Database Users

Slow 4G Speeds?

I live near San Jose and today I tested out the "trial" 4G network at the Cisco campus. I seemed to get a good signal but the results were disappointing - 1.5 Mbps downstream, 800 Kbps upstream.
Is anyone able to get better? Maybe the "trial" network at Cisco is just crappy??

Here in Atlanta I'm getting download speeds of about 3megs. I believe that they are capping the speeds. I have a 4g usb dongle and that is the same speed I get on it. Once upon a time I used to get anywhere from 6-11megs using the dongle and it now only gets 3megs (just like my phone). I know there is no signal strength issue because the tower is on the roof of the building and I get a very good signal.
Anyone else experiencing this?

I got 2.2mbps, but no 4g. I was thinking it was 4g, but I shut the 4g button down and it's never said 4g and I still get 2.2mbps down and .32mbps up. I'm in Pasadena. I'm not sure what to make of that.

I'm in a 4g coverage area and still cant get it to connect to 4g unless im at sprint or bestbuy... and even then 3g is still faster...

Nothing against anybody, but I would kill for 3G where I live, let alone crappy 4G.
Be thankful for what you have, no matter how much you may think it sucks.

In the roswell/alpharetta area and I am getting about 4.7mbs works pretty well. Sprint tv needs improvement though otherwise very happy with new phone. Seems snappier than incredible phone I have too.

I'm in Dallas and I"m loving my 4.5ish download and 1.3 upload, you heard right. 1.3 upload.

pretty bAd
I'm getting 1 bar or less of 4g service at my house.. I live in tacoma wa. The 4g coverage map shows that I should have about the best service speed.. I just have to stand outside and down the block to get it. so much for pitching Comcast.

Dallas, TX
I am currently north of Dallas and I get zero bars of 4G, though sometimes I see one bar light up. So far the most I have seen in a speed test is 1.6 mbps down and 223 kbps up.
I will test again when I am actually in the City of Dallas and see if it improves. Web is still quicker than any other phone I have owned.

in san antonio tx i get about 1.8 down and 1.5 up lol.... and before the launch a friend used to get from 10-11 megs on his wireless card... i think since the phone is new the network is congested with ppl doing speed tests and downloading apps

mrmomoman said:
In the roswell/alpharetta area and I am getting about 4.7mbs works pretty well. Sprint tv needs improvement though otherwise very happy with new phone. Seems snappier than incredible phone I have too.
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I'm also in roswell, however i'm not seeing speeds above 3mb

Are you getting close to the speeds of 3?

splicitysplat said:
I'm also in roswell, however i'm not seeing speeds above 3mb
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I've tried running the speed test in the Roswell, Sandy Springs, Smyrna, Airport area, and McDonough and I still keep getting the same speeds nothing higher than 3.3 down. I consistently seem to get anywhere from 2.7-3.0

ShawnN said:
I live near San Jose and today I tested out the "trial" 4G network at the Cisco campus. I seemed to get a good signal but the results were disappointing - 1.5 Mbps downstream, 800 Kbps upstream.
Is anyone able to get better? Maybe the "trial" network at Cisco is just crappy??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OP, I did a whole write up on the Bay Area 4G network - which in case you haven't noticed, is just for developer testing, NOT meant for EVO devices - over on my blog. Please read.
http://dylandersen.me/post/633300884/4g-in-the-bay-area-how-fast-is-it-really

