[Q] Speed Problems with SGN - Samsung Galaxy Nexus

I have the stock Samsung Galaxy Nexus. AT&T Store put in a new Sim card. I kept my grandfathered data plan. I used Speedtest to check download speeds to confirm my observations.
Using wireless at home, I am getting about 11Mbps download speeds.
With cell phone connection at work or on the road or at the A&T Store - I am getting about 7kbps download speeds.
I went to the AT&T Store. They say there is nothing wrong with my data plan or AT&T linking. The APNs are right. I am on the high speed (HSPA+) network.
I am think that the wireless radio is different from the cell phone radio. If so, then the wireless radio is working right, and maybe the cell phone radio is not? Does this make sense? Is anyone else had this problem and found a solution?
Thanks in advance,

wrayrb said:
I have the stock Samsung Galaxy Nexus. AT&T Store put in a new Sim card. I kept my grandfathered data plan. I used Speedtest to check download speeds to confirm my observations.
Using wireless at home, I am getting about 11Mbps download speeds.
With cell phone connection at work or on the road or at the A&T Store - I am getting about 7kbps download speeds.
I went to the AT&T Store. They say there is nothing wrong with my data plan or AT&T linking. The APNs are right. I am on the high speed (HSPA+) network.
I am think that the wireless radio is different from the cell phone radio. If so, then the wireless radio is working right, and maybe the cell phone radio is not? Does this make sense? Is anyone else had this problem and found a solution?
Thanks in advance,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless your wireless internet in your house is from a tethered/hotspot device or some sort of "mifi" (does AT&T have these yet?), it will certainly be faster than your cellular connection. That is a function of the backhaul behind your internet connection at home versus the backhaul to the towers your phone is connecting to outside of your home. And even with those towers, each one may have a different load and different server access, and so speed will vary between towers, or even the same tower throughout the day. The wifi radio and cellular radio are separate in the phone, and the difference in speed you are seeing is a difference in the signal delivered to the phone, not the phone's ability to receive signals.

I live in Shaker and i'm getting 5mb/1.5 most of the time. When i head downtown my speeds drop by 2/3.
I'm using the suggested APN settings from this forum.

Thanks for the info.
The rep at the AT&T Store using his iPhone had 8Mbps download speed. Many of the posts here on the forums are reporting cell radio download speeds of 3-8 Mbps.
I realize that download speeds over the cell radio can vary, but when they never go above 7kbps, that suggests the cell radio is defective.
I guess I have to try to exchange the phone, if Expansys will help me.

wrayrb said:
Thanks for the info.
The rep at the AT&T Store using his iPhone had 8Mbps download speed. Many of the posts here on the forums are reporting cell radio download speeds of 3-8 Mbps.
I realize that download speeds over the cell radio can vary, but when they never go above 7kbps, that suggests the cell radio is defective.
I guess I have to try to exchange the phone, if Expansys will help me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe it's defective. Try comparing it to AT&T's Galaxy S II (not the skyrocket!), or the Atrix, or any other HSPA+ Android (should have similar kernel when stock) device in the same location (the iPhone probably routs more power to its antennae since it has a battery-life surplus due to a smaller screen and lack of true multi-tasking/background processing).
My speeds have been dead on with what my Atrix got.

redo your apn's, make sure you're using auto or USA bands and try wcdma only temporarily. In the *#*#4636#*#* menu. The apns I think are under call settings.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Well I called AT&T Support. I finally got to 2nd level support. The tech their checked. He finally said there does not appear to be anything wrong with the phone. He said my unlimited data plan (grandfathered from 8 years ago) was the data plan for a feature phone. He asked what I had previous, and I told him an AT&T Tilt, which I ordered with the Media Max 200 Bundle.
He must have scratched his head, but said that the data plan I had did not support smartphones (huhh?), but he could upgrade my data plan to a smartphone plan for an extra $10. I asked about my grandfathered unlimited data, and he said the new smartphone plan would still be unlimited. (GREAT!) And no new contract!
He had me change the APN to the HSDPA one. Then he had me reboot the phone and check speedtest. My download speed was now up to an incredible 1.2Mbps, lots better than 7kbps. So I can live with that. I am not sure why i can't get the 3-5Mbps that others talk about, but this'll do.
Thanks for code reveal, very useful.

The reps are doing something weird trust me (At&t rep here). They're either putting the wrong plan or your device may be defective. If you have unlimited you got to have a 30$ feature called SMT PERSONAL. If its the 2gb plan it should be 2gb for smart phones.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

wrayrb said:
Well I called AT&T Support. I finally got to 2nd level support. The tech their checked. He finally said there does not appear to be anything wrong with the phone. He said my unlimited data plan (grandfathered from 8 years ago) was the data plan for a feature phone. He asked what I had previous, and I told him an AT&T Tilt, which I ordered with the Media Max 200 Bundle.
He must have scratched his head, but said that the data plan I had did not support smartphones (huhh?), but he could upgrade my data plan to a smartphone plan for an extra $10. I asked about my grandfathered unlimited data, and he said the new smartphone plan would still be unlimited. (GREAT!) And no new contract!
He had me change the APN to the HSDPA one. Then he had me reboot the phone and check speedtest. My download speed was now up to an incredible 1.2Mbps, lots better than 7kbps. So I can live with that. I am not sure why i can't get the 3-5Mbps that others talk about, but this'll do.
Thanks for code reveal, very useful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol at incredible 1.2 mbps. Check your speed at 2am when its not peak and tell us. Either you're in congested area or something else is wrong.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Jesseownzzz said:
The reps are doing something weird trust me (At&t rep here). They're either putting the wrong plan or your device may be defective. If you have unlimited you got to have a 30$ feature called SMT PERSONAL. If its the 2gb plan it should be 2gb for smart phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did get an $30 smartphone unlimited plan (old one was $20.). Is "SMT PERSONAL" some add on feature in addition to Smartphone Unlimited Plan?
Thanks for all the feedback. I have a callback scheduled Mon at work when I'll have a better connection. Data from home generally sucks anyway
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Related

[Q] Anyone using Net10 or StraightTalk w a T989?

