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Only getting umts yet phone says 4g or 3g

I Have noticed that when my device is showing 4 bars of 4g in the about phone section it shows the mobile network type as umts. With my nexus one and also with my Vibrant it would show up as hspa( which I believe is 3G) and also at times it would show up as hspa+(even though they obviously could not take advantage of the signal. With this phone which supposedly is 4g capable it is always showing umts. This does not like it is right. Is It the way that the this device software reads it? Does anyone have any insight on this or have experienced or experiencing the same situation? Any and all help and info is greatly appreciated as I am looking for reasons to keep this phone and am not trying to denigrate it. Thanks

I am having the same issue. Phone says UMTS as mobile network type but shows 4 bars of 4g.

Well what speeds are you getting. With my Nexus I never got over 2Mbs, and that was rare. Now I average 4-6. If you are getting better 4G speeds, I wouldn't worry about it.

jsapp said:
Well what speeds are you getting. With my Nexus I never got over 2Mbs, and that was rare. Now I average 4-6. If you are getting better 4G speeds, I wouldn't worry about it.
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only getting 1.2 Mbs tops. Average is less than 1. My Vibrant shows hspda and hspda+ and gets 1.5 and up in the same place. Both have been tried within seconds of each other. I contacted CS and immediately they said they would send out a replacement phone. This one has some issues but not as bad as some I have read on this forum. To receive the phone tomorrow.

jsapp said:
Well what speeds are you getting. With my Nexus I never got over 2Mbs, and that was rare. Now I average 4-6. If you are getting better 4G speeds, I wouldn't worry about it.
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I,m getting close to 4 down and about .5 up. I traded an sgs4g in at radioshack on their 30 day return policy and it was averaging about between 6 and 7 Mbps down in the same house. Im a super newb with this but that doesn't seem like it is right. I did just read that there is UMTS 4G.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-4g-umts.htm

Same thing on mine - 4G icon w/ 2-4 bars; network type shows UMTS.

c3plok said:
I,m getting close to 4 down and about .5 up. I traded an sgs4g in at radioshack on their 30 day return policy and it was averaging about between 6 and 7 Mbps down in the same house. Im a super newb with this but that doesn't seem like it is right. I did just read that there is UMTS 4G.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-4g-umts.htm
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Not nearly what i was getting. I think that the modem is only 14.4k because the tegra chip dont support the 21k modem that the sgs4g had but i didnt think i wouldn't still be able to get 6 or 7 Mbps Down.

Data Speeds

Has anyone else had an issue with the data speed on their galaxy s 4g? I am getting "4g" but the when I run a speed test it stops a couple of times and then resumes. Maybe post up numbers of your speed tests in 4g areas?
It always seems to hesitate to hook up.
I have a rooted 4g fyi.
Ping
573ms
download
1773kpbs
upload
1420kpbs

Mine's decent.

Holy crap. What am I doing wrong? Is there a firmware update or something?

I'm on whitehawkx's deodexed KC1. That test was a good one, it's usually like 10-12mbps. what area are you in? Did you have better speeds before or has it always been at that speed? It may just be your area.
But there is an update available through kies mini.

Im in Salt Lake City. Most of the area is 4g with a few spots of 3g, at least so was the map that I looked at. I just barely ran a speed test on it for the first time because I noticed that the connection was rather laggy. Do you think a new sim may solve the problem? Because I am using one that is about 3 years old or so.

Yes. Activate the new SIM the phone came with. I've been told that the older SIM's aren't quite compatible with 4g. I had my last SIM card for about 6 years when I got this phone and finally decided to use the new one. And run the test several times, the first one is always the slowest.

I'll do that and report back lol. Hopefully it will improve.

He's right, you need to use the new SIM. The old SIM is probably not using 4G tower services and still using 3G tower services.

I have just put in the new sim and it's gotten much speedier but it's still not as fast as it should be. What are your network settings?

Even though vegas was on of the first cities turned up for 4G, I've never seen crazy speeds. I'm not complaining, the speeds are always good, just nothing crazy for a phone that is capable of doing 21.1 mbps.

I just did a speedtest comparison between my SGS4G and HTC THunderbolt. and man! Thunderbolt is getting 21mbps and My SGS4G is only getting 5mbps But Thunderbolt Battery sucks!

chadster214 said:
I just did a speedtest comparison between my SGS4G and HTC THunderbolt. and man! Thunderbolt is getting 21mbps and My SGS4G is only getting 5mbps But Thunderbolt Battery sucks!
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wow, what a big difference. any thoughts as of why?

My galaxy s 4g was faster then my buddies thunderbolt lol
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App

Ichibahn SLC said:
My galaxy s 4g was faster then my buddies thunderbolt lol
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App
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I think it ALL depends on the area and carrier. Like tmobile 3g is way faster then cousins AT&P 3g. But in the next town His edge is faster than my edge!?!

Yes I agree, it all depends on the areas. Plus if you are on t mobile than you better only use 5gigs of data a month or below or they will throttle your speed
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA Premium App

Inspire users in Louisiana

I just wanted to see if its just the service in my area or maybe I'm u using the wrong radio and ril on my phone, but I seem to get god awful dl/ul speeds on my phone even though it claims to be on h+/4g when I run tests or just I use the phone to surf. Guess what I'm asking is what are the speeds you guys/girls are getting, both up and down, in and around the new orleans area? At around 3 or 4 am ill get 3Mb down 1 up. On a daily basis though I see dl speeds of less than 1Mb and 150-250kbps up. speeds

I am down here in Thibodaux and when doing a speed test it is showing a server out of New Orleans. I am pulling download at appox. 2.25Mbps and Upload at appox 1.15Mbps. This is with the upgrade and I am not rooted sitting in my kitchen....I can get a little better when driving around the area...I will be your area later today and will run another.

I have the same issue in Florida. It's ATT imo. The phone has H+ but is running on hsdpa. That's 7.7 mbps 3G. Enhanced backhaul my ass. I contacted ATT corporate and will be waiting for a response.

North Louisiana Shreveport area, same very slow dl/ul running radio 4.11_m2 matching Ril. I agree it's ATT, My wife's new one is the same way.

In New Orleans now and I get about the same as I do in Thibodaux. My phone is not rooted.

its really annoying that they have up paying for 4g service but half the time its edge or a tiny bit better

Well your not actually paying any more for 4G compared to 3G........
Projectdwnshft said:
its really annoying that they have up paying for 4g service but half the time its edge or a tiny bit better
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Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

i live in natchitoches and they just turned on 3G after a year of delays and its been going on and off all day with peoples phones, like theirs super spotty coverage but the best speeds i got were 2.2 down and 0.8 up

Bossier City Area
My speeds are very similar to yours...
I get about 1 down at BEST... and I struggle to get that.
I've gotten up speeds of 150-300 the majority of the time but have seen this spike to 1Mb inconsistently with some radios.
I'm on Coredroid. My most consistent results are using the AT&T OTA radio from April 29th.

Quick question about tmobile's service

I am currently with Sprint and I honestly can't take it anymore. Data speeds are terrible and when I'm bored at work and want to play with my phone I can't. I have the EVO 3d right now so naturally I'm going to switch to the sensation.
I have two questions, 1 ) how is tmobiles data service? And 2) once u go over your data limit what speeds do they throttle u down to?
Thanks
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App

ok i just got t-mobile last month and i don't mind there service my family has it here they say they don't get a lot of dropped calls as far as data goes i think they are realiable i can't say i get a great speed in my apartment but i also live in a odd 4g coverage spot when I'm not home though the speeds are great. as amatter of fact i put a iphone to shame with the speed the guy thought he was something having one lol. but my speeds and coverage are based off the dell streak 7. hope i was helpful

firsttimer44 said:
I am currently with Sprint and I honestly can't take it anymore. Data speeds are terrible and when I'm bored at work and want to play with my phone I can't. I have the EVO 3d right now so naturally I'm going to switch to the sensation.
I have two questions, 1 ) how is tmobiles data service? And 2) once u go over your data limit what speeds do they throttle u down to?
Thanks
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
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Here is my take on it. I was with AT&T Wireless, Cingular, Sprint, and Verizon and now I have switch to T-Mobile. I switched to T-mobile a couple of weeks ago and the coverage isn't 100% great but I honestly think that HSPA+ is better for the phones today. Its not that fast all the time and we all know LTE is amazing but the battery consumptions of these circuits is insane. I owned the Thunderbolt. 45mins of active LTE use and the phone was DEAD. I would rather have slower data speeds and be able to use the device for longer.
What you can expect with Tmobile is at least 1Mbps if you haven't gone over your data allocation. After that you can expect about 300-800kbps. The highest data rate i've seen on tmobile is about 8Mbps. You probably won't have too much less coverage than Sprint but there is far less coverage than Verizon and At&t.

Depending on your coverage - data speeds can be real good (I average 5mbps). Data throttling will depend on the plan you choose.

secano said:
Depending on your coverage - data speeds can be real good (I average 5mbps).
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+1
T-Mobile data is usually great in most average to larger sized cities. You should be ok in Indy but find a T-Mobile friend if you can to verify the speeds where you live.
T-Mobile outside of a city or in a super-dense population like NY can be spotty or slow.

I'm in Indianapolis an I always get 4mbps down an 1.2mbps up I just switched from Sprint u will defiantly see a improvement
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App

I was a sprint customer, in MY AREA Sprint service went down the crapper. Tmo coverage in my area is fantastic, and has been on my recent travels around the country. Sprint->tmo was well worth it for me. Can't speak for ur coverage area tho.
Sent from my HTC Sexiness.

I just recently switched from Sprint to T-Mobile. With the speedtest.net app I was averaging 300-500 Kbps with Sprint. I'm averaging anywhere from 7-10 Mbps with T-Mobile. The coverage area is great here where I live, and I actually pay less then I was paying with Sprint.

I am in NYC and I have T-mobile for a long time already, recently switch to Sensation 4G and I am getter in average 3mbps download and 1.2 up.

Speeds are great if you are in an area where they have rolled out HSPA+. I get around 7-9 Mbps up and 1-2 Mbps down. If you reach your cap, they throttle you down to EDGE (200-300 Kbps), but some people have said their speeds go even lower than that.

i concur...
aNYthing24 said:
Speeds are great if you are in an area where they have rolled out HSPA+. I get around 7-9 Mbps up and 1-2 Mbps down. If you reach your cap, they throttle you down to EDGE (200-300 Kbps), but some people have said their speeds go even lower than that.
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I average 5mb down/ 2mb up outside of Washington DC. However, when I am in a sweet spot I have averaged 8/9mb down 2/3mb up. These are great for not being on wifi. HOWEVER, if you are NOT in a tower-rich area you will hate your service. Riding from Virginia to South Carolina recently (on 95 south and 85 south) i maintatined a 2g connection 80% of the time. This severly limited my internet capabilities and download speeds. It was not until I draove through major cities that a strong signal came up. I was very disappointed in this. Results may vary for you though.

When I'm on EDGE Opera Mini makes life so much better. I go from NV to AZ a few times out of the year and I can browse forums, image boards and etc. with no problems due to the image compression. Loads as fast as 3G would.
Sprint's 3G network is really slow, I don't think you will have speed issues if you switch from Sprint to T-Mobile especially with this being a 42Mbps market. I'm not going to say 7-10Mbps is network wide but you should have at least 1Mbps

I am in Tulsa, OK and average 8.5-10.5 mb down and 1.5-2.5 mb up. I went with the 5gb of data and usually finish my billing cycle with 1/2-1 gb to spare.
My wife usually goes over her 5gb, and does get throttled, but its not unbearable. It's edge, but it works for a couple of days a month. She runs a blog and tethers her phone to our laptop or Iconia tablet.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App

I switched from Sprint because every time I had any issue at all, it was several hours on the phone trying to get it fixed. Not to mention trying to find someone in a store that could do more than pull a new phone out of a box.
So far I am happy. The high speed data is much better than the old Evo. But the lower 2G leaves something to be desired. I may get throttled in the future, but the next tier is only the cost of the "4G fee" that Sprint charged me for my evo that I tried to use the two times I was in an area that had it and found out it pretty well sucked.
I don't think you'll loose much by leaving Sprint, unless you like the saying "Can I put you on hold?"

steve austin said:
I average 5mb down/ 2mb up outside of Washington DC. However, when I am in a sweet spot I have averaged 8/9mb down 2/3mb up. These are great for not being on wifi. HOWEVER, if you are NOT in a tower-rich area you will hate your service. Riding from Virginia to South Carolina recently (on 95 south and 85 south) i maintatined a 2g connection 80% of the time. This severly limited my internet capabilities and download speeds. It was not until I draove through major cities that a strong signal came up. I was very disappointed in this. Results may vary for you though.
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That's pretty standard with T-Mobile. If you spend all your time in the city, they are great to use. For travelers... not so much.

I left Verizon for T-Mobile about 6 years ago and never looked back. I live in the SF Bay Area and get about 6-8 Mbps down. Not only T-Mobile will unlock you phone for you. I have bin to Thailand and Mexico with my phone and used none T-mobile sim cards. I am not looking forward to the T-mobile AT&T merger. I think the only people that are going to make out in the deal is AT&T customers.

Im with you OP - I was with Sprint (a convert from AT&T iPhone to the EVO 3D) - I loved the phone but for 2 weeks I tried to live with the Data on Sprint and I just couldnt do it. I have been with Tmobile for 2 weeks and have had NO data issues and I do in fact get a data signal where my Sprint service got nothing (At the Hockey Rink / Etc). I have tested Edge (2G) speeds and they are still faster than what I was pulling from Sprint - So I was happy and so is my wife. I hated to drop the 3D phone, but I needed reliable Data.
Make sure you tell Sprint why you are leaving (if you do) - They argued with me that data is fine and I showed them speed tests on 3 of their phones at 120-175k (one was 1.5Mb, as they stated, but I showed them Wifi was on!!! - Disabled it and down the tubes it went). I then showed my Sensation to them and I was pulling 6Mb (around 6000k down and 2000k up) - They said, "Well, yeah, your bill will be higher" - I pay $5 less and I am on the 5GB plan - and I showed them Edge speeds with the 4G Disabled, where I would get unlimited, and they had no more comments.
Sprint sales people are great, I had no issues with them - but They need a HUGE upgrade to stay in this business.

firsttimer44 said:
I am currently with Sprint and I honestly can't take it anymore. Data speeds are terrible and when I'm bored at work and want to play with my phone I can't. I have the EVO 3d right now so naturally I'm going to switch to the sensation.
I have two questions, 1 ) how is T-Mobiles data service? And 2) once u go over your data limit what speeds do they throttle u down to?
Thanks
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
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Well for me in Indiana coverage is average with the other two big dogs. Sprint just flat out sucks. I switched from sprint to tmo and never looked back. Sim card based phone service. Better data speeds. More 3g and 4g towers by far.
As for Speed after data cap you go to 2g speed after you hit the cap. Which is way better then being totally cut off or paying overage. plus if Att and Tmo merger goes through the next gen devices will have an amazing coverage because the two network will eventually become one.

I'm down in Atlanta and been with tmo for many moons...I got the g2x and I will honestly say at times the network really bumps and hauls ass. There isn't many times ItS slow....
I usually use around 4-5 gb of data. N the one month I used 6.7gb they said I would b throttled but never was for the remaining week of the cycle..
But with.tmo it all depends on ur area..do ur research if it's not too late.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

firsttimer44 said:
I am currently with Sprint and I honestly can't take it anymore. Data speeds are terrible and when I'm bored at work and want to play with my phone I can't. I have the EVO 3d right now so naturally I'm going to switch to the sensation.
I have two questions, 1 ) how is tmobiles data service? And 2) once u go over your data limit what speeds do they throttle u down to?
Thanks
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
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(1) Honestly tmobile coverage isn't the best. When you get coverage, it's very good (it's pretty good in Chicago). Your best bet is see if you have any co-worker at your workplace who uses tmobile and test.
(2) Edge speed. I signed up for 2GB. My normal usage is around 1GB (slightly below, my workplace has good wifi and I use wifi most of the time), and get close to 2GB if I use tethering a lot that month. 5GB is $10/month more expensive. Sign up for 2GB and pay $10 to switch to 5GB if you run over, and switch back to 2GB next month.

[Q] Need some advice on switch to T-Mobile

with sprint now and getting so tired of the lousy network...at home i have 4G, if thats wat you wanna call it, but away from home, 90% of my day, i have slowG... speeds of .3 - .5 kbs...
i do like the unlimited data though, and i typically use alot. i went from the Evo to the Nexus S4G just waiting for the SGSII but am not convinced on my carrier anymore..
so how is Tmob ? how are the speeds ? network ? prices and data ? yes i can read the pages from there own website...i have...i wanna know the ins and outs of ppl who have been with them awhile before i switch...
ty for your help

dezel29 said:
with sprint now and getting so tired of the lousy network...at home i have 4G, if thats wat you wanna call it, but away from home, 90% of my day, i have slowG... speeds of .3 - .5 kbs...
i do like the unlimited data though, and i typically use alot. i went from the Evo to the Nexus S4G just waiting for the SGSII but am not convinced on my carrier anymore..
so how is Tmob ? how are the speeds ? network ? prices and data ? yes i can read the pages from there own website...i have...i wanna know the ins and outs of ppl who have been with them awhile before i switch...
ty for your help
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Yeah man, I was using a friends Evo 4G the other day and was amazed at how slow the 3G speeds are. She said it was normal (~150kbit down in downtown Sacramento). The deal killer for me would be that she has to activate another radio to get 4G (if in a 4G area) which significantly impacts battery life. For reference, I live in the foothills of Northern California and I only get 3G (UMTS/HSDPA) at home. At home I get 500-700kbit down and 700-1000kbit up. If I go a couple miles toward the freeway, I start picking up 4G (HSPA+) and get 1.0-1.5mbit down and 1.5-2.0mbit up. As I get closer to Folsom and Sacramento my speeds continue to rise. In downtown Sacramento (where I spend most of my time) I get 4-7mbit down and 6-8mbit up. I'm very happy with my speeds and my 3G and "4G" are done with the same radio (HSPA+ is just a speed upgrade of HSDPA and uses the same radio tech) so getting 4G speeds has no noticable impact on battery life. I know T-Mobile's network footprint is the smallest of the big 4, but it works everywhere that I've ever needed it to work. As for data plans, just make sure you get one with 5gb of full speed data. Sidenote, I thought Sprint's data is only unlimited on 4G? In terms of pricing, I've found that once I add on everything I want/need all the carriers end up about the same +/-10% so I haven't concerned myself with that too much.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App

I'm in NYC, speeds about 4-7M down, 2M up. No complaints really.
Sent from my Dell Streak 7

I'm in norcal, my tmo is much better than sprint IN MY AREA. It varies greatly based on location. I loved my EVO(network was great when I first started using it), but it was like a ferrari with no gas there at the end. I travel very frequently with my job, both in and out of the country, and I haven't had a problem yet anywhere in the US. Don't spend enough time in one place to get foreign sims, plus WiFi is almost everywhere now.