Database Info

What's the real deal with "4G"

I've heard everything. From you'll need a different Sim to get 4G speeds, you'll need to change your data plan, and at&t hasn't launched 4G yet. What's going on? I personal can't get speeds over 2.2 mbps and from what I've read nobody else can either. Whats the real deal here?
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

real deal is att just relabel their 3G as 4G!
on att map, it shows i got 4G coverage in bayarea, CA.
but speedtest is the same as my regular 3G phone (captivate)!

Heck Rochester NY my Captivate if faster than the "4G" speeds. I can get 3.3 down 1.2 up on average on the captivate. Inspire is around 2.2 and .2.

rob989_69 said:
Heck Rochester NY my Captivate if faster than the "4G" speeds. I can get 3.3 down 1.2 up on average on the captivate. Inspire is around 2.2 and .2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmm i get about 3.1 in rochester and .38 down constantly. where are you in roc?

JetBlk said:
hmm i get about 3.1 in rochester and .38 down constantly. where are you in roc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Webster
10char

I'm in ca in the valley. 3g is around 3mbps Here... I can't seem to get over 1mbps today!. Argh
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

dirty secret of 4g
fake 4g vs real 4g

I was told by an att employee that they won't be launching the 4g until June. It will show up on your phone as 4g coverage but won't get the speed of it until June.

Anyone else read the title of this thread and think of "The Real Deal with Bill McNeil?"
Also, signs point to hspa+ not being turned on til some mystical future day.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

Getting around 3.5 down and 1 up. Was getting like 2 down, 1.5 up with my captivate

i'm getting up to 4.7

rob989_69 said:
Webster
10char
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ah im in henrietta

Any ETA on activating 4G in Miami?

jthornton71707 said:
I've heard everything. From you'll need a different Sim to get 4G speeds, you'll need to change your data plan, and at&t hasn't launched 4G yet. What's going on? I personal can't get speeds over 2.2 mbps and from what I've read nobody else can either. Whats the real deal here?
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have 4G in Seattle.
I also was given a new Sim card, a bit different then the one I had for my Captivate.
I am getting anywhere from 2.5mb to 6mb DL.

The real deal is that AT&T (well all the carriers) lied to us and the newer speeds will be rolled out whenever they feel like it.
I don't know anyone who's in the prime 4G spots who gets decent speeds (without or without the patched HSUPA).
I like others on the forums have heard many mixed things about when they'll officially be rolling the faster speeds out but for the moment we all got duped.

Cwluc said:
The real deal is that AT&T (well all the carriers) lied to us and the newer speeds will be rolled out whenever they feel like it.
I don't know anyone who's in the prime 4G spots who gets decent speeds (without or without the patched HSUPA).
I like others on the forums have heard many mixed things about when they'll officially be rolling the faster speeds out but for the moment we all got duped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am in Baltimore (launched 4G market) and I get better speeds in the 3G areas then I do in the center of the 4G areas.
Kinda ****ed up!

Patience
O.k. here is the real deal... an actual answer to your question rather than simply posting my speeds.
4g is being rolled out in several phases. Lets tackle them one at a time.
First AT&T is releasing HSPDA+ as 4G... technically it is not 4g but since T-Mobile is advertising it that way, so is AT&T. This has 2 different upgrades to make it work. 1) They had to do a software upgrade to the transmitters on the cell towers. I believe that it is either all complete or close to complete. So technically they are using a 4g network for those transmissions. However that leads to the second step. 2) They need to upgrade the physical wires feeding the towers to handle the additional speeds. This is a much more massive process and a much slower roll out. This is called backhaul and is creeping out now, tower by tower. (T-Mobile is in the same boat, and they also do not have their backhaul anywhere near done.)
Second phase is to upgrade the entire system to LTE (a true 4g) This process is not supposed to start until summer and not be significantly built out until mid - late 2012. Verizon also does not have much of their LTE network built out, and don't even have their LTE phone on the market yet (the Thunderbolt).
I still work in an area with only Edge... a little patience and it will get to you. I can tell you that even without the HSPDA+ network running, it is still a ton faster than my Tilt2.

HSPA+ Backhaul

I know this isn't just about the Inspire, but kept seeing people write that AT&T will have the backhaul turned on or complete on March 1.
Anyone know if this has happened? I have not seen any increase in speeds at all.

I believe it has been turned on for the areas at&t has the enhanced backhaul deployed. It's not available everywhere yet.
http://www.att.com/network/#fbid=Cfb68NsnGk7 - Check the coverage map and scroll over it to see where at&t currently has 4G.

Huh. It says I am in a prime area for 4G Coverage...

What kind of speeds are you attaining?

Rooted stock rom, 2 Mb down 1 Mb up.

Map currently does not depict 4G
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App

darkbluexplorer said:
Map currently does not depict 4G
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Scroll over it.

derekroper said:
Rooted stock rom, 2 Mb down 1 Mb up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's strange, I regularly see over 4.5Mb down, 1.2Mb up.

here is what att told me

I have seen some improvements. By my work during the day I was getting 1500 down. Now I am getting 3500 down on average. Check my sig, that was the best I have yet to see on my phone 6496 down and 1321 up.

Woke up this morning and ran a speed test for fun. Was consistently getting 4.1-4.3 mbps down (topped out at 4.5) with 1.3 mbps up. Previously i was getting around 3.3 down and 1.3 up. Running Android Rev 2.1. Will be traveling a bit today and will do more tests.

derekroper said:
I know this isn't just about the Inspire, but kept seeing people write that AT&T will have the backhaul turned on or complete on March 1.
Anyone know if this has happened? I have not seen any increase in speeds at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is just att BS excuess! the real truth is they just rename their 3G networks as 4G! funny, those people "claim" they have hspa+ speed (over 4.5mb per sec) but no one have youtube to prove it! haha

2kgt said:
I believe it has been turned on for the areas at&t has the enhanced backhaul deployed. It's not available everywhere yet.
http://www.att.com/network/#fbid=Cfb68NsnGk7 - Check the coverage map and scroll over it to see where at&t currently has 4G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I live smack dab in the middle of the 4G coverage in San Francisco, and my phone is still showing HSDPA and getting about 1.5mbps-3mbps... certainly not the "4G" like speeds they depict.

netnerd said:
that is just att BS excuess! the real truth is they just rename their 3G networks as 4G! funny, those people "claim" they have hspa+ speed (over 4.5mb per sec) but no one have youtube to prove it! haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with your comments 100% here. I've yet to see a snapshot of network settings showing HSPA+ ... everyone still shows HSDPA.... and the speeds are reflective of such.

netnerd said:
that is just att BS excuess! the real truth is they just rename their 3G networks as 4G! funny, those people "claim" they have hspa+ speed (over 4.5mb per sec) but no one have youtube to prove it! haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How many times are you going to post these ignorant comments? Your statements have absolutely zero credibility and you've consistently displayed the fact that your knowledge of at&t's network is nonexistent.
HSPA+ has been officially recognized as 4G and the speeds attained by it are similar to current capabilities of WiMax and LTE. T-Mobile's 4G network is also HSPA+.
The network enhancements have not yet been rolled out to all areas, so you will not get 4G speed simply by using an 4G capable phone. I personally have seen over 4.5 Mbs down and I'm in an area where at&t doesn't even show the enhanced backhaul to be deployed.
You're more than welcome to do actual research into at&t's ongoing network improvements, so you will be better informed on this matter.

2kgt said:
How many times are you going to post these ignorant comments? Your statements have absolutely zero credibility and you've consistently displayed the fact that your knowledge of at&t's network is nonexistent.
HSPA+ has been officially recognized as 4G and the speeds attained by it are similar to current capabilities of WiMax and LTE. T-Mobile's 4G network is also HSPA+.
The network enhancements have not yet been rolled out to all areas, so you will not get 4G speed simply by using an 4G capable phone. I personally have seen over 4.5 Mbs down and I'm in an area where at&t doesn't even show the enhanced backhaul to be deployed.
You're more than welcome to do actual research into at&t's ongoing network improvements, so you will be better informed on this matter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, you're the poster child for AT&T's marketing campaign.
He is actually 100% right. It's 3G rebranded as 4G, hence why AT&T is legally obligated to put fine print on everything, saying "4G-like speed" ... HSPA+ is NOT accepted as 4G, it's only MARKETED as such to try and gain acceptance from consumers.

If you don't like AT&T then switch.......... If you don't have AT&T leave us alone.
netnerd said:
that is just att BS excuess! the real truth is they just rename their 3G networks as 4G! funny, those people "claim" they have hspa+ speed (over 4.5mb per sec) but no one have youtube to prove it! haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

droe411 said:
If you don't like AT&T then switch.......... If you don't have AT&T leave us alone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have a problem with the speeds I'm getting. Compared to Verizon and Sprint, AT&T is 2X as fast in every major metro area TODAY.
I don't care if it's real 4G or 3.5G or 3G... even at 3G their average speed nationwide IS faster than Verizon. Great I can use Verizon LTE in San Francisco, but what about when I'm in Billings, or Ft Lauderdale, or Scottsdale? Back on their 3G network, which runs at about 700k... no thanks!
The bottom line is I think those of us on this forum are just upset that they're trying to sell the network as 4G, and it's not. However if you were a business and both Sprint and Verizon are deploying 4G, you have to do something to compete or watch customers flock to the next best thing. By advertising 4G-like speeds, they get around the legal issues surrounding false advertising, and at the end of the day, the consumer really gets the same experience. YouTube doesn't look any better at 8mbps than it does at 1mbps... and www.tmz.com loads just as fast at 2mbps as it does at 5mbps... The only impact is on those who tether\use data cards, really.
If they marketed it as "ATT 4.0" or "Verizon 4.0" and both delivered 4.0 mbps speed, would you really CARE what technology they use? No, but stupid Americans only respond to silly marketing names (aka Inspire, Desire, Droid, Aria, Evo, MyTouch, Captivate, Intercept... blah blah blah)... if they called it a HTC 5450, or a Samsung X9014, people would be afraid of it.... the only reason Blackberry was able to break into the consumer market was by adding names like Bold, Curve, Storm... BOOM, you have my attention! lol
So thank all of the dumb people (mostly those 99% not on this forum), for requiring things dumbed down for them that caused the whole 3\3.5\4G naming debacle. hehe

Here is a speed test I just ran.

2kgt said:
Here is a speed test I just ran.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine to your same server.
**** My results are common for middle of the day on a business day in San Francisco. The network here usually runs at about 50% of the speed as it does at night... it's real bad, but always been this way ****

Slow Sprint Nexus S 4G data speeds. Normal?

I got a Nexus S 4G, I'm getting slow speeds. Anywhere from 0 to 300kbps on average. I pulled 500kbps a few times. Did a speed test next to a friends Evo. Evo pulled 1.2 mbps, the Nexus pulled 200kbps.
I called Sprint, and they flashed a few things on their side and I updated the usual suspects, but nothing changed.
I don't know anyone where I live who has one, so I was wondering if the folks here who have one have noticed slower than normal or even downright abysmal data speeds.
Thanks!

ive been blaming the network. results havent changed across multiple different devices.

I checked mine when I was in a 4g area about an hour ago and I got 4.1M down and 800K up

tailsthecat3 said:
ive been blaming the network. results havent changed across multiple different devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my reference is for 3g exclusively. granted cdma is capped at 3.1 but sprints 3g network is far slower.
ive experienced terrible sprint 3g speeds for over a year with multiple different blackberry's, multiple htc hero's, multiple htc evo's and now the nexus s 4g.

How sad. What's the use in having unlimited data if it's so slow you can't stream music on Pandora, or download things. Might as well go to AT&T and sign up for my allotted 2gb data. They have really fast data speeds around here.

Zysoclaplem said:
How sad. What's the use in having unlimited data if it's so slow you can't stream music on Pandora, or download things. Might as well go to AT&T and sign up for my allotted 2gb data. They have really fast data speeds around here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go with which ever cell company is best for your area. Here in Nashville TN, the CDMA is dominant. Where as Verizon / Sprint service is strong. My Nexus does on average 8Mbps to 10Mbps down on 4G and 1 to 2Mbps.
So im definitely taking advantage of the unlimited data usage and love it. I do about 2-3 GB of data a week lol.
If the network is slow in your area, Sprint just aint for you just as TMobile just wasn't for me lol.

The day I got my phone, last sunday, I tested the 4g speeds. It was very disappointing. I was getting the same speeds or sometimes slower than 3g. I will have to try again tomorrow if I remember to see if it improved. I'm measuring this against my old epic that used to connect to 4g much quicker and easier and it hauled ass. The ns4g is pokey. I don't know if it's psychological or not but I thought I got better speeds on the epic and evo for 3/4g.

After running some more test on the Nexus 4G. I noticed running the speed test app gave me slower speed results then other 4G phones. But when downloading large files while tethered using bittorrent or just large files in the browsed I seen the speeds hit 700KB/s to 1MB/s which is around 9-10 Mbps. I also noticed the indicator next to battery for 4G light up 2 bars where normally it is grey for no activity and 1 bar for some activity.
Maybe Google did something new to the Nexus 4G vs other 4G phones where it attempts to save battery power by not using much speed until its actually needed. Also starting to think the 4G bars don't represent reception but might represent the speed or data being transmitted which also explains why it turns grey and green.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App

Used the evo up until December before I jumped to at&t. Was pulling 1-1.5mbs down consistently in my area on 3g. Now with the ns4g its my first time back since 5 months ago and I'm averaging <.5mbs down in my area on 3g! Its not the phone bc I was getting the same speeds on my temporary echo phone.
My only assumption is that within the 5 months I was gone, an assload of ppl jumped on sprint's network.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

p00kienrayray said:
Used the evo up until December before I jumped to at&t. Was pulling 1-1.5mbs down consistently in my area on 3g. Now with the ns4g its my first time back since 5 months ago and I'm averaging <.5mbs down in my area on 3g! Its not the phone bc I was getting the same speeds on my temporary echo phone.
My only assumption is that within the 5 months I was gone, an assload of ppl jumped on sprint's network.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i would agree, except for the fact that i just came from an htc hero and was pulling 1-2 mbps on 3g and now on my brand new ns4g im getting less than 1 mbps on 3g. Im very disappointed idk what to do i spent so much money on this phone.

Why are my "4G" speeds so incredibly slow?

I know not to expect LTE speeds from AT&Ts HSPA+, but it shouldn't be what it is in my opinion.
Average is .9/1 D/U with speedtest. Ping is 100-200ms most of the time, never lower, sometimes higher.
Fastest result I EVER got is 3/.1 that was at 3AM in a rural area (HSPA in rural areas you say? yep.). So is my phone's hardware bad, is Minnesota bad for HSPA+ in general, or is it something else?
Most people get at least 3/3 on average, and I haven't gotten that once.

Depends on where u are at. I got 6/3 around DC. Back in raliegh it is usually 3/1 d/u.
I think att just does not have 4g in many places.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda premium

It's HSPA+, that I know. I asked them at the store, I've looked at maps, and I believe a few of my friends with ATT "4G" phones get HSPA+ in my house.
3G is like 150Kbps, even though my "4G" is 6x faster, that's not exactly fast. It's like dial up compared to 512k DSL.

I get between .7 and 2+ at my house. When I'm up & around Nashville I get 2 to 5 on average. I'm sure that once att releases gingerbread for us, the dev's will have some good roms finished.
Cranky...

I hear some Carriers reserve the right to throttle a user's bandwidth if they decide that the user has used too much bandwidth for the month (e.g. by tethering, making the phone act as a server, etc.)
Sent from an unrooted DroidX using XDA app.

You know... every samsung android phone I've owned has had the problem. Except, for me, it will sometimes be really fast, and other times be really slow, all on 4g and all in the same area. It's very strange.

I browse a bit and download apps, I don't tether or anything. And I have a 200MB plan so it's not like they would even do anything about tethering, a full sized computer uses than in 10 web pages.
My friend with an HSPA+ phone is coming over in a few hours, I'll get his phone from him and see what his speeds are. If they're much higher than mine I'm complaining to AT&T or Samsung.

strychninetwitch said:
My friend with an HSPA+ phone is coming over in a few hours, I'll get his phone from him and see what his speeds are. If they're much higher than mine I'm complaining to AT&T or Samsung.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when your friend comes over why don't you both run some tests, than swap sim cards and run same tests, this will help validate if issue is with your phone or with your account/line being routed improperly or something.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda premium

Tomdg07 said:
when your friend comes over why don't you both run some tests, than swap sim cards and run same tests, this will help validate if issue is with your phone or with your account/line being routed improperly or something.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will do.
10char

What ROM are you running?

