditching sprint for a network that actually works here. And I don't care about the caps because I don't even use that much to begin with. And if Sprint ends up getting LTE in Milwaukee by 2013 maybe I'll come back...but since sprint has no wimax here...and they won't fix the 3G, I'm guessing Milwaukee will be the very last city to get LTE.....

worldwidepmp said:
Damn, y'all got me scared to get this phone.
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Click to collapse
Don't root yet.....problem solved.

Dalmus said:
I preferred Sunday's game myself.
Despite how it sounds, I spent more time watching the game (such as it was!) than messing with the phone. Reboots and clicking resend on a text doesn't really take that long, thankfully!
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
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I didn't get to see Sunday's because we had plans. Excited for tonight's game. Always enjoy a good play off, even better when my home team is in. Of course, the tension keeps it amusing.... hmmm... kinda like XDA.
Sent from my NookColor using XDA Premium App

nabbed said:
Why are you crying?
Do a motherfathering data reset. Stop being a victim. And stop posting here.
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First off, I've done multiple data resets since I activated the phone last month, and 3G data has not improved one bit.
Second, according to other posts, I obviously am not the only one with a data problem in my city, so posting here helped me with some evidence to go to Sprint and get credit or out of my contract, doesn't it?

Err0rist said:
Sprint's 3G in Milwaukee is not working at all. Sprint offered to let me out of contract free because of the 3G being out since June and still not fixed.
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The ONLY place I get decent 3G speeds is by the airport. Just did a speed test, and I got 1.3mbs down... Everywhere else in the city, I average somewhere around .15, which is basically 1xRTT speeds.
How did you go about getting the offer to let you out of the contract? Did you have to call multiple times? Honestly, I'm hoping that this phantom update that's supposedly coming this month actually fixes something, but with Samsung/Sprint, I'm not holding my breath.
I go back to my experience with the Moment. Sprint put out several updated, but never managed to fix the data lock problem (which also cut out voice service, which is eerily similar to what's happening here). It took the devs over at SDX to fix the problem by porting Froyo over from the Acclaim (or maybe it was the Intercept... I forget).
Bonus information: By the airport there is a 4G tower that's active. I can pull 3mbs at work, and if I go about 6 blocks north, I can pull 11mbs.

jaygraffix said:
I live in Milwaukee as well and I can vouch for how terrible the 3g is here. I only use about 1 gig a month in data on a light month and about 2 gigs a month on a heavy month. I even tried using my slingplayer as much as I could keeping it on for a few hours at a time for a whole month and I barely used 3 gigs!! When Verizon gets a nice phone with LTE I'm ditching sprint for a network that actually works here. And I don't care about the caps because I don't even use that much to begin with. And if Sprint ends up getting LTE in Milwaukee by 2013 maybe I'll come back...but since sprint has no wimax here...and they won't fix the 3G, I'm guessing Milwaukee will be the very last city to get LTE.....
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Yeah, that's my worry. Sprint doesn't seem to have any logical progression of cities they implement 4G in. Milwaukee is a Top 20 city (by population), so you'd think they'd be in the first wave. But no, they'd rather put 4G in Milledgville, GA, population 19,000 before a city with 500,000.

Sprint Signal Strength

Do you have worse data signal reception (and use) with Sprint vs. Verizon indoors?
More often than not, inside a store or restaurant in an 'excellent coverage' area, Sprint's data network is not usable (connection timeouts) where as surfing on Verizon is no problem.
I suspect a combination of Sprint Rev A and possibly cell density / Sprint using lower signal strength.
I didn't get a lot of response in the top Networking thread, so I thought I would post with fellow Sprint/ Evo 4G users.
other sim thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1501051

Hey,
It all comes down to you get what you pay for, sprint has amazing phones with ok at best service sorry if anyone takes offence but its true. When on big red you are paying a lot but you get good phones and strong service its just how it is sadly. Sometimes I have great data in stores others I dont it just depends on the cell tower and how the building is built, but like I said it just comes down to you get what you pay for!
Stevo

While you would think the signal would be similar, since both Sprint and Verizon are CDMA, it's not.
On sprint, there is a tower less than 2 blocks from my house. Outside I get full bars, but the second I step inside my house, I get knocked down to 1 bar. Using the Verizon PRL, I also get full bars outside, but when I step inside, I only lose one bar, and get 5/6 bars consistently. The same thing happens at a few restaurants around town, sprint gets 0 bars inside, but almost full bars as soon as I step outside, but with verizon, the signal stays the same in and out.