THIS NEEDS TO BE SETTLED! I think I have an objective view.
I'm in Houston, TX so we have 4G coverage with ClearWire. I got my EVO yesterday, along with everybody else. I went to Best Buy to look at some accessories, while I was there I was chatting with the ClearWire rep running the demo and trying to sign up new customers. He was inside with store with his Clearwire USB dongle and laptop. We decided to run some speed comparisons, so I downloaded 2 speedtest apps from the Android market, one of them being for Speedtest.net. The best speed I got on my EVO with 4G enabled (and 1 bar of 4g) was about 2.25 Mbit down, and 1.1 Mbit up. I ran this test multiple times with me standing next to him, then putting my EVO next to the USB dongle to make sure I was getting the same signal. The rep's laptop, again running the speedtest from Speedtest.net and us using the the SAME servers, he got at least 6 Mbit down and almost 2 Mbit up. The best he got that I saw was like 7.2 Mbit down. He said that earlier that day he got as high as 10 Mbit down.
This is just telling me that it's either the processor that is limiting the speed, or it's the 4G antenna in the EVO. I saw that his 4G signal was pretty good being a bit outside the city, in Katy at Fry Road and I-10. I live just outside downtown I do get 4G inside my home, but again 1 or 2 bars. With my limited investigation I'm going to have to conclude that the network speed is NOT ClearWire's fault, but more like a hardware limitation on the EVO. If someone modded the phone with a better antenna the speed might improve.
About the existing 3G speed and with EVO is WOW! 3G response is soooo much faster on the EVO that it was on my G1. Another comparison is my home AT&T U-verse: I get 5.71 Mbit down and 0.94 Mbit up. I'm trying to think of a way that I can get my TV another way and get ClearWire for home instead of U-verse.

I dont think clear caps their 4G at all. See if you can connect to clear's 4G from your phone.

I get 2.5-3.5mb down and 800-1.3mb up. Still better than my dsl.

1.33 mpbs is the most I've gotten with 4G enabled. I am going to try again when I get home and see if the speed improves.

Anyone out there in the LA area getting 4g? I don't get 4g at all. My 3g is really fast, but no 4g shows. It just shows "scanning" in the settings.
Ok nevermind: LA still shows as coming soon on the sprint site.

****, I'm in Portland, one of the first WiMax areas, and I'm only getting 300/k down and 800/k up as I speedtest it now.
No big to me. I have wifi at home that pegs 5/5ish and at work about the same. I usually keep the 3g/4g off unless I am out and need it. Battery suckin' pig that stuff.

Houston 4G connectivity issues

Greetings folks, long time no see
Anyone having a difficult time staying connected to 4G in Houston? From my experience so far, all 3 locations I have tried it out... (BB, Work, Home) are all in "In-Building" 4G coverage area. NONE of them can connect "In-Building". If I walk outside, it will connect then drop sporadically, or not connect at all. 3G has connectivity issues as well, but I want to focus on the big selling point of 4G here.
Any other experiences to speak of?
-Rock

Guess I should have posted this in the Q&A. MOD: Please feel free to relocate thread.

I have the same experience in the Memorial City (I-10 BW8 W) and East Katy (Fry) area. I'm happy with the 3g speed for what I use the phone for and have only turned on 4g for testing.

Im guessing it might be an issue with both signals from the towers and radio on the EVO. I have called Sprint to express my disappointment with the 4G service. I hope that HTC will make some magic happen with software upgrades. I also have tried the newer radio upgrade but still have issues once im inside of buildings.

just like when the iphone came out there were problems the same is happening now. i was getting good speeds up until a few hours ago here in NJ. my phone says 3G but im getting edge speeds

Not Houston, but same for me...
I am in St. Louis, and although 4G isn't official here yet (last I heard was 6/21) I am seeing the same thing. Indoors, it is almost a crap shoot.
Outside, it will get one "bar" of 4G... sometimes. Never really solidly locks on 4G.
I think it is an issue with the EVO radio firmware, at least I hope so, because I have the luxury of testing it side-by-side with an Overdrive, and I can consistently maintain a 4G signal of 2-3 bars on the Overdrive, if I put it in the window of my office.
Sadly, the Overdrive is seriously outperforming the reception of the Evo in my experiences so far.
-Rob

I'm in Houston. After doing the PRL update I got great coverage, everywhere except my downtown office (15th floor...so thats to be expected)

had connectivity issues the first day, here on the Northside, but if you update your profile, prl, and take your battery out a few times you may find a change..i did

