Database Develop

T-Mobile UK and HSDPA

I have been doing speed tests with my HSDPA and 3G and found HSDPA to not be any faster. After a quick call to T-Mobile it turns out Web'n'walk customers do not recieve HSDPA speeds.
You wil get the little H and your phone will connect using the HSDPA protocol but the speeds will be capped at 3G rates, your battery just drains faster.
To get HSDPA speeds you need to upgrade to web'n'walk plus or max and then the cap comes off.
So, if you want more battery power and your on web'n'walk I suggest turning it off.

so what speeds do you get?

i can get hspda speed on my web'n'walk deal. only took it out in july. dunno if its changed since then......

Hmmm....Id also be interested to see what numbers you get....

The talk about limited speeds for those who do not have good speeds on web'n'walk is crap, it is only about making people pay more.
Providers do not have any policy on their users using HSDPA/ 3G/ HSUPA.
If you have an HSDPA capable phone and you are in coverage the phone will use it.
A long time ago I bought a contract for internet over GPRS and the contract stated that I was only allowed to use GPRS. I also had a modem that was only GPRS capable (do not laugh, it was quite a few years ago). The contract also gave me UNLIMITED access to the internet.
After 2 months I purchased a modem capable of usigng EDGE and was using it a lot. They were never able to cut my transfer down because the contract said UNLIMITED access. They never said a work about me using EDGE instead of GPRS because they did not access such data.
If you are getting low sppeds on HSDPA, either the coverage is weak or you have HSDPA turned off in the phone.
I have a data packet with Vodafone UK and they recently upgraded my area to HSDPA and I am able to watch a 7 min youtube video without any stuttering after only 11 secs of loading.

Just because you have a HSDPA enabled phone, and web and walk does not mean you will get HSDPA speeds. You need to ensure that you are on a package that enables you HSDPA, or you ring and check your SIM is provisioned for it.
When I first went to T-mo I got the samsung Z560 as it was a HSPDA phone. Ran some tests and found I was only getting around 300kbps. Rang T-mo and had to move a tier of web'n'walk. They also had to provision my SIM for HSDPA.

That's the same for me. It's like having a 2mbit broaband connection - you're still on a 16mbit line (or whatever your exchange's max speed is) but not connecting on that speed until you upgrade your package.
I noticed an instant difference when I upgraded to WnW Plus. Now I can get Sky Player, BBCi Player etc when connected to a laptop, whereas I couldn't before on 3G speed.
So it's correct, if you are not getting high speed access but your phone is connecting with an 'H', turn it off and save the battery.

Question about 3G

Alright, so from what I gather, EV-DO Rev A. is 3G, according to Sprint's map, I have Rev. A in my area. I have seen screenshots of peoples phones, and they specifically say "3G" however, I have never seen mine switch out of EVDO.
My question is, is it normal for the CDMA Hero to only display EV, while the GSM Hero displays 3G? Or is my phone just stuck in Ev-
do mode?
Average download speed is ~120KB/s, peaking out at ~140KB/s. Maybe I'm just use to broadband, but that doesn't seem very fast.

Yes its normal,

When you see Ev or EvDO on your phone you're getting 3G.
The GSM Hero shows "3G" because most (if not all) GSM carriers refer to HSPA (their equivalent of EvDO) as 3G.
You might be seeing some CDMA Hero screencaps with the 3G icon in the taskbar because some ROMs have the other icon. Really it doesn't matter as long as you know that, whether it says 3G or Ev, it means your data connection.

It is in the android software to display EV if you are on EvDo. The GSM Hero is actually on 3G, so it displays 3G. Although EvDo is technically a 3G network, it isn't called 3G.

Well, that answers my question. I expected 3G to be faster though.

Same here. I have noticed that the speed can vary with the signal strength, though.