Thanks guys. This is exactly my issue. For some reason, in larger market cities, this is less of a problem.
I wish I could find a technical reason. There seems to be a discrepancy too in the quality of data signal with sprint's own towers.
And I don't buy in to the 'you get what you pay for'. My wife and I pay $1800 a year for 'unlimited everything and the first 4G network with enhanced devices that connect to high speed data'

I hope this isn't out of context but it seemed to be the most relavent thread for my issue.
Typically I haven't had many issues with my Sprint server (I'm in the Denver metro area) however over the last few days every call I get on the end voice is choppy, and eventually will cut out. When monitoring my signal it will jump from 3 or 5 bars to zero and then back up again.
I do have a rooted phone, however the ROM I'm using has the stock kernel and the most up to date radio.
I guess my question is, has anyone experienced any issues like this over the past few days? Is it possible that I'm having a hardware issue and need to un-root my phone and take it to the sprint store?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm not quite sure how to start the problem solving process. Thanks!

IrideAgro said:
Thanks guys. This is exactly my issue. For some reason, in larger market cities, this is less of a problem.
I wish I could find a technical reason. There seems to be a discrepancy too in the quality of data signal with sprint's own towers.
And I don't buy in to the 'you get what you pay for'. My wife and I pay $1800 a year for 'unlimited everything and the first 4G network with enhanced devices that connect to high speed data'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats a lot for that plan. I use to have and switched to the $70 one due to the fact that I barely call land lines anymore. You might want to look into the other plans to save some money.
Now as far as the signal problem...it really depends on the phone, freq, rom, area and the building. I dont have the problems that you have..in face ppl with vw have that problem around me.

edlokien said:
Thats a lot for that plan. I use to have and switched to the $70 one due to the fact that I barely call land lines anymore. You might want to look into the other plans to save some money.
Now as far as the signal problem...it really depends on the phone, freq, rom, area and the building. I dont have the problems that you have..in face ppl with vw have that problem around me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Um, Lets see, Family unlimited plan with two Evos (+$20) - with a discount on the line. Use to be under $130/month, now it is at $146/month. So not sure what you are talking about regarding price.
Regarding your signal response, I was looking for something actually technical and informative.

IrideAgro said:
Um, Lets see, Family unlimited plan with two Evos (+$20) - with a discount on the line. Use to be under $130/month, now it is at $146/month. So not sure what you are talking about regarding price.
Regarding your signal response, I was looking for something actually technical and informative.
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Click to collapse
Sounds about right Iride. We have a family unlimited plan here as well with an Evo and an iPhone 4s and I think we're somewhere in the $160 range with insurance and everything.
On the technical side I've posted a few times in other threads pertaining to the same issue but haven't heard back.
It seems my service is now only sporadic at home, but I can't confirm that fully just yet. I was downtown (Denver) using my phone yesterday and it seemed just fine, however when I returned home any call I made immediately had a sporadic choppy voice. This is strange to me as I've never had bad signal here until now. That's over 2+ years of living in this same apartment.
Maybe this is something on Sprint's end. This may be a silly question, but when calling for tech support, they can't tell if you've rooted your phone or not right? It would only be if you took it in to get serviced without unrooting?
Hope to figure out something soon...

Slow data speeds and spotty service

I've noticed spotty and inconsistent data/service on my phone. Even with full bars I get data speeds like shown in the attachments. When using the phone it will sometimes say I have no data connection and ask me to retry. I retry a few times and it finally loads whatever it is I'm loading. I've also noticed that my phone sometimes gets a little warm while in use. I've tried different modems with the same results and I'm about ready to just take it to the sprint store and get it swapped. Any suggestions on what might fix it? I can confirm that it is something with my phone because I've run side by side speed tests with my friends OG epic and their speeds are normal. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA

Make sure you have the HA/AAA passwords and also i figured out that in QPST in the PPP tab then click Um make sure the user ID and tether NAI are both Nulled

Dallinzzz said:
I've noticed spotty and inconsistent data/service on my phone. Even with full bars I get data speeds like shown in the attachments. When using the phone it will sometimes say I have no data connection and ask me to retry. I retry a few times and it finally loads whatever it is I'm loading. I've also noticed that my phone sometimes gets a little warm while in use. I've tried different modems with the same results and I'm about ready to just take it to the sprint store and get it swapped. Any suggestions on what might fix it? I can confirm that it is something with my phone because I've run side by side speed tests with my friends OG epic and their speeds are normal. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
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Click to collapse
Thats about what I get too. Its a combo of this phone and Sprints crappy network! My evo got better speeds as well.

