[SOLVED] Are T-Mobile's network speeds capped? - General Topics

I recently left Vodafone and moved to T-Mobile
So far, everything seems to be good, I haven't once seen my signal drop below 3G (probably due to the merge with Orange), and I usually have HSDPA 4 bars at home, work, in town, etc..
However, I've run the Speedtest app on my phone (Desire Z) and even my old HTC Hero, and they ALWAYS max out at 360kbps, no matter where I am, how many bars I have, what time it is
And I don't mean sometimes it's 100kbps, sometimes 200, sometimes 360, it's ALWAYS 350-360kbps
I think from what I've found on Google this is the maximum speed of 3G (even though I get HSDPA signal)?
Can anyone confirm this before I ring T-Mobile, and also if anything can be changed (or if T-Mobile just don't support HSDPA for phones, only 3G dongles)? I read somewhere that if you ring up and sound like you know what you're talking about they put you through to a proper tech who can enable HSDPA or something on the SIM card
Does this sound true, and has anyone tried it before I ring up?

Right. I called up, she didn't have a clue what I was talking about. She was aware that HSDPA was "a max speed of seven or something" but the fact I conveniently get 360kbps everywhere in the country, even with 4 bars HSDPA just happens to be the max speed I can get. I asked to speak to technical support, but she said they wouldn't be able to help me either, it was probably the phone. I told her I tried on my HTC Hero and got the same thing, yet with my Vodafone SIM I was getting around 1.8mbps
Anyway, I don't know what she's been messing about with on my account, but now a few minutes after getting 360kbps every time I checked, I'm getting between 28-84kbps every time I test it
Gonna have to send an email, hopefully they should pass it to tech support

I average 2Mbps on HSPA, and my max is 4.1Mbps, so definitely not capped.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk

LooieENG said:
Right. I called up, she didn't have a clue what I was talking about. She was aware that HSDPA was "a max speed of seven or something" but the fact I conveniently get 360kbps everywhere in the country, even with 4 bars HSDPA just happens to be the max speed I can get. I asked to speak to technical support, but she said they wouldn't be able to help me either, it was probably the phone. I told her I tried on my HTC Hero and got the same thing, yet with my Vodafone SIM I was getting around 1.8mbps
Anyway, I don't know what she's been messing about with on my account, but now a few minutes after getting 360kbps every time I checked, I'm getting between 28-84kbps every time I test it
Gonna have to send an email, hopefully they should pass it to tech support
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sometimes it's related to the phone's radio fw-for example in my G1 newer radios could get better speeds....But also faster speeds can be achieved by changing the data speeds in the rom's build.prop, my slide gets 3+ and G1 is normally 1-2MB+. It also depends on weather I guess and your distance from a tmobile tower.

TheBiles said:
I average 2Mbps on HSPA, and my max is 4.1Mbps, so definitely not capped.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ace42 said:
Sometimes it's related to the phone's radio fw-for example in my G1 newer radios could get better speeds....But also faster speeds can be achieved by changing the data speeds in the rom's build.prop, my slide gets 3+ and G1 is normally 1-2MB+. It also depends on weather I guess and your distance from a tmobile tower.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the strange thing is I get 360kbps max no matter where I am, no matter what signal I have, no matter what the weather is like
Plus I don't think it's the radio as I get the same speeds in my Hero, and I get 1mbps+ with my Vodafone SIM in both phones
I've sent an email anyway, hopefully someone with an idea should read it

LooieENG said:
Yeah, the strange thing is I get 360kbps max no matter where I am, no matter what signal I have, no matter what the weather is like
Plus I don't think it's the radio as I get the same speeds in my Hero, and I get 1mbps+ with my Vodafone SIM in both phones
I've sent an email anyway, hopefully someone with an idea should read it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On either phone do you ever see the "H" icon or is it the 3G one?

H on both of them, 2 bars with Vodafone, 4 bars with T-Mobile
I get 4 bars H most of the time with T-Mobile

I dont know if the network is different over in England, but here In KC I avg 8mbs. Been as high as 10mbs (On MT4G.)

