Question about 3G/HSPA speeds on GSM Nexus - Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Hi all,
i'm in the UK and was recently on the Orange network. My speeds compared to others near my on vodafone and o2 are quite slow.
When i have the H symbol the maximum speed i can achieve is 1.78mbit whereas they are reaching over 5mbit (on a variety of apple/windows/android devices) and i am left in the lurch.
I switched to Virgin mobile today (not for signal reasons but for tariff) and my results are the same. I know Virgin piggyback onto Orange/Tmobile but at the moment i am on the virgin network and my results are poor here too.
Is there something in the phone configured wrong?
I noticed when i enter the testing menu via *#*#4636#*#* that my device is set to WCDMA preferred. Should it be on GSM Auto (PRL)? Or would this make any difference?
Or is it just that virgin/orange are slower with HSPA speeds than vodafone and o2?
Thanks in advance

i think the differece between wcdma preferred and gsm auto is just the time between network searches. if you are on gprs or edge wcdma preferred searches more often for the umts networks.
my nexus reachis in austria with 3 carrier up to 7.5 mbit real download speed (about 950 kbyte / sec)
i have hspap:15 network at home
the device should be able to reach higher download speeds, it depends on your connection quality. here in austria it happens sometimes that you are connected with hspap:15 (which is up to 23 mbit) but the backbone of the radio cell is not fast enough

kazooooo said:
i think the differece between wcdma preferred and gsm auto is just the time between network searches. if you are on gprs or edge wcdma preferred searches more often for the umts networks.
my nexus reachis in austria with 3 carrier up to 7.5 mbit real download speed (about 950 kbyte / sec)
i have hspap:15 network at home
the device should be able to reach higher download speeds, it depends on your connection quality. here in austria it happens sometimes that you are connected with hspap:15 (which is up to 23 mbit) but the backbone of the radio cell is not fast enough
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Kazoooo
I'm glad its not limited to my handset. I did notice the signal switches from UMTS:3 to HSPDA:15 often, it doesn't stick with either for a long period of time. I guess i'm on the 'border' of decent speeds?

Related

UMTS?

Ok, I use the official dopod WM6 .. and I'm sure it's not related but for some reason I get a constant 3G/HSPDA connection which I NEVER had at my house.. and when I get a phone call it says UMTS AT&T .. anyone know what the UMTS is?
Umts=wcdma=3g
universal mobile telecommunications system..based on 3g
http://www.tech-faq.com/hsdpa.shtml
Per Tech-Fac: HSDPA is associated with the various Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) networks including the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM).
Madcap...That is good
Madcap180 said:
Ok, I use the official dopod WM6 .. and I'm sure it's not related but for some reason I get a constant 3G/HSPDA connection which I NEVER had at my house.. and when I get a phone call it says UMTS AT&T .. anyone know what the UMTS is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I choose AUTO in phone/band, it will constantly show up UMTS, and the reception will be really bad in my place. (Battery will run out in a day) But if I choose GSM, first off, reception is great & my battery is good for 3-4 days.
Is 3G that power hungry? Or it's simply due to bad 3G reception in my area?
Cheers,
Richard
its a combination of both.
rockrichard said:
If I choose AUTO in phone/band, it will constantly show up UMTS, and the reception will be really bad in my place. (Battery will run out in a day) But if I choose GSM, first off, reception is great & my battery is good for 3-4 days.
Is 3G that power hungry? Or it's simply due to bad 3G reception in my area?
Cheers,
Richard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I live Center of manchester in UK, i have 100% connection to UMTS, and battery is totally dead in about 28-30hours, so no its not your bad connection!
I think 3G/UMTS just uses alot of power, and i have to say i have never used the UMTS for wat it is ment for, so i jus turn it off!!!
The only time it is used is when you need to download something.
check this out:
One of the main benefits of UMTS is its speed. Current rates of transfer for broadband information are 2 Mbits a second. This speed makes possible the kind of streaming video that can support movie downloads and video conferencing. In a sense, UMTS makes it possible for you to enjoy all of the functionality of your home computer while you are roaming. By combining wireless and satellite cellular technologies, UMTS takes advantage of all existing options to result in the Holy Grail of 3G presentation: seamless transitions between WiFi and satellite.
Pumpiron579 said:
The only time it is used is when you need to download something.
check this out:
One of the main benefits of UMTS is its speed. Current rates of transfer for broadband information are 2 Mbits a second. This speed makes possible the kind of streaming video that can support movie downloads and video conferencing. In a sense, UMTS makes it possible for you to enjoy all of the functionality of your home computer while you are roaming. By combining wireless and satellite cellular technologies, UMTS takes advantage of all existing options to result in the Holy Grail of 3G presentation: seamless transitions between WiFi and satellite.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You say that the current rates of transfer are 2Mbits, but my understanding is that the Hermes chipset has a theoretical maximum of 1.8 with a typical 'good' speed of 1.2 to 1.5.
lol i feel like a noob, I had NO idea what UMTS was... and was scared i was roaming or somehing hahahah!
I pulled that specific info off the net....
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-umts.htm
Attn
Madcap, those HighHeels you sent me were too small