I notice that net10 has a SIM card that might actually work with our T989s.
Ditto Straight Talk.
Net10 has an an everything "unlimited*" plan for $50/mo.
StraightTalk the same for $45/mo.
These may or may not be better than the T-Mobile BYOD plans depending on a couple of things - which I'd love to know.
1) Does it work with a T989? (if it doesn't, stop right there, I don't need any other info)
2) What kind of data rates? Edge? HSPA? HSPA+?
3) What does the all important '*' in "unlimited*" mean, exactly? Throttled at some limit? Cut off? What's the limit?
4) Coverage area? Are they just using the T-mobile network? It sounds like it, BUT there's a line in the smaller print In order for your phone's data services to work, you must update your APN data settings, also called the Access Point Name.
Anybody know?
Other than the "does it work with a T989?" Q, i could ask this in another forum - but where? Anyone got a notion of that?
Thanks for any info!
There's an everything unlimited plan for $50/mo. Yes, I know t-mob has a similar deal - but it's for families - similar for me would be $69/mo
Why don't you try simple mobile they work pretty well 60 bucks flat with 2gig at 4g then throttle unl text and talk,
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Sounds reasonable, and might be exactly the right choice, depending on what's in the $45 package. If it's the same, or a (gasp) higher limit, then, well, it's not.
Seems like the only way to know to either ask, and if that doesn't work, try it for a month...
Turns out it's a real deal.
Info at Howard Forum
Looks to be, essentially, either T-mo's $60 or $70 plan (throttle cap isn't published and several folks are reporting using more than 2G with no warning / throttling, so who knows?), but minus tethering (assuming t-mo's OK with tethering on those plans, which I think they might be)... for $45 or $50
BTW, they're both tracfone. ST is associated with Walmart, Net10 with a bunch of other retailers.
There's a t-mob sim and an att sim. Plans cost the same, so, given that a T989, once unlocked, can work on either network (I think that's true based on info from this forum), so we have a choice.
Just to followup: I'm using the StraightTalk SIM in my T989. i had a choice of networks, and went with AT&T because with T-mob 90% of the time I only had EDGE and what appeared to be no data roaming with my Tmob prepaid plan
ST is $45/mo for unlimited voice, text, and sort-of unlimited data (this is the only weird part: ST is being mum about what the limit actually is. From posts at HowardForum it appears to me a 100 to 120 M / day limit, probably as a result of the data volume tracking tech they have.)
That's on At&T. Nobody's run into a limit with T-Mobile yet.
hmm i wonder how they are able to opperate in tmobils network while simultaneously offering a better plan for less. simple mobile cant do it as their $60 unlimited plan is capped at 2gigs of data just like tmobils $60 plan.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
I use it.
I posted this in a couple other threads so Ill just copy and paste..
Anyone feel free to ask me any questions.
Hello. I have great news for anyone that wants to use the Tmobile GalaxySII with a better prepaid service.
I bought the T989 new and then bought a Tmobile Sim card for about $15 from StraightTalk.com
I put the new sim in and changed the APN to StraightTalk apn. It works fabulous.
I get full 4g speeds all day 24/7 and the best thing is I get no throttle.
Tmobile tuened me on with there prices but I didnt notice that they throttle there bandwidth to a stupid slow 2g speed after a certain bandwidth usage.
WHY would any company throttle the internet speed with the purpose to have a smart phone is fast internet? The speed went from 4g to 2g. Not 3g. We are talking 56k modem speed. This pissed me off so bad, I went with StraightTalk just 2 weeks after I activated the T989 with Tbobile using there prepaid. Well, not only is Tmobile prepaid $5 more than the StraightTalk service, But the Tmobile service, as I said is very inferior to StraightTalk.
No Im not a representative of either of these companies.
I did allot of research about using this phone with any sim I wanted and compared price vs performace of what I get for the money.
I can tell you that you will not find any prepaid service cheaper and with unlimited everything when using with the T989.
Ive compared ATT, Verizon, Virgin, Boost, Net10. All of um I could find. None were cheaper and none offered so much.
I really wanted to stay with Tmobile, but I gotta tell ay, they sucked. They have a few different so called unlimited plans. The price goes stupid high to like $70 just to get full bandwidth speeds to decent usage. With StraightTalk its always fullbandwidth and the kicker is that they use Tmobile towers!
Its $45 a month.Vs anywhere from 50 to $70 depending on the useage for internet you want.
Check my other thread about the roms Ive used.
Net10
I have net10 with a sgh-t989 which is the titanium samsung galaxy s2 variant of the phone. I use net10 and it works great,on official released stock roms.So far I've to find a custom rom on which it works well,or at all.I unlocked my phone,because at first I had the wrong ATT sim type card for the phone.Then I ordered the T-Mobile sim type and so far it's been working fine on ICS 4.0.3. I had about 5mbps downstream, 1-2 mbps upstream with the ATT type sim card. I found with the ATT sim I never had less than 4 bars service,it was usually 5.But I live in a large city,and as long as I've had this service i've only driven about 70 miles outside that.Still had great service.Not sure how rural areas do though.I am currently looking for a custom rom that meshes well with the unlocked, net10 service.Pac man rom worked.

Does anybody here use AT&T or Straighttalk on there T989 ?