MvP77 said:
I dont know if the network is different over in England, but here In KC I avg 8mbs. Been as high as 10mbs (On MT4G.)
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Click to collapse
Is that 4G? I don't think we have that here yet
Anyway, I emailed T-Mobile so now I'm just waiting for a reply

Update
I never got a reply to my email, so I went into a T-Mobile store
After a few minutes explaining to the guy it definitely was capped, and the phone DID support HSDPA (yes, he did actually tell me it might only support 3G) he said he would add the Web'n'Walk Max (or whatever) to my account, so I would now get a 3GB limit, and I should get HSDPA speeds alo
I went outside, and a few minutes later ran a Speedtest
1.8mbps down

Related

No HSDPA on Orange Uk

Hi guys.
Dont know if this is the right section but this is driving me mental so I had to ask somewhere, lol.
On the morning of Wed 28 October I noticed that on my Htc HD I was only getting 3g instead of my usual HSDPA. I initially thought it may just be some sort of glitch locally, (berks area).
Later on that day I went off to Spain for a week where I had no problems getting HSDPA while roaming.
I got back last Thursday and have the same problem. The "H" will appear, but only for few seconds and then go back to 3g.
Was wondering if anyone is having the same problems with orange?
Thanks
Just to update, have now tried the sim in a htc diamond and a samsung and they both give me 3g not hsdpa, I know for a fact my old diamond use to give me "H" all the time at home so there must definitly be a problem with the signal I think.
Anyone else notice anything?
i dont think any of the networks enable true HSDPA (i.e 7.2Mbps) in the UK anyway!
i dont think i would worry about it!
the fact that my o2 ignito says 'H' but the iphone reception indicator sayss '3G' doesnt meant i get a different d/l speed than the iphone
idrisito said:
i dont think any of the networks enable true HSDPA (i.e 7.2Mbps) in the UK anyway!
i dont think i would worry about it!
the fact that my o2 ignito says 'H' but the iphone reception indicator sayss '3G' doesnt meant i get a different d/l speed than the iphone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3G and H d/l differences might be true in theory but netwok limitations by the carriers would be the greatest limiting factor
well here is a strange one, just done two speed tests. While doing them the "H" came up and gave results of 1196 and 1346. This sounds right I suppose.
salv90 said:
On the morning of Wed 28 October I noticed that on my Htc HD I was only getting 3g instead of my usual HSDPA. I initially thought it may just be some sort of glitch locally, (berks area).
Later on that day I went off to Spain for a week where I had no problems getting HSDPA while roaming.
I got back last Thursday and have the same problem. The "H" will appear, but only for few seconds and then go back to 3g.
Was wondering if anyone is having the same problems with orange?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it seems 3UK have changed things too.
Up until a few weeks ago my device had a constant HSDPA connection - now it's 3G when idle, only changing to H when actually pulling data across, then straight back to 3G. This has resulted in a much higher latency delay when browsing!
See my thread here for my original post on 3Gforums.
codedeveloper said:
Yes, it seems 3UK have changed things too.
Up until a few weeks ago my device had a constant HSDPA connection - now it's 3G when idle, only changing to H when actually pulling data across, then straight back to 3G. This has resulted in a much higher latency delay when browsing!
See my thread here for my original post on 3Gforums.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm seeing the same behaviour on T-Mobile UK and sometimes results in a dropped connection.
Well I am so glad it isnt just me going nuts.
Is there anywhere official that says this?

HSUPA?