I am getting the same thing too. Funny thing is that it just started being this way recently, it wasn't always slow. It is not just the data speeds, I am getting no service in places where I used to get service.
I have been seriously thinking about switching carriers and moving to t-mobile but a little afraid because I have been with sprint forever.
If something don't change by the end of the month, sprint may be losing another customer since the GSIII is on ALL carriers.
I am in Raleigh/Durham NC by the way.

I agree... it didn't feel so bad until I got my ET4G, but I just figured it was a network issue. I'm trying the EL29 modem on my Calks 1.6 now. If anything I'll try going fully stock and see if that helps.

Welcome to the Sprint network

Some people are experiencing network issues in places where Sprint is upgrading to LTE. I don't know how far-reaching the effects are but could possibly have something to do with it.
Sent from my Epic 4G Touch

slickrichierich said:
Make sure you have the HA/AAA passwords and also i figured out that in QPST in the PPP tab then click Um make sure the user ID and tether NAI are both Nulled
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Click to collapse
lol wtf

Yes, I notice the same thing lately with Sprint Wimax, I may have to dumb Sprint later. Sprint data speed gradually slows down from time to time, some area, Sprint shows only 1X, I look at friends' phones with Verizon, ATT and Tmobile, they have very good speed. My brother has Verizon LTE phone, I speedtested at the same location, he got like 17mbps download and upload is about 15mbps, mine is 1X speed. Suck, I gonna say goodbye to Sprint later.

Welcome to the Sprint network with the New iPhone4s d-bags. Seems like things were great till they showed up. Even my Evo got slower.

data
Maybe your phone is stuck in 1x..
What i do is i go into debug (##debug# in dialer) and i go to others, and then i select hdr/1x and i click on evdo mode. Try doing this but you need your msl.
Caution: ive tried it on ics roms and its really weird. Try going on a GB rom and do that. Oh and on EVDO, you wont be able to recieve messages, so when you are done change the setting back to hybrid.

durhamite said:
I am getting the same thing too. Funny thing is that it just started being this way recently, it wasn't always slow. It is not just the data speeds, I am getting no service in places where I used to get service.
I have been seriously thinking about switching carriers and moving to t-mobile but a little afraid because I have been with sprint forever.
If something don't change by the end of the month, sprint may be losing another customer since the GSIII is on ALL carriers.
I am in Raleigh/Durham NC by the way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NC market has some EVDO issues affecting certain users.
I was just told this after getting off the phone with them earlier today for a different issue.

Still incredibly slow, but I'm hoping the network update fixes some things. Thanks for the information though!

[Q] How to tell if 3G speed is slow due to phone or network

I am within 14 day window to exchange phone but I have to ship back to sprint due to purchasing online. I have Sero account so no purchase was possible through sprint store.
Here is my situation.
3G speed has been slower than I expected since purchasing the phone. My 3G speed has averaged between 125 to 350 kbps throughout a 24 hr period over several days. I am averaging between -90dbms and -95dbms signal level in most locations in which I travel on sprint using EVDO A. I have taken the phone to the sprint repair center twice but they don't run any tests other than speedtest. They tell me it is the network and wait for 4GLTE. There are no issues on Wifi that I can see.
I would have accepted that answer but on the weekend I met up with two friends who are also on sprint. One has the same SG3 and the other HTC Evo 4GLTE. While sitting at same table and rebooting our phones, we ran some speedtests over hr period and my phone was consistently slower than the other two. I know there are many factors but we had the same settings to our knowledge. The HTC was faster followed slightly by SG3. They were ranging from 500kbps up to 1600kbps while mine were in the 250-300 range using the same servers.
I have installed JB update stock using modem LJ7.
1 What is considered good to excellent signal strength?
2. What can I check for to determine if it is the phone since the service center is no help. Or do I send it back and hope for best on next phone?
I don't want to try a different modem until out of 14-day window.
Any suggestions?
Thank for any help

Has nothing to do with phone, it's network issue.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium

It can and sometimes does have to do with the phone. IF a radio is bad, antenna is bad or a number of factors.
In this case i think he has done a good job comparing location and devices. All things can never be equal since these things are mass produced on assembly lines. But from his testing it does make me think theres an issue.
I also played with many different stock ROMS and modems back when i had a GS2 and some modems did work better then others.