Hello
as far as I know this phone can handle the att 3g/4g frequencies if unlocked ..
Does your straigttalk SIM(the att compatabile one) or true att SIM work well with it if anybody is using them ?
What about data speeds ?
Thanks
Please no 2 words answers
Thanks again
me.. me .. i do.. i do lol
Hello. I have great news for anyone that wants to use the Tmobile GalaxySII with a better prepaid service.
I bought the T989 new and then bought a Tmobile Sim card for about $15 from StraightTalk.com
I put the new sim in and changed the APN to StraightTalk apn. It works fabulous.
I get full 4g speeds all day 24/7 and the best thing is I get no throttle.
Tmobile turned me on with there prices but I didnt notice that they throttle there bandwidth to a stupid slow 2g speed after a certain bandwidth usage.
WHY would any company throttle the internet speed with the purpose to have a smart phone is fast internet? The speed went from 4g to 2g. Not 3g. We are talking 56k modem speed. This pissed me off so bad, I went with StraightTalk just 2 weeks after I activated the T989 with Tbobile using there prepaid. Well, not only is Tmobile prepaid $5 more than the StraightTalk service, But the Tmobile service, as I said is very inferior to StraightTalk.
No Im not a representative of either of these companies.
I did allot of research about using this phone with any sim I wanted and compared price vs performance of what I get for the money.
I can tell you that you will not find any prepaid service cheaper and with unlimited everything when using with the T989.
Ive compared ATT, Verizon, Virgin, Boost, Net10. All of um I could find. None were cheaper and none offered so much. I ended up sticking with Tmobile service cause of the speed they use vs ATT. I couldnt even use the phone with other services due to the technology they offered. Some services are not compatible with this particular Gs2 model. I suggest you use it with Tmobile towers to get the full performance of the internet. Tmobile uses a specific technology to get full internet speeds, which I think is better than ATT. .
I really wanted to stay with Tmobile, but I gotta tell ya, they sucked. MANY people complain about getting just edge speed when using the Tmobile prepaid service. No kidding! Its cause they purposely throttle the speed! Look at teh small print on there advertisements! They have a few different so called unlimited plans. The price goes stupid high to like $70 just to get full bandwidth speeds to decent usage. With StraightTalk its always full bandwidth and the kicker is that they use Tmobile towers! They dont throttle the speed at all. I dont get anything lower than 9mb down and 3.5 to 4 gb up.
Its $45 a month.Vs anywhere from 50 to $70 depending on the useage for internet you want.
Why did I choose this phone vs other cool phones ?
Well.
THIS phone , when properly setup with apps or a certain rom, can tether wirelessly to your laptop with NO additional tether charges ( which Tmobile charges I think $15 extra ). SO if you are in an area where you have no wifi and need to use your laptop for internet, do what I do. use the GS2 at a wireless router and get very fast internet speeds! Its no extra charge and a quick solution to no wifi.
Just remember to use the FOXFI appto do this no extra charge tethering. No special rom or hacks needed.
Check my other thread about the roms Ive used.
nickcaper said:
Hello. I have great news for anyone that wants to use the Tmobile GalaxySII with a better prepaid service.
I bought the T989 new and then bought a Tmobile Sim card for about $15 from StraightTalk.com
I put the new sim in and changed the APN to StraightTalk apn. It works fabulous.
I get full 4g speeds all day 24/7 and the best thing is I get no throttle.
Tmobile turned me on with there prices but I didnt notice that they throttle there bandwidth to a stupid slow 2g speed after a certain bandwidth usage.
WHY would any company throttle the internet speed with the purpose to have a smart phone is fast internet? The speed went from 4g to 2g. Not 3g. We are talking 56k modem speed. This pissed me off so bad, I went with StraightTalk just 2 weeks after I activated the T989 with Tbobile using there prepaid. Well, not only is Tmobile prepaid $5 more than the StraightTalk service, But the Tmobile service, as I said is very inferior to StraightTalk.
No Im not a representative of either of these companies.
I did allot of research about using this phone with any sim I wanted and compared price vs performance of what I get for the money.
I can tell you that you will not find any prepaid service cheaper and with unlimited everything when using with the T989.
Ive compared ATT, Verizon, Virgin, Boost, Net10. All of um I could find. None were cheaper and none offered so much. I ended up sticking with Tmobile service cause of the speed they use vs ATT. I couldnt even use the phone with other services due to the technology they offered. Some services are not compatible with this particular Gs2 model. I suggest you use it with Tmobile towers to get the full performance of the internet. Tmobile uses a specific technology to get full internet speeds, which I think is better than ATT. .
I really wanted to stay with Tmobile, but I gotta tell ya, they sucked. MANY people complain about getting just edge speed when using the Tmobile prepaid service. No kidding! Its cause they purposely throttle the speed! Look at teh small print on there advertisements! They have a few different so called unlimited plans. The price goes stupid high to like $70 just to get full bandwidth speeds to decent usage. With StraightTalk its always full bandwidth and the kicker is that they use Tmobile towers! They dont throttle the speed at all. I dont get anything lower than 9mb down and 3.5 to 4 gb up.
Its $45 a month.Vs anywhere from 50 to $70 depending on the useage for internet you want.
Why did I choose this phone vs other cool phones ?
Well.
THIS phone , when properly setup with apps or a certain rom, can tether wirelessly to your laptop with NO additional tether charges ( which Tmobile charges I think $15 extra ). SO if you are in an area where you have no wifi and need to use your laptop for internet, do what I do. use the GS2 at a wireless router and get very fast internet speeds! Its no extra charge and a quick solution to no wifi.
Just remember to use the FOXFI appto do this no extra charge tethering. No special rom or hacks needed.
Check my other thread about the roms Ive used.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are u sure u get 4g ? on they website only say 3g
Is it possible to use the straighttalk via At and T? I have a tmobile phone but it has been blocked on their network (bought from craigslist) . I was wondering if it can be salvaged and used on at and t.
Dattack said:
Is it possible to use the straighttalk via At and T? I have a tmobile phone but it has been blocked on their network (bought from craigslist) . I was wondering if it can be salvaged and used on at and t.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
does it have the proper at&t bands or an at&t radio from the equivalent phone ...
if so you choose at&t compatible when you get the sim/apn from their website
Yeah, say that to your account getting terminated next week. Congratulations.
StraightTalk has a cap of 2GBS!!!! it depends on your luck, but if u get more than 4GBS, you will be suspended in the upcoming days.. T-mobile's monthly4g plans are the only way to get 5GBs for only $30.....
Have fun getting terminated.
There's a big thread about this in the galaxy nexus forums. I own both devices so I hop back & forth between the 2. It is common knowledge that straight talk does not publish their data cap, but rather they kick you off the network. Streaming more than a couple of YouTube videos/day violates their terms of service. This being said, if straight talk is working out for you, good for you. It is a much cheaper alternative. Also, you mention a $5 more T-Mobile plan.... you do realize that the $50 tmo plan includes only 100mb at 4g speeds & then throttling... tmo does offer $60 unlimited talk/text & 2gb of 4g data...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
I've got t mobile's $30 with 5GB & a bunch of texts, enough for Mr anyway, but only 100 minutes. But I don't talk much
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2
I got T-Mobile 5g for $20 on android prefered plan. I thought 5g was $25.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Couldn't find it. What are the details?
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2
I just called they don't do it anymore.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Oh that sucks. Np tho, I still have 5gb for $30, which you can't get anywhere else.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2
Look folks. Seriosuly. All this crap about Tmobile being better is bull****.
I know first hand cause I tried Tmobile with the GS2 then used it with Straight talk.
I still have it on Straighttalk. I installed a data counter. I can see the data I use on 4g vs wifi. I keep the useage down on the phone. I use about 2g a month. Wifi is much more. BUT the speeds is what is most important. Lets do a comparison.