So, will the captivate have HSUPA?? It says on the main page here on XDA, in the specs breakdown, next to HSUPA it says, NOT IN US.
I could have swore i read that it WILL have it?
I have an iphone 4, and have become accustomed to the crazy fast upload now, but i wanted to pick up the captivate to tinker with an android phone.
Everything I have read so far has said it is supported, but now that you mention it, what would be the difference, a certain frequency band I guess? Nothing I have read over thus far has said anything about a difference between countries (i.e. US and rest of world)...
aphexacid said:
So, will the captivate have HSUPA?? It says on the main page here on XDA, in the specs breakdown, next to HSUPA it says, NOT IN US.
I could have swore i read that it WILL have it?
I have an iphone 4, and have become accustomed to the crazy fast upload now, but i wanted to pick up the captivate to tinker with an android phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if this is fast enough for you but unless AT&T massacred the radio in the Captivate you should experience speeds like.... http://twitpic.com/24a5ri
That's my Galaxy S in Orlando running solely off 1900MHz 3G.
FWIW, this indicates HSUPA is supported, but I'd consider this a preliminary spec that needs to be confirmed after the Captivate is released and tested.
http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=2430&view=1&c=samsung_sgh-i897_galaxy_s_captivate_
Sweet, very nice.
Seriously, once you have HSUPA, you cant go back. Its like going back to edge.
I still think i'm going to hold out about a week or so after the device launches just to make sure of a few things that i need to have.
thanks fellas!
Can we bring this back for discussion again?
From what I understand, when you are on HSUPA you will get an H in the status bar instead of 3G. Is anyone seeing this? So far I haven't seen this and speedtests have agreed that I haven't had HSUPA. I had an iphone 4 before and I know it was on HSUPA in the same area.
AJerman said:
Can we bring this back for discussion again?
From what I understand, when you are on HSUPA you will get an H in the status bar instead of 3G. Is anyone seeing this? So far I haven't seen this and speedtests have agreed that I haven't had HSUPA. I had an iphone 4 before and I know it was on HSUPA in the same area.
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Click to collapse
Yes. If you look at my picture posted here http://twitpic.com/24a5ri you will see the 'H' you are asking about in the statusbar.
My phone says I'm on HSDPA but I only have the 3G icon on my screen. Do you only get the "H" when you have the high-speed upload? Seems a bit counter intuitive to me.
mesasone said:
My phone says I'm on HSDPA but I only have the 3G icon on my screen. Do you only get the "H" when you have the high-speed upload? Seems a bit counter intuitive to me.
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Click to collapse
I've read somewhere awhile back that it fluctuates from showing 3G to HSDPA when it's active on data transfer and hits/detects the higher speed...don't hold me to that though. Maybe someone else can offer more insight into it but i've actively seen the icon switch from 3G to H with not interaction by me (background data i assume)
Well that's weird. I'll have to play with it more tomorrow and see if I can figure out why mine won't jump on HSUPA.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Okay, so at my house, where I know I got HSUPA on the iPhone 4, I'm definitely not getting it now on the Captivate. I have a signal strength of -51 dB, so I know I have enough signal. I couldn't get much higher signal if I sat under the tower. I'm wondering if I have a problem on my phone since trinikartel got HSUPA just fine.
I'm new to Android, anyone know something to check for this?
AJerman said:
Okay, so at my house, where I know I got HSUPA on the iPhone 4, I'm definitely not getting it now on the Captivate. I have a signal strength of -51 dB, so I know I have enough signal. I couldn't get much higher signal if I sat under the tower. I'm wondering if I have a problem on my phone since trinikartel got HSUPA just fine.
I'm new to Android, anyone know something to check for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well trinikartel said he was on a Galaxy S, not a Captivate. I'm thinking the US versions dont have HSUPA. I have another thread on here stating that I got 2457 down and only 174 up this morning. Also, I've never seen my 3G turn to an H.
Also, I dont know if it matters but on my 3G icon the down arrow is orange and the up arrow is green.
