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Does 4g hspa+ work on custom roms and radios from other regions/carriers?

Title says it all. I searched but didn't find my answer. I am running core droid and the m3 radio. I don't want to go back to stock radio bc I got crappy signal everywhere with it. In network info it only ever says I am connected to hdspa. I am still trying to figure out all these terms but my main concern is, if I flash a radio like the m3 from another carrier and country and also have a custom rom installed will the phone still be able to connect to and receive the 4g hspa+ speeds if I am on a back-hauled tower? I just wonder because it seems to me since the roms are based on the Desire and the radios are from another country it would not work right? Can someone clarify?

Nobody has any comments?

It will only work on carriers that use 850/1900 for 3g, which is only rogers in Canada and ATT. It won't work anywhere in Europe 3g or anywhere else.

Thanks for replying but I actually was asking if the fact we are using roms and radios based of the desire HD hardware would prevent us from connecting to hSPA+ service on ATT. I mainly ask because I was in Los Angeles today and I am pretty sure they should have hspa+ backhauled already and the best speeds I could get with full bars and using a server 2.6 miles away was a ping of about 194 and speeds of 3.03 Mbps down and 1.27 up

Okay I am beginning to think we can't access 4g with our rooted inspire. I am on att and running core droid rom with m2 radio. I just looked on the ATT site and it says LA,Ca is one of the cities that has had the complete backhual. Yet I only saw the above speeds and the only think my phone said was hsdpa never hspa+ in the network information section of the settings.

I definitely can access so called ATT 4g with the M2 radio which is NOT the stock ATT radio.

simulatordos said:
I definitely can access so called ATT 4g with the M2 radio which is NOT the stock ATT radio.
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Are you in one of the listed areas that has the 100% live 4g? What speeds do you get in a 4g area on a speed test? Does it show hspa+ in network info in phone settings menu? Also what rom are you on? Just trying to narrow down some stuff.Just because it shows H in the status bar doesn't mean you are actually on 4g.

9646gt said:
Are you in one of the listed areas that has the 100% live 4g? What speeds do you get in a 4g area on a speed test? Does it show hspa+ in network info in phone settings menu? Also what rom are you on? Just trying to narrow down some stuff.Just because it shows H in the status bar doesn't mean you are actually on 4g.
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I'm getting anywhere from 500 to 2500 down and usually around 1000-1500 up.
The menu is meaningless from what I understand. The only thing that matters is speed and I clearly am getting so called "4g" speeds. Using the stock rooted rom.

simulatordos said:
I'm getting anywhere from 500 to 2500 down and usually around 1000-1500 up.
The menu is meaningless from what I understand. The only thing that matters is speed and I clearly am getting so called "4g" speeds. Using the stock rooted rom.
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First off MODS I think it would be best if you can move this to the DEV section as it's better suited there I would think?
Yeah those speeds are for sure not 4g. The reason I am bringing up all of this is the fastest speed that the Desire HD specs say it supports is 3g 14.4 megabits/s and hspa+ is rated at a maximum of up to 42megabits/s and even faster down the road. Now if the radios (maybe even roms) for the desire were not meant to ever support hspa+ (it doesn't say in the specs it even supports hspa+) will this mean that if we are using those radios and roms we are not going to see the speeds we should?
I know this does not seem like a big deal right now with 4g access being limited, but ATT is fastly expanding the coverage area with it's backhaul. So figureing this out before hand would be a good idea. The Iphone for example is capped at like 7.2 download because it does not support hspa+. If the radios and roms form the DHD are the same way we will be greatly reducing our data speeds.

9646gt said:
First off MODS I think it would be best if you can move this to the DEV section as it's better suited there I would think?
Yeah those speeds are for sure not 4g. The reason I am bringing up all of this is the fastest speed that the Desire HD specs say it supports is 3g 14.4 megabits/s and hspa+ is rated at a maximum of up to 42megabits/s and even faster down the road. Now if the radios (maybe even roms) for the desire were not meant to ever support hspa+ (it doesn't say in the specs it even supports hspa+) will this mean that if we are using those radios and roms we are not going to see the speeds we should?
I know this does not seem like a big deal right now with 4g access being limited, but ATT is fastly expanding the coverage area with it's backhaul. So figureing this out before hand would be a good idea. The Iphone for example is capped at like 7.2 download because it does not support hspa+. If the radios and roms form the DHD are the same way we will be greatly reducing our data speeds.
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Typically we should be able to in theory edit the build.prop to enable compatible speeds.
In theory.

This is actually a great thread and point to be brought up.
Most of us aren't on an unlimited data plan so having the fastest speed is the only perk we have vs. Using edge and dumb phones.
Um coming from an unlocked Android phone which was only compatible with at&ts edge connection and that experience was less than stellar.
Hoping the Devs here in the Inspire 4G section have this in mind, and if not we can be sure to remind them.
Talking about speed, my phone is jumping from 3g to 3.5g which is a bad thing.
Will test it more thoroughly as maybe the phone is in need to be exchanged before the 30 days.
Sent from my most memorable Inspire 4G

9646gt said:
Thanks for replying but I actually was asking if the fact we are using roms and radios based of the desire HD hardware would prevent us from connecting to hSPA+ service on ATT. I mainly ask because I was in Los Angeles today and I am pretty sure they should have hspa+ backhauled already and the best speeds I could get with full bars and using a server 2.6 miles away was a ping of about 194 and speeds of 3.03 Mbps down and 1.27 up
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your numbers seem dead on with what i get in los angeles. i havent seen higher than 3Mbps down and 1.5Mbps up all throughout the LA arrea. so i dont thin kthe ROM has any ill effect.

RogerPodacter said:
your numbers seem dead on with what i get in los angeles. i havent seen higher than 3Mbps down and 1.5Mbps up all throughout the LA arrea. so i dont thin kthe ROM has any ill effect.
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So basically just another classic case of ATT over promising and under delivering huh. I can't wait for my contract to be up.

9646gt said:
So basically just another classic case of ATT over promising and under delivering huh. I can't wait for my contract to be up.
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Yeah basically. My contract has been up for years but I'm happy enough with them. But ATT is just horrible in terms of being a leader in the industry. All they do is react and follow. They had the golden chance to roll out hspa first and blow the competition away. Instead they sit back and let t-mobile do that, then copy them and play catch up "me too." For years they've done this, copy every single thing Verizon does, never once thinking of doing it first.
Especially when hspa is a rather easy software upgrade to the tower base station. Such good bang for buck and easy to implement and boost speeds to 21Mbps. No instead they let t-mobile, the network that yesterday didn't even have 3g come in and make them look silly. Sigh.

I couldn't agree more with you lol. I guess my biggest concern is the simple fact that the desire HD says nothing about supporting hspa+. Yet all our roms and radios we are using are from that phone. I just have a hard time understanding how hspa+ will actually still work I guess.

I couldn't agree more with you lol. I guess my biggest concern is the simple fact that the desire HD says nothing about supporting hspa+. Yet all our roms and radios we are using are from that phone. I just have a hard time understanding how hspa+ will actually still work I guess.
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build.prop.
HSPA+ is enabled in there.

Updated my Inspire's ROM to Android Revolution 4.0(stock radio) with 2.3.2 Gingerbread and am getting better speeds:
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id10terrordfw said:
build.prop.
HSPA+ is enabled in there.
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I didn;t see anything at all actually for hspa+ in build.prop. Are you thinking about hsudpa?

From what I understand about how all this works, as long as you are on the right frequency, and have the correct setting in build prop, the radio version won't matter, unlike the Captivate, which supports more frequencies and only using a radio from the European SGS will give you "correct" HSUPA.

9646gt said:
I didn;t see anything at all actually for hspa+ in build.prop. Are you thinking about hsudpa?
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No. Setting ro.ril.hsdpa to 10 or 14 and up enables it. That is all it takes.

[Q] 4g? Really? Really Tmobile? Really?

Soooooo.... Tmobile does not seem to have a 4g network in my area even if they say they do. I spent the better part of 2hrs talk to tech support managers who tried to convince me that my g2x is pulling down 4g data despite speedtest showing max of only 2mbs and a constant connection to their 3g "umts" network and not their 4g "hspa" network. Really.tmobile? Really? Im starting to think that the hspa network is only a myth.... I mean, I have never seen a device connect to it nor has anyone I know. Have you guys ever been connected to tmo's hspa network?

Damn, thats not good. I'm having the same issue. I can put my SIM in my MyTouch 4G and my G2 and get 4g speeds. They even had me swap SIMs
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

In my area of Raleigh NC tmobiles 4g is by far the fastest in my area I get min 5mbs up to 11 MBA usually right around 7 or 8.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

Their 3g is HSPA. Their "4g" is HSPA+. It's not a myth. And your download speed is dependent on many factors. Dont think that just because youre connected to the network youll get maximum HSPA+ speeds.

I get exceptional speeds, ranging anywhere from 6-12.5kbps on their '4G' network, pretty consistently.

Apparently (according to numerous XDA posts I've read) the G2x displays the 4G icon if you're in a 4G OR 3G coverage area. In other words, even if you're only in a 3G area, the 4G icon will be displayed.
As for the speeds, I've pulled down a max of 7mbps since I've had the phone. At my house which is supposedly a 4G area (according to the tmo coverage map) the max I've ever pulled down is 1.8mbps. My theory is that the back-haul is somewhat limited on the tower close to my house. Due to the geography I'm fairly sure they're using the same ISP I'm using (Charter). The tower is located in the middle of a huge suburban area with only Charter and AT&T providing service. AT&T DSL maxes out at 1.5mpbs in the area and Charter maxes out at 18mbps. Now, I've seen the tower and there's no equipment on it for a wireless back-haul. So basically the odds are they're using a few CBN (Charter Business) lines for connectivity and have the max speed per device set to 2mbps.
You can toss as much of the fancy 4G equipment on a tower as you want but if the back-haul capacity isn't there then it's still gonna be slow. Just my two cents.

Go into about phone and look for network. Mine is usually connected to hspa and I'm betting that's what yours is also.

Well 4G = 3G.
4G is the same technology just faster. Thats like my cable modem. It was 1.5mpbs when I first got it. Then 5mpbs. Then 10. Then 20. 30. Now 50mpbs. Nothing changed on my end.
My Nexus One would display 3G until I would pull data, then flip to H. But it wouldn't show 4G all the time (nor would it support faster speeds). I think they are trying to get rid of the 3G because 3G and 4G are basically the same.
People don't want to buy into the 4G service only to have the phone say 3G all the time.
And from my understanding the phone would display 3G. I never seen it but i'm in a 4G area.

regP said:
Their 3g is HSPA. Their "4g" is HSPA+. It's not a myth. And your download speed is dependent on many factors. Dont think that just because youre connected to the network youll get maximum HSPA+ speeds.
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sooo then whats HSDPA considered?

HSDPA is an evolved version of HSPA. It allows speeds of 3.6, 7.2, and 14.4Mbis/s. Sometimes called 3.5g
HSPA+ offers speeds up to 42Mbits/s. This is what T-Mobile is claiming as 4g
BOTH are based on the same 3g technology.

player911 said:
Well 4G = 3G.
4G is the same technology just faster. Thats like my cable modem. It was 1.5mpbs when I first got it. Then 5mpbs. Then 10. Then 20. 30. Now 50mpbs. Nothing changed on my end.
My Nexus One would display 3G until I would pull data, then flip to H. But it wouldn't show 4G all the time (nor would it support faster speeds). I think they are trying to get rid of the 3G because 3G and 4G are basically the same.
People don't want to buy into the 4G service only to have the phone say 3G all the time.
And from my understanding the phone would display 3G. I never seen it but i'm in a 4G area.
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HSPA+ isn't exactly the same technology and if you're getting 50mbps service through Comcast, either you just got the service or you did change your modem out recently. DOCSIS 2 wouldn't support that speed, you'd need a DOCSIS 3 modem.

regP said:
HSDPA is an evolved version of HSPA. It allows speeds of 3.6, 7.2, and 14.4Mbis/s. Sometimes called 3.5g
HSPA+ offers speeds up to 42Mbits/s. This is what T-Mobile is claiming as 4g
BOTH are based on the same 3g technology.
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ahh i get ya...that always confused me

I live 150 miles from the closest hspa+ signal. my g2x has said 4g since i first turned it on. I even showed it to the tmobile salesmen and they scratched their heads. never seen higher than 1.5 mbps on this thing.

I don't care what TMO wants to call it, their network is a far cry from 4G. Not Even Verizon's LTE is considered true 4G by international standards (which require +100mb down) and I get 30-35mb down and 12-15mb up. On TMO network, I have yet to top 7mb.

jlevy73 said:
I don't care what TMO wants to call it, their network is a far cry from 4G. Not Even Verizon's LTE is considered true 4G by international standards (which require +100mb down) and I get 30-35mb down and 12-15mb up. On TMO network, I have yet to top 7mb.
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Well that's a whole other topic right? Gizmodo, Engadget, etc have all discussed that no network is truly "4G". Recently tho I thought something changed where they lowered the requirement for what is considered 4G.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

Seanathan said:
Well that's a whole other topic right? Gizmodo, Engadget, etc have all discussed that no network is truly "4G". Recently tho I thought something changed where they lowered the requirement for what is considered 4G.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
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I've heard that as well, they lowered the spec to 10Mbps or so. Here's the first link I could find talking about it, but there are plenty more Link

jlevy73 said:
I don't care what TMO wants to call it, their network is a far cry from 4G. Not Even Verizon's LTE is considered true 4G by international standards (which require +100mb down) and I get 30-35mb down and 12-15mb up. On TMO network, I have yet to top 7mb.
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at least wimax and lte will have the ability to reach those theoretical speeds in future revisions. HSPA is maxed out at 84Mb/s.

worker1 said:
Go into about phone and look for network. Mine is usually connected to hspa and I'm betting that's what yours is also.
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Post a screen shot of your settings showing "Mobile Network Type" being connected to "HSPA" and Not UMTS. My device has NEVER see seen "HSPA" only "UMTS".
In fact, someone/anyone please post a picture of this device being connected to HSPA and NOT UMTS! i am in a certified 4g network and my device has never seen more than 2.5mbs....
really t-mobile? really?