Tmobile 50$ plan gets you *First 100MB at up to 4G speeds then goes to 2 g. There 60$ pan gets you ***First 2GB at up to 4G speeds. This plan is the same data you will get using StraightTalk but $15 more. And for 70$ with Tmobile you get ****First 5GB at up to 4G speeds. WHich is 25$ more and I must say when yoiu are on a budget it does make a difference. Now, I have done several speed tests and compaed my results to 4g and 3G. Then I compared it to my Wifi. Here are the results. My Wifi results show I get 20mb down and 2mb up. This is pretty accurate for what I pay for with my home internet. using just the phone and not wifi I get 4.5mb down and 1.7mb up. I use the speed.net Android app. Just do a search for speed test in android market. It looks like a big speedometer. I get no throttles. And Actually sometimes I get faster speeds on my cell 4g. Ive gotten upto 9mbs! No joke. Most people are getting at most around 2.1mb down on 4g networks. If youre lucky you will get really high 20mb down. WHat people dont understand is that Tmobile has a special channel they use for there data that provides better speeds. Called HSPA+ where at ATT and Verizon use LTE which they claim is faster but no sorry it aint. Do youtube searches and you can see for yourself. So if you use a Tmobile phone on any other network, you wont get the fastest speeds possible. Sure Tmobile and ATT use the same network but NOT the same channels ( frequencies ) So What I did was I choose to get a Tmobile sim card to use the HSPA+ channel. That enables my phone to work at full network speeds. Problem with Tmobile prepaid vs StraightTalk is that Tmobile throttles. SO lets say I get just 3g speeds like some of you keep saying. Well its still a whole lot better than 2g with Tmobile ( look at the price and data useage on Tmobiles cheapest plan ) For example. Lets say we use at most 2g monthly data. Tmobile will cost you $15 more for the same speed and data amount that Straight Talk offers. So WHY use Tmobile? Go check out this video youtu.be/7IBCtS0jmag
I wouldnt bull**** you . I got the phone in my hand and know what Im talking about. BTW I had a Nokia E71 and used it with StraightTalk and always got HsPa speeds which is way up there past 3G. The phone wasnt 4G capable but It would show 3.5G on the screen. The vid I just asked you to watch explains all the speeds. I am infact getting 4 G with StraighTalk.
---------- Post added at 07:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:41 AM ----------
Husam2011 said:
Yeah, say that to your account getting terminated next week. Congratulations.
StraightTalk has a cap of 2GBS!!!! it depends on your luck, but if u get more than 4GBS, you will be suspended in the upcoming days.. T-mobile's monthly4g plans are the only way to get 5GBs for only $30.....
Have fun getting terminated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude you got a bad attitude. Im telling you all this for YOUR benefit.
I been having this phone now for 3 months. No problems at all.
Before this phone I had a Nokia E71 using the ATT sim and got 3.5G speeds. All this crap about only getting 3G is hearsay. Hey if you wanna whine and complain do it in the mirror. I know what Im getting.
You may get something different depending on your area. All I know is that the straighTalk plan is cheaper.
shoobiedoobiiwhompwop said:
does it have the proper at&t bands or an at&t radio from the equivalent phone ...
if so you choose at&t compatible when you get the sim/apn from their website
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i double checked it does have the proper at&t bands and radio. Tmobile galaxy s2 with att sim should be able to get 3g speeds. My biggest question is, does tmobile and ATT share blacklist. If they do this means phone will be blacklisted even after unlocked. If not then phone will be able to be used with ATT sim
oh brother
nickcaper said:
Look folks. Seriosuly. All this crap about Tmobile being better is bull****.
I know first hand cause I tried Tmobile with the GS2 then used it with Straight talk.
I still have it on Straighttalk. I installed a data counter. I can see the data I use on 4g vs wifi. I keep the useage down on the phone. I use about 2g a month. Wifi is much more. BUT the speeds is what is most important. Lets do a comparison.
Tmobile 50$ plan gets you *First 100MB at up to 4G speeds then goes to 2 g. There 60$ pan gets you ***First 2GB at up to 4G speeds. This plan is the same data you will get using StraightTalk but $15 more. And for 70$ with Tmobile you get ****First 5GB at up to 4G speeds. WHich is 25$ more and I must say when yoiu are on a budget it does make a difference. Now, I have done several speed tests and compaed my results to 4g and 3G. Then I compared it to my Wifi. Here are the results. My Wifi results show I get 20mb down and 2mb up. This is pretty accurate for what I pay for with my home internet. using just the phone and not wifi I get 4.5mb down and 1.7mb up. I use the speed.net Android app. Just do a search for speed test in android market. It looks like a big speedometer. I get no throttles. And Actually sometimes I get faster speeds on my cell 4g. Ive gotten upto 9mbs! No joke. Most people are getting at most around 2.1mb down on 4g networks. If youre lucky you will get really high 20mb down. WHat people dont understand is that Tmobile has a special channel they use for there data that provides better speeds. Called HSPA+ where at ATT and Verizon use LTE which they claim is faster but no sorry it aint. Do youtube searches and you can see for yourself. So if you use a Tmobile phone on any other network, you wont get the fastest speeds possible. Sure Tmobile and ATT use the same network but NOT the same channels ( frequencies ) So What I did was I choose to get a Tmobile sim card to use the HSPA+ channel. That enables my phone to work at full network speeds. Problem with Tmobile prepaid vs StraightTalk is that Tmobile throttles. SO lets say I get just 3g speeds like some of you keep saying. Well its still a whole lot better than 2g with Tmobile ( look at the price and data useage on Tmobiles cheapest plan ) For example. Lets say we use at most 2g monthly data. Tmobile will cost you $15 more for the same speed and data amount that Straight Talk offers. So WHY use Tmobile? Go check out this video youtu.be/7IBCtS0jmag
I wouldnt bull**** you . I got the phone in my hand and know what Im talking about. BTW I had a Nokia E71 and used it with StraightTalk and always got HsPa speeds which is way up there past 3G. The phone wasnt 4G capable but It would show 3.5G on the screen. The vid I just asked you to watch explains all the speeds. I am infact getting 4 G with StraighTalk.
---------- Post added at 07:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:41 AM ----------
Dude you got a bad attitude. Im telling you all this for YOUR benefit.
I been having this phone now for 3 months. No problems at all.
Before this phone I had a Nokia E71 using the ATT sim and got 3.5G speeds. All this crap about only getting 3G is hearsay. Hey if you wanna whine and complain do it in the mirror. I know what Im getting.
You may get something different depending on your area. All I know is that the straighTalk plan is cheaper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jeez.i had a nokia e71 on straight talk a couple of years ago,the speed was fair,but it isn't even capable of hspa.
i went over the data limit one month,i got no warning,no throttle.
at the end of the month my account was banned.
i am on month 8 of tmobile's 5 gb 100 minute plan.i recommend it highly.
in fact i added a second account i like it so well.
i make calls over wifi using bobsled calling,does not count against your minutes,and has good sound quality.that has been my experience,i'll refrain from any disparaging comments.
I am on ATT with Unlimited $30 iPhone plan. My main is iPhone 4S yet I just love my T989 and sometimes I switch. Here is what I can say about data. IT is fast and it's 100% not EDGE yet I think for some reason it's not as fast as my 4S (data wise) If needed I can provide speedtest.net test results from same location with 4S and T989 and you'll see that T989 is slightly slower, I'd say I'll get solid 250KB/sec download and about 100KB/sec upload with T989 and about 340/150 with iPhone. Also in Games like Order and Chaos I see iPhone performs a bit better latency wise (now that kinda make no sense but oh well) So here is my 2 cents
wilson pickett said:
jeez.i had a nokia e71 on straight talk a couple of years ago,the speed was fair,but it isn't even capable of hspa.
i went over the data limit one month,i got no warning,no throttle.
at the end of the month my account was banned.
i am on month 8 of tmobile's 5 gb 100 minute plan.i recommend it highly.
in fact i added a second account i like it so well.
i make calls over wifi using bobsled calling,does not count against your minutes,and has good sound quality.that has been my experience,i'll refrain from any disparaging comments.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