I think you guys don't realize that AT&T's HSUPA is still broken. Don't you remember that whole upload fiasco? It affects the Captivate as it does the iPhone 4 and it hasn't been fixed in those markets (apparently most) where they use the Lucent equipment.
I used to get great HSUPA upload speeds on my AT&T banded N1 and the upload has not been fixed as uploads are still stuck at regular 3G < 300kbit speeds.
The Captivate undoubtedly supports HSUPA, but AT&T's network is still borked and as far as I can tell they have not rolled out any fix.
I have both the N1 and the Captivate.
The only other thing I can think of is if AT&T is turning off the HSUPA based on the phones IMEI or model number.
Just checked with an iPhone 4 friend, can not get over 200k -300l, so there is still a system wide HSUPA failure as far as my limited testing in my market is concerned.
Used to be 1.6mbit up quite regularly on the N1 or the iPhone4.
-James
derek4484 said:
Well trinikartel said he was on a Galaxy S, not a Captivate. I'm thinking the US versions dont have HSUPA. I have another thread on here stating that I got 2457 down and only 174 up this morning. Also, I've never seen my 3G turn to an H.
Also, I dont know if it matters but on my 3G icon the down arrow is orange and the up arrow is green.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, I didn't see him say that. That sucks. I really hope the Captivate didn't get crippled, but right now, there's no other explanation than that. I SHOULD have HSUPA right now, and I don't.
jmacdonald801 said:
I think you guys don't realize that AT&T's HSUPA is still broken. Don't you remember that whole upload fiasco? It affects the Captivate as it does the iPhone 4 and it hasn't been fixed in those markets (apparently most) where they use the Lucent equipment.
I used to get great HSUPA upload speeds on my AT&T banded N1 and the upload has not been fixed as uploads are still stuck at regular 3G < 300kbit speeds.
The Captivate undoubtedly supports HSUPA, but AT&T's network is still borked and as far as I can tell they have not rolled out any fix.
I have both the N1 and the Captivate.
The only other thing I can think of is if AT&T is turning off the HSUPA based on the phones IMEI or model number.
Just checked with an iPhone 4 friend, can not get over 200k -300l, so there is still a system wide HSUPA failure as far as my limited testing in my market is concerned.
Used to be 1.6mbit up quite regularly on the N1 or the iPhone4.
-James
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never had an issue where I live. While everyone else was going slow, I was still doing 1200-1300 Kbps.
Edit: Looks like there's a good chance the Captivate WAS crippled. There's absolutely no mention of HSUPA in the manual at all. This REALLY sucks. I may consider returning the phone because of this and leaving AT&T.
Its all 3g hsdpa/umts
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
trinikartel said:
I've read somewhere awhile back that it fluctuates from showing 3G to HSDPA when it's active on data transfer and hits/detects the higher speed...don't hold me to that though. Maybe someone else can offer more insight into it but i've actively seen the icon switch from 3G to H with not interaction by me (background data i assume)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AT&T devices do not show the H like the International versions, they use 3G icon only to avoid confusion apparently.
Well on AT&T's site it says the iphone 4 has umts/hsdpa. I'm pretty positive that it has hsupa. So I don't believe AT&T's site is an accurate source of information for their own products.
I just put my sim card back in my ATT Tilt2. It DOES show H in Dallas, TX. As it has since I bought it. Captivate shows 3g. There IS a speed difference.
I live in NYC and just ran a speed test. I'm getting 1.52 - 2mpbs down and .19mbps up. While my friend on his iphone 4 sitting right next to me is getting 3 mbps down and 1.8mbps up. This phone definitely slower. And when I tether the speeds go even slower. Is phone really crippled?
jojorios said:
I live in NYC and just ran a speed test. I'm getting 1.52 - 2mpbs down and .19mbps up. While my friend on his iphone 4 sitting right next to me is getting 3 mbps down and 1.8mbps up. This phone definitely slower. And when I tether the speeds go even slower. Is phone really crippled?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm getting about the same right now (at night I can get 4M down). The thing is that I'm getting the same crappy upstream speeds with my Nexus One. Before the whole AT&T equipment ****-up in early July, I was getting ~1.5M up with my Nexus. Now I'm wondering if they crippled it for non-Apple devices.