THIS NEEDS TO BE SETTLED! I think I have an objective view.
I'm in Houston, TX so we have 4G coverage with ClearWire. I got my EVO on Friday, along with everybody else. I went to Best Buy to look at some accessories, while I was there I was chatting with the ClearWire rep running the demo and trying to sign up new customers. He was inside with store with his Clearwire USB dongle and laptop. We decided to run some speed comparisons, so I downloaded 2 speedtest apps from the Android market, one of them being for Speedtest.net. The best speed I got on my EVO with 4G enabled (and 1 bar of 4g) was about 2.25 Mbit down, and 1.1 Mbit up. I ran this test multiple times with me standing next to him, then putting my EVO next to the USB dongle to make sure I was getting the same signal. The rep's laptop, again running the speedtest from Speedtest.net and us using the the SAME servers, he got at least 6 Mbit down and almost 2 Mbit up. The best he got that I saw was like 7.2 Mbit down. He said that earlier that day he got as high as 10 Mbit down.
This is just telling me that it's either the processor that is limiting the speed, or it's the 4G antenna in the EVO. I saw that his 4G signal was pretty good being a bit outside the city, in Katy at Fry Road and I-10. I live just outside downtown I do get 4G inside my home, but again 1 or 2 bars. With my limited investigation I'm going to have to conclude that the network speed is NOT ClearWire's fault, but more like a hardware limitation on the EVO. If someone modded the phone with a better antenna the speed might improve.
About the existing 3G speed and with EVO is WOW! 3G response is soooo much faster on the EVO that it was on my G1. Another comparison is my home AT&T U-verse: I get 5.71 Mbit down and 0.94 Mbit up. I'm trying to think of a way that I can get my TV another way and get ClearWire for home instead of U-verse.

More likely clear is capping us to maintain QoS for direct customers.
Sent from my EVO

Hmm, I'm inside my house on Katy "Fry Rd. @ I10" and have 2 bars. Walk outside the front door no change. Typically outside around the Katy area I get about 2-3 bars.

Grims said:
More likely clear is capping us to maintain QoS for direct customers.
Sent from my EVO
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It's not "Clear" but Sprint is capping for Qos.

nunyabiziz said:
It's not "Clear" but Sprint is capping for Qos.
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Not you're just arguing symantecs

Grims said:
Not you're just arguing symantecs
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Just a little upset for the reason being that Sprint would state that their 4G is 10x faster than EVDO. Taking the lower results of EVDO(600Kbps) and comparing it to the higher 4G(6Mbps). I have yet to see 3Mbps downstream on their 4G network in Houston. I have tested Clear's and Sprint's usb side by side and ofcourse it's only capped on Sprint. So on that point its not the same.

nunyabiziz said:
Just a little upset for the reason being that Sprint would state that their 4G is 10x faster than EVDO. Taking the lower results of EVDO(600Kbps) and comparing it to the higher 4G(6Mbps). I have yet to see 3Mbps downstream on their 4G network in Houston. I have tested Clear's and Sprint's usb side by side and ofcourse it's only capped on Sprint. So on that point its not the same.
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I can see that, but even 3G on this phone seems way faster than other phones. I'm sure it has to do with the CPU beign able to render pages much quicker than previous devices.
That said, my 4G speeds are averaging about twice as fast as 3G

Drove down 45 from the medical center to Spring yesterday and got 4G all the way. As far as the downspeed goes, I agree, it's probably QoS since Sprint's 4G network is still in its infant stage.

Antebios said:
THIS NEEDS TO BE SETTLED! I think I have an objective view.
The best speed I got on my EVO with 4G enabled (and 1 bar of 4g) was about 2.25 Mbit down, and 1.1 Mbit up. I ran this test multiple times with me standing next to him, then putting my EVO next to the USB dongle to make sure I was getting the same signal. The rep's laptop, again running the speedtest from Speedtest.net and us using the the SAME servers, he got at least 6 Mbit down and almost 2 Mbit up. The best he got that I saw was like 7.2 Mbit down. He said that earlier that day he got as high as 10 Mbit down.
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Thanks for this info, I think you are right, something is capping our throughput. I hope Sprint come out with new firmware patch to resolve this. I am not happy with my less than 2Mbit download speed on 4G!

Well, I wish I was seeing the same coverage as everyone else. I can't get 4G inside at all. I got all the updates last week, but see there is yet another PRL update I was unaware of. *Finders crossed.

I don't think wimax will ever have good indoor coverage. The frequency it runs at is much too high.
Sent from my EVO

Since I work for Clear, I can tell ya'll that we do not cap anything. Also, as far as Sprint goes, they just use and resell our service. I will, however, be willing to be that there may be something with the device that maybe a firmware upgrade may fix but honestly who knows.
I have yet to see anyone get above 4mbs on the Evo...I think it has something to do with the device.