I also had a problem switching from an iphone, I only had a 200mb data plan, then I got the infuse never told them I switched. I was getting really slow speeds I called at& t they said I need to upgrade to a 4g data plan. After that my speeds improved immediately after a reboot.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App

@Entropy, it happens with any ROM, but in case you wanted to know for some other reason... infused 2.3.3
@BadFisH, it's a 4G data plan. They activated it at a kiosk in a mall and it's a 4G labeled SIM (not that that ACTUALLY makes a difference).

strychninetwitch said:
@Entropy, it happens with any ROM, but in case you wanted to know for some other reason... infused 2.3.3
@BadFisH, it's a 4G data plan. They activated it at a kiosk in a mall and it's a 4G labeled SIM (not that that ACTUALLY makes a difference).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Including stock Froyo?

Entropy512 said:
Including stock Froyo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock froyo for me was super fast especially with uckh1 roms do seem to slow it down but Idc
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda premium

tyshemi said:
Stock froyo for me was super fast especially with uckh1 roms do seem to slow it down but Idc
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any Froyo ROM should be fast, but since he's talking about complaining to AT&T and Samsung - well you've gotta be on an official release to have a valid complaint.

Yeah stock froyo is the same as any GB or other custom ROM. And yeah you have to be on stock for a claim, but I can easily use the unbricker to go back to stock.

strychninetwitch said:
Yeah stock froyo is the same as any GB or other custom ROM. And yeah you have to be on stock for a claim, but I can easily use the unbricker to go back to stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try testing at an off-peak time... I'm surprised you have full HSPA+ service in a rural area.
FYI all of our Gingerbread ROMs are known for poor data performance. One of the top three known issues with UXKG3. However if Froyo (esp. stock) is also problematic - it's likely that your area doesn't actually have HSPA+ service deployed yet.
Don't believe lowly store reps. If they had more of a clue they wouldn't be working in a retail store...

On stock froyo I was getting 3-5 dl and maxed at a little over 12, then when I went to gingerbread im getting 4-6 but capped at about 9-10. My overall speeds are way faster, but my max is a little less, I'm guessing it has to do with the launch of a bunch of new 4g devices and more users are on the network. Other than that I'm happy with my infuse running GTGs Infused 2.2.3.

The Infuse is the fastest device I've ever seen. Typically, I see devices in my area get 1-3 mbps down and .7-1 mbps up. Without fail, the Infuse gets triple, sometimes quadruple that (uploads generally the same).

My friend's atrix only got around 100Kbps higher when we ran speedtest at the same time. Guess it's crap HSPA+ out here, though it IS HSPA+.

4G Mobile Internet

While watching the latest news on BBC it said about the UK beginning to introduce 4G Internet.
The 1st provider to have 4G handsets on the UK is Everything Everywhere (previously Orange and T-Mobile).
During speed tests on a standard 3G connection it has download speed of around 1mb/s, yet with 4G it had speeds of around 30mb/s!!
I was wondering what the whole of XDA thought of this. If there is any 4G users out there at the moment could you tell of your experiences with this as I'm sure I'm not the only one who will be speaking about this.

It's fast, but until more users start actually using the LTE network, the 30 mbps isn't a true measure.
Remember when at&t and Verizon started out hitting 60 and 70 mbps? But now its a lot slower because more and more users and devices came out?
Sent from my DROID2 using xda premium

JohnMcManusUK said:
While watching the latest news on BBC it said about the UK beginning to introduce 4G Internet.
The 1st provider to have 4G handsets on the UK is Everything Everywhere (previously Orange and T-Mobile).
During speed tests on a standard 3G connection it has download speed of around 1mb/s, yet with 4G it had speeds of around 30mb/s!!
I was wondering what the whole of XDA thought of this. If there is any 4G users out there at the moment could you tell of your experiences with this as I'm sure I'm not the only one who will be speaking about this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Having seen this I'm very glad that I held off on upgrading my phone when my contract ran out. I just hope that EverythingEverywhere (what a cr4p name that is) provide an announcement soon on some decent 4G phones (not the iPhone 5).

When I first got att lte I was pulling 30 down now I'm down to 10 on average due to network congestion
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

Illnevertell said:
When I first got att lte I was pulling 30 down now I'm down to 10 on average due to network congestion
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what your saying is your only getting 10mb/s yet at 1st you were getting 30mb/s.
As another member has said about network congestion how does this connection of 4G work compared to 3G. What is the difference apart from speed, etc...