my sad experience with my samsung 4g :(

so!
got the samsung galaxy 4g the day it came out. i had actually gotten the g2 originally, and 13 days later, this phone came out and after holding it in my hands i had to have it. it was just... sexy.
so the day i got it i was so happy. i ended up paying nothing for it through a weird fluke situation on tmobiles part, which made it even better.
then the troubles started.
in getting the new phone i knew that although this phone boasts the speeds that it does there was no way i was going to get those speeds. i do a speed test. at the tmobile store (1/4 a mile away from a tower on a tuesday afternoon around 2 pm) i get ..... 0.03 down and 0 up.
....k.
so i give it some time to get used to my sim card and my usage. that's when i notice the battery. i had to charge my phone two times a day on light usage. i turn off all synching, including my google calendar and contacts to see if that helps the battery. meh, a little. but i'm still charging it at least halfway through the day, and i am not able to use my phone at work. that means from the time i unplug it ten minutes before i leave for work until 6 pm (11 hours later) my battery is at roughly 20% ... and i've done nothing on the phone whatsoever. i'm super sad about the battery life and still getting sad speed tests on my "4g".
then about a week after purchase more problems kick in.
pretty soon my picture messages aren't coming through. it's giving me messages i'm used to seeing on my iphone, something about the message size being too big to download (sorry, the wording has left my mind now that i am trying to document it all for you guys).
then i start getting no texts. and sending them is a joke. if i have less than three bars (i usually have two at home and my work building) i am not able to send. it will try and give me a failed message. pulling out the battery will usually fix it, but after a couple of weeks of that it gets used to that fix and doesn't work at all.
i go into the tmobile store.
they switch out my sim (which we had done once before) and at this point my phone doesn't recognize the new sim. the rep tells me i broke my phone (even though my phone at least recognized the previous sim) and tells me that i'll need a new phone, offering to sell me one for cheap. i leave, pretty irritated at the dude.
i go to work, call 611, they tell me my IMEI has never been active on my account. we activate it and lo and behold, my phone recognizes the sim (mmhmm). but still sending messages is still a joke. out of 10 messages i can usually get one to send. it's a sad ratio of sent to failed.
in addition, i am still charging my battery at least once to twice a day with hardly any usage whatsoever (what good is using a phone that never has service anyway?). i've turned off wifi at all times, 4g is off, everything synching is off. i'll take out the sim and put it in my iphone so that it's not constantly searching for service (which texting worked just fine on my iphone) and it STILL dies by the end of my work day - i am lucky if i get 12 hours of standby before having to charge it. i condition my battery with no luck.. it still sucks. i root it and set SetCPU to underclock down to 200mhz when idle just to see if that will help the battery. i get about 14 hours of standby on that.
so, after all of this and about two months later, i finally got a replacement phone today. after looking at the back of the new phone and the old one i discover something interesting...
my sim contacts have been broken this whole time! sad!
( i was going to link to the pic but can't since i'm a new user. )
now, has this new phone fixed my issue? well, for one i'm getting 4g speeds at my place (i live in downtown SLC, i should be getting them here!) for the first time ever and have yet to come across a "failed" message when sending texts. only time will tell but mostly i want to post this to let you know.. if you are having this issue this is NOT normal. talk to tmobile. troubleshoot what you need to and get that mother replaced!
(i'll report back on battery life tomorrow.)
Consider yourself lucky. I live in Murray, phone says 4G but my Vibrant pulls faster speeds on 3g. Lol
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App
Honestly man I was in SLC a couple weeks ago with my 4g and the speed sucked compaired to here in Reno... I get 7mb up and 1.8 up avg with much higher peaks in Reno. Even at the gateway downtown SLC the 4g sucked at about 3mb upload and 750k up.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App
i need a new city
Vegas here. Even though they say we are one of the new turned up cities I'm still only getting 7mb down and 1.5 up on a typical day.
Here's something interesting though, when I upgraded from my G1 to my SGS4G they were supposed to update my data plan.
Logged into my TMO account and it still shows the G1 Unlimited data. Paying $25 instead of the $30.
My wife has a MT4G and her account did get upgraded to the 4G Unlimited data plan for $30 a month.
Possible my phone isn't going to get higher speeds based on the data plan still in my account? I'm doubting it, but I guess it's possible.
joedeveloper said:
Vegas here. Even though they say we are one of the new turned up cities I'm still only getting 7mb down and 1.5 up on a typical day.