12.7Mbps Down over WiMax in Houston

I have noticed I get MUCH faster while USB tethered, and when I have everything killed on the phone. SO all it's doing is routing over WiMax and the lapotp/computer is doing most of the work makes sense though.. it's having to do less work so the CPU can focus on routing WiMax packets only.
Anyway, I was doing some updates over ubuntu's update manager tethered and I hit 12.7Mbps down!
XDA scales down the pictures so much I have a zoomed up pick too of the network metrics
Guess I should mention I am running BBv0.3 (Hope pete comes back soon and fixes v4 or even drops froyo v5 on us)
And I have used Titanium Backup to pull nearly all htc sense stuff off that ROM as well as removing anything I didn't want running in the background.

MikeBrWade said:
I have noticed I get MUCH faster while USB tethered, and when I have everything killed on the phone. SO all it's doing is routing over WiMax and the lapotp/computer is doing most of the work makes sense though.. it's having to do less work so the CPU can focus on routing WiMax packets only.
Anyway, I was doing some updates over ubuntu's update manager tethered and I hit 12.7Mbps down!
XDA scales down the pictures so much I have a zoomed up pick too of the network metrics
Guess I should mention I am running BBv0.3 (Hope pete comes back soon and fixes v4 or even drops froyo v5 on us)
And I have used Titanium Backup to pull nearly all htc sense stuff off that ROM as well as removing anything I didn't want running in the background.
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I dream for that kind of speed.

Very nice! Though painfully slow compared to the 300+Mbps I'm used to on my LAN.

TheBiles said:
Very nice! Though painfully slow compared to the 300+Mbps I'm used to on my LAN.
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Yes but does your LAN follow you around in your pocket? (no crude jokes! HA)

MikeBrWade said:
Yes but does your LAN follow you around in your pocket? (no crude jokes! HA)
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Only on campus! I've actually yet to test 4G, and I doubt I will ever use it due to the poor signal penetration.

TheBiles said:
Only on campus! I've actually yet to test 4G, and I doubt I will ever use it due to the poor signal penetration.
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Actually those tests were run, and I am currently sitting on the basement level of a large concrete government-style building. Granted I have a tower about 2 blocks from where I work though, still I haven't seen all these "penetration" issues people complain about with WiMax. Houston has some strong signals though.

I've actually started noticing 4G is a LOT better after the update, but it has always been very good here in Boston, even though it's not even officially launched yet.I have read somewhere that new markets have newer equipment, and Sprint is literally adding WiMAX base stations to all sprint and nextel towers. It will only get better with time.

TheBiles said:
Very nice! Though painfully slow compared to the 300+Mbps I'm used to on my LAN.
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Nice DL but what the heck happened to your upload rate?

God damn man, you got some insane speeds there. I wish I had that at home.
What kind of connection do they got there?
I bet you could download some torrents like a beast

Compusmurf said:
Nice DL but what the heck happened to your upload rate?
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They actually cap it for some reason. I think it is faster than the test showed because I can upload things via FTP fairly quickly.
oOflyeyesOo said:
God damn man, you got some insane speeds there. I wish I had that at home.
What kind of connection do they got there?
I bet you could download some torrents like a beast
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It's your standard LAN. It's just the second-fastest in the country. Top speeds around 2Gbps, but unfortunately my router isn't even fast enough for it, and I didn't want to shell out for one!

MikeBrWade said:
I have noticed I get MUCH faster while USB tethered, and when I have everything killed on the phone. SO all it's doing is routing over WiMax and the lapotp/computer is doing most of the work makes sense though.. it's having to do less work so the CPU can focus on routing WiMax packets only.
Anyway, I was doing some updates over ubuntu's update manager tethered and I hit 12.7Mbps down!
XDA scales down the pictures so much I have a zoomed up pick too of the network metrics
Guess I should mention I am running BBv0.3 (Hope pete comes back soon and fixes v4 or even drops froyo v5 on us)
And I have used Titanium Backup to pull nearly all htc sense stuff off that ROM as well as removing anything I didn't want running in the background.
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what part of houston are you in, i cant anything above 2.7 at best and one test in which i had full wimax signal, i had .63kbps down and 924kbps up....so far i am very disapionted in the wimax and sprint just gives excuses instead of answers, i still love the phone i just wish it was a feature complete as they claimed before launch

