Hi all,
Wondering why everywhere I go, my MDA Vario IV gets no more than 40 KB/sec on the 3 GB Web'n'walk package. I have measured this on mobile speed tests locally on the handset, tethered via USB, and also using a WiFi Hostpot 'app'.
The phone shows 'H' when connected, and a T-Mobile Internet Dongle out-performs my phone (as you would expect, but by LOADS)
So, I called T-Mobile - the lady said I had a '2G SIM' which she identified by asking the colour of my SIM card (white by the way, from Oct. 2007). They are sending me a blue one which is their new '3G SIM'.
I am wondering, even if I did have a 2G SIM at the moment, how comes my phone will show 'G', '3G', and 'H' (depending on the area I am in) and definitely be faster when '3G' or 'H' is displayed in the notification area?
Either way, my blue SIM should arrive tomorrow.
Am I wrong in expecting faster than 0.4 Mbps when then handset itself is rated at up to 7.2 Mbps?
I appreciate 7.2 Mbps is unlikely!! But I would expect at least 1 Mbps out of the T-Mobile network in and around Kent, and in London.
All comments welcome
Yes it sounds like you have an old version sim card not capable of 3G. ATT actually prints 3G on their 3G cards now. But she is right, your laptop is picking up HSPDA which fly's, and your phone is using edge or (e) or 2g. Just call tmo and have them send you a new simcard or goto the store and get another. Careful at the store though they charge $27 for a sim card, Tmo charges $7.99 if you call them, or you can get them on ebay for $4.99. BTW my (H) speeds on Tmo are 3.5mb down 0.5mb up. Also another factor that could be happening is your phone is seeing the H or 3G signal but your sim card won't connect to it or go above 2g speeds.
Thanks for the reply... in the UK they charge £10 in store but this would be credited to my account... well, I will see what happens when the new card arrives. Thanks again for the reply - Ian
Just thought I would report back. In my home, I now get 1.6 Mbps which is 1.2 Mbps more than my previous 0.4 Mbps speeds - so the SIM card is crucial to the speed of your data access - but not the colour, as the new one is white as well!
Thanks again all,
Ian
But if you flip it over and look at the contacts you will see they are different. We couldn't get my buds tmo card to pull a 3G signal from my phone, we pulled both cards and his card looked the same but if you flipped it over his contacts were way way bigger then mine. Then I dug up an old ATT 3G sim card and it had the same small contacts my card had.
Related
Calling all T-Mobile UK users to test your HSDPA speed.
I tested my Touch Pro HSDPA speed using this site http://www.dslreports.com/mspeed?jisok=1&more=1
Test Location - Oxford Street, London
Test data - 1 MB
ROM - Original WWE
Findings:
T-Mobile Sim maxed out at 389 Kbits/sec while Vodafone went as high as 2136 Kbits/sec. Both are showing "H" sign and 4 bars.
It looks like T-Mobile are putting a cap on the TP speed. Can anyone confirm this?
I believe they also post the speeds on their site ... So check out the site of your provider for the current max speeds.
BTW, using KPN in Enschede, The Netherlands I only get 119 kbit/sec while having 3 bars and H-logo.
Are you using W+W plus? HSDPA speeds are only available for the extra £5 add-on. Otherwise u get capped to 3G speeds even though your phone will show an "H". I can categorically confirm this as a tech guy from T-Mobile was on the phone to me while he "flicked the switch" to add the upgrade to my package and literally when I refreshed the speed test I instantly got around 2Mb when I was previously getting around 300Kbps. It's naff - but if ur a heavy data user it's worth it. YouTube vids stream in high quality like they used to on low quality (ie instant playout).
However, I'm now toying with disabling the upgrade for next month (u can do this on a monthly basis on the web in My T-Mobile) so see if the cap gets put back on or they forget and I keep the high data throughput. Won't find out 'til after the 13th Oct so will keep u posted of the results.
T-Mob not as good as they used to be for data....
LLOYDY
PS: My TP has been sent back under warranty for the last two weeks so I haven't tested this recently btw
been on the 7.50 since april 06
just tested on the vario 3
rainham essex, 532kbps oh 2 bars of signal
680kbps 3 bars outside
Hrm...