Here's something interesting though, when I upgraded from my G1 to my SGS4G they were supposed to update my data plan.
Logged into my TMO account and it still shows the G1 Unlimited data. Paying $25 instead of the $30.
My wife has a MT4G and her account did get upgraded to the 4G Unlimited data plan for $30 a month.
Possible my phone isn't going to get higher speeds based on the data plan still in my account? I'm doubting it, but I guess it's possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i still have the g1 data plan as well, i wonder if that does have anything to do with it. i kinda don't want to ask though, the 5 bucks a month is small but nice to not pay
p.s. for all interested, my battery is at 48% with pretty consistent usage and synching on all day. schweet!
I would have callers t mobile right away and gotten a new phone overnight. I am not too trusting of in store employees. Most don't know how to troubleshoot a phone.
Sent from my Dell Streak 7 using XDA Premium App
ambeestar said:
i need a new city
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can have my city.... except I don't have a city.... it's just a trailer park in the middle of nowhere. But then I get better speed here than I can in the nearest two cities, a ripping 16KB/SEC on a good day, on "AMERICAS LARGEST 4G NETWORK" I spend almost as much time downloading as I do talking to tech support. Then that's another story.
Your data plan will not affect your data speeds in any way.
As for the phone showing 4G and having another 3G device pulling better speeds. The cause is that you are not in a true 4G area. The GS4G does not have an icon for 3G, even if it did, the phone cannot distinguish between 3G or 4G due to the fact that HSPA+ is still 3G hardware on the tower, but provides 4G speeds via software in the base station and the backhaul of the network.
I don't see how you are getting such bad speeds. I live in Kaysville, only 20 minutes from SLC and my average DL speed is usually around 5.0mb/s. The fastest I have gotten over 4g so far is 8.8mb/s.
yentlequible said:
I don't see how you are getting such bad speeds. I live in Kaysville, only 20 minutes from SLC and my average DL speed is usually around 5.0mb/s. The fastest I have gotten over 4g so far is 8.8mb/s.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are lucky enough to have a 3 or 4G tower in your area you will likely have good download speed. My download speed sucks. TMO's network is full of holes.... DEAD zones. Even in large areas like Los Angeles, CA. They have a long way to go before their network will catch up with the others.
DelinQuentisDQ said:
Your data plan will not affect your data speeds in any way.
As for the phone showing 4G and having another 3G device pulling better speeds. The cause is that you are not in a true 4G area. The GS4G does not have an icon for 3G, even if it did, the phone cannot distinguish between 3G or 4G due to the fact that HSPA+ is still 3G hardware on the tower, but provides 4G speeds via software in the base station and the backhaul of the network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm confused by this due to my dell streak 7 actually showing 3g and 4g at different times.
DelinQuentisDQ said:
Your data plan will not affect your data speeds in any way.
As for the phone showing 4G and having another 3G device pulling better speeds. The cause is that you are not in a true 4G area. The GS4G does not have an icon for 3G, even if it did, the phone cannot distinguish between 3G or 4G due to the fact that HSPA+ is still 3G hardware on the tower, but provides 4G speeds via software in the base station and the backhaul of the network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually get 3g , 4g, edge, and g.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA Premium App
Bl4ckpheniX said:
I actually get 3g , 4g, edge, and g.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA Premium App
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Click to collapse
The GS4G does not even have an icon to represent 3G.
Please, if you can, provide a screenshot.
DelinQuentisDQ said:
The GS4G does not even have an icon to represent 3G.
Please, if you can, provide a screenshot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will have to do it Monday, cause it only happens when I leave my office building. When I am in my office building I will often go into data roaming through at&t. This may have something to do with why it shows up. But it is there.
If you truly doubt it. Go to the market and download ninja morph. Then use it to make a copy of your framework-res.APK. From there open the COPY that you made. Look in framework-res.apk\res\drawable-hdpi-v4
Do not try and look in the actual phones framework-res.apk. Because it will break a couple things and you will have to re-flash. But if you make the copy it will automatically extract the apk and you can view the files with your computer.
DelinQuentisDQ said:
The GS4G does not even have an icon to represent 3G.
Please, if you can, provide a screenshot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that my friend, you are wrong on.
I get the 3G icon on my elevator everyday before and after work.
4g
I always get 4g in the missouri area and I get 13mbps