om4 said:
what part of houston are you in, i cant anything above 2.7 at best and one test in which i had full wimax signal, i had .63kbps down and 924kbps up....so far i am very disapionted in the wimax and sprint just gives excuses instead of answers, i still love the phone i just wish it was a feature complete as they claimed before launch
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Well those numbers were from the JSC area, and I can get 4-6Mbps where I live in West U. The "signal" strength is kinda pointless IMO because it's more your connection to the tower than your bandwidth to the internet. I have noticed better bandwidths with 1-2 bars than with full 4 bars a lot of times

well i live in an area saturated in 4g well everywhere in town but where i live...sigh
anyways los from an antenna and nothing near your speeds, and like i said my small town is saturated by 4g i can literally walk 3 streats down and 4g kicks in

I wanted to test out the wireless tether speeds with the WiMax update not the Radio update.
I got happy results for me inside my home.

om4 said:
well i live in an area saturated in 4g well everywhere in town but where i live...sigh
anyways los from an antenna and nothing near your speeds, and like i said my small town is saturated by 4g i can literally walk 3 streats down and 4g kicks in
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Haha! Sounds exactly like my apartment in downtown Atlanta. I have service outside of it, in the halls, in the living room, and even in the damn elevator, but not in my room!

mrmomoman said:
I wanted to test out the wireless tether speeds with the WiMax update not the Radio update.
I got happy results for me inside my home.
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And to be fair that 12.7Mbps was a peak... not sustained here is my highest "sustained" test. It seems like after a few second peak of anywhere from 10-13Mbps I get throttled back to around 9-10 max sustained. Still though very impressive for a freaking cell phone internet connection! Ha.

I hardly get 1 mbps on 4g in galeria area. I find it very spoty in Houston.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

MikeBrWade said:
And to be fair that 12.7Mbps was a peak... not sustained here is my highest "sustained" test. It seems like after a few second peak of anywhere from 10-13Mbps I get throttled back to around 9-10 max sustained. Still though very impressive for a freaking cell phone internet connection! Ha.
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I think some people have come to expect too much from WiMax. I have heard complaints about it not getting more than 3Mb/s yet they don't complain about the 900kb/s they get otherwise with 3G - its more than triple yet they want more.
I am happy to get sustained 3Mb/s speeds wirelessly anywhere. Hell 2Mb/s sustained is better than any Wifi at Starbucks or places that offer free Wifi. Most of them let you ride off their T1 line. Can we say 1.5Mb/s shared to everyone!
I am very happy to get the speeds that I do. It's SOOOOO much better now with the update. I am interested to see where I got the 5Mb/s before the update to see what it will give me now. It's a local starbucks that I frequent. I am curious.
Great speeds by the way!

mrmomoman said:
I think some people have come to expect too much from WiMax. I have heard complaints about it not getting more than 3Mb/s yet they don't complain about the 900kb/s they get otherwise with 3G - its more than triple yet they want more.
I am happy to get sustained 3Mb/s speeds wirelessly anywhere. Hell 2Mb/s sustained is better than any Wifi at Starbucks or places that offer free Wifi. Most of them let you ride off their T1 line. Can we say 1.5Mb/s shared to everyone!
I am very happy to get the speeds that I do. It's SOOOOO much better now with the update. I am interested to see where I got the 5Mb/s before the update to see what it will give me now. It's a local starbucks that I frequent. I am curious.
Great speeds by the way!
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As good as it is, 2.5-3 mbps is equivalent to AT&T 3G speeds, that's why people complain.
You can say their network sucks, but it's bigger than Sprint's 4G at the moment
No 4G for me here, and I would be happy with 3 mbps sustained, but I wouldn't call expecting more than that unreasonable for 4G. It should (and will, eventually) handily beat other existing 3G networks. Looks like it has already started according to the OPs results.

WiMax Upload Cap Raised?

Has anyone verified this yet? I saw that it was supposed to be raised to 1.5Mbps today, and having been in an office building all day, I can't check it!

Based on a few speedtests I just ran... I'd say no (Sorry the color is a little off for some reason).

Not yet. Woot another 50kb lol
sent from the ePc4gee

Not that I expect any monumental performance changes, but I REALLY want to see an upload speed on my speedtest over 1Mbps.
ps - What ROM do you use ph?

sent from the ePc4gee

Im still getting around a meg
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

Not here yet. There have been intermittent 4G outages here recently and I wondered if this change had something to do with it.

Not yet here either. I just tested to find out. 7.5Mbps down and it was at 1.2Mbps up for a few seconds, so I got excited, then leveled off around 0.98Mbps after that and finished reporting 1.0 on the head.

Just went to lunch and ran three tests around the Downtown Denver area.
Speeds spiked to a futuristic 1.02 but averaged no better than .97

Xiutehcuhtli said:
Not that I expect any monumental performance changes, but I REALLY want to see an upload speed on my speedtest over 1Mbps.
ps - What ROM do you use ph?
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Currently on Midnight 5.2 w/ Honeycomb Fusion theme. Didn't want to flash again until official GB drops...

That's still slow by comparison to other carriers...COME ON SPRINT!!! =/

I've barely got 3G right now and the signal has dropped way down. Either the tower here has chronic issues or they're up to something...I hope.

It's quite depressing. I have a friend with the Thunderbolt and my DL speeds regularly best his in areas with a strong signal here in Denver (of course he gets much better coverage) but his upload speeds average a minimum 3x faster. He went with me at lunch and where I was DLing at 6.5-7 he was getting 3-3.5, but upstream he gets the same speeds as downstream!

Sprint's going to eventually start losing customers if they don't do something about this poor data performance. Oh, how the mighty have fallen =/ Formerly the fastest network.

Hey DroidApprentice, I think you are on to something here. My upload speeds never topped 1000 before. Thanks for the screenshot. It inspired me to do some testing this morning and something definately changed...
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

I sit under a WiMax tower.

I just got 1.49 and our tower is 2 streets over. 7 mbs dl on that same test.

So, it happened a week later than it was supposed to. I only hope it spells the end of the flaky behavior that almost made me believe I was having software or hardware issues on my phone.
And unfortunately, no improvement to ping, although I didn't expect any...

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1345636745.png This is My Home internet, 2nd test on home internet right after the 1st one MAJOR DIFFERENCEhttp://www.speedtest.net/result/1345660172.png
1st attachment my phone using WiFi
2nd Attachment 4G
3rd Attachment 3G
Now mind you guys my home internet is Clear Wireless, which sprint pays clear to use their 4G. Sprints 4G is Clear's 4G basically.
My 4G gets better speeds then WiFi lol should be other way around and i only had 1 bar of 4G during that test. And my 3G and 4G were in the same spot. 3G should have more bars i only had 1 bar for 3G. because 3G came out first it should cover most where 4G doesn't.
So can someone explain to me how on same internet 4G and Home 4G, i get almost 8Mbs @ Home but in same spot my phone gets half pretty much, but my upload is more on my phone than it is on my Home internet when its all the same lol
Notice how crappy my 3G is as well in that exact same spot the bars differ each day from 1 to 6 and its never consistent its all over the place

Data Speeds slow? Its not sprint... its the phone.

So one day I was browsing around on craigslist and I saw a new condition Moto Photon for $250.00 ( I know, Its not the galaxy s 2) but hey its was a good price and its a nice world phone. Anyways, I couldn't believe how much faster my data speeds were!
Previously, I was getting around 200-300 kbps with the latest SRF on my Epic. I am now getting 500-700 kbps in the same location with the Photon. Its a fantastic device. The antennae on the phone is really top shelf, areas I would get 1 or maybe 2 bars with the Epic I get 3-4 with the Photon. In areas I couldn't even get data, I am watching netflix with not buffering. I really forgot you could stream Netflix and YouTube on 3g because with my old epic.... you just couldn't. Anyways I am not hating. I love the Epic. I will miss the the everyone in here. Trust me, there isn't much developing going on in the photon forums yet but I am sure things will pick up in time.
Overall I am really happy with the Photon. Just wanted to share my experience with everyone. Thanks for all the support and help along the way. Having the Epic and the support in the forums have really helped broaden my understanding of Android and the entire rooting process.
Thanks Again,
Justin