U should have avoided the cap then. But still low speeds. I reckon they've sold too many mobile broadband USB thingies now and the bandwidth is being gobbled up. Shame.
LLOYDY
Early adopter, at the bleeding edge, never had more than 1meg down. Ever. Anywhere.
Weird. I definitely got more than 2mbps (only just) and it was quite constant (well... back in the day when i actually HAD my TP - Expansys have had it over 2 weeks now for repair). I'm by London Bridge - perhaps less contention in these parts...
My gf also used to get very high speeds (3.5Mb+) when T-Mobile first brought HSDPA out on her N95. Was well jealous while I chugged along with 3G on my universal! But htese days she deffo cant get more than 300-odd due to only being on standard W+W and she's been with T-Mob since Nov 2006.
LLOYDY
I have an x7510 and have used it successfully with a Telcel (Mexico) 3g sim card down there, though since Mexico isn't in the Connections country presets, I had to use web-provided parameters. I suspected that I wasn't on quite the same network as when I put the Telcel sim into the purchased ZTE626 usb 3g aircard and everything was automatic, and a dealer tech guy there agreed, but who knows. (By the way, if you're vacationing in Mexico and want economical 3g, look up the Internet Amigo plan on the Telcel web site. It's 1, 3, 7, 15 and 30 days blocks of time, not annual subscription. Perfect for tourists. The Customer Service places typically have the old brochures lying around, so print the current pricing off the web before you go. They do all this for USB or Express cards, and for smartphones of all types.)
SO, here I am in the USA again, and for kicks, I took the X7510 into my Tmo dealer and they reassigned me a newer sim (the difference? she said it was 3g capable) and we put it in the X7510 and tried it. I couldn't believe they were willing to try it. And of course, using the Connections automatic setting, I got Edge. However, I couldn't help wondering about some things:
1. Why can't I get downloading on 2100 3g, just downloading? Is it because the upload handshaking etc can't switch to Edge?
2. Is it true that if I had a Tmo 3g phone, such as the 3g Dash, this 'no difference but it's newer and has 3g on it' (which they let me keep, I should add) my data plan (el cheapo grandfathered 20$ for unlimited incl hotspots) would now do Tmo 3g? I actually asked her about this and she indicated the 3g aspect of this or that data plan is not more costly.
3. When looking at the automatically configured Tmo Connections settings, the setting for type of connection had very little available, just CellularGPRS&3G. When I'd been working with the Telcel sim, all sorts of combinations of frequencies popped up. The preset still says wap.voicestream.com. Is there another group of Manual settings I could use to get my half 3g on the X7510?
4. Perhaps the most interesting, since the X7510 has USB host capability, is there a way to use my 4in1 cable, a Tmo USB aircard and my new Tmo 3g sim to make the X7510 recognize and use the USB card? I do like the X7510 for its huge screen...
Thanks to anyone who will help, or who finds the Telcel info useful.
Hi all, I have noticed an odd issue on my G2x that is not a huge problem but I wanted to see if any one had any thoughts on this.
First, I have a very old sim card, it actually has the VoiceStream logo on it. And the lock screen actually lists Vstream sometimes, and sometimes it has T-Mobile/VStream.
I've noticed that I get either 4G or 2G, but never 3G. It's even shown G before. I usually get 4G in my 14th floor office in downtown Chicago outside and some parts of my house, 2G in other places. I've tried speed tests downtown, and I got as high as 12mbps, but usually 5-7mbps. I'm just wondering if there is anything that can be done so I get 3G instead of 2G in certain areas.
Thanks
the phone will never show a 3g logo. It will only show 4g and 2g. And for that mattery t-mobiles "4g" is actually HSPA+ which is the upgraded version of HSPA. they are both 3g technology.