4G not implimented yet!!?? plus more

ok i havent seen a post for this so here we go..
if you use adw launcher and custom make an icon attached to the hidden menu apk you can access the test and servicing menus like other phones BUT... if you go into test settings for phone (play around its in there) there is a menu the shows hspda (3g, hspda+ being 4g) and many other functions that are advertised on the phone that are all listed as NOT IMPLIMENTED YET!!
so as far as i can tell 4g is NOT active on tmobile at all yet. not until the software is upgraded (gingerbread i am assuming). so it would make sense why the signal on the phone is screwed up and dropping (confused phone maybe?) and why im still getting 3g speeds (slightly faster maybe from better signal reception due to upgraded hardware from my previous Vibrant).
go take a look for yourself and let me know what you think. im sure you can use desktop visualizer to get to the menu to. DONT MESS WITH ANYTHING THOUGH. i had to reset my phone and not with a hard reset, but a recovery i found on a nvflash website. almost bricked it. so just look but don't touch anything important unless you know what your doing.
im looking forward to hearing what everything thinks of this and the giant list of other features also saying this in the same menu. because i feel mislead just a little bit.....
I think it's just that the functions in the hidden menu aren't implemented yet.
Hmmm, interesting find! Maybe this explains the problems I'm having maintaining a stable 2g only connection as well
Dolphinwigs said:
ok i havent seen a post for this so here we go..
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There's a reason for that...
so as far as i can tell 4g is NOT active on tmobile at all yet. not until the software is upgraded (gingerbread i am assuming)
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I've got a hot 4g connection where I am (west Texas), you don't get 4.9-5.6mb (Speedtest) download on 3g. Did you check the T-Mobile coverage map to see if you have it in your area yet?
Edit: you also may need a new sim card. Depending on the age of the card, you might not be able to get a stable lock on to 4g (age as in what generation it was produced.. not how long you've had it)
thats possible, but im getting 3g speeds still as far as i can tell and i don't see why it wouldnt be included in the "hidden menu" if it is working since we aren't "really" supposed to know about the hidden menu. anyways just something i noticed.
menu is Hidden Menu->modem settings is where the menu is at.
and i got a new sim card (tired 2 new ones both the same) and yes i am in salt lake city and it is a 4g area for tmobile. but seems like everyone (mostly) is getting signal drops all over the place. my 2g isn't working as consistantly as it did before on my vibrant either. im sure gingerbread will fix all of this though.
I'm getting 4-8mps down in Metro Atlanta. I say 4G speed is on.
jdkackley said:
Hmmm, interesting find! Maybe this explains the problems I'm having maintaining a stable 2g only connection as well
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I'm having the same problem, and I've even got a 2G booster in my house. My 2G connection drops all the time on my G2X but not my Vibrant. When I look at the signal strength when it's up it's not much different than the Vibrant, -104dBm on the G2X vs -100 dBm on the Vibrant
Im at a consistent 6-9mb dl at my house with a 1mb+ ul. Im calling it 4g and have you tried your conn outside of your city to see if its just congestion on the network?
I'm also getting 4-8mbps speeds in Atlanta, 4g is definitely working.
I'm in vegas, every hour, I get only 10 or 20mn of 4g at 6Mb download speed, the rest of the time I'm on 2g. At night time,i get 4g most of the time. So I guess in the day time, they kick me back to 2g to save their bandwitch, I'm returning my phone to let them know this is not acceptable
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
My phone SAYS 4G all the time in Charlotte NC but I have only been getting 1mb DL and about 1.5 upload. The weird thing is that browsing the web is lightening fast compared to the vibrant. I would say it loads pages twice as fast.
jrharvey said:
My phone SAYS 4G all the time in Charlotte NC but I have only been getting 1mb DL and about 1.5 upload. The weird thing is that browsing the web is lightening fast compared to the vibrant. I would say it loads pages twice as fast.
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Not sure but this may have as much to do with the processor and RAM speed as the connection speed.
I get crap speeds compared to the Nexus S, and that phone doesn't support full hspa+
jlevy73 said:
I get crap speeds compared to the Nexus S, and that phone doesn't support full hspa+
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I am not complaining about my speeds which are plenty good IMO, averaging around 3-3.5 mbps. However, I have been surprised that they are no better than my Nexus One was that also didn't support HSPA+.
A few things, before we get too heavy handed on the FUD:
The phone is technically '4G' compatible, and it supports it out of the box.
Most of T-Mo's towers have been upgraded to support their 4G (HSPA+)
Regular HSPA caps out at about 3.5Mbps down. I've gotten as much as 7Mbps down on my G2x
Personally, I haven't had many issues with signal, but I live in Houston, so that may have something to do with it.
4g is on in Huntington Beach, and irvine.
I did notice its not a huge difference speed wise though. I had the moto cliq 3g and i would get 1mbs ish to 5mbs DL, and with the G2x im averaging about 3mbs to 7mbs. not a huge difference but the big change is Latency. I used to rock 700ms to 1000ms on 3g with my cliq, im getting around 55ms to 150ms on my G2x.
Latency is key for me though, i would prefer lower latency than higher download speeds. Due to the fact I need to vpn and voip with company network.
I found that t mobiles 3g network is still very capable in speed. the main issue i had was my cliq was underpowered to handle the t mobiles network. when i would tether my rooted nook color it would perform like a champ.
jimbo831 said:
I am not complaining about my speeds which are plenty good IMO, averaging around 3-3.5 mbps. However, I have been surprised that they are no better than my Nexus One was that also didn't support HSPA+.
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Where do you live? Is it possible T-Mo may not support HSPA+ in your area?
It's also important to note that even if the towers you're connected to support HSPA+, that's only one part of the process. They also have to upgrade the data connection to the tower itself (backhaul) to ensure it can handle the speeds. If you're connected to an HSPA+ tower that doesn't have the upgraded backhaul, that could explain slow speeds.
No.
HSPA+ ("4G") is on and working. You're just not in an HSPA+ area it seems.
We're all getting faster than HSPA speeds, so we are certainly on HSPA+. Speedtests are the best way for you to verify if you are on EDGE (2G), HSPA (3G), or HSPA+ (4G).
I would like a 3g icon just top know what type of tower I'm on, I think the baseband is wack, I bet when gingerbread comes out we will get the separate icons... Also my vibrant would get steady 5-6mb down 2mb up, but with this phone its anything but steady, I can get up to 8mb down but its crazy random, regular use is sometimes slow initializing, and someones websites timeout.... I think a baseband upgrade will fix all this stuff tho, or software upgrades.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
pychobj2001 said:
I would like a 3g icon just top know what type of tower I'm on, I think the baseband is wack, I bet when gingerbread comes out we will get the separate icons... Also my vibrant would get steady 5-6mb down 2mb up, but with this phone its anything but steady, I can get up to 8mb down but its crazy random, regular use is sometimes slow initializing, and someones websites timeout.... I think a baseband upgrade will fix all this stuff tho, or software upgrades.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
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That's the thing though. The way T-Mo has their network setup, if you can get 3G from a tower, you should be able to get 4G. Period. You may not get 4G speeds, but you're technically connected to an HSPA+ tower, and thus the 4G icon. It'd be weird to connect a tower that supports HSPA at this point, but not HSPA+ (though I'm sure there are some out there)

