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Ok, so I have like 5 or so months left before I qualify for upgrade pricing at ATT. Money really isnt as much of an issue as other issues, such as network speed, and device features.
so my questions are:
1) My understanding is that ATT 3G is superior to Sprint's EVDO in terms of speed, assuming the same touch pro device is used. True?
2) I know the device speccs aren't really out yet, but in terms of rumors, I've heard that Verizon will criple their version. Is there any other providers out there doing the same thing?
I was going to get the Europe/Asia versions but since there isn't a way to run it off of the 3G networks here yet, and may never have a way, I was thinking of getting sprint next month, or just plain waiting out for ATT or T-Mobile.
What do you guys think? (sorry if this had been discussed before)
AT&T does not have faster speeds, it says it can do 600 to 1400 kbps down / 500 to 800 kbps upload.
I have never gotten more than 1mbps on AT&T download, i have gotten some pretty good upload though, seemed to average around the mid 700 range.
Sprint, now this depends. Sprint seems to have a lot more 3G coverage than AT&T. They have EVDO and EVDO RevA. I visit a city that has RevA frequently and I have gotten 2.9mbps download and 1.5mbps upload.
That was my average test on speedtest.net
In EVDO areas where they do not have RevA I have gotten about 1.2mbps download and about 500 kbps upload average, which is worse than AT&T.
Another thing to consider is the data plan price.
Sprint has all you can data plan for $15 per month, vs AT&T's 40? 60? I can't remember but it was terrible!
Lots of people complain about sprint in general but I have been very pleased and I do quite a bit of buisness with them. I recommend them.
Bad HAL 9000 said:
AT&T does not have faster speeds, it says it can do 600 to 1400 kbps down / 500 to 800 kbps upload.
I have never gotten more than 1mbps on AT&T download, i have gotten some pretty good upload though, seemed to average around the mid 700 range.
Sprint, now this depends. Sprint seems to have a lot more 3G coverage than AT&T. They have EVDO and EVDO RevA. I visit a city that has RevA frequently and I have gotten 2.9mbps download and 1.5mbps upload.
That was my average test on speedtest.net
In EVDO areas where they do not have RevA I have gotten about 1.2mbps download and about 500 kbps upload average, which is worse than AT&T.
Another thing to consider is the data plan price.
Sprint has all you can data plan for $15 per month, vs AT&T's 40? 60? I can't remember but it was terrible!
Lots of people complain about sprint in general but I have been very pleased and I do quite a bit of buisness with them. I recommend them.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for your input. Yeah I'm really leaning towards sprint because of it's "Simply Everything" plan which is $99 for unlimited talk/data. All other networks seem to have unlimited talk for $99 but it doesn't seem to include data.
Bad HAL 9000 said:
AT&T does not have faster speeds, it says it can do 600 to 1400 kbps down / 500 to 800 kbps upload.
I have never gotten more than 1mbps on AT&T download, i have gotten some pretty good upload though, seemed to average around the mid 700 range.
Sprint, now this depends. Sprint seems to have a lot more 3G coverage than AT&T. They have EVDO and EVDO RevA. I visit a city that has RevA frequently and I have gotten 2.9mbps download and 1.5mbps upload.
That was my average test on speedtest.net
In EVDO areas where they do not have RevA I have gotten about 1.2mbps download and about 500 kbps upload average, which is worse than AT&T.
Another thing to consider is the data plan price.
Sprint has all you can data plan for $15 per month, vs AT&T's 40? 60? I can't remember but it was terrible!
Lots of people complain about sprint in general but I have been very pleased and I do quite a bit of buisness with them. I recommend them.
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Click to collapse
Where is this "all you can data plan" from Sprint? I am betting they do not offer it for plan changes or new subs anymore.
They sure do, its called 'sprint powervision' or just the 'Data Plan'
Its $15 a month. The only stipulation is that you cannot use your phone as a modem (PAM) without getting charged extra. Although there are plenty of ways around that.
pam not on the everything or the talk/message/data share plan but there should be a workaround on the internet sharing i think u might have to go on ##debug# to do it jus have ur msl ready lol
wait until att has the hsdpa by the end of the year of course only some markets but then its definetly fastest
Bad HAL 9000 said:
I visit a city that has RevA frequently and I have gotten 2.9mbps download and 1.5mbps upload.
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That must be the city of the holy grail, the highest RevA can go to is 3.1 down/1.8 up... So you pretty much have the advertised speeds maxed out, which I've never seen.
My thoughts...
I was an AT&T (previously Cingular, previously T-Mobile) customer for quite a while. I have used GSM almost exclusively for 8 years. I left for CDMA at Sprint entirely because of internet speed. AT&T's 3G coverage is pretty lousy -- at least in the South East where I live. I can get 3G pretty much only in major cities. EVDO is available throughout the entire state of NC (where I live) -- even in rural areas, believe it or not. EVDO Rev A is spottier, but EVDO is fast enough for me.
The throughput is sufficient to sync exchange, play internet radio, browse the web, and download files at the same time. I haven't done speed tests to see exactly what the throughput is, but it "feels" as good as my home DSL service.
Additionally, Sprint's fallback internet, the "1X" service is much faster than AT&T's fallback service, Edge (or worse, GPRS). With 1X, I can still listen to internet radio and browse the web effectively (but not at the same time). With Edge, you can't -- it will skip like crazy. Not to mention that loading web sites and downloading anything takes for-ev-er!
Cost is another consideration. Although it is not published on their website, my data plan is only $15/mo for unlimited data. It does not include Sprint Music, Sprint TV, Sprint Navigation, or other value-added services like the $30 plan. It's not on their website. You have to call and request the "Sprint PowerVision Basic" plan. The basic plan is mainly for more basic phones, but if you have no interest in the value-added features and just want internet, you can get it on fancier phones as well.
As far as I know, AT&T still only has one unlimited data plan and it's approximately $30/mo.
Until AT&T's 3G service has a wider footprint, I would go with Sprint for data-heavy phone use. Verizon uses the same network as Sprint, but their data plan is $40/mo (around here at least), so they were out of the question for me.
My Wife has AT&T 3G, I have Sprint EVDO Rev A. We often between Texas and Florida. My Sprint service wins hands down. Much better coverage and MUCH faster speed. Two weekends ago we watched an entire football game on my mogul from the back of a car between Ft Laud and Key West with not one glitch. I was streaming the live feed from a server in Texas using Orb. We often do the same between Dallas and Houston. Every time we've tried using her phone the AT&T service can't keep up.
AssassinsLament said:
Ok, so I have like 5 or so months left before I qualify for upgrade pricing at ATT. Money really isnt as much of an issue as other issues, such as network speed, and device features.
so my questions are:
1) My understanding is that ATT 3G is superior to Sprint's EVDO in terms of speed, assuming the same touch pro device is used. True?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is completely FALSE .... the GSM 3g in the US SUCKS ... EVDO is far better ..
Verizon is the fastest ..
Sprint is 2nd. .
at and Tmobile are far slower... and not as widespread..
TheMostToys said:
My Wife has AT&T 3G, I have Sprint EVDO Rev A. We often between Texas and Florida. My Sprint service wins hands down. Much better coverage and MUCH faster speed. Two weekends ago we watched an entire football game on my mogul from the back of a car between Ft Laud and Key West with not one glitch. I was streaming the live feed from a server in Texas using Orb. We often do the same between Dallas and Houston. Every time we've tried using her phone the AT&T service can't keep up.
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I know people that stream Orb on AT&T, and I've used Slingboxes across the continent on AT&T... I think it's more likely that you have a better phone for playing video than what she has. I'm not doubting Sprint's EVDO is faster, but AT&T's network can surely "keep up" with a service like Orb.
For me, Sprint was faster than even Verizon
TheBundo said:
For me, Sprint was faster than even Verizon
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Well, it all depends on location. As I've said many times before, I can't even make a phone call from my house with Sprint or Verizon, so if you could even get data to transfer it would be snail slow. Yet I get around 500kb/s from AT&T in the same area... Go figure.
I am currently with Sprint and I honestly can't take it anymore. Data speeds are terrible and when I'm bored at work and want to play with my phone I can't. I have the EVO 3d right now so naturally I'm going to switch to the sensation.
I have two questions, 1 ) how is tmobiles data service? And 2) once u go over your data limit what speeds do they throttle u down to?
Thanks
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
ok i just got t-mobile last month and i don't mind there service my family has it here they say they don't get a lot of dropped calls as far as data goes i think they are realiable i can't say i get a great speed in my apartment but i also live in a odd 4g coverage spot when I'm not home though the speeds are great. as amatter of fact i put a iphone to shame with the speed the guy thought he was something having one lol. but my speeds and coverage are based off the dell streak 7. hope i was helpful
firsttimer44 said:
I am currently with Sprint and I honestly can't take it anymore. Data speeds are terrible and when I'm bored at work and want to play with my phone I can't. I have the EVO 3d right now so naturally I'm going to switch to the sensation.
I have two questions, 1 ) how is tmobiles data service? And 2) once u go over your data limit what speeds do they throttle u down to?
Thanks
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
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Here is my take on it. I was with AT&T Wireless, Cingular, Sprint, and Verizon and now I have switch to T-Mobile. I switched to T-mobile a couple of weeks ago and the coverage isn't 100% great but I honestly think that HSPA+ is better for the phones today. Its not that fast all the time and we all know LTE is amazing but the battery consumptions of these circuits is insane. I owned the Thunderbolt. 45mins of active LTE use and the phone was DEAD. I would rather have slower data speeds and be able to use the device for longer.
What you can expect with Tmobile is at least 1Mbps if you haven't gone over your data allocation. After that you can expect about 300-800kbps. The highest data rate i've seen on tmobile is about 8Mbps. You probably won't have too much less coverage than Sprint but there is far less coverage than Verizon and At&t.
Depending on your coverage - data speeds can be real good (I average 5mbps). Data throttling will depend on the plan you choose.
secano said:
Depending on your coverage - data speeds can be real good (I average 5mbps).
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+1
T-Mobile data is usually great in most average to larger sized cities. You should be ok in Indy but find a T-Mobile friend if you can to verify the speeds where you live.
T-Mobile outside of a city or in a super-dense population like NY can be spotty or slow.
I'm in Indianapolis an I always get 4mbps down an 1.2mbps up I just switched from Sprint u will defiantly see a improvement
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
I was a sprint customer, in MY AREA Sprint service went down the crapper. Tmo coverage in my area is fantastic, and has been on my recent travels around the country. Sprint->tmo was well worth it for me. Can't speak for ur coverage area tho.
Sent from my HTC Sexiness.
I just recently switched from Sprint to T-Mobile. With the speedtest.net app I was averaging 300-500 Kbps with Sprint. I'm averaging anywhere from 7-10 Mbps with T-Mobile. The coverage area is great here where I live, and I actually pay less then I was paying with Sprint.
I am in NYC and I have T-mobile for a long time already, recently switch to Sensation 4G and I am getter in average 3mbps download and 1.2 up.
Speeds are great if you are in an area where they have rolled out HSPA+. I get around 7-9 Mbps up and 1-2 Mbps down. If you reach your cap, they throttle you down to EDGE (200-300 Kbps), but some people have said their speeds go even lower than that.
i concur...
aNYthing24 said:
Speeds are great if you are in an area where they have rolled out HSPA+. I get around 7-9 Mbps up and 1-2 Mbps down. If you reach your cap, they throttle you down to EDGE (200-300 Kbps), but some people have said their speeds go even lower than that.
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I average 5mb down/ 2mb up outside of Washington DC. However, when I am in a sweet spot I have averaged 8/9mb down 2/3mb up. These are great for not being on wifi. HOWEVER, if you are NOT in a tower-rich area you will hate your service. Riding from Virginia to South Carolina recently (on 95 south and 85 south) i maintatined a 2g connection 80% of the time. This severly limited my internet capabilities and download speeds. It was not until I draove through major cities that a strong signal came up. I was very disappointed in this. Results may vary for you though.
When I'm on EDGE Opera Mini makes life so much better. I go from NV to AZ a few times out of the year and I can browse forums, image boards and etc. with no problems due to the image compression. Loads as fast as 3G would.
Sprint's 3G network is really slow, I don't think you will have speed issues if you switch from Sprint to T-Mobile especially with this being a 42Mbps market. I'm not going to say 7-10Mbps is network wide but you should have at least 1Mbps
I am in Tulsa, OK and average 8.5-10.5 mb down and 1.5-2.5 mb up. I went with the 5gb of data and usually finish my billing cycle with 1/2-1 gb to spare.
My wife usually goes over her 5gb, and does get throttled, but its not unbearable. It's edge, but it works for a couple of days a month. She runs a blog and tethers her phone to our laptop or Iconia tablet.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
I switched from Sprint because every time I had any issue at all, it was several hours on the phone trying to get it fixed. Not to mention trying to find someone in a store that could do more than pull a new phone out of a box.
So far I am happy. The high speed data is much better than the old Evo. But the lower 2G leaves something to be desired. I may get throttled in the future, but the next tier is only the cost of the "4G fee" that Sprint charged me for my evo that I tried to use the two times I was in an area that had it and found out it pretty well sucked.
I don't think you'll loose much by leaving Sprint, unless you like the saying "Can I put you on hold?"
steve austin said:
I average 5mb down/ 2mb up outside of Washington DC. However, when I am in a sweet spot I have averaged 8/9mb down 2/3mb up. These are great for not being on wifi. HOWEVER, if you are NOT in a tower-rich area you will hate your service. Riding from Virginia to South Carolina recently (on 95 south and 85 south) i maintatined a 2g connection 80% of the time. This severly limited my internet capabilities and download speeds. It was not until I draove through major cities that a strong signal came up. I was very disappointed in this. Results may vary for you though.
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That's pretty standard with T-Mobile. If you spend all your time in the city, they are great to use. For travelers... not so much.
I left Verizon for T-Mobile about 6 years ago and never looked back. I live in the SF Bay Area and get about 6-8 Mbps down. Not only T-Mobile will unlock you phone for you. I have bin to Thailand and Mexico with my phone and used none T-mobile sim cards. I am not looking forward to the T-mobile AT&T merger. I think the only people that are going to make out in the deal is AT&T customers.
Im with you OP - I was with Sprint (a convert from AT&T iPhone to the EVO 3D) - I loved the phone but for 2 weeks I tried to live with the Data on Sprint and I just couldnt do it. I have been with Tmobile for 2 weeks and have had NO data issues and I do in fact get a data signal where my Sprint service got nothing (At the Hockey Rink / Etc). I have tested Edge (2G) speeds and they are still faster than what I was pulling from Sprint - So I was happy and so is my wife. I hated to drop the 3D phone, but I needed reliable Data.
Make sure you tell Sprint why you are leaving (if you do) - They argued with me that data is fine and I showed them speed tests on 3 of their phones at 120-175k (one was 1.5Mb, as they stated, but I showed them Wifi was on!!! - Disabled it and down the tubes it went). I then showed my Sensation to them and I was pulling 6Mb (around 6000k down and 2000k up) - They said, "Well, yeah, your bill will be higher" - I pay $5 less and I am on the 5GB plan - and I showed them Edge speeds with the 4G Disabled, where I would get unlimited, and they had no more comments.
Sprint sales people are great, I had no issues with them - but They need a HUGE upgrade to stay in this business.
firsttimer44 said:
I am currently with Sprint and I honestly can't take it anymore. Data speeds are terrible and when I'm bored at work and want to play with my phone I can't. I have the EVO 3d right now so naturally I'm going to switch to the sensation.
I have two questions, 1 ) how is T-Mobiles data service? And 2) once u go over your data limit what speeds do they throttle u down to?
Thanks
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
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Well for me in Indiana coverage is average with the other two big dogs. Sprint just flat out sucks. I switched from sprint to tmo and never looked back. Sim card based phone service. Better data speeds. More 3g and 4g towers by far.
As for Speed after data cap you go to 2g speed after you hit the cap. Which is way better then being totally cut off or paying overage. plus if Att and Tmo merger goes through the next gen devices will have an amazing coverage because the two network will eventually become one.
I'm down in Atlanta and been with tmo for many moons...I got the g2x and I will honestly say at times the network really bumps and hauls ass. There isn't many times ItS slow....
I usually use around 4-5 gb of data. N the one month I used 6.7gb they said I would b throttled but never was for the remaining week of the cycle..
But with.tmo it all depends on ur area..do ur research if it's not too late.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
firsttimer44 said:
I am currently with Sprint and I honestly can't take it anymore. Data speeds are terrible and when I'm bored at work and want to play with my phone I can't. I have the EVO 3d right now so naturally I'm going to switch to the sensation.
I have two questions, 1 ) how is tmobiles data service? And 2) once u go over your data limit what speeds do they throttle u down to?
Thanks
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
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(1) Honestly tmobile coverage isn't the best. When you get coverage, it's very good (it's pretty good in Chicago). Your best bet is see if you have any co-worker at your workplace who uses tmobile and test.
(2) Edge speed. I signed up for 2GB. My normal usage is around 1GB (slightly below, my workplace has good wifi and I use wifi most of the time), and get close to 2GB if I use tethering a lot that month. 5GB is $10/month more expensive. Sign up for 2GB and pay $10 to switch to 5GB if you run over, and switch back to 2GB next month.
with sprint now and getting so tired of the lousy network...at home i have 4G, if thats wat you wanna call it, but away from home, 90% of my day, i have slowG... speeds of .3 - .5 kbs...
i do like the unlimited data though, and i typically use alot. i went from the Evo to the Nexus S4G just waiting for the SGSII but am not convinced on my carrier anymore..
so how is Tmob ? how are the speeds ? network ? prices and data ? yes i can read the pages from there own website...i have...i wanna know the ins and outs of ppl who have been with them awhile before i switch...
ty for your help
dezel29 said:
with sprint now and getting so tired of the lousy network...at home i have 4G, if thats wat you wanna call it, but away from home, 90% of my day, i have slowG... speeds of .3 - .5 kbs...
i do like the unlimited data though, and i typically use alot. i went from the Evo to the Nexus S4G just waiting for the SGSII but am not convinced on my carrier anymore..
so how is Tmob ? how are the speeds ? network ? prices and data ? yes i can read the pages from there own website...i have...i wanna know the ins and outs of ppl who have been with them awhile before i switch...
ty for your help
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Click to collapse
Yeah man, I was using a friends Evo 4G the other day and was amazed at how slow the 3G speeds are. She said it was normal (~150kbit down in downtown Sacramento). The deal killer for me would be that she has to activate another radio to get 4G (if in a 4G area) which significantly impacts battery life. For reference, I live in the foothills of Northern California and I only get 3G (UMTS/HSDPA) at home. At home I get 500-700kbit down and 700-1000kbit up. If I go a couple miles toward the freeway, I start picking up 4G (HSPA+) and get 1.0-1.5mbit down and 1.5-2.0mbit up. As I get closer to Folsom and Sacramento my speeds continue to rise. In downtown Sacramento (where I spend most of my time) I get 4-7mbit down and 6-8mbit up. I'm very happy with my speeds and my 3G and "4G" are done with the same radio (HSPA+ is just a speed upgrade of HSDPA and uses the same radio tech) so getting 4G speeds has no noticable impact on battery life. I know T-Mobile's network footprint is the smallest of the big 4, but it works everywhere that I've ever needed it to work. As for data plans, just make sure you get one with 5gb of full speed data. Sidenote, I thought Sprint's data is only unlimited on 4G? In terms of pricing, I've found that once I add on everything I want/need all the carriers end up about the same +/-10% so I haven't concerned myself with that too much.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App
I'm in NYC, speeds about 4-7M down, 2M up. No complaints really.
Sent from my Dell Streak 7
I'm in norcal, my tmo is much better than sprint IN MY AREA. It varies greatly based on location. I loved my EVO(network was great when I first started using it), but it was like a ferrari with no gas there at the end. I travel very frequently with my job, both in and out of the country, and I haven't had a problem yet anywhere in the US. Don't spend enough time in one place to get foreign sims, plus WiFi is almost everywhere now.
So I'm on the fence.. I've had Sprint .. the Evo a year ago and I know the speeds of the 3g.. and yeah I know they vary on location.. but the few speedtests I see on people posting on youtube are god awful. I was assuming that since it's evdo rev A. I should get similar speeds.. Am I an ass for assuming? Anybody move from sprint to Virgin and see speed decreases for 3g?
I think you can mod your PRL to get the same access to the towers as normal Sprint cusromers, as we use the same towers. I havent tried it yet.
Sent from my rooted Moto Triumph
Yeah even with a modded PRL you're kind of boned. The best I've ever gotten is 1.2Mbps and that is completely usable, but sadly during the day my speeds are more like 200Kbps which is very very difficult to use when I'm use the the constant 3Mbps of my iphone. The speeds not the end of the world since wifi is everywhere but the slow speeds are still good enough for navigation and what not.
I am considering to get tmobile simple choice plan (2GB). I was wondering what are the pings and speeds for throttled connection. For example i know AIO does 256Kbps constant speed when it throttles and tmobile simple choice does 128kbps constant when you use throttled international roaming. but I cant find any info about domestic throttling and ping when you go over your high speed data limit.
Can someone test it for me who is over their 4G data limit? test on LTE connection is preferable.
Thanks
igagnidz said:
I am considering to get tmobile simple choice plan (2GB). I was wondering what are the pings and speeds for throttled connection. For example i know AIO does 256Kbps constant speed when it throttles and tmobile simple choice does 128kbps constant when you use throttled international roaming. but I cant find any info about domestic throttling and ping when you go over your high speed data limit.
Can someone test it for me who is over their 4G data limit? test on LTE connection is preferable.
Thanks
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before i chose completely unlimited high speed data from tmobile, i got throttled nearly monthly. when throttled, i saw speeds of 55-65kbps, 120kbps if i switched the connection to edge. but getting their contractless plan with everything unlimited including high speed data for $70 is worth it. now i average around 25-30gb a month data usage.
Do you remember your latency while throttled? Was it still low on LTe?
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
latency is based on your connection, t-mobile doesn't really throttle latency (typically 2G/E has high latency, LTE has lower latency)
anyways, my throttled connection is around 0.1mbits/s (15-25kBytes/s), latency still the same (20-50ms on LTE, 100-400 on 2G/3G)
enough for web browsing, not really enough for google maps (loading new region data) or youtube
screenshots attached
(was on the basic 500MB) upgraded to unlimited for the last 7 days of my billing cycle, hit 55mbit/s ... still debating whether to pay $20 more
igagnidz said:
Do you remember your latency while throttled? Was it still low on LTe?
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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it was low with hspa+. i havent been throttled since lte, thats when i went unlimited.
paperWastage said:
latency is based on your connection, t-mobile doesn't really throttle latency (typically 2G/E has high latency, LTE has lower latency)
anyways, my throttled connection is around 0.1mbits/s (15-25kBytes/s), latency still the same (20-50ms on LTE, 100-400 on 2G/3G)
enough for web browsing, not really enough for google maps (loading new region data) or youtube
screenshots attached
(was on the basic 500MB) upgraded to unlimited for the last 7 days of my billing cycle, hit 55mbit/s ... still debating whether to pay $20 more
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I guess the throttle depends per market i just hit my throttle cap got the 30$ Prepaid T-Mobile plan with the 5GB of data and my speeds are 0.40Mbps and 0.03Mbps Upload not bad but better than ~0.1Mbps