I am on T-mobile 5GB/month prepaid plan and would like to know if any of you have the same issue. What I found out is that download speed using ookla's speedtest app will show at around 10 to 25 mbps but I never got upload speed to ant stable level and average around 2 mbps regardless of cell tower, reception, or time of the day! It also seems that upload speed starts at 10mbps and after 1 -2 seconds will just stop, and then do like 1 mbps. Sometimes, ookla speedtest will not be able to finish the test using LTE and report network problems. I tried using different bandwidth test apps with similar results. HSPA+ does as usual, around 10mbps down 3 to 4 mbps up, no interruptions. Something is not working right and I sure don't like it. Yesterday, while connected on LTE my music streaming got interrupted and buffered every 20 minutes or so, like I am on EDGE, LOL (no actually... it's not funny at all). Hangout video chat (while on LTE) interrupted few times as well.
Update: Switching SIM cards didn't help. Upload speed is still extremely slow or will show network error. There are at least 6 other members reporting this issue with T-mobile LTE.
T-Mobile LTE here in Houston, TX. I'm don't have any issues that you mentioned above. Had the phone for 2 days.
peteus said:
I am on T-mobile 5GB/month prepaid plan and would like to know if any of you have the same issue. What I found out is that download speed using ookla's speedtest app will show at around 10 to 25 mbps but I never got upload speed to ant stable level and average around 2 mbps regardless of cell tower, reception, or time of the day! It also seems that upload speed starts at 10mbps and after 1 -2 seconds will just stop, and then do like 1 mbps. Sometimes, ookla speedtest will not be able to finish the test using LTE and report network problems. I tried using different bandwidth test apps with similar results. HSPA+ does as usual, around 10mbps down 3 to 4 mbps up, no interruptions. Something is not working right and I sure don't like it. Yesterday, while connected on LTE my music streaming got interrupted and buffered every 20 minutes or so, like I am on EDGE, LOL (no actually... it's not funny at all). Hangout video chat (while on LTE) interrupted few times as well.
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you get throttled on prepaid to make way for the postpaid plans. its like this on every carrier.
Is this a new device / activation with a new(er) T-Mo micro-Sim card?
What device were you using before the N5? Try powering down the N5 and restarting it?
Reminds me of the old cable broadband days - turbo speed for that initial burst of extra speed, then it's back to same old, same old. Perhaps a lot of N5 on the special plan getting activated & seizing LTE's bandwidth ??
But, even HSPA+ speed is better than our soon-to-be history VZW 3G data with its lousy coverage at our home.
Zepius said:
you get throttled on prepaid to make way for the postpaid plans. its like this on every carrier.
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I don't have prepaid but $30 month to month.
Letitride said:
Is this a new device / activation with a new(er) T-Mo micro-Sim card?
What device were you using before the N5? Try powering down the N5 and restarting it?
Reminds me of the old cable broadband days - turbo speed for that initial burst of extra speed, then it's back to same old, same old. Perhaps a lot of N5 on the special plan getting activated & seizing LTE's bandwidth ??
But, even HSPA+ speed is better than our soon-to-be history VZW 3G data with its lousy coverage at our home.
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I used Galaxy Nexus and cut SIM card to micro size. Do you think it may make a difference if I replace it with new T-Mobile micro card? Why? What could be different? I would assume something like that may be the problem if I couldn't connect to LTE band- but N5 does connect with this (old customized) SIM when signal is available. I at first thought it was overloaded T-Mobile tower, but then I drove around and tested with the same results.
peteus said:
I used Galaxy Nexus and cut SIM card to micro size. Do you think it may make a difference if I replace it with new T-Mobile micro card? Why? What could be different? I would assume something like that may be the problem if I couldn't connect to LTE band- but N5 does connect with this (old customized) SIM when signal is available. I at first thought it was overloaded T-Mobile tower, but then I drove around and tested with the same results.
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I had a 3 years old PAYG T-Mo Sim card ("regular/standard sized) and it was getting worn out from being swapped around - just by looking at the metal contacts) so I grabbed extra ones for 99cents (or was it free, whatever last month) just in case - not feeling to make a run to a local T-Mo store to ask for one to be swapped out. T-Mo support site mentioned about Sim card exhausion after 2 years (that's a new one to me too, but whatever) & that a new one should be exchanged - I couldn't swap it out online by updating or changing the Sim card, so ended up calling 877-xxx-xxxx & got transferred to a live operator and was done in less than 10 minutes, no questions asked once I came up with the correct PIN (ended up changing it anyway) - CSR didn't even ask for device's IMEI #, just read those long digits to him.