After having read some early reviews it did seem to have great antenna/reception. How is moto in terms of providing source to developers? I suppose its too early to tell how fast they release updates as well?

dunno if I buy this argument, though I do have my doubts about the Epic. I'm inclined to think Sprint has plenty to do with the problem.
I drove all over Manhattan today and whenever I was stopped in traffic - which basically every 2 minutes - I'd run speed tests for both 3G and 4G. Suffice it to say that from about Times Square up through Morningside Heights, the service is (with a few exceptions) dreadful. When you get a bit south, speeds are much better. Both my wife and I (she's on a Nexus S 4G) were able to get about 6Mbps on 4G down near the Holland Tunnel. Up where we live, it's a total crapshoot. Every so often it's ok, most of the time it's garbage. 3G is on par with dial-up where we live. A colossal waste of time.
Oh, and just for a little extra chuckle, consider this: at the moment we're in upstate NY, about 75 miles north of the city. Just ran a speed test and 3G is faster here than in most of Manhattan.

Yeah I am getting pretty consistent 5-7Mbps download speeds on 4G in SoCal. I don't have any complaints here
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium

Moto is releasing updates for the stock rom almost every other day it seems. As of now there is no source code available to Dev's. I am not sure if/when that will happen. Right now we are just getting Pseudo Roms and themes. I haven't come across any noticeable bugs yet. Although Unlocking the Boot loader breaks 4g. In my case that is a non issue because we don't have 4g in most of Riverside County.

JohnCorleone said:
Yeah I am getting pretty consistent 5-7Mbps download speeds on 4G in SoCal. I don't have any complaints here
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
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SoCal? Where? I've been all over San Diego (almost to Mexico) and I can't find anything.
Or did you mean Central California...you know, LA and all that NORTH of San Diego?

dead78 said:
dunno if I buy this argument, though I do have my doubts about the Epic. I'm inclined to think Sprint has plenty to do with the problem.
I drove all over Manhattan today and whenever I was stopped in traffic - which basically every 2 minutes - I'd run speed tests for both 3G and 4G. Suffice it to say that from about Times Square up through Morningside Heights, the service is (with a few exceptions) dreadful. When you get a bit south, speeds are much better. Both my wife and I (she's on a Nexus S 4G) were able to get about 6Mbps on 4G down near the Holland Tunnel. Up where we live, it's a total crapshoot. Every so often it's ok, most of the time it's garbage. 3G is on par with dial-up where we live. A colossal waste of time.
Oh, and just for a little extra chuckle, consider this: at the moment we're in upstate NY, about 75 miles north of the city. Just ran a speed test and 3G is faster here than in most of Manhattan.
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I am in a non 4g area so I am not really concerned with 4g speeds. My focus is 3g. I reside in a rural area of Riverside County in Southern California. I would get atrociously slow, spotty data. Getting the Photon made a huge difference. In the same location I would rarely ever hit 400 and frequently run between 200-300 kpbs I am getting 500-700 consistently. I'm just sharing my experience for others to draw on. Granted your location may keep this from applying to you specifically. But one of the things that drew me to the Photon in the first place was the well regarded hardware specifically the radio in the device.
Also Networks are different all over the place. The user load in Manhattan is presumably higher then a rural area of So-Cal. As well as the obvious building obstructions. When I was in Manhattan about 6 months ago I enjoyed my 4g speeds on my Epic which ranged anywhere from 4Mbps-7Mbps. Granted most of what I was using the phone for was uploading videos and looking for places to eat ;-) Sure its not as fast as WiMax can get but what do you need it faster for on your phone anyway? Video Streaming, Music Streaming all worked nearly instantaneous for me.
Again just my 2 cents I am not claiming to be a sprint messiah or anything. My first android device got faster data speeds too (HTC Hero). It was a big deal for me when I got my epic and noticed the data speeds were much more choppy and slow. In case this is a big issue for other Epic users getting ready to jump ship I wanted to share my experience with the Moto Photon 4g. Not to mention the Hardware is pretty sweet and its a world phone.