Download speed under 1.5 MB/s?

Before I begin, I already have the latest updates and everything on my phone. Also, all tests were done at full bars connected to HSPA+.
As stated in the title, I have never gotten over 1.5 MB/s in a Speedtest. I tried my phone out in 10 different parts of my city today (San Jose) and always stayed under 1.5 MB/s.
What could be causing this issue? The SIM card I am using is from an old phone (like 5 months old, was from a Captivate), could that be the reason why? The AT&T rep said that is the reason, but I don't know if that is fully correct, since HSPA is just an installment to 3G and it isn't real 4G like LTE is. So it should work, right?
What other troubleshooting steps should I take?
That's better then me, I usually get below 1mbs.
Att network just really isn't all that great, and they could also be working on the network in your area as well.
mudknot2005 said:
That's better then me, I usually get below 1mbs.
Att network just really isn't all that great, and they could also be working on the network in your area as well.
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I got higher network speeds in the same areas using my iPhone 3GS!!! I got around 2 MB/s using my 3GS, and it just seemed to drop once I got my Inspire. My speeds have always been this low for the Inspire.
It will also depend on load on the network. I average 1.5 mb/s but late at night early morning i get better then 2 mb/s. Ive seen people post better speeds then that but haven't seen them myself personally. To many things could be playing into this. But i don't think its the phone or sim. I think its ATT.
Just got 2890 kbps down with 345 kbps up. Ping was 169ms. That's a lot faster than anything I got with my eXpo.
I said "**** mobile data" a loooong time ago.
WiFi all the way, baby.
Between trying to figure out whether it's the phone, the rom, the radio, the ril, the build.prop, the area, the flock of birdies flying over head, or just good old ATT, you'll go nuts.
It is what it is.
Ideally, what you need to do, and it may not be possible for you now that you have the inspire, is test out your old phone, or at least borrow somebody's of the same model, side by side. Or another inspire, side by side. That'll at least answer a couple potential scenarios.
Get your SIM swapped at ATT. I've done that and it solved some issues. Sometimes they get goofy and need to be freshened up.
Inspired Ace 1.0.1¦ XDA Premium
Have you tried different radios to see which one works best for your area?
Did you already try pulling and re-inserting the battery?
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

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