100 minutes might be fine if you sit at home all day with a wifi connection but what about people on the go?
So far i havent been banned or blacklisted.
Ive tried the Tmobile service and its great but again, the throttle is what sux. WHY do they even bother doin that? Im sick of the greedy things these companies do to make money. Its suppose to be unlimited BUt, And you have a smart phone but cant fully use it unless..... its always some bull****.
As for Nokia, yea I got 3.5g all the time. Said it right there on the phone.
BTW. I cant wifi on the T989 cause I dont use Tmobile. Only Tmobile service enables wifi calling.
All they gotta do is take that throttle bull**** off and Ill go with them.
If Straight talk can do it and do it cheaper then why cant Tmobile do it?
There loss.
---------- Post added at 01:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:51 PM ----------
russiandivxclub said:
I am on ATT with Unlimited $30 iPhone plan. My main is iPhone 4S yet I just love my T989 and sometimes I switch. Here is what I can say about data. IT is fast and it's 100% not EDGE yet I think for some reason it's not as fast as my 4S (data wise) If needed I can provide speedtest.net test results from same location with 4S and T989 and you'll see that T989 is slightly slower, I'd say I'll get solid 250KB/sec download and about 100KB/sec upload with T989 and about 340/150 with iPhone. Also in Games like Order and Chaos I see iPhone performs a bit better latency wise (now that kinda make no sense but oh well) So here is my 2 cents
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man that is some really slow speeds.
Rememeber, the T989 s meant to work with HSPA+ not LTE.
Using the T989 on anything other than Tmobile may yield slower speeds that you would usually get. The phone works with totally different frequency channels. Although you will get data it wont be as fast. The data frequency on the T989 is not compatible with the ATT data frequency. They arent the same. So people get slow speeds when using the T989 on ATT service. Tmobile uses 1900mhz for HSPA+ which is 4G. The 1900Mhz channel ATT uses only gives HSPA not HSPA+. HSPA is just 3G. In 2013 Tmobile will start using the 1700/2100mhz channels for LTE but your T989 will still only be setup for 1900Mhz HSPA+. ATT uses 1700/2100mhz channels for 4g. As you can see these 2 companies uses different channels to get 4g speeds.
So again, if you have a T989 Always always use a Tmobile sim card with StraighTalk or use Tmobile as your service. If you dont, the phone will not receive proper 1900Mhz data frequencies and wont get high internet speeds.
CLICK ON THUMBNAIL TO PREVIEW CHARTS
ATT Data Guide
VS
Tmobile Data guide
I used to own a G2X for the tomobile network and now I have a galaxy s2, but the thing I remember going on in the g2x forums was that there was a hack to make it so that your phone wouldn't get throttled if you went over the cap limit on tmobiles network. I don't know if such a thing exists for our gs2 but if it doesn't might not hurt to ask the dev guys for help on this being a possibiltu for our phones.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using XDA
nickcaper said:
100 minutes might be fine if you sit at home all day with a wifi connection but what about people on the go?
So far i havent been banned or blacklisted.
Ive tried the Tmobile service and its great but again, the throttle is what sux. WHY do they even bother doin that? Im sick of the greedy things these companies do to make money. Its suppose to be unlimited BUt, And you have a smart phone but cant fully use it unless..... its always some bull****.
As for Nokia, yea I got 3.5g all the time. Said it right there on the phone.
BTW. I cant wifi on the T989 cause I dont use Tmobile. Only Tmobile service enables wifi calling.
All they gotta do is take that throttle bull**** off and Ill go with them.
If Straight talk can do it and do it cheaper then why cant Tmobile do it?
There loss.
---------- Post added at 01:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:51 PM ----------
Man that is some really slow speeds.
Rememeber, the T989 s meant to work with HSPA+ not LTE.
Using the T989 on anything other than Tmobile may yield slower speeds that you would usually get. The phone works with totally different frequency channels. Although you will get data it wont be as fast. The data frequency on the T989 is not compatible with the ATT data frequency. They arent the same. So people get slow speeds when using the T989 on ATT service. Tmobile uses 1900mhz for HSPA+ which is 4G. The 1900Mhz channel ATT uses only gives HSPA not HSPA+. HSPA is just 3G. In 2013 Tmobile will start using the 1700/2100mhz channels for LTE but your T989 will still only be setup for 1900Mhz HSPA+. ATT uses 1700/2100mhz channels for 4g. As you can see these 2 companies uses different channels to get 4g speeds.
So again, if you have a T989 Always always use a Tmobile sim card with StraighTalk or use Tmobile as your service. If you dont, the phone will not receive proper 1900Mhz data frequencies and wont get high internet speeds.
CLICK ON THUMBNAIL TO PREVIEW CHARTS
ATT Data Guide
VS
Tmobile Data guide
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well in that case if possible explain this. Let's make this simple. There is EDGE that will give you like 10KB sec at most ....then there is 3G that will give you anything from lower 100kb to as high as 8Mbit / sec ( I get easy 8Mbit/sec on Brighton Beach 11235 ZIP CODE) now T989 is not EDGE it's simply too fast for that and you saying it does not have proper band for ATT 3G ..so what does is works on then ? Because in my understanding T989 by TMobile is ONLY SGS2 phone that support all carriers with 3G speeds. I may be wrong but all I know is this. It works not as good as iPhone on ATT but I can listen radio and make Skype calls with video and watch youtube movies when let's say other Tmobile phones and using edge I can hardly get email going with ATT SIM and forget about any multimedia.
I think you are not fully educated on the cell phone technologies.
Cell phones have the capability to work on all old technologies. Or at least most old technologies. In other words, todays cell phones are backward compatible with Edge and 2G and even 3G. The Galaxy S2 is a 4g phone. NOT just 3G. but can work on 3G as well. It gets 4G by using the HSPA+ carrier. Others use LTE like your Iphone.
You should look at the chart again and made a study of it.
Your Iphone you have is manufactured to work with ATT. It has a special radio in it that is specifically setup to work with ATT 4G LTE which is any of the 3 channels in the chart for ATT. The 3 channels ATT uses to get 4G is 700mhz, 1700 and 2100Mhz. 4g goes way up to around 20+mb download. Your ATT iPhone also works on 3G but ATT's 3g channels are 850 and 1900mhz and use the HSPA carrier. NOT HSPA+ which Tmobile uses to get 4G. But Tmobile does some magic and uses the ATT HSPA channels and turns them into 4G by using HSPA+ !!!!
If you look at the TMobile chart you can see that its VERY beneficial to use there network and phones for 2 reasons. First, If you use Tmobile you will get very fast data speeds which many say is the fastest. Second reason is, that Tmobile uses a totally different set of channels to get that data speed PLUS allows you to use your ATT phone on there channels AND get 4G speeds that ATT would only yield 3G! Ill give you the big picture here. MOSt phones right now, that ATT user have are working in the 850mhz to 1900mhz range. That gives the ATT user a 3G speed and they will see around 2.1mb downloads at best. The really cool thing about Tmobile is that if you take your ATT phone and port it over to Tmobile, that same 1900mhz is now running at 4g speeds due to the HSPA+ technology Tmobile uses. And you didnt even have to do anything !!!
Many people have said that when porting over to Tmobile they get faster speeds. This is why.
The only time ATT will be the same speed as Tmobile is when you have an ATT phone like an Iphone 4 that runs on the LTE network. Of course there are other new phones that use the LTE technology on ATT but for most people right now, they are still using the 3G channels because they bought there phones a year or 2 ago and LTE was not out then.
If You are getting high speeds on your Iphone 4 and not on your GS2 then its due to one reason. Reception. The GS2 cant recieve LTE speeds which on paper says its way faster than Tmobile. As I said it can be upto 20+mb download. Many people dont get that but some do. HSPA+ will get 8mb with a very good signal and that is not a bad download at all. Its very good actually. Soon, in 2013 Tmobile will be upgrading to LTE so dont worry about speed. Tmobile will be way up there with ATT and while ATT still has the Iphone, Android is right there coming out with phones that smoke Iphone. Tmobile offers 4G speeds with 3G channels. Noone else does that. Its cause they want people to port over to there service.
I hope you can understand what Im saying now.