I'm getting the 120KB/s with 5 bars, in a central area of town. Only towards the middle of the night, and very early morning can I get up to 150KB/s. (throughput, number of active users, etc.)

abcdfv said:
I'm getting the 120KB/s with 5 bars, in a central area of town. Only towards the middle of the night, and very early morning can I get up to 150KB/s. (throughput, number of active users, etc.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get around that as well. The scary thing is that Sprint is faster than my cable internet O_O

isnt EvDo just what sprint refers to there 3G, thats what i thought. just wanted to add my 2 cents =]

abcdfv said:
I'm getting the 120KB/s with 5 bars, in a central area of town. Only towards the middle of the night, and very early morning can I get up to 150KB/s. (throughput, number of active users, etc.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would say this is unusual. When you say you're getting 120 kb/s, are you talking about your speed during the actualy downloading of a file, or your connection speed? Using my hero, wifi tether, running a speed test my d/l is about 1.1 mb/s. My actual speed when downloading a file is usually about 360 kb/s.

HeroMeng said:
It is in the android software to display EV if you are on EvDo. The GSM Hero is actually on 3G, so it displays 3G. Although EvDo is technically a 3G network, it isn't called 3G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No its 3g, 3g means thrid generation thats it. So evdo rev a is sprints thrid network type

That's the peak speed of anything. Rapidshare, Megaupload, Torrents with a high seed to leech ratio. 120 is as high as it gets.

Keep in mind if you run a custom rom, a lot of them are ported from GSM, which displays a 3G icon. On the dachstar 2.1 ROM I run it shows 3G instead of EV just because my the icon wasn't replaced with an EV one.

question....
when I tether....
speed test say anywhere from 300kbs to 1.2mbs
but.. you guys are saying..
surfing the web on the phone is only less than 150kbs?
why is that??

careful in using kb/s and KB/s. they're all different.
kb/s refers to kiloBITS per second, while KB/s refers to kiloBYTES per second. if i'm correct, its 8 kilobits per kilobyte, so to get your KB/s speed, take your kb/s speed and divide by 8.
when you're wifi-tethering and downloading something in your browser, it usually displays as KB/s (kilobytes per second). you probably won't get above 120-140 KB/s using wifi tether, downloading something on your computer.

justinisyoung said:
careful in using kb/s and KB/s. they're all different.
kb/s refers to kiloBITS per second, while KB/s refers to kiloBYTES per second. if i'm correct, its 8 kilobits per kilobyte, so to get your KB/s speed, take your kb/s speed and divide by 8.
when you're wifi-tethering and downloading something in your browser, it usually displays as KB/s (kilobytes per second). you probably won't get above 120-140 KB/s using wifi tether, downloading something on your computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 haha I was just typing this same response. Also, just like wifi does, evdo slows the transmission rate as signal gets weaker in order to keep it working. So basically your speeds will be slower as signal is weaker.
3g is just a blanket term for all the different mobile broadband protocols which have been deemed third generation. Also, to complicate things, evdo rev 0 is slower than evdo rev A, so just because you're on an evdo tower doesn't mean it's a rev A tower. (and the tower might have high usage, which can slow speeds too)
Also, file sizes are typically displayed in kilobytes, while connection test speeds are usually in kilobits

Cell towers. Manual selection.

Hi
At my home address my phone it is connected to a nearest cell tower. This tower gives me download download speeds around 250 kB/s.
About 3 miles from the place where I'm living phone is connecting to different tower with speeds 450-550 kB/s.
Is there any chance to manually select cell tower what I want.
Regards
Sent from my LG-P970 using XDA App

I'm pretty sure that selecting a farther tower will decrease the download speed because that's just how Radio works The cell would automatically select the tower with the best signal, which most likely is the one you would get the best download speed with, unless it's overcrowded. in any case, I'm quite sure you won't get better signal by connecting to a tower 3 miles away, even if this would be possible due to the loss caused by the increased distance.

Thanks for the answer.
Can you tell me it is technically possible to connect to another tower. Do I need some software or there is some option in the phone?
Sent from my LG-P970 using XDA App

[Q] Facebook App Slow to load

Has anyone else noticed that the Facebook app is very slow at loading pictures in the last day or 2? I have almost a full 4G signal. I almost wonder if Verizon has done something??

I had a conversation with Verizon tech about this issue. 4 bars 4G signal, and running speed test I get 3.XX mbps DL, and 8.XX mbps upload speed. I connect to wifi in my house DL speed jumps to 30 + mbps
There is something going on with Verizons network. The 2nd level tech put in a ticket for this issue.