4G just means 4th Generation. There is no official definition of what technically constitutes 4G.
This is what I get at home with a 4G icon and a reported UMTS connection.
T-Mo's 4G may not be as theoretically fast as LTE or whatever else, but the 6 ~12 Mbps down is as good as I can do with anything right now.
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I'm finally getting real speeds after trying MetroPcsand Sprint. For me here in the Dallas area right on top of the airport, I'm now seeing up to 8.5 up. I'm pretty happy with that. I just plain never saw anything faster than 1.5in my town.....ever. And that was the first time I had my Indulge on metros system. I left for Sprint, who could never get past 1.0 Mbps, not once in three weeks of use. Went back to Metro and never saw anything past .5....apparently they are having systemwide issues right now.
I am esctatic over my speeds now. And I really am liking the other aspects I've seen of T mobile as well. Live people on the phone, the soon to be free wifi calling, and the in phone account info are all nice things. Their fees are right ion the middle.
And this phone......I have not had one issue (minor bleed)that others are reporting (yet?). I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop LOL.
As far as speeds, I have to inject my usual caveat here....
I'm not convinced on Speedtests accuracy. With all those low speeds reported, my device was usually functioning faster than Speedtest seemed to indicate. I mean on MetroPcs, the speedtest was saying .5, yet the page would load in 6 seconds or so. That's not modem speeds IMO. Not broadband speeds for sure, but not modem speeds.
Now this phone is fast! It loads a screen faster than my cheep laptop on fios broadband!
So I have to ask the op this....You say the speeds suck, but how is it actually functioning? Are your real world experiences really in line with your numbers? Do the pages load really slow? What experiences do you have with other carriers in your area?
For me, jumping around like I've been doing, its been a lot about the big picture. I was over all really happy with the Samsung Indulge. It's battery issues IMO are one of the worst in the industry. But they are being figured out. The issue for me was that I had to really battle with Samsung's customer service and the policy (?) of totally ignoring peoples questions. And then Metro started having the speed issues and won't acknowledge them as well.
I had a huge issue with Sprint regarding some outright lies they told me concerning joining them w/ my own phones and signing a contract. They refused to even throw me a bone even tho' IMO I was totally in the right. Then every person I spoke to was rude and uncaring. And my reception was awful. Bye bye.
My point is, there are going to be issues no matter where you go. Things should be looked at in their totality. People are upset about this phone, but I hear LG saying they know about them and are working to fix them. There are always gonna be people having connectivity issues....it's radio waves people. But three times I've called T mobile and three times I spoke with an american live person....win! And three times I left satisfied w/ my results. I've said several times, people are talking about being on their third and forth phones...how is that not great service? I'm sure LG and and T mobile are beside themselves over these issues, esp LG. This their flagship phone. You know they want it right.
I should have stopped typing after I asked the OP the question....sorry I can't help it. Imagine being my wife? After about two minutes of listening she gets this glassy look in her eyes ha ha!
I just think this phone and T mobile deserve a little defense. At this point, they're going to have to piss me off pretty bad, 'cause I'm very happy so far.

Data speed sucks

So my data speed sucks horribly. I have good 4g coverage in my town. I just got a new sim card. I'm not stuck on 2g networks. I have the 4g data plan. Nothing is fixing it. The Rep at the T-Mobile store couldn't help me. Tried to warranty my phone and they're out of stock so he offered me a galagy s... no thanks. I dunno what to do. Any suggestions?
Sent from Royal Glacier 2.1 powered HTC MyTouch4G using XDA App.

Are you inside of a building?
Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk

eunkipark92 said:
Are you inside of a building?
Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk
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Ive tried it in various places around town. While in a car, in houses, outside of houses. Out of town. I get the same VERY low data speed everywhere I try no matter where I am.

It's not your phone, it's t- mobile's crappy network. I had the same issue, connected to 4g but with Edge download speeds. They're upgrading some of their backbone connections, but at a slow pace. My speeds are getting better, but it took months to get somewhat acceptable speeds. Go to a t-mobile some and do some speed tests side by side with another mt4g and a galaxy s, you'll see the same speeds on all the phones.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

erickdj said:
It's not your phone, it's t- mobile's crappy network. I had the same issue, connected to 4g but with Edge download speeds. They're upgrading some of their backbone connections, but at a slow pace. My speeds are getting better, but it took months to get somewhat acceptable speeds. Go to a t-mobile some and do some speed tests side by side with another mt4g and a galaxy s, you'll see the same speeds on all the phones.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
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Well thats good news, sorta haha. I will have to check out what other phones at the store are getting next time im there. The rep with the Galaxy S didnt mention his was slow too, I would think that he would have if it was. Mine has been slow like this for 1-2 months now. Its getting ridiculous. I paid for 4G data speeds and im not getting them.

T-Mo's network just sucks a big one. I live a stone's throw away from their corporate HQ, in an area totally saturated with the strongest signal strength from all of their frequencies, and the fastest I can muster is 6Mb/s down. Realistic speeds are more like 2-3. So much for 14.4.

Jon C said:
T-Mo's network just sucks a big one. I live a stone's throw away from their corporate HQ, in an area totally saturated with the strongest signal strength from all of their frequencies, and the fastest I can muster is 6Mb/s down. Realistic speeds are more like 2-3. So much for 14.4.
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Well that 14.4 isnt the speed you will hit. Its like a 56k modem never hitting 56k. They are two different measurements of speed or some stupid technical babble.

Jon C said:
T-Mo's network just sucks a big one. I live a stone's throw away from their corporate HQ, in an area totally saturated with the strongest signal strength from all of their frequencies, and the fastest I can muster is 6Mb/s down. Realistic speeds are more like 2-3. So much for 14.4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have yet to understand why in Vancouver, Washington I have managed to get >10mbps down yet even Portland (Where there's supposed to be 42mb theoretical) I hardly get above 2mbps.
And before someone asks, no I was not on wifi.
on a side note, I beat a thunderbolt that was on 4G LTE in a speed test in Portland. I was pretty happy when that happened.

I have two bars of HSDPA and just got a screaming 256k download. Just about average for around here, so you guys should be feeling pretty happy.

This is why I am unhappy... my speeds are never higher than this.
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silentsnow31802 said:
So my data speed sucks horribly. I have good 4g coverage in my town. I just got a new sim card. I'm not stuck on 2g networks. I have the 4g data plan. Nothing is fixing it. The Rep at the T-Mobile store couldn't help me. Tried to warranty my phone and they're out of stock so he offered me a galagy s... no thanks. I dunno what to do. Any suggestions?
Sent from Royal Glacier 2.1 powered HTC MyTouch4G using XDA App.
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I guess it would depend on what you mean by data sucks. Is it slow because of high network traffic like during the busy day or slower than normal?
Second, are you stock or running custom roms/kernel?
Third, if your not stock did you flash a different radio?

dubie76 said:
I guess it would depend on what you mean by data sucks. Is it slow because of high network traffic like during the busy day or slower than normal?
Second, are you stock or running custom roms/kernel?
Third, if your not stock did you flash a different radio?
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I posted a screenshot of my speeds in the last post of page 1. Its always that slow no matter when or where in town I do it. I even tired it out of town and still have that same speed. It wasnt that slow until about 2-3 months ago. Im usually somewhere that has wifi so im not 100% sure when it happened so thats just a guess. I am not stock. I have tried different roms, kernels, and all the radio versions and they all produce the same speeds.

The people at the T-Mobile store won't say anything about slow speeds, either because they have no clue or it's simply not good marketing to openly admit your network sucks. As long as they see that "H" or "4G" icon by the notification area they're like "Look, 4G speed!". Be a bit patient if you can, if not, seek a different provider. They are continuously upgrading their network. I had a direct face to face conversation with one of T-mo's network engineers, he gave me a rough idea of when the speeds would increase, so far he was right. I'm still not getting proper "4G" speeds, but it's better than what I used to get. I went through a two month ordeal before someone finally came clean about what was happening. The phone support people were useless and didn't have a clue of what was happening, always giving me the run around and asking me to call back in 3 days. Finally, after pestering them for weeks, one of their engineers came to do some field testing right where I was. That's when I finally got the straight story of what the deal was.

erickdj said:
The people at the T-Mobile store won't say anything about slow speeds, either because they have no clue or it's simply not good marketing to openly admit your network sucks. As long as they see that "H" or "4G" icon by the notification area they're like "Look, 4G speed!". Be a bit patient if you can, if not, seek a different provider. They are continuously upgrading their network. I had a direct face to face conversation with one of T-mo's network engineers, he gave me a rough idea of when the speeds would increase, so far he was right. I'm still not getting proper "4G" speeds, but it's better than what I used to get. I went through a two month ordeal before someone finally came clean about what was happening. The phone support people were useless and didn't have a clue of what was happening, always giving me the run around and asking me to call back in 3 days. Finally, after pestering them for weeks, one of their engineers came to do some field testing right where I was. That's when I finally got the straight story of what the deal was.
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Its already been months. This is getting unacceptable. I am paying $30 a month for my 4G data plan and its nowhere near the speeds it should be. Its so slow that I cant even use the GPS without it popping up with a blank map because it can not load it fast enough. I am a big T-Mobile fan and I prefer the GSM networks but if this does not change I will have no choice but to go with a different carrier. Most likely ATT because I do not want to give up my SIM card ability.

You sure your not throttled
mt4g royal ginger v2.1

Gregory.u317 said:
You sure your not throttled
mt4g royal ginger v2.1
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100% positive im not throttled. Went to the T-Mobile store yesterday and confirmed it. They checked my account and my phone settings and couldn't find any reason for the slow speeds.

Try looking into changing your radio. It helped me a ton. Now I get 4G almost everywhere. Check android development for more info.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

I have hit 10MBit down and ~3.5Mbit down in some areas while some areas I get EDGE speeds though it clearly says 4G. I might have to give a shot with the radio... reception on this phone is not as good as my MT3G.

Ive tried all radios and ive tried checking my speeds out of town and I get no difference. I ended up buying a MT4G off ebay that for some reason the owner couldnt load a rom to but it will boot to clockwork recovery and the bootloader. Im going to see if I can revive it and im going to test my speeds on it and see if its the hardware inside of my phone that is the problem.

silentsnow31802 said:
I ended up buying a MT4G off ebay that for some reason the owner couldnt load a rom to but it will boot to clockwork recovery and the bootloader. Im going to see if I can revive it and im going to test my speeds on it and see if its the hardware inside of my phone that is the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure it's not one of those with the "e: can't mount cache" errors, or that it at least has the engineering bootloader on it, otherwise that phone is toast.

HTC one S?

Hox is a monster phone. Probably the best phone available. But att is really disappointing. Locking the phone is reason enough for me to return it, but the LTE speeds (at least in Chicago) are even more disappointing. My girlfriend has an t-mobile galaxy blaze....and of.course I've been comparing the phones/service since I've had the hox. Not only is her phone just as fast...the data speeds are significantly faster. In Chicago, I connect to lte 100% of the time....Im at about 11mbps ...she's consistently at 15-20. Right now I'm in the city....I get 3 mbps on LTE....she's at 25-28. Paying about $30 less. HTC one S is a better sized phone and its unlocked. As much as I like this forum....Im returning the phone tomorrow for the S.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

I wish I could just return an AT&T phone and magically replace it with a T-Mobile one.. How exactly are you getting the phone? Ending your 2-year contract that you just renewed and signing a new T-mobile one?
But yes, I agree with you on all accounts. The One S probably was a better size (as a phone) and there are other nice things, like the aluminum body. If it were available on AT&T, I'd probably end up getting that instead.

Not exactly sure yet. I'll report after I visit att tomorrow.

the boot loader will be unlocked soon, so no worries there.
Data speeds, maybe no one has tmobile in chicago? lulz

LTE isn't magic.. If the carrier doesn't have the backbone it doesn't really matter..

fuybjeans said:
Hox is a monster phone. Probably the best phone available. But att is really disappointing. Locking the phone is reason enough for me to return it, but the LTE speeds (at least in Chicago) are even more disappointing. My girlfriend has an t-mobile galaxy blaze....and of.course I've been comparing the phones/service since I've had the hox. Not only is her phone just as fast...the data speeds are significantly faster. In Chicago, I connect to lte 100% of the time....Im at about 11mbps ...she's consistently at 15-20. Right now I'm in the city....I get 3 mbps on LTE....she's at 25-28. Paying about $30 less. HTC one S is a better sized phone and its unlocked. As much as I like this forum....Im returning the phone tomorrow for the S.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow those are ridiculously good data speeds on t mobile. Are they consistently that good in the Chicago area? if so I'd be on t mobile too. I'm getting about 20mb down and 15 up here in the dc area on lte. Better than the 3/1 I was getting on hspa though.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

I can answer a few questions. I used to work for T-Mobile and I dealt with cell phones for about 10 years.
He can cancel his upgrade and it'll return him back to where he was originally. So if his contract was already over, he can switch without paying a fee. I believe AT&T gives you 30 days to cancel the upgrade but usually it is 14 days.
Chicago does have A LOT of T-Mobile users just so you know lol.
On my Amaze, I get about 18-22mbps depending on my location.
If you guys need phones unlocked, PM me

I was month to month before the hox.
Although the speeds vary depending on where I'm at, the T-Mobile speeds never seem to drop below 15 and was close to 30 last night. (She's had the phone for a month so those speeds have been consistent throughout). My hox is always connected to lte , and my speeds vary from 1 to a max of 20. Mostly I see it at about 7-8.

Really impressed with Tmobile's data speeds. I checked out the One S yesterday and hit 20 down. My Razr on LTE got 27, so it's pretty close.

fuybjeans, where in Chicago are you?

Yeah, LTE speeds are nice and all but I wish AT&T would have upgraded their 3G network to HSPA+ before rolling out a whole new network. HSPA+ can be ridiculously fast.

Schaumburg area

mesasone said:
Yeah, LTE speeds are nice and all but I wish AT&T would have upgraded their 3G network to HSPA+ before rolling out a whole new network. HSPA+ can be ridiculously fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of it is....

Ryanscool said:
Most of it is....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe AT&T are the 3GPP release 5 standard (HSPA), as opposed to T-mobile who are on the release 7 standard (HSPA evolved AKA HSPA+). The difference being that HSPA maxes out at 14 mbps, while HSPA+ (release 7) goes up to 42 mbps.

My One S in the downtown area hits speeds around 19-20mbps, but around Wrigley Field I've only seen around 10mbps. Either way, it's fast enough for me
Though I do believe there is some sorcery involved in Verizon LTE.. at least when I had it hah.

joshnichols189 said:
My One S in the downtown area hits speeds around 19-20mbps, but around Wrigley Field I've only seen around 10mbps. Either way, it's fast enough for me
Though I do believe there is some sorcery involved in Verizon LTE.. at least when I had it hah.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heck if could consistently hit 10-20mbps on hspa I don't think I'd care about lte, especially given the battery advantages of hspa. Here's my lte speeds in the dc metro area. Seems like t mobile hspa is nearly as good.
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fuybjeans said:
Not exactly sure yet. I'll report after I visit att tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As hasoon2000 said, you have 14 days to return your phone and reset your contract status to how it was before the upgrade.
hasoon2000 said:
If you guys need phones unlocked, PM me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When he said "locked" I believe he means locked bootloader, not carrier locked.
mesasone said:
I believe AT&T are the 3GPP release 5 standard (HSPA), as opposed to T-mobile who are on the release 7 standard (HSPA evolved AKA HSPA+). The difference being that HSPA maxes out at 14 mbps, while HSPA+ (release 7) goes up to 42 mbps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Att uses both HSPA and HSPA+

LTE issues on T-Mo?

Got my N5 over lunch, and got it set up.
Coming from HSPA+42 on my HTC One S, I immediately installed Speedtest app to see what I get now. Boy was I disappointed.
1. It has trouble actually completing any tests. Half the time it ends in "Network Communications Issues" error message.
2. When it DOES complete a test, it's disappointing on the speed. I've gotten a max of 10mbps down, and 2mbps up. This doesn't make any sense, as my One S was able to get 7mbps down and 5-6mbps up.
Anyone else dealing with this? The phone's great, but I swear, if T-Mobile is gonna F up this whole LTE implementation, I'm gonna be royally pissed.

Are your APN settings correct?
Also, wrong section, this belongs in the Q&A section.

my tmobile was activated in store, so i'm not sure if that matters, but i have had no issues since switching this morning. solid LTE connection pulling down 15mbps pretty consistently

LTE working fine on T-Mobile here. Maybe it's a bad simcard?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

nickmv said:
Got my N5 over lunch, and got it set up.
Coming from HSPA+42 on my HTC One S, I immediately installed Speedtest app to see what I get now. Boy was I disappointed.
1. It has trouble actually completing any tests. Half the time it ends in "Network Communications Issues" error message.
2. When it DOES complete a test, it's disappointing on the speed. I've gotten a max of 10mbps down, and 2mbps up. This doesn't make any sense, as my One S was able to get 7mbps down and 5-6mbps up.
Anyone else dealing with this? The phone's great, but I swear, if T-Mobile is gonna F up this whole LTE implementation, I'm gonna be royally pissed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tested T-mobile's HSPA+ and LTE on the Nexus 5, HTC One, and Moto X, all side by side and running concurrently with the tests repeated frequently throughout the day. The Nexus 5 did just as good as the others and had a trend towards better speeds (the N5 still has the fastest speed I've gotten at my work of all 3 devices). The reception is also slightly better on the Nexus 5 over the other two phones, averaging about 10-15 dB better than the Moto X which is the worst of the 3 devices.
T-mobile's network, from my experience, does not offer consistently fast data throughput. I can run speed tests back-to-back and get a 10-fold change in data speeds. It doesn't seem to impact actual performance enough for me to notice, but it'll be reflected on all the tests I run. I think the device is perfectly fine.

Ritual82 said:
LTE working fine on T-Mobile here. Maybe it's a bad simcard?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bad simcard couldn't possibly be the cause of a data conectivity issue. If it was a bad SIM, the whole connection (data, voice, SMS, MMS, etc) would fail, so I know there's no issue there. Plus, it's been working fine in my One S (though a bit slow on T-Mo's HSPA+ network). This same issue also happened on my GF's N5 last night when I was testing hers out.
Also, for the first response -- yes, APN is by default set to fast.tmobile. I checked that first to make sure it wasn't set to EPC instead.

LTE is working great on TMO for me. I'm getting about 10-11mb down and 6-8mb up. I'm not really close to a tower either, their network is mostly in the city area - I'm just outside of it by a few miles. I didn't modify anything on my phone -just popped my sim out of my Nexus 4 and put it in my Nexus 5.