[Q] HSDPA & 3G connection on Rogers & Bell

Hi all,
I"m new here, with a quick question based on my usage today on both the Bell and Rogers network.
I unlocked my HTC Desire Z this afternoon, and I tried it out on Rogers to see what the speeds were like. It has been an odd experience. Here's the background, and my question is below.
Background:
- Aside from being unlocked, it is as originally shipped from Bell (e.g. no root access, ROM hasn't been flashed etc.)
- APN settings were taken from Rogers' own website (e.g. using rogers-core-appl1.apn).
- Speeds tested in downtown Toronto.
Experience so far:
Bell
I get a solid HSDPA indicator all the time (save elevators etc., when there is no connection). I can remember seeing a 3G connection icon perhaps once on Bell since I got it last week. Speeds are very good, four to five bars most of the time
Rogers
I get a solid 3G icon almost all of the time, except when I'm using data, in which case it seems to switch over to the HSDPA icon. Literally, it will show a 3G, and then if I try to browse the web, the icon will immediately switch to an H from a 3G and the web page will load quite quickly.
I was concerned that it was dropping the HSDPA connection frequently, and using 3G instead -- changing towers constantly. So I tried speedtesting it. The results were completely opposite what I expected.
Speedtest Results:
Using the Speedtest.net app (from Ookla) testing against the same Oakville, ON server from Toronto, I'm getting speeds dramatically faster on Rogers. I did three speedtests for each network.
Bell:
Fastest Down: 3411 kbps Fastest Up: 1633 kbps
Slowest Down: 1969 kbps Slowest Up: 1331 kbps
Rogers:
Fastest Down: 5740 kbps Fastest Up: 3766 kbps
Slowest Down: 5405 kbps Slowest Up: 1551 kbps
Ping latency was generally slightly higher on Rogers than Bell.
Question
Does anyone understand why, on Rogers, the Desire Z would be showing a 3G until data is requested, at which time it swaps over to show an H icon (e.g. HSDPA), whereas on Bell, it shows a constant HSDPA connection?
I would have thought that it would be slower on Rogers since it was showing 3G and then the icon switches to H, but I'm guessing that the icon switch isn't really reflecting what's going on, since the speeds are faster when this icon switch occurs. Any ideas?
Many thanks in advance!
TF
Its not just the Desire Z but also most smartphones on rogers. i had a samsung galaxy and it did the same thing. However, (correct me out there, if im wrong) But i remember reading the HSDPA was inbetween 3g and 3.5g?...i dont remmeber but to me i know that Rogers is faster, my brother has a Bell phone and my speeds were always faster.
heres a bit of help i found
HSDPA is actually one of the 3G protocols.
In everyday language HSDPA is often referred to as much faster than (basic) 3G so I would call it much faster as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jark99 said:
Its not just the Desire Z but also most smartphones on rogers. i had a samsung galaxy and it did the same thing. However, (correct me out there, if im wrong) But i remember reading the HSDPA was inbetween 3g and 3.5g?...i dont remmeber but to me i know that Rogers is faster, my brother has a Bell phone and my speeds were always faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure there really is a 3.5G as such, but if there is, then HSDPA is it. It provides faster speeds than the standard 3G (UMTS) protocols. There's also HSPA+ coming out, which is even faster. HSPA+ isn't 4G, although confusingly some carriers in the US (T-Mobile I think ?) are referring to it as such.
On O2 in the UK, I get the same effect, holds at 3G then switches to HSDPA when in use. There doesn't seem to be any latency when switching and if it can't achieve HSDPA it remains at 3G. Speedtest returns about 1.5-2 Mbit which is normal.
I can only imagine its a power saving feature as from experience with the Touch Diamond 2 / Touch Pro 2, having HSDPA enabled sucked battery life significantly. I don't remember this happening on those phones either. Seems like a good idea, but would be nice to choose (always on, auto, always off)