Waited a few minutes, rebooted and received 2 SMS & made a quick test call confirming that everything seemed to be working. It's working for me as I only switched to the $3 per day plan to check out the speed & back on PAGO by the minutes plan now on this line - it's my emergency backup line for voice calls.
I thought about & was ready to cut down the Sim to micr-Sim size with a template, but realized that by matching it to other free micro-Sims that I might be damaging the contacts as they are oversized beyond the micro-sim's dimensions.
If you have a spare free unactivated T-mo sim around, call them to swap it out to see if it might be the root cause - supposingly, older Sims like yours (and mine) might not be properly "provisioned" for 4G/LTE and possibly max'd out at 3G/HSPA+ in those days in their system's profile.
My friendly UPS driver just dropped off another free/free micro-sim plus a data only micro-sim for the tablet, so I'm going to play with the tablet and see how lucky I can get with the "free" 200MB monthly data offer.
Letitride said:
I had a 3 years old PAYG T-Mo Sim card ("regular/standard sized) and it was getting worn out from being swapped around - just by looking at the metal contacts) so I grabbed extra ones for 99cents (or was it free, whatever last month) just in case - not feeling to make a run to a local T-Mo store to ask for one to be swapped out. T-Mo support site mentioned about Sim card exhausion after 2 years (that's a new one to me too, but whatever) & that a new one should be exchanged - I couldn't swap it out online by updating or changing the Sim card, so ended up calling 877-xxx-xxxx & got transferred to a live operator and was done in less than 10 minutes, no questions asked once I came up with the correct PIN (ended up changing it anyway) - CSR didn't even ask for device's IMEI #, just read those long digits to him.
Waited a few minutes, rebooted and received 2 SMS & made a quick test call confirming that everything seemed to be working. It's working for me as I only switched to the $3 per day plan to check out the speed & back on PAGO by the minutes plan now on this line - it's my emergency backup line for voice calls.
I thought about & was ready to cut down the Sim to micr-Sim size with a template, but realized that by matching it to other free micro-Sims that I might be damaging the contacts as they are oversized beyond the micro-sim's dimensions.
If you have a spare free unactivated T-mo sim around, call them to swap it out to see if it might be the root cause - supposingly, older Sims like yours (and mine) might not be properly "provisioned" for 4G/LTE and possibly max'd out at 3G/HSPA+ in those days in their system's profile.
My friendly UPS driver just dropped off another free/free micro-sim plus a data only micro-sim for the tablet, so I'm going to play with the tablet and see how lucky I can get with the "free" 200MB monthly data offer.
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Thanks. I'll get to T-Mobile store.
What does T-mobile say
There are at least 6 XDA members so far reporting issue with LTE upload speed on T-mobile. Switching SIM card to new one did not resolve the problem. One question for all with upload issues: Do you have 16 or 32GB version? I think it's vise to call T-mobile at this time in search for solution.
peteus said:
There are at least 6 XDA members so far reporting issue with LTE upload speed on T-mobile. Switching SIM card to new one did not resolve the problem. One question for all with upload issues: Do you have 16 or 32GB version? I think it's vise to call T-mobile at this time in search for solution.
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I have this same problem. Nexus 5 here, and upload tests are abysmal, usually ranking at about .5mbps, whereas download is 12+.
Using a legit T-Mo micro-SIM. HSPA+ does NOT have these issues at all.
At some point soon, I'm going to go down to the T-Mobile store, and hopefully run a side-by-side test between their T-Mo branded Galaxy S4 and other devices, to compare with mine. If theirs doesn't show this issue, I'm filing a support ticket, as well as contacting Google.
I'm on the same plan and hadn't tested until you posted this. For me the results did matter what server I was on. I got close to the same download speeds you posted somewhere between 25-30 mbps down and upload went from .5 up to 20mbps when I switched servers. I have definitely noticed this phone faster but my old galaxy never slowed down in the middle of a dl. Like you mentioned after a period of time on a download it gets throttled maybe upload to IDK (havnt experienced it yet) but for me on a big(er) app like dead trigger 2 or HD wigets I get a fast dl to about 30-50% of the app with it saying something like 3 min left, then once it hits the throttle point to something like 30 min for the remainder of the dl. forcing me to cancel or use wifi. So T-mo is def. capping or watching ea dl on an individual basis and deciding off ea request a certain (what they feel to be) acceptable size for that ping, most likely to try to get rid of leach tethering. not really why it effects the LTE more than hspa +42 data tho??