Force HSPA+ instead of 4G?

Does anyone know how to force the note 4 to use HSPA+ instead of 4G?
The reason why i ask is because in areas where i cannot get 4GLTE the note 4 goes into 4G and its basically unusable (~1mbps maybe, most of the time i cannot even perform a speed test) eventhough the 4G is with 5 bars. In the same exact area HSPA+ gets very good speeds of 6mbp+
To test this, i forced 4G on my note 4 at my house and got a 1mbps speed test. Before upgrading to the note 4 from t-mobile i had an old note 2 from verizon running H+ getting 6mbps+ at my home.
Update: i really think the note 4 or the modem is causing the issue. Testing again my my house. When i first force the 4G connection the speed test are horrible. (< 1 mbps). After some time it seems idling in 4G it seems i got pushed into H+ reframed?(but still 4g icon) and getting consistance 6mbps.
I also noticed that the note 4 drops LTE to 4G at 2 bars or so when LTE speeds is definitely present and running at 20mbps

Hspa+ shows as 4g. If you go to other network settings where the apn is you can select lte,wcdma, options. In remote areas my 4g speed is better than my lte . The lingo is kinda weird so every carrier has different definitions of 4g. Hspa+ is technically 3.5g lol.

The app Advanced Signal Status let's you choose your network type.
Install it from play store and lock it to what you want. Try phone calls and SMS for the modes you try because some modes will be data only.

I noticed this today at home. I forced it to WCDMA mode only, it took like 10 mins for it to eventually show "4G" at my home office. The signal and download speed were terrible when forced into WCDMA hspa mode+ (4G) . In the same room and home my Note 3 would get a very good signal this time last year when I used the Note 3.
Perhaps T mobile has done something to the cell site here? Or The Note 4 isnt working as it should?

Ive had the same issue. So i work in one city and live in another. So when i get to work my data is slooooow. I force it to 4g and after a while back to lte. Speeds are fine. Same thing happens when i get home. Tmo told me to just restart my phone but that doesnt always work

Same situation with me. LTE tower doesn't reach my room but I got 10mbps in my living room....and my room I get less than 1mbps and goes to lte to 4g often with very slow speeds. I even have a LTE booster which doesn't really help much with speed. Without the lte booster I get almost 0 signal in my room

I used to have same problem during lte upgrade in my area. On lte around 8+ up and down while on 4g speds were 15-20 down and less than 2 up. Ping times were longer on 4g. After upgrade I no longer need to switch between lte and 4g
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app

darekz said:
I used to have same problem during lte upgrade in my area. On lte around 8+ up and down while on 4g speds were 15-20 down and less than 2 up. Ping times were longer on 4g. After upgrade I no longer need to switch between lte and 4g
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But is T Mobile removing their 4G HSPA wcdma towers? I used to get a very good db signal in my office, now -115db at best for 4G in same location but band 4 700Mhz is now present? Any relationship between these ...

See the below screen shot. On that menu you can pick the non LTE function and force H+. You can also switch back to LTE.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app

Thanks I had already figured out how to.force a specific data connection , hence why that thread I posted was asking what the default option is, since I didn't write it down.
But back on subject, 4G next to non existent now at home after 700mhz band 12 availability.
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

What is UMTS? I never get Hspa+

I've found that my data is ridiculously slow (I'm talking edge speeds) when I turn WiFi off, even when I am in an area that gets a strong LTE signal. I feel like my device does not automatically connect to the best available tower; rather, it seems to try to latch on to whatever tower it was connected to before I connected to WiFi. Toggling "mobile data" off then on again seems to reconnect my device to the closer/better tower and the speed improves drastically. (It's possible that toggling airplane mode or network modes will do the same thing). When you are in an area that has poor LTE, you might consider keeping it off. Change the selection from “LTE/WCDMA/GSM” to just “WCDMA/GSM” and you'll be on the slower HSPA+ network (though, I believe it still shows the 4G icon). You can always change it back when you are in a better area.

4G is back up and running in my home location. Must have been temp disabled when they rolled out 700mhz band 12 LTE in my area.
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk