Data speeds very unreliable - Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III

I got my new GS3 yesterday (32GB blue). In my apt the data connection will stay on 4G but after a few downloads it cuts off to 3G or even to no data. The 4G speeds are all over the place - from 5Mbps down to 200Kbps in speedtest.
I've tried a number of things, reboot, factory resets, power up and down without the sim and then put it back in, nothing worked. This is a new account with a stock phone (no root yet) so there's no throttling going on.
Is this a bad sim/phone?

Is it any better outside? You may be just getting a weak signal.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

Related

SERIOUS network issues

So I have seen other people with network issues about the phone switching from 3G to 4G and so on and I had some of them but never to this extent.
Normally my house is on the fringe of 4G so my phone will usually stay on 3G most of the time. Yesterday while I was at home I was getting 4G, strong 4G and I was pretty happy about this. When I left and went into a 3G area I no longer get 3G, at all. But when I go back into a 4G area I get it just fine, and im at work right now and have perfect 3G on my galaxy tab but no data at all on my charge, not even 1X. Has anyone else experienced this? I have tried forcing 3G only but nothing happens, its as if somehow my phone is only allowing 4G.....
BTW im on stock EE4 not rooted or anything
EDIT: Forgot to mention that I have had a problem in the past where it wouldnt pick up any network, so I would reboot and all would be well. I have rebooted countless times and it doesnt fix anything....
Its your sim card 100%. Get a new one.
I have my phone forced to 3g as there isn't any 4G around here and several times a day it will just drop 3g for 5-10 minutes for no reason at all. I still have good service but drops the data.
I don't have any solutions, but you're not alone!
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
Ok I think ill go to verizon today to get a new sim card. Its been over 24 hours and now it has stopped connecting to 4G as well, I just went out to lunch to test it. Hopefully this will help!

sprint ns4g/ has your data speed and uptime improved today?

I noticed yesterday and today that the network hasn't been flaky and I haven't had to reboot or cycle airplane mode. My speeds have been good since the late Thursday afternoon 4+ hour data outage. What are your experiences? Better, worse, same?
Mine are actually worse. Lots of 1x
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA Premium App
Uptime and responsiveness for two days in a row now have been flawless for me. No webpage timeouts, always get data throughput immediately. 3G and 4G seem to be back to `normal'. I too was part of that awful 4+hr outage on Thursday (and the random short and long outages for the past month which seemed like daily outages).
/south jersey area near philly.
No, connection sucks balls
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App
Mine has shown improvement but not great. Overall signal is better though. Don't understand why it would before update but I'm loving it. I'm on the latest prl and have been for several days now and sucked before.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G
I usto never go into 1x but as off late I have and I need to toggle airplane mode to get 3g again
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App
steviee7 said:
I usto never go into 1x but as off late I have and I need to toggle airplane mode to get 3g again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No improvement whatsoever. In fact I think it is worse. I will sit in a normally 3 bar area, and eventually my phone will lose all data (no notification bar symbol, similar to when I receive a call) even though I still have 3 bars. Airplane on and off doesn't bring back data. Only a power cycle will bring back data.
I was about ready to update to the new radio and 2.3.5 but it seems like its not really better...seems hit or miss for people. Plus I'm on boost and if its not going to help my signal I'm not going to take a chance and have to redo my data settings for boost because its been running super for the last few months.
My update was from OTA not manually like most here did. I must say that my speeds here at home increased DRAMATICALLY. Using speedtest (only for 3G) I used to average 240-400kbps. Now I'm getting around 1300-1900kbps.
For the first time I've seen no 1x for a day
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

[Q] WIFI speed on G2x

Does anyone have trouble with wifi speed on their G2x? I have been averaging 32mb to 60mb (hard line) on my PC, yet I have been having trouble getting over 1mb (wifi) on the phone. When connected the phone says excellent connection and lists the link speed as 65mb, but when I test it reads about 1mb. It doesn't seem to be running all that quickly when on wifi either. I tried turning mobile data off in case their was some confusion with the 4g and wifi displaying at the same time, but it didn't seem to help.
Same issue with the wife's phone. I rebooted the router and phones and didn't seem to help.
Bhatch said:
Does anyone have trouble with wifi speed on their G2x? I have been averaging 32mb to 60mb (hard line) on my PC, yet I have been having trouble getting over 1mb (wifi) on the phone. When connected the phone says excellent connection and lists the link speed as 65mb, but when I test it reads about 1mb. It doesn't seem to be running all that quickly when on wifi either. I tried turning mobile data off in case their was some confusion with the 4g and wifi displaying at the same time, but it didn't seem to help.
Same issue with the wife's phone. I rebooted the router and phones and didn't seem to help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have 4G and Wifi displayed on the taskbar at the same time? That is odd. Are you runing a custom rom? If I turn on Wifi it shows wifi and the 4G is replaced by the Wifi symbol.
WiFi speeds
I often get near 20Mb/sec from WiFi on my G2X through my 20Gb/sec FIOS connection and the FIOS wireless router. (No SIM card in the phone; haven't tried it with a SIM card). That compares to no more than 6Mb/sec at the same location from my Nexus One and MyTouch 4g.
jcbofkc said:
You have 4G and Wifi displayed on the taskbar at the same time? That is odd. Are you runing a custom rom? If I turn on Wifi it shows wifi and the 4G is replaced by the Wifi symbol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock everything.
Yeah I had it happen quite a bit on froyo and it stopped for a bit on GB. Now it has started to run them both at the same time again.
I believe others have had this same issue.
I am always getting about 20 to 25 mb/s on my 50mb/s Comcast line. For a phone, that is more than enough. At that point your going to have bottle necks from the hardware.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App
I will average 3mb short of what my actual connections so hardline I get on my computer about 17mb down and on my G2X I get about 14-15mb down, but I have a ****ty wireless router... I'm fine with it lol
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
Try force stopping Market or T-Mobile My Account app. I noticed when I was running stock that when 4G and Wifi were both displayed in my status bar, killing those apps would make the 4G icon go away.
G2X CM7

Verizon GS3 4g Connection Issues

Have any Verizon Wireless Galaxy S 3 users (besides myself) noticed the following symptoms:
1) Phone doesn't connect to 4g LTE until approximately 15 minutes later (even in an excellant 4g coverage area)
2) Phone connects to 4g LTE then disconnects approximately 15 minutes later and drops to 3g (even in excellent 4g coverage area).
3) Phone shows 4g LTE connection, but no data can be transmitted/received (tested with speedtest and a google search in the browser). This one is particularly bad, as there is currently no way I am aware of to turn off the 4g radio)
I've spoken with VZW technical support and they want me to replace the phone to see if things get better. I'm not quite sure it's a hardware problem.
mybook4 said:
Have any Verizon Wireless Galaxy S 3 users (besides myself) noticed the following symptoms:
1) Phone doesn't connect to 4g LTE until approximately 15 minutes later (even in an excellant 4g coverage area)
2) Phone connects to 4g LTE then disconnects approximately 15 minutes later and drops to 3g (even in excellent 4g coverage area).
3) Phone shows 4g LTE connection, but no data can be transmitted/received (tested with speedtest and a google search in the browser). This one is particularly bad, as there is currently no way I am aware of to turn off the 4g radio)
I've spoken with VZW technical support and they want me to replace the phone to see if things get better. I'm not quite sure it's a hardware problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know this sounds ridiculous to do with brand new phone but here is the truth. They factory flash those bad boys using octopuss strand array cables with one machine and sometimes they receive a bad flash from the factory. Try the following steps
1. Go to options>settings>mobile and wireless networks>mobile networks>toggle mobile network on and off. (is it acting better?) No? then..
2. Factory data reset the phone. (is it acting better now?) No? then..
3. Using odin reflash the stock ROM (is it acting bettery now?) No? then take it back.... your phone is officially broken.
mybook4 said:
Have any Verizon Wireless Galaxy S 3 users (besides myself) noticed the following symptoms:
1) Phone doesn't connect to 4g LTE until approximately 15 minutes later (even in an excellant 4g coverage area)
2) Phone connects to 4g LTE then disconnects approximately 15 minutes later and drops to 3g (even in excellent 4g coverage area).
3) Phone shows 4g LTE connection, but no data can be transmitted/received (tested with speedtest and a google search in the browser). This one is particularly bad, as there is currently no way I am aware of to turn off the 4g radio)
I've spoken with VZW technical support and they want me to replace the phone to see if things get better. I'm not quite sure it's a hardware problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you should search before posting, maybe someone else is having problems. maybe theres info that could help you.....
das7982 said:
I know this sounds ridiculous to do with brand new phone but here is the truth. They factory flash those bad boys using octopuss strand array cables with one machine and sometimes they receive a bad flash from the factory. Try the following steps
1. Go to options>settings>mobile and wireless networks>mobile networks>toggle mobile network on and off. (is it acting better?) No? then..
2. Factory data reset the phone. (is it acting better now?) No? then..
3. Using odin reflash the stock ROM (is it acting bettery now?) No? then take it back.... your phone is officially broken.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much for the tips. I searched prior to posting.There has been another post after mine with someone talking about similar issues.
Tried number 1 and 2. No dice.
I'm hesitant with 3 (although I've flashed/odined many times in the fascinate). Will refreshing stock up the flash counter? I may just swap out the phone in store. This would at least give me an account history showing issues.
When I have new info, I'll reply.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
i posted well before your thread, but in short......theres an update being pushed that addresses 4g issues
Very cool. Thanks.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
tillithz said:
i posted well before your thread, but in short......theres an update being pushed that addresses 4g issues
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really hope this update doesn't effect the kexec work that is already underway
Verizon LTE is fast but...
It sucks at connecting and at staying connected. My HTC Thunderbolt did this, my Droid Bionic does this, and my co-workers Razr does this. LTE is fast when it actually works properly.
I'm not able conenct to 3g or 4g. Without Wifi I'm getting no data services.
As promised, I have an update. I went to the VZW store and they swapped out my SIM card. No change. The same issues I described in the OP were encountered.
I've performed the following testing to help determine if my specific phone had an issue or whether it was just the LTE service in the area. This isn't the most extensive or scientific test, just a quick and dirty test.
The procedure was as follows:
-Compare phone signal strength in Settings -> About Device -> Status (within phones approximately 5 feet of each other)
-Compare speed test results using the SpeedTest.net app
My office:
1 person in my office also has a vzw galaxy s III. We are running the same stock system.img (I535VRALF2).
- On average, his signal strength was -88dbm, mine was -84dbm. Definitely within normal range for a decent LTE signal.
- His speed test results were similar to mine (within 10% for each direction)
1 person in my office has a Droid Razr (non MAXX) running ICS (important as ICS measures signal strength differently than GB).
- On average, his signal strenth was -95dbm, mine was -91dbm.
- His speed test results were very different than mine:
GSIII - 66ms ping, 8.5MBit down, 12.2MBit up
Razr - 61ms ping, 18.9MBit down, 9.1MBit up
A friend's house:
My friend also has a vzw galaxy s III. We are running the same stock system.img (I535VRALF2).
- On average, his signal strength was -104dbm, mine was also -104dbm. A fairly poor LTE signal.
- Our speed test results were similar (approx 4MBit down, upload was intermittent (would sometimes stall out) approx 0.5Mbit up)
VZW lists 4g coverage as "Verizon LTE (non-extended)" in both areas.
Conclusion:
The difference I encountered between my GSIII and the Razr was alarming, but again, this wasn't the most scientific test (and anyone familiar with the speed test app will tell you that it's usually best to run it several times (unfortunately, I was pressed for time). Just wanted to get an idea of encountered differences.
I can second what tillithz heard about an update being released to address the 4g connection issues. I heard the info from a VZW store employee (so take that with a grain of salt).
I'll be keeping my eyes open for details on the rumored update (and wether or not it breaks our current root/CWM/custom boot.img flashing abilities).
das7982 said:
I know this sounds ridiculous to do with brand new phone but here is the truth. They factory flash those bad boys using octopuss strand array cables with one machine and sometimes they receive a bad flash from the factory. Try the following steps
1. Go to options>settings>mobile and wireless networks>mobile networks>toggle mobile network on and off. (is it acting better?) No? then..
2. Factory data reset the phone. (is it acting better now?) No? then..
3. Using odin reflash the stock ROM (is it acting bettery now?) No? then take it back.... your phone is officially broken.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel like a tard aadmitting this but I can't figure out how to do/find step one
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
Sounds like the issues I had with 5 (not exaggerating) GNexs before I gave up on the phone. It was a hardware issue. Hopefully Samsung didn't let this issue slip to the GSIII
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
Guys I seriously think it's a Verizon issue. I don't know one person with an VZW LTE device that doesn't have problems connecting.
I had a Korean GNex that never dropped 4G. I had 5 Chinese models that never held a signal at all (non-data included) for over ten minutes. For once I don't think it was Verizon.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
Same issues
I have not done anything to my phone. It is still stock. While using Google Maps, it has managed to reboot 3 times on me. It has also managed to lose service two times while using Google Maps before rebooting with the "Searching for GPS" message. The night before I could NOT send SMS/MMS messages. Had to resort to Google Voice. Any thoughts would be great. I don't believe I have been holding it incorrectly as I have a BT headset. I'm randomly getting searching for services also. I don't think it's VZW with my Rezound, I would never lose WIFI, 4G, or calling service. Just wondering if anyone else is having this problem?
I am coming from the Incredible so I have never tried 4G at my house before but 3G has always been strong. I picked up my S3 last night and only 3G will connect. According to Verizon coverage maps I am solidly in a 4G area. Not sure what's going on.
Piss-off Verizon!
So I am having the same issue on mine and my wife's phone. Both pre-ordered in June and received on the 9th.
I stream music in my car while I drive to and from work an hour away. This is extremely annoying as I have to constantly fiddle with my phone to get the data connection back while I'm driving to get my music back.
I called Verizon twice and had the SIM swapped out on mine to test if it fixed it. It fixed one issue of signal strength, but not the dropping of connections. Here's my problems:
- Going from a 3G to a 4G area, signal drops out to unknown in the About Phone > Status page for about 30 seconds or more
- Sometimes it just stays at 3G and never switches
- Going from a 4G to a 3G area, signal drops out to unknown in the About Phone > Status page for about 30 seconds or more
- While it claims I have 4G, there are many times where I cannot get any data connection at all where Facebook says network connection error or speed test doesn't work at all and web pages won't load
- One issue fixed after the SIM swap was that under Settings > More Settings > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names it is now switching from EHRPD and LTE more often. Still not perfect, but I'm assuming that it stays in EHRPD mode when in an extended 4G coverage area (not sure about this) but before it wouldn't use the LTE option no matter what
Before the SIM swap my data connection dropped out completely in the middle of a city known to have great 4G coverage and would not come back no matter what I did (airplane mode on/off, mobile data off/on, phone reboot)
Software reset didn't fix any of these issues either.
Here is what I've decided about some of the issues they are having based on my experiences driving around so much. It seems as if the phone cannot negotiate with the towers correctly. It's as if it needs to drop the 3G connection before it can negotiate a 4G connection, hence the 30 seconds of no data at all, and same for going from 4G to 3G, it seems it can't negotiate without first dropping your current connection. 3G to 1X and back has no issues.
I know this is long, but I want it detailed as much as possible. I had gotten the Bionic when it first came out and it did the same thing, where I could never get a 4G connection when it was supposed to or go back once acquired. The main difference is that my Galaxy S III has WAY better battery life than the Bionic had. So they seemed to have cured the battery drain when searching for a 4G tower. I'm still pissed at Verizon stating I'm in a 4G area and then never getting that connection at home, let alone barely getting a 1x connection. My dBm levels are usually in the -95 to -104 area when at home...I'm in a 4G area now and it's at -112 with an asu of 28 while at home it's usually 1 asu. Hope this helps someone else out. I don't know if a phone swap is going to fix these issues.
Verizon has told me that they are looking at a software update sometime in September...I'll believe it when I see it. In the mean time I have 7 more days to decide to keep the phone with no Verizon tech knowing what they are doing or able to troubleshoot their way out of a brown paper bag.
I am getting a new phone shipped out to me tomorrow. I will let you know if the same thing happens or it is Verizon.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
mybook4 said:
Have any Verizon Wireless Galaxy S 3 users (besides myself) noticed the following symptoms:
1) Phone doesn't connect to 4g LTE until approximately 15 minutes later (even in an excellant 4g coverage area)
2) Phone connects to 4g LTE then disconnects approximately 15 minutes later and drops to 3g (even in excellent 4g coverage area).
3) Phone shows 4g LTE connection, but no data can be transmitted/received (tested with speedtest and a google search in the browser). This one is particularly bad, as there is currently no way I am aware of to turn off the 4g radio)
I've spoken with VZW technical support and they want me to replace the phone to see if things get better. I'm not quite sure it's a hardware problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had symptoms comparable to these, 4G stopped working in areas where it should. It would occasionally go back to 4g, only to not actually transfer any data. My phone was fine before this, and has been fine ever since. In my case I believe flashing CM9 for a bit could have triggered my problems. I have no explanation for why my phone randomly started working properly again.
I'm doubtful that this is a hardware issue, and I am hoping future updates may address radio issues.
Just an fyi, I have talked to multiple Verizon reps and changed sim cards to get nowhere. I'm at the point where I'm about ready to return it for another phone to see if that helps.
Verizon claims this is not a well known issue or widespread. I beg to differ. If it isn't widespread, then it must be a defective unit imo. I also think I got a retarded rep, he tried to tell me updates come straight from the manufacturers and we should see an update soon after a phones release haha. I asked for examples of phone release dates and the date of the first update...He couldn't provide me with any. I then asked why the nexus got the 4.0.4 update 2 months after every other carrier and he stated, well sir we don't release the updates until they're tested. Ah, so you do control the updates!
Needless to say, I'm getting tired of this crap. I'll let you know how the replacement goes.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

4G Throttle?

I'm on Verizon and I was under the impression that they did not throttle the 4G network, but lately, I have been getting very slow speeds (on the order of 3G speeds) and have been unable to connect to 4G in locations that I usually get four 4G bars.
I have not rooted or modified my phone in any way.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Morphinity said:
I'm on Verizon and I was under the impression that they did not throttle the 4G network, but lately, I have been getting very slow speeds (on the order of 3G speeds) and have been unable to connect to 4G in locations that I usually get four 4G bars.
I have not rooted or modified my phone in any way.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://support.verizonwireless.com/information/data_disclosure.html
Will I be affected by Network Optimization?
Only a small percent of customers will be affected. To be affected, you must be:
A data customer on an unlimited data plan;
Have a 3G Verizon Wireless device (if you have a 4G LTE device you will not be impacted); and
Among the top 5% of data users in a given month.
So the short answer is: you should not be throttled. I'm at 40GB for my data plan this month. I had problems with my home DSL and it has been out for awhile, so I do everything from my phone. We've had LTE for almost 3 weeks here and I have been able to run speed tests daily that exceed 30Mbps down.
Hmm, then I suppose there's something actually wrong with my connection. Hanks for that.
Any ideas as to how I can resolve these issues? I've been stuck on 3G.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Morphinity said:
Hmm, then I suppose there's something actually wrong with my connection. Hanks for that.
Any ideas as to how I can resolve these issues? I've been stuck on 3G.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check your APN settings.
I was having the same issue. I rebooted my phone a few times and that didn’t work. I was literally walking into a Verizon store to have it looked at when I decided to run another speedtest so that I wouldn’t look stupid. It went from usually getting 4mbps down to 35mbps down. I went ahead and took it in and they said nothing was wrong with it. I took it home and since then I’ve been getting 20mbps down consistently. This is weird considering I’d been getting 4mbps down since I got the phone.
psycho_asylum said:
Will I be affected by Network Optimization?
Only a small percent of customers will be affected. To be affected, you must be:
A data customer on an unlimited data plan;
Have a 3G Verizon Wireless device (if you have a 4G LTE device you will not be impacted); and
Among the top 5% of data users in a given month.
So the short answer is: you should not be throttled. I'm at 40GB for my data plan this month. I had problems with my home DSL and it has been out for awhile, so I do everything from my phone. We've had LTE for almost 3 weeks here and I have been able to run speed tests daily that exceed 30Mbps down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know, thanks for this information. I was wondering since I have been doing some tethering. I might be up at 8-10GB in a big month but nowhere near 40GB.
I've consistently managed 20-30 Mbps when I drove to an area with 4G, but recently, it hasn't wanted to go over 3 Mbps. Additionally, quite often the data connection (and occasionally my calls) have been dropping. I'm not sure if it's a phone problem, a tower problem, or what.
I've noticed the same thing. My phone got 18mb/s down when I first got it, now it's only around 5 I think.
Reviving the thread now that 4G LTE unlimited data owners are affected. Show your support and send this guy a quick note. Please do not allow VZW to "throttle" unlimited 4G LTE plan owners. He is on our side. Don't enter a BS email address.
http://www.fcc.gov/leadership/tom-wheeler-mail

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