[Q] I am looking to get solavei and would love a few questions answered if possible

I had a few questions since I am tried of sprint and want to get a n7100 on soalvei (tmobile network):
1) how would I know my area is refarmed? ( I live in north miami, fl )
2) is there a site or thread of a large sample of speed tests I can look up for my area on the network compatible with the n7100? The reason i ask is that I am afraid that I won't get reliable high speed (anything over 5Mbit down consistently is my goal).
3) I am on the fence about solavei and was wondering if tmobile has any options to purchase that do not throttle your speeds? I plan to use 20-30gb a month
4) Is there a trusted site that I can purchase an unlocked gsm n7100 that is compatible with the high speed tmobile network? I don't want to spend more than $600 if possible.
5) should I invest in the n7105 (has lte radio) since tmobile merged with metropcs and is rolling out LTE? (or should I wait for the note 3?)
I am completely out of the loop on tmobile news and would appreciate any help on making the switch over.
Thank you all.
mitul2288 said:
I had a few questions since I am tried of sprint and want to get a n7100 on soalvei (tmobile network):
1) how would I know my area is refarmed? ( I live in north miami, fl )
2) is there a site or thread of a large sample of speed tests I can look up for my area on the network compatible with the n7100? The reason i ask is that I am afraid that I won't get reliable high speed (anything over 5Mbit down consistently is my goal).
3) I am on the fence about solavei and was wondering if tmobile has any options to purchase that do not throttle your speeds? I plan to use 20-30gb a month
4) Is there a trusted site that I can purchase an unlocked gsm n7100 that is compatible with the high speed tmobile network? I don't want to spend more than $600 if possible.
5) should I invest in the n7105 (has lte radio) since tmobile merged with metropcs and is rolling out LTE? (or should I wait for the note 3?)
I am completely out of the loop on tmobile news and would appreciate any help on making the switch over.
Thank you all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been using Solavei since early September and I love it. Like you I came from Sprint (12 years!) and grew to hate them. I haven't really tried selling it much, was mostly interested in the price and plan. However just out of the occasional conversation I've already signed up 6 people which puts me at $40 a month, making my effective bill $9 a month. That's a bargain in my book!
There is a site with a map that is showing where the refarmed areas are www.airportal.de
As for throttling, I consider myself a very heavy user and rarely break 3GB's of data, I can't imagine using 20 to 30 and even any possible unthrottled plans you might find yourself having your account cancelled for that much data.
Unless you can confirm you are in a refarmed area I'd stick with the T-Mo branded Note 2.
mrchris1234 said:
I have been using Solavei since early September and I love it. Like you I came from Sprint (12 years!) and grew to hate them. I haven't really tried selling it much, was mostly interested in the price and plan. However just out of the occasional conversation I've already signed up 6 people which puts me at $40 a month, making my effective bill $9 a month. That's a bargain in my book!
There is a site with a map that is showing where the refarmed areas are www.airportal.de
As for throttling, I consider myself a very heavy user and rarely break 3GB's of data, I can't imagine using 20 to 30 and even any possible unthrottled plans you might find yourself having your account cancelled for that much data.
Unless you can confirm you are in a refarmed area I'd stick with the T-Mo branded Note 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I check my IMEI on solavei, it says "sorry! your phone isn't compatible with Solavei Mobile Service" I just unlocked it, does it take some time?
Jinra321 said:
When I check my IMEI on solavei, it says "sorry! your phone isn't compatible with Solavei Mobile Service" I just unlocked it, does it take some time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Their IMEI checker doesn't check whether a phone is unlocked or not, it's just checking the number against a small database of known compatible phones. I have the TMO GN2 and it works fine with some caveats. Like everyone else with the TMO note2 I couldn't use the wifi hotspot without rooting and the APN settings for Solavei and the GN2 are slightly different than other Android phones and it took some experimentation on my part to get them correct so that MMS worked.
Beyond that if the phone has GSM and is unlocked it will work subject to potential speed issues for non TMO phones (except Blackberry).
mrchris1234 said:
Their IMEI checker doesn't check whether a phone is unlocked or not, it's just checking the number against a small database of known compatible phones. I have the TMO GN2 and it works fine with some caveats. Like everyone else with the TMO note2 I couldn't use the wifi hotspot without rooting and the APN settings for Solavei and the GN2 are slightly different than other Android phones and it took some experimentation on my part to get them correct so that MMS worked.
Beyond that if the phone has GSM and is unlocked it will work subject to potential speed issues for non TMO phones (except Blackberry).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, how am I suppose to get a SIM? Would I have to use a dummy phone to register with solavei?
Jinra321 said:
Hmm, how am I suppose to get a SIM? Would I have to use a dummy phone to register with solavei?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just grabbed the IMEI for a phone I knew would work and had the right sized SIM. The IMEI used to confirm the phone is not at all tied to the account and is only used to size the SIM and match to their database. Once you receive your SIM you can just activate and go.
For that matter I have bulk packs of Solavei SIM's and could just send you one and register you if you don't already have a sponsor, or find someone local who has SIM's in stock.
mrchris1234 said:
I just grabbed the IMEI for a phone I knew would work and had the right sized SIM. The IMEI used to confirm the phone is not at all tied to the account and is only used to size the SIM and match to their database. Once you receive your SIM you can just activate and go.
For that matter I have bulk packs of Solavei SIM's and could just send you one and register you if you don't already have a sponsor, or find someone local who has SIM's in stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did the same thing, my sponsor let me use his IMEI just to get the sim, and then once we liked the service, my wife used his sim for her own note 2.
As for question number 3, they do have a plan that doesn't have any cap, but I believe it's $89 per month.
mrchris1234 said:
I have been using Solavei since early September and I love it. Like you I came from Sprint (12 years!) and grew to hate them. I haven't really tried selling it much, was mostly interested in the price and plan. However just out of the occasional conversation I've already signed up 6 people which puts me at $40 a month, making my effective bill $9 a month. That's a bargain in my book!
There is a site with a map that is showing where the refarmed areas are www.airportal.de
As for throttling, I consider myself a very heavy user and rarely break 3GB's of data, I can't imagine using 20 to 30 and even any possible unthrottled plans you might find yourself having your account cancelled for that much data.
Unless you can confirm you are in a refarmed area I'd stick with the T-Mo branded Note 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, I am glad you like it. I was hoping to use my phone to download .nzb movies while on the go and use it as my main internet line via tethering. That is where I came up with the 20-30 gb figure.
Would solavei throttle me or block my account if I use that much data?
Solavei gives you 4gb 4g speed than throttle you to 2g
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
jacky37 said:
Solavei gives you 4gb 4g speed than throttle you to 2g
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dang. welp.. looks like I will be sticking with sprint
mitul2288 said:
dang. welp.. looks like I will be sticking with sprint
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't sprint throttle as well? In this part of TN sprint coverage is plain garbage. Then again, I don't think I have ever lived in a good sprint coverage area.
T-Mobile seems to have the only truly unlimited plan that isn't throttled. I just don't think it's worth $89 a month. But I also pay only $34 per month for a 10 mb fiber line to the house. Ymmv.
*Signature blocks shouldn't default to free advertising.*
Sent from my T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 2 via Solavei.
mdt73 said:
Doesn't sprint throttle as well? In this part of TN sprint coverage is plain garbage. Then again, I don't think I have ever lived in a good sprint coverage area.
T-Mobile seems to have the only truly unlimited plan that isn't throttled. I just don't think it's worth $89 a month. But I also pay only $34 per month for a 10 mb fiber line to the house. Ymmv.
*Signature blocks shouldn't default to free advertising.*
Sent from my T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 2 via Solavei.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, sprint doesn't throttle at all, although it's hard to find a place with LTE or WiMAX which means, you'll be stuck on their 3G at best.
mrchris1234 said:
Their IMEI checker doesn't check whether a phone is unlocked or not, it's just checking the number against a small database of known compatible phones. I have the TMO GN2 and it works fine with some caveats. Like everyone else with the TMO note2 I couldn't use the wifi hotspot without rooting and the APN settings for Solavei and the GN2 are slightly different than other Android phones and it took some experimentation on my part to get them correct so that MMS worked.
Beyond that if the phone has GSM and is unlocked it will work subject to potential speed issues for non TMO phones (except Blackberry).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chris, how did you get the MMS to send out on the Note 2? ...I've been trying different things, but I'm stuck...
djhvc said:
Chris, how did you get the MMS to send out on the Note 2? ...I've been trying different things, but I'm stuck...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got MMS working?