Is anyone else having this problem?
I've got a dual SIM SGS6 from Expansys AU (based in HK). I've got a new nano SIM card in SIM1 slot, SIM2 is empty. I've transferred my service across to the new SIM and confirmed (using an adaptor) that I can get 4G service fine on my Nexus 5.
However on my SGS6 it only shows 3G, H or H+, never 4G. I also find that every few minutes the data connection goes completely. I happened to be in the dual SIM menu at the time and noticed it went from showing only SIM1 being present to both SIM1 and SIM2 being lit up - as you can see this corresponds with the phone showing 'no signal' in the notification tray. It also keeps on sometimes showing the message "When changing SIM Card, Data service slot also can be changed. When you want to change Network mode, please go Mobile network menu and change it." (poor grammar all Samsung's!)
Has anyone seen this before or is it going to be a case of having to ship it back to them?
alanjrobertson said:
Is anyone else having this problem?
I've got a dual SIM SGS6 from Expansys AU (based in HK). I've got a new nano SIM card in SIM1 slot, SIM2 is empty. I've transferred my service across to the new SIM and confirmed (using an adaptor) that I can get 4G service fine on my Nexus 5.
However on my SGS6 it only shows 3G, H or H+, never 4G. I also find that every few minutes the data connection goes completely. I happened to be in the dual SIM menu at the time and noticed it went from showing only SIM1 being present to both SIM1 and SIM2 being lit up - as you can see this corresponds with the phone showing 'no signal' in the notification tray. It also keeps on sometimes showing the message "When changing SIM Card, Data service slot also can be changed. When you want to change Network mode, please go Mobile network menu and change it." (poor grammar all Samsung's!)
Has anyone seen this before or is it going to be a case of having to ship it back to them?
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Aren't the dial sim versions intended for the Chinese markets? If that's the case, you may not have the correct LTE radio bands for where you live.
Doesn't seem to be that - the bands fit according to the specs and at some points it does connect properly to 4G/4G+ - it just doesn't hold it
Maybe damaged SIM??
Don't think so - it's a brand new Nano SIM direct from the network and works stably in 4G on my Nexus 5 (with a nano to micro adaptor).
Managed to get 4G/4G+ working for a while yesterday and today, but has now stopped working again.
Get a message everytime the phone boots re. network manager (as posted in OP), which doesn't seem right to me. Also finding it still drops all network connections from time to time and even switched off totally at one point today. I've gone back to the retailer requesting a return either for full refund or exchange for replacement.
What was the outcome?
alanjrobertson said:
Don't think so - it's a brand new Nano SIM direct from the network and works stably in 4G on my Nexus 5 (with a nano to micro adaptor).
Managed to get 4G/4G+ working for a while yesterday and today, but has now stopped working again.
Get a message everytime the phone boots re. network manager (as posted in OP), which doesn't seem right to me. Also finding it still drops all network connections from time to time and even switched off totally at one point today. I've gone back to the retailer requesting a return either for full refund or exchange for replacement.
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Thanks for your posts Alan I am having similar issues with 1 day old Galaxy S6 dual sim in Australia with Telstra.
- Phone loses connection to carrier (both) from time to time - especially if in the sim manager screen but also just randomly
- It looks like it is seeking a network - like polling through different bands
- if i watch it for a while i can often catch it doing this
- on 4 occasions in a day this has then reboot the phone
- it has not yet dropped out during a call - not sure if this is just luck
- I am asking for it to be declared DOA but not sure how that will go yet
I was wondering if you returned or swapped your phone or found a fix.
Thanks
Dodgyd-AU
Sadly that sounds pretty similar to my experience I ended up returning it (although am having ongoing issues with the retailer, Expansys, in getting a full refund!) and subsequently bought a single SIM model direct from Samsung.