I actually used to disable HSDPA and use 3G exclusively and consistently got 2-3 days out of both phones with moderate use. I never missed it.
Craig
craiglay said:
I can only imagine its a power saving feature as from experience with the Touch Diamond 2 / Touch Pro 2, having HSDPA enabled sucked battery life significantly. I don't remember this happening on those phones either. Seems like a good idea, but would be nice to choose (always on, auto, always off)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That must be it -- interestingly, I went into the About Phone > Network > Signal Strength menu to check it out. When the icon is showing 3G, the "Mobile network type" is UTMS. When data is being transmitted, the icon immediately switches to H and the "Mobile network type" reports HSDPA.
Very cool -- I'm going to see if this -- by itself -- extends my battery life tomorrow. Thanks for the feedback!
TF
Just FYI -- there has been a dramatic improvement in my battery life on Rogers, compared to what I was experiencing on Bell. Typically, I would be at about 40% battery life left at this point in the day (presumably because I was constantly connected to HSDPA with Bell). Whereas I'm at 80% battery life left with the Rogers 3G connection, and I've still been connected to Wi-Fi for the past five hours and browsing reasonably heavily.
Thanks for your help in sorting this out everybody.
TF
Interesting, as Bell has rolled out several HSPA+ areas, Toronto being one of them, and Rogers still only has HSPA.
What I found odd on my DZ (still on Bells network) is that my Network Mode is GSM / WCDMA auto (never seen this on any other handset I've hand that's been HSDPA) and I understand that the HSDPA networks here are CDMA with a GSM overlay (ie, the need for a SIM card, etc) and I frequently see my icon changing from 3G to H (again, this is only on my DZ), but Bell only has a CDMA EVDO 3G network and the HSPA "3G+" network, there's not really a GSM enabled 3G network.
I'm confused, as on my Telus Milestone, it's constantly H, never once seen 3G appear on it, and Telus and Bell share their network.
Maybe I'm just horribly misinformed.
I donno if it is just me but I seem to be getting ridiculously slow 3G speeds here on my unlocked Desire Z using Rogers. I go to school in Hamilton at McMaster and most of the times the 3G is nigh on unusable because of its speeds. I don't know if it is an app or anything that has caused it because it was never slow when I first got the phone.
I am running the virtuous rom 0.72 atm. I do have half a mind to just factory reset the device adn see if that fixes the issues however I really don't want to lose all of my contacts and other settings that I have on this device.
TravelFiend said:
Rogers
I get a solid 3G icon almost all of the time, except when I'm using data, in which case it seems to switch over to the HSDPA icon. Literally, it will show a 3G, and then if I try to browse the web, the icon will immediately switch to an H from a 3G and the web page will load quite quickly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The same thing happening to me with Galaxy S,and this started a few days ago.
I unlocked my phone and I am using it on Telenor Serbia a and past two weeks it was just H all the time,now it's 3g all the time and when I start browsing it switch to H again and it work well,but why do that,should I be concern?
VladaP85 said:
The same thing happening to me with Galaxy S,and this started a few days ago.
I unlocked my phone and I am using it on Telenor Serbia a and past two weeks it was just H all the time,now it's 3g all the time and when I start browsing it switch to H again and it work well,but why do that,should I be concern?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me on O2 UK, it depends on the area.. Sometimes its solid 3G, sometimes solid H and sometimes 3G when idle, H when in use.. I guess its the base station software / hardware..
Craig
HAK Devil said:
I do have half a mind to just factory reset the device adn see if that fixes the issues however I really don't want to lose all of my contacts and other settings that I have on this device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you've snyced with google then your contacts will just sync back. And I go to school at Mac as well and usually the speeds are really slow inside any buildings... If i don't have full bars then the speed will be crap, otherwise they are fine. But I am on Fido, not Bell.
Also, I thought that Bell didn't have a 2G GSM network? If that is the case then that could be why only H would be appearing...
craiglay said:
For me on O2 UK, it depends on the area.. Sometimes its solid 3G, sometimes solid H and sometimes 3G when idle, H when in use.. I guess its the base station software / hardware..
Craig
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But why this start to happen two day ago and not before... Should I call my operator or it's up to my phone. Maybe to do factory reset of change rom...
VladaP85 said:
But why this start to happen two day ago and not before... Should I call my operator or it's up to my phone. Maybe to do factory reset of change rom...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could be anything to be honest.. Your operator could have updated the base station.
It seems the phone is designed to do this probably to save power, HSDPA is battery intensive so having the phone in 3G while in standby probably saves quite a bit of power..
You could try emailing HTC with the question before your operator.
Regards
Craig
TravelFiend said:
Just FYI -- there has been a dramatic improvement in my battery life on Rogers, compared to what I was experiencing on Bell. Typically, I would be at about 40% battery life left at this point in the day (presumably because I was constantly connected to HSDPA with Bell). Whereas I'm at 80% battery life left with the Rogers 3G connection, and I've still been connected to Wi-Fi for the past five hours and browsing reasonably heavily.
Thanks for your help in sorting this out everybody.
TF
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you switched your phone to stay in umts only to get this dramatic battery gain?
craiglay said:
It could be anything to be honest.. Your operator could have updated the base station.
It seems the phone is designed to do this probably to save power, HSDPA is battery intensive so having the phone in 3G while in standby probably saves quite a bit of power..
You could try emailing HTC with the question before your operator.
Regards
Craig
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone is Samsung I9000 Galaxy S So maybe I will email Samsung...
Thanks,
Regards
From my understanding
GSM = 1G
GPRS= 2G = G
EDGE = 2.5G = E
UMTS = 3G = 3G
HSDPA/HSDUPA/HSPA+=3.5G = H
Since Rogers has all the above mentioned transceiver systems you will see that mostly on the Rogers network Android phones tend to stay on UMTS=3G switching to H only when more data throughput is required.
The battery life is much better on UMTS vs HSDPA hence you will get a better battery life on Rogers vs Bell.
Bell only has a HSDPA/HSPA+ network hence you will only see H
I am not claiming to be a 100% on this
Just my 2 cents by putting together 1 and 1
xdjneo said:
GSM = 1G
GPRS= 2G = G
EDGE = 2.5G = E
UMTS = 3G = 3G
HSDPA/HSDUPA/HSPA+=3.5G = H
Since Rogers has all the above mentioned transceiver systems you will see that mostly on the Rogers network Android phones tend to stay on UMTS=3G switching to H only when more data throughput is required.
The battery life is much better on UMTS vs HSDPA hence you will get a better battery life on Rogers vs Bell.
Bell only has a HSDPA/HSPA+ network hence you will only see H
I am not claiming to be a 100% on this
Just my 2 cents by putting together 1 and 1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nearly there (source Wikipedia),
GSM is 2G
GPRS is 2.5G
EDGE is 2.75G
UTMS is 3G
HSxPA is 3.5G
I would put HSPA+ as 3.75G as its slightly different to HSxPA but would settle for 3.5G
Broadly speaking battery life reduces the higher the generation but I think UTMS can be more efficient than 2.xG sometimes. (NOT HS... which is generally terrible all over hence the behaviour between 3G and H)
I always used to disable HSxPA because of the battery life, its just not easy on this phone. It requires root and editing a prop file..
Craig