T-Mobile definition of 4G LTE speed is highly skewed

So after attempting to complete the Google Wallet fix for the galaxy s4 on T Mobile I ran into an issue where my 4G speeds and LTE speeds were much much lower than normal, somewhere in the range of 10 percent of normal. After attempting to remedy this every way possible short of flashing back to pure stock, including restoring modified rooted stock, I called customer care and was very surprised to find that the representative informed me that a mere 2mbit (2000kbps) classified as 4G LTE speeds to them.
Yeah you read that correctly; You will receive little to no support provided your connection is as fast as the average speed on Sprint's dilapidated and failing 3G network. I love T-Mobile for many reasons but this is just shocking. I did not spend 600 after taxes on a device capable of such insane speeds that it's faster than about 80 of American high speed Internet access, and 120 a month on a family plan with unlimited data, to be told that going backwards a decade in connection speed is "current generation".
I advise you call a rep today and confirm this, then email the ceo with me and let him know that this is not acceptable. Should he be serious about turning T-Mobile around, then he needs to cut the subscription to the typical carrier bs that helped me drive my friends away from sprint and att (crap service and speeds in our area) and into the welcoming service of T-Mobile.
Update: I had to ODIN pure stock to get my data speeds back.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
Cynagen said:
So after attempting to complete the Google Wallet fix for the galaxy s4 on T Mobile I ran into an issue where my 4G speeds and LTE speeds were much much lower than normal, somewhere in the range of 10 percent of normal. After attempting to remedy this every way possible short of flashing back to pure stock, including restoring modified rooted stock, I called customer care and was very surprised to find that the representative informed me that a mere 2mbit (2000kbps) classified as 4G LTE speeds to them.
Yeah you read that correctly; You will receive little to no support provided your connection is as fast as the average speed on Sprint's dilapidated and failing 3G network. I love T-Mobile for many reasons but this is just shocking. I did not spend 600 after taxes on a device capable of such insane speeds that it's faster than about 80 of American high speed Internet access, and 120 a month on a family plan with unlimited data, to be told that going backwards a decade in connection speed is "current generation".
I advise you call a rep today and confirm this, then email the ceo with me and let him know that this is not acceptable. Should he be serious about turning T-Mobile around, then he needs to cut the subscription to the typical carrier bs that helped me drive my friends away from sprint and att (crap service and speeds in our area) and into the welcoming service of T-Mobile.
Update: I had to ODIN pure stock to get my data speeds back.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Were you able to get Google Wallet working again with Root after using Odin to get your speeds back to normal? I'm about to get a GS4 on Friday and ideally want to have Google Wallet, Root, Tethering and LTE working. Just wondering what might not work and will... Thanks!
It may just be my device or rom but I find that the connection justs seems to hangup for lack of a better word. I have a meter showing my data usage in kb/s and if I hit the go button for a webpage it seems to do nothing and not use any data.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using xda app-developers app
Daistaar said:
Were you able to get Google Wallet working again with Root after using Odin to get your speeds back to normal? I'm about to get a GS4 on Friday and ideally want to have Google Wallet, Root, Tethering and LTE working. Just wondering what might not work and will... Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take everything the rep says with a grain of salt, they often just say things because they aren't exactly sure. This, unfortunately causes confusion and people hearing different things. I get around 25-35 Mbps in my area and some people get even more.
Cynagen said:
So after attempting to complete the Google Wallet fix for the galaxy s4 on T Mobile I ran into an issue where my 4G speeds and LTE speeds were much much lower than normal, somewhere in the range of 10 percent of normal. After attempting to remedy this every way possible short of flashing back to pure stock, including restoring modified rooted stock, I called customer care and was very surprised to find that the representative informed me that a mere 2mbit (2000kbps) classified as 4G LTE speeds to them.
Yeah you read that correctly; You will receive little to no support provided your connection is as fast as the average speed on Sprint's dilapidated and failing 3G network. I love T-Mobile for many reasons but this is just shocking. I did not spend 600 after taxes on a device capable of such insane speeds that it's faster than about 80 of American high speed Internet access, and 120 a month on a family plan with unlimited data, to be told that going backwards a decade in connection speed is "current generation".
I advise you call a rep today and confirm this, then email the ceo with me and let him know that this is not acceptable. Should he be serious about turning T-Mobile around, then he needs to cut the subscription to the typical carrier bs that helped me drive my friends away from sprint and att (crap service and speeds in our area) and into the welcoming service of T-Mobile.
Update: I had to ODIN pure stock to get my data speeds back.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mobile isn't responsible for any modifications you make to your own device. You made the mistake of implementing the fix, so deal with the consequences. It's really that simple. :good:
That's why they use the term "up to." Not every single person will receive 20+ mbps. It also depends on the amount of towers, the distance of those towers and how many people are connected to them.
Towle said:
That's why they use the term "up to." Not every single person will receive 20+ mbps. It also depends on the amount of towers, the distance of those towers and how many people are connected to them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree 100% with this.
Also wish to comment that T-Mobile is VERY helpful when it comes to getting me better speeds. I was getting approx 100 kB/s download at my house which gets 4G HSPA and i called and complained. And they said that for 4G those speeds are horrible and sent a technition out to see what the issue was. The following day THEY called me back and explained there was some technical issues with the tower in my area. I think it had to do with the routing of the packets. But anyhow, they were extremely helpful with everything and now my speeds are back to 250 kB/s average And when i am at school, i get LTE my speeds there are NEVER below 1 MB/sand on good days sky rocket to 2 MB/s (advertised speeds) and sometimes even faster. I have already hit 3 MB/s it really depends on what towle said. Users on the network, what they are doing what you are doing etc etc.
NYCHitman1 said:
T-Mobile isn't responsible for any modifications you make to your own device. You made the mistake of implementing the fix, so deal with the consequences. It's really that simple. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand that, but when I've gone back to a STOCK rom and it's still happening, something's not right.
Towle said:
That's why they use the term "up to." Not every single person will receive 20+ mbps. It also depends on the amount of towers, the distance of those towers and how many people are connected to them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand this entirely, however, I was less than a quarter mile from a tower sitting at home getting ~5000kbps, when normally I get 20000+. I also had slow speeds between 3 towers that I know carry T-Mo service and it never once got better until I ODIN flashed the stock ROM again.
elesbb said:
I agree 100% with this.
Also wish to comment that T-Mobile is VERY helpful when it comes to getting me better speeds. I was getting approx 100 kB/s download at my house which gets 4G HSPA and i called and complained. And they said that for 4G those speeds are horrible and sent a technition out to see what the issue was. The following day THEY called me back and explained there was some technical issues with the tower in my area. I think it had to do with the routing of the packets. But anyhow, they were extremely helpful with everything and now my speeds are back to 250 kB/s average And when i am at school, i get LTE my speeds there are NEVER below 1 MB/sand on good days sky rocket to 2 MB/s (advertised speeds) and sometimes even faster. I have already hit 3 MB/s it really depends on what towle said. Users on the network, what they are doing what you are doing etc etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're measuring in Bytes, I'm measuring in bits, there's 8 bits to every Byte, and when you get 250kB x 8 = 2000kbps or 2mbit, the speed the T-Mo rep quoted me as what they expect you to get. When you were getting 2MB/sec, you're getting 16000kbps, which is normal for HSPA+ and decent T-Mo LTE.
Either way, I got it fixed, however their low-end expectations are very disheartening. I just wanted to bring it to everyone's attention that if you're getting more than 2000kbps (250kB/sec), don't bother calling T-Mo, they won't help you in regards to speeds, even if you're parked right under a tower that practically nobody else is on.
For the record, I consider this "decent LTE"
I just got LTE in my area and in getting 10 Mbps, about a mile away I was getting 20 Mbps.
Not too bad for a city that didn't have LTE when the i9500 1st dropped. I ditched the int'l version for the M919 and have no regrets !
I am having data problems as well.
I was getting awesome LTE speeds after the roll out here in the Dallas area. Went on vacation to the US Virgin islands in late June and upon returning, my speeds plunged to as low as 200 Mkbps where I was getting awesome speeds as high as 15000 mbps (as per speedtest) before this.
I'm not one to go only by test numbers or what the graph says. But I am experiencing real world page lags, drops, pages hanging up, no service notices and regularly seeing the Edge symbol.
As the OP says, I am getting lots of help from Tmo, even exchanging the S4 for a new one. (had to fight to get a surprise 150. fee rescinded after they claimed my pristine unit had a broken screen, but that is a different post)
But the problem has persisted. They have reset my account several times and are in the process of resetting it now. Said wait 72 hours and it will be fixed. Said should be fixed by weds. I remain skeptical, they said that once already....so much so that I bought a Experia Z Sat. (jury is still out on that)
The girl at tech support suggested I wait on replacing it but I've simply had enough of this.
I am convinced that it is on Tmos end.
And I can definitely confirm the gist of this post. Everyone I have talked to, literally a dozen people, have had the balls to tell me that Tmo considers 2000 a good LTE speed. I call BS.
I reall like my S4 a lot and don't like that the Z has a nonremovable battery. My wish is to keep the S4.
I've not had a chance to do much with this X, so can't yet compare performance.
no complaints
Cynagen said:
So after attempting to complete the Google Wallet fix for the galaxy s4 on T Mobile I ran into an issue where my 4G speeds and LTE speeds were much much lower than normal, somewhere in the range of 10 percent of normal. After attempting to remedy this every way possible short of flashing back to pure stock, including restoring modified rooted stock, I called customer care and was very surprised to find that the representative informed me that a mere 2mbit (2000kbps) classified as 4G LTE speeds to them.
Yeah you read that correctly; You will receive little to no support provided your connection is as fast as the average speed on Sprint's dilapidated and failing 3G network. I love T-Mobile for many reasons but this is just shocking. I did not spend 600 after taxes on a device capable of such insane speeds that it's faster than about 80 of American high speed Internet access, and 120 a month on a family plan with unlimited data, to be told that going backwards a decade in connection speed is "current generation".
I advise you call a rep today and confirm this, then email the ceo with me and let him know that this is not acceptable. Should he be serious about turning T-Mobile around, then he needs to cut the subscription to the typical carrier bs that helped me drive my friends away from sprint and att (crap service and speeds in our area) and into the welcoming service of T-Mobile.
Update: I had to ODIN pure stock to get my data speeds back.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
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I have gotten speeds as high as 24.53 Mbps with google wallet installed. It blows my home internet away
You must be in love with Sprint to believe that 2 Mbps is sprints 3G. Sprints 4G Wimax barely...BARELY hits 3 Mbps. Sprint 3g is equal to T-Mobile 2G. I did a test in the Bay Area, California, and tmobile beat att and verizon, at 32 mbps and att was at 24 mbps while verizon only hit 8 mbps. All with 3 bars of lte.
I have been noticing that the internet speed has been dropping lately, and I believe its because of the purchasing of metro, along with them ALL wanting iPhone and lte. So people that have trouble paying their bills (ive seen the average customers, I know what they look like. Theres a few that are just like you and me, but most show off their lower class status with their huawei and zte phones.) So its Metros fault for selling out. I noticed that my internet on an att unlocked iphone 5 has been dropping and lagging the past few days, and switching to a gs4 shows that its the carrier, or my account. So, I doubt your phone is the problem.
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matistight said:
You must be in love with Sprint to believe that 2 Mbps is sprints 3G. Sprints 4G Wimax barely...BARELY hits 3 Mbps. Sprint 3g is equal to T-Mobile 2G. I did a test in the Bay Area, California, and tmobile beat att and verizon, at 32 mbps and att was at 24 mbps while verizon only hit 8 mbps. All with 3 bars of lte.
I have been noticing that the internet speed has been dropping lately, and I believe its because of the purchasing of metro, along with them ALL wanting iPhone and lte. So people that have trouble paying their bills (ive seen the average customers, I know what they look like. Theres a few that are just like you and me, but most show off their lower class status with their huawei and zte phones.) So its Metros fault for selling out. I noticed that my internet on an att unlocked iphone 5 has been dropping and lagging the past few days, and switching to a gs4 shows that its the carrier, or my account. So, I doubt your phone is the problem.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
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I used to be one of those "lower class status" users, I had a stupid little Huawei Ascend on cricKet (MetroPCS partner), and while I rooted and modded it to hell, the service sucked. I migrated to AT&T and found they weren't much better, then moved back to my old carrier, T-Mo and have been happy overall. I know that after the purchase of MetroPCS, that cricKet would be the partner of T-Mo out here and all those phones (more people in the area that I -lived- in the same area as me (not out of town college kids in for the semester) have cricKet) would be bogging the network down, but it still performed well enough. In the thick of the cricKet area called Mesa, AZ, I still got over 20mbit on HSPA+ and LTE. I knew as soon as they announced all the high end phones prior to the purchase of MetroPCS for both they and cricKet that they wouldn't have the network to support it, then T-Mo purchase happened, I knew I would suffer in areas where everyone and their dog has these phones. I also know their model of pre-pay month to month was highly abused out here so I expect that bandwidth is gonna be extremely limited at times, but dropping from 24mbps normally to 2mbps is 1/12th, ridiculous. Anyways, it's back to normal, I just try to stay as far away from towers with large groups of idiots on them which is kind of hard to do around here.
EDIT: My dad has Sprint (I tried to steer him far far away from that BS but he wouldn't budge), he gets like 2-5mbps on his Note 2 which doesn't get WiMax AFAIK, only 3G, it's ready for the 4G/LTE but Sprint has lied for 4 years straight about LTE deployment out here, I'm just waiting for him to get fed up with unsent messages and dropped calls enough to give up and jump ship finally, however that won't be until he finishes his new 2-year contract like a fool.

[Q] Thinking about switching to Sprit

Hey all,
I've waited out two generations of this phone in order to get this one but I'm currently on AT&T and my contract is up. The AT&T version has a locked bootloader and from the looks of it, it won't be getting root any time soon. I'm contemplating on whether I should go with the Sprint or Tmobile. How do you guys like this phone on the sprint network?
Are there any issues with wifi tethering with this phone (without paying extra for it)? Has anyone come from AT&T and regretted it?
I'm in the NYC area and I've had Sprint on my company's BB which had pretty good service. How is the service where you are.
This is kinda big decision for me because I've been with AT&T for over 17 years now and I'm going to lose my unlimited data if/when I switch. I know Sprint still offers it but AT&T does not and I want to make sure I make the right decision.
Thank you all in advance
Sprint does not offer unlimited data anymore and they are even trying to convince existing users to switch from unlimited to 20GB shared. Not sure about your area but in mine Sprint always have some problems and excuses. Still I stick with them because of employee discount, current unlimited plan, and other carriers are just expensive (Verizon) or I had them on my "black list" (AT&T).
Check Sprint coverage in here http://coverage.sprint.com/IMPACT.jsp?
Sprint still offers unlimited data.
erik077 said:
Sprint does not offer unlimited data anymore and they are even trying to convince existing users to switch from unlimited to 20GB shared. Not sure about your area but in mine Sprint always have some problems and excuses. Still I stick with them because of employee discount, current unlimited plan, and other carriers are just expensive (Verizon) or I had them on my "black list" (AT&T).
Check Sprint coverage in here http://coverage.sprint.com/IMPACT.jsp?
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Thanks for you input erik077. When I got a quote from the rep over the phone yesterday they were still offering the unlimited data plan. As a matter of fact the lady was even recommending that I get that instead of the shared 20gb plan. Still, I'm not entirely impressed with their coverage map. There are a lot of bare spots on that map for 4g coverage. But they seem to have good coverage around my home and work.
Anyone else like to chime in?
I have unlimited data and just got sprint. I was in the same shoes as you and I switched to sprint I kept going over my data limit and didn't want to worry about my data overages anymore so I switched to sprint! And now use more data than I ever did. And I get full coverage of sprint spark all over my area! ?
I guess different areas has different plans. I was told plan like mine is not available anymore and in case I switch that's lost forever.
Read the terms; IIRC, the newer unlimited data plans have a data roaming limit set rather low; beyond that limit incurs charges. The grandfathered unlimited data plans don't have a roaming data limit that incurs data fees but Sprint terminates those who abuse data roaming. Lose that plan and it is not possible to go back. The phones are still subsidized as well. That's another trend going away. I'm keeping my Everything data 1500 minute plan with employee discount for those reasons. Not sure about discounts on the other plans. Maybe that's three terms to consider if switching plans or providers.
deeken said:
Hey all,
I've waited out two generations of this phone in order to get this one but I'm currently on AT&T and my contract is up. The AT&T version has a locked bootloader and from the looks of it, it won't be getting root any time soon. I'm contemplating on whether I should go with the Sprint or Tmobile. How do you guys like this phone on the sprint network?
Are there any issues with wifi tethering with this phone (without paying extra for it)? Has anyone come from AT&T and regretted it?
I'm in the NYC area and I've had Sprint on my company's BB which had pretty good service. How is the service where you are.
This is kinda big decision for me because I've been with AT&T for over 17 years now and I'm going to lose my unlimited data if/when I switch. I know Sprint still offers it but AT&T does not and I want to make sure I make the right decision.
Thank you all in advance
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Which areas of nyc are you in?
I have both T-mobile and Sprint accounts. I'm happy sprint . Spark is great and I usually use about 50 gigs of a data on each phone. I guess what I'm trying to say is I think you should get Sprint since NY has great Sprint service.
ajr0312 said:
I have both T-mobile and Sprint accounts. I'm happy sprint . Spark is great and I usually use about 50 gigs of a data on each phone. I guess what I'm trying to say is I think you should get Sprint since NY has great Sprint service.
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Sprint in nyc was great with my nexus 5...but the note 4 seems to have connecting issues for me
Thanks for your input guys. I'm all over NYC (pretty much all 5 boroughs) and Long Island so I need good service wherever I am at. But I'm in downtown Manhattan most of the time.
@kwazytazz what kind of connection issues are you having? Poor 4g? GPS? Call quality? Please elaborate.
Also, could any of those issue be a problem with your phone?
deeken said:
Thanks for your input guys. I'm all over NYC (pretty much all 5 boroughs) and Long Island so I need good service wherever I am at. But I'm in downtown Manhattan most of the time.
@kwazytazz what kind of connection issues are you having? Poor 4g? GPS? Call quality? Please elaborate.
Also, could any of those issue be a problem with your phone?
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Mainly poor lte issues in the financial district ..few blocks from seaport..lte would not stay connected and will drop to 3g then 3g will drop and reconnect numerous times..whereas my nexus 5 stays connected 100 percent of the time..maybe I have a defective phone but that's my experience
kwazytazz said:
Mainly poor lte issues in the financial district ..few blocks from seaport..lte would not stay connected and will drop to 3g then 3g will drop and reconnect numerous times..whereas my nexus 5 stays connected 100 percent of the time..maybe I have a defective phone but that's my experience
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I've got the same issue.
Sprint is decent for lte in nyc. You may have some issues getting lte in SI or Queens but the other three boroughs should be fine.
I think that's fixable with an update tho. Not saying, it's not annoying atm, but Sprint should fix this soon.
How about Long Island? Anyone experiencing connectivity issues in Nassau or Suffolk?
Another thing I wanted to ask about was the GPS. How accurate is it with google maps and its turn by turn? I've read that several people are experiencing issue with it. Not just the Sprint variant.

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