Must be you.
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SmiLey497 said:
Must be you.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
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i just jizzed my pants

My speed test were just like yours op. Not sure if its the phone or my APN settings but the Nokia 521 that I had prior had better speeds. Its especially noticeable and slow when it goes in h mode.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Jealous
SmiLey497 said:
Must be you.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What city was that in?
My T-Mobile LTE speed tests here in Indianapolis are crap compared to that .

kcm117 said:
What city was that in?
My T-Mobile LTE speed tests here in Indianapolis are crap compared to that .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
San Jose. The Bay area is pretty great with T-Mo coverage

SmiLey497 said:
San Jose. The Bay area is pretty great with T-Mo coverage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, I wish I was getting those speeds on TMO in the Bay Area. I can't even get LTE in most of Los Gatos. Wonder if it's because I'm on prepaid....

I am also having the same problem. I have the $30 plan and in the DC area. On the upload test, sometimes I get "Network Communication Issue" error and sometimes when I am successful. On the successful attempt, for the first seconds or so, I get good speed but then it just died and drop the overall speed to at most 2.5 Mbps.

I am getting "Network communications issues" as well. My apn is fast.t-mobile.com. I am in the Baltimore area. Interestingly I get this more in the areas where my signal is strongest.
Edit: For me, when it fails it's always the upload test that fails. I just ran another test and got 22 down/1.13 up. Since the upload speed was much lower than normal I ran the test again and that time the upload test failed again.

zerin said:
I tested T-mobile's HSPA+ and LTE on the Nexus 5, HTC One, and Moto X, all side by side and running concurrently with the tests repeated frequently throughout the day. The Nexus 5 did just as good as the others and had a trend towards better speeds (the N5 still has the fastest speed I've gotten at my work of all 3 devices). The reception is also slightly better on the Nexus 5 over the other two phones, averaging about 10-15 dB better than the Moto X which is the worst of the 3 devices.
T-mobile's network, from my experience, does not offer consistently fast data throughput. I can run speed tests back-to-back and get a 10-fold change in data speeds. It doesn't seem to impact actual performance enough for me to notice, but it'll be reflected on all the tests I run. I think the device is perfectly fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I second this one. Up until sometime late last winter/early spring I got REALLY GOOD HSPA+ with an n4, and then suddenly it went ENTIRELY into the crapper, as in mostly useless in a worse way than Sprint. i.e. seemingly good one second crap the next(T-mo HSPA+) v. just totally crap(Sprint).
With the n5, I no longer have the HSPA+ dropouts on LTE, but bandwidth is no better than the best it ever was on HSPA+, which in reality, is fine with me as I only use it when not at home/work/somewhere with REAL low latency broadband(although I must admit that at home I have comcraptic, which I really don't consider real given the variability in latency and bandwidth which I consider to be unacceptable even for home use given the wide variation/cost of "product").
That said T-mo since sometime early this year was utter **** on HSPA+ while beforehand it was pretty awesomely good. LTE gets me only back to where the "awesome" was and ain't awesome at ALL for LTE, but better than Sprint or AT&T, as Verizon crushes all comers overall(gotta love full signal in the boondocks of BFE upper peninsula... not dropping out in underpasses(AT&T), etc.) .
[EDIT]
Oh yeah, by HSPA+ "awesome" I'm talking:
60-120ms pings(test server coupla miles away)
c. 8Mbps on a "good" day down
c. 2Mbps on a "good" day up
And theoretically, I'm in a VERY good/EXCELLENT coverage area... so it's like I got very good HSPA+ then crap HSPA+ then crap LTE that was about as "good" as very good HSPA+... [EDIT2] I'm NO WAY NEAR those 20+ Mbps bandwidth tests, never have been... [/EDIT2]
Still better than my alternatives for the price though I guess... voice/messaging works as well as Sprint/Verizon, data is WAY WAY WAY better than Sprint, voice messaging is WAY/WAY/WAY better than AT&T, and then welp we're done with our choices... (although I expect a cap R when in the boondocks of the UP... v. full signal no R, OTOH it's a bit cheaper... which ATM is a factor...)
[/EDIT]

I wasn't getting LTE at all on my phone, got a new sim card and that fixed the problem. The guys at my t-mo store were super helpful.

I am also receiving the "Network communications issues" error when testing my speed. It will hover around 5 - 6 Mbps downstream and before the test can finish it will say "Network communications issues". I am on T-Mobile's LTE in Milwaukee. APN setting is "fast.t-mobile.com" which is the recommended setting for LTE speeds by T-Mobile.
Edit: I am using a nano sim that I had recently got and am using a micro sim adapter.

Count me in!
I also get "network communications issues". It always happens on upload. Never had this on the N4.

I get 6-8 Mbps download and 1-4 Mbps upload on T-mobile LTE. Upload always spikes the first couple seconds and then stays consistently low.
I am using a full size sim card that I cut down to micro size. I also have two micro sims I ordered from Tmobile. I'll give one of those a try at the end of my month to see if that makes a difference.