[Q] HSPA+ and HSPDA Proof.

So here is my question. If you go to Settings > About Phone > Status > and then look under Mobile Network Type, it tells you which type of Network you are currently connected to.
I live in NYC and also in Washington, DC, both arees that should have patches of HSPA+, and I've never once seen my phone connect to anything higher than HSPDA.
My Question is, should it state HSPA+ in my Phone Status screen? And if so, I want proof by way of a screen shot that somebody has actually connected to HSPA+. I've had my G2 since a few days before it was released, and I check this almost everyday to see if my phone will ever display HSPA+ in the Mobile Network Type page in the settings.
Can anybody show me proof that they are on HSPA+? And I don't want to see speedtest results. Everyone claims they are on HSPA+ based on speedtest results. I want a screen shot showing this, IF it in fact does display HSPA+ under these settings when connected.
Sorry if I sound rude, I don't intend this at all, I have been wondering this for months, and have scoured the internet trying to get definitive information on this particular thing, yet to no avail.
I'm very satisfied with my phone, and in fact would recommend it to anyone in the market, I just want to see a screen shot that says HSPA+ in the settings, IF IT EVEN DOES SHOW THIS, that's all!! My phone's network connection is still pretty fast.
Because we all know the "H" could mean a number of things, it doesn't necesarily mean HSPA+ which is why T-Mobile can get away with displaying an "H" for a number of networks (not knocking T-Mobile at all, I'm a loyal subscriber).
If you consider HSPA+ to differ and to be a level above HSDPA or HSUPA, the G2 won't be able to reach it. That's because HSPA+ network can be considered multiple cell HSPA (HSPA = HSDPA & HSUPA) and HSDPA maximum throughput is 14Mb/s. That was the advertised maximum capability of the phone. Most HSPA towers (non-plus) have throughput of 2, 3, 5, 7Mbps anyway, and it's unlikely that the network differentiates between HSPA+ and HSPA. If you find yourself in an HSPA+ cell, your speeds should go as high as 14Mbps, but you may not know if it's HSDPA at it's max or HSPA+ running at a higher speed.
High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) [1] is a amalgamation of two mobile telephony protocols, High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), that extends and improves the performance of existing WCDMA protocols. A further standard, Evolved HSPA (also known as HSPA+), was released late in 2008 with subsequent adoption worldwide beginning in 2010... so another words hspa and hspa+ is the same thing.. but when your closer to a "4g " tower of course your internet speeds will respond faster.. to know what kind of internet your on.. go to menu, settings, about phone, than network
sent from t-mobile g2 using HTC sense

[Q]3g and hspda

Whenever I'm connected to mobile network, my phone seems to switch between hspda and 3g... you have any idea why ?
I'm on T-Mobile
Down 3.30mbs
Up .38mbs
That also seems a little low for hspda
Sent from my Samsung GNexus <3
Mine does that all the time, on both my devices, I'm using my gfs sensation xe now it its switching between h and 3g, think its normal
This is now all HSPA+ devices work. They switch to UMTS (3G) when the phone / connection is idle, and switch to HSPA+ when actively transmitting data. This provides best speeds when necessary and best battery life when not transmitting.
Often skinned (carrier branded) devices will inaccurately show "H" or "4G" for longer than they're actually connected in order to make people think they're always connected to it. For all practical purposes you are...

[Q] Radio Issue Brazil

Hey People,
I bought 2 months ago my Galaxy Nexus on Play Store for this wondeerful price they sell it.
My plan was to bring it here to Brazil and, of course, use it.
But, I used it on T-Mobile network while I was in the USA in Maryland area. The results where very good... Almost always having 3G signal and pretty decent speeds testing on speedtest app.
When I started using it here in Brazil, I had some issues related to HSPA+ speeds.
My carrier (Claro BR) does support HSPA+(some carriers here, don't), and sometimes, I think, the phone just forgets to use HSPA+ and keeps using HSDPA...
I can reach up to 4Mbs on HSDPA and always between 4-8Mbs on HSPA+.
What I normally do is turning on and off airplane mode and the phone starts using H+ again.
I am using I250UILE1 radio and CNA 05192012 nightly w/ 1344-384 Trinity kernel.
I forgot to say that when I turn Wifi off and automatically let my phone connect to DATA connection it fastly connects to HSDPA switches for a little time to UMTS and then switches back to HSDPA and no signal for H+. And I again have to switch radio off and on (airplane mode).
I think I tried almost everything...

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