biggolfer said:
I am within 14 day window to exchange phone but I have to ship back to sprint due to purchasing online. I have Sero account so no purchase was possible through sprint store.
Here is my situation.
3G speed has been slower than I expected since purchasing the phone. My 3G speed has averaged between 125 to 350 kbps throughout a 24 hr period over several days. I am averaging between -90dbms and -95dbms signal level in most locations in which I travel on sprint using EVDO A. I have taken the phone to the sprint repair center twice but they don't run any tests other than speedtest. They tell me it is the network and wait for 4GLTE. There are no issues on Wifi that I can see.
I would have accepted that answer but on the weekend I met up with two friends who are also on sprint. One has the same SG3 and the other HTC Evo 4GLTE. While sitting at same table and rebooting our phones, we ran some speedtests over hr period and my phone was consistently slower than the other two. I know there are many factors but we had the same settings to our knowledge. The HTC was faster followed slightly by SG3. They were ranging from 500kbps up to 1600kbps while mine were in the 250-300 range using the same servers.
I have installed JB update stock using modem LJ7.
1 What is considered good to excellent signal strength?
2. What can I check for to determine if it is the phone since the service center is no help. Or do I send it back and hope for best on next phone?
I don't want to try a different modem until out of 14-day window.
Any suggestions?
Thank for any help
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So what I would recommend would be to try out the different modems that are available in the Android Development section. Just because your friend has an SG3, it doesn't mean that you're going to get the exact same result. I know it doesn't make any sense but each phone is different. I have absolutely abysmal 3g coverage with one modem but with others it gets better.....and the modems that work well for my phone are different than the modems that other sprint sg3 friends use........give it a shot and see if maybe a different modem might work better for you.

Take it back and test in the store. Run some speedtests with the demo phones in the store if possible.
Sent from my dumbphone.

Ive flashed roms and radios on other phones but it was window phones. Is there some counter so sprint would know I changed radios if I send it back. Obviously I would change back to stock.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

alphahere said:
Take it back and test in the store. Run some speedtests with the demo phones in the store if possible.
Sent from my dumbphone.
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I did try in store with demo phones and mine was indeed slower but I cant scientifically say there was a significant variance.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

biggolfer said:
Ive flashed roms and radios on other phones but it was window phones. Is there some counter so sprint would know I changed radios if I send it back. Obviously I would change back to stock.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
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The only thing that trips the counter is if you Odin flash a custom recovery or, as it is appearing, if you flash a custom kernel. If you flash anything through a custom recovery then it shouldn't trip the counter if you were to use triangle away to reset the counter........I flash files regularly through TWRP and it doesn't increment the counter.

actually a lot of people who have the Evo LTE have reported bad signal and internet. my sister has the Evo LTE and i have the Galaxy SIII and we could be in the same place and she'll have really bad internet while i will have pretty good data speeds

Vladabeast said:
actually a lot of people who have the Evo LTE have reported bad signal and internet. my sister has the Evo LTE and i have the Galaxy SIII and we could be in the same place and she'll have really bad internet while i will have pretty good data speeds
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That can be explained by the switching glitch in the EVO LTE that would go to 1x and not back to EVDO or eHRPD/LTE. Mine did that and i got a GS3.
I have since applied updates to the EVO LTE and it doesnt appear to do this anymore.
In my case it was not a signal strength issue as your saying but it was a network selection issue that caused the device to get stuck on 1x. But then again that was my unit and it was a few months ago..
In my opinion bad signal would be the lack of signal. But in this case it was good signal with poor system switching.

manually update your prl to 00001 its given me way better service ever since i did. my gf gets no bars in her house mean while i get 2 to three bars with good 3g speed and i have not roamed since.

Call to action!
biggolfer said:
I am within 14 day window to exchange phone but I have to ship back to sprint due to purchasing online. I have Sero account so no purchase was possible through sprint store.
Any suggestions?
Thank for any help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TO ALL!!!! this is a call to action. I too, like many others are experiencing unacceptable data speeds while on 3G and in great reception while using the Galaxy S III. the speeds I should be receiving are 1.5-3 MB/s but instead I am receiving around 128Kb/s in the city and within excellent service. We all have to pay a 'Premium Data Add-On' charges just to own these phones and this is unacceptable. Please write an Email to [email protected], vice president of customer experience at sprint and let him know what you are experiencing. Maybe if enough pissed off customers write, they will finally listen!

4g4me said:
TO ALL!!!! this is a call to action. I too, like many others are experiencing unacceptable data speeds while on 3G and in great reception while using the Galaxy S III. the speeds I should be receiving are 1.5-3 MB/s but instead I am receiving around 128Kb/s in the city and within excellent service. We all have to pay a 'Premium Data Add-On' charges just to own these phones and this is unacceptable. Please write an Email to [email protected], vice president of customer experience at sprint and let him know what you are experiencing. Maybe if enough pissed off customers write, they will finally listen!
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Click to collapse
Just out of random curiousity, did Mr. Adriano give you permission to put his email address on a public forum?
I can understand privately giving it to a friend or someone who might need assistance but to put it on a public forum..