othan1 said:
SoCal? Where? I've been all over San Diego (almost to Mexico) and I can't find anything.
Or did you mean Central California...you know, LA and all that NORTH of San Diego?
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Lol.. well you know San Diego isn't a major city. kidding of course. I am right in between Orange and LA counties in Uptown Whittier. I have bull bar 4G inside my apartment and basically I have one small dead spot about a half mile away but it's rock solid everywhere else. I heard there's a small pocket in San Diego but I haven't heard of it working for anybody down there though.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium

Its not the phone I just pulled 1100kb down with 2 bars. I also just had my modem wiped and re programmed
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Test Date: Sep 23, 2011 6:19:26 pm
Connection Type: Unknown
Server: Minnesota City, MN
Download: 12.03 Mbps
Upload: 1.64 Mbps
Ping: 159 ms
External IP: 184.225.237.43
Internal IP: 184.225.237.43
Latitude: 38.74700
Longitude: -90.65400
A detailed image for this result can be found here:
http://www.speedtest.net/android/86974782.png
just sayin...

watermoore said:
So one day I was browsing around on craigslist and I saw a new condition Moto Photon for $250.00 ( I know, Its not the galaxy s 2) but hey its was a good price and its a nice world phone. Anyways, I couldn't believe how much faster my data speeds were!
Previously, I was getting around 200-300 kbps with the latest SRF on my Epic. I am now getting 500-700 kbps in the same location with the Photon. Its a fantastic device. The antennae on the phone is really top shelf, areas I would get 1 or maybe 2 bars with the Epic I get 3-4 with the Photon. In areas I couldn't even get data, I am watching netflix with not buffering. I really forgot you could stream Netflix and YouTube on 3g because with my old epic.... you just couldn't. Anyways I am not hating. I love the Epic. I will miss the the everyone in here. Trust me, there isn't much developing going on in the photon forums yet but I am sure things will pick up in time.
Overall I am really happy with the Photon. Just wanted to share my experience with everyone. Thanks for all the support and help along the way. Having the Epic and the support in the forums have really helped broaden my understanding of Android and the entire rooting process.
Thanks Again,
Justin
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When roaming my epic is super fast occasionally it's also fast on sprint's network. I think the 1900mhz antenna in this phone may not be so great. While roaming on 800mhz I get 1100k+ all the time.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

JohnCorleone said:
Lol.. well you know San Diego isn't a major city. kidding of course. I am right in between Orange and LA counties in Uptown Whittier. I have bull bar 4G inside my apartment and basically I have one small dead spot about a half mile away but it's rock solid everywhere else. I heard there's a small pocket in San Diego but I haven't heard of it working for anybody down there though.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
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San Diego has so many hills, not sure if they want to invest in wimax there at this moment

It's not the phone! It's SPRINT! For the last time I have talked to Sprint and they have had outages throughout different areas, mine included. My and my girlfriend, my kids and my ex all have Sprint and all have different phones. Epic, EVO, EVO 3D and Moto Photon. All were great then they ALL sucked. Issues in my area are fixed now and I have no data issues any longer and neither does my gf, kids or ex. None of us did anything to our phones to make the signal better. So for the last time, IT's SPRINT.... not the phone.

MikeyLee said:
It's not the phone! It's SPRINT! For the last time I have talked to Sprint and they have had outages throughout different areas, mine included. My and my girlfriend, my kids and my ex all have Sprint and all have different phones. Epic, EVO, EVO 3D and Moto Photon. All were great then they ALL sucked. Issues in my area are fixed now and I have no data issues any longer and neither does my gf, kids or ex. None of us did anything to our phones to make the signal better. So for the last time, IT's SPRINT.... not the phone.
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AGREED! Sprint service in my area was great a year ago and now it's slowly gone downhill. EVO 4G; Epic 4G; Epic 4G Touch; It doesn't matter which phone I use, Sprint's 3G performance is TERRIBLE.

Um, actually it's both. The Epic, (and the nexus too) have mediocre signal reception. Couple that with low signal strength and you get really slow data. If Sprint's coverage were better the weak reception wouldn't be as big an issue. If the phone were more sensitive it could deal with the lower signal strength better.

i have the eh07 modem and ecop5 rom and my 4g sucks..it hardly connects not sure whats the issue

I know for sure its the phone. nothing posted higher 3g speeds than my old HTC HERO.
I was around 2.5mb/s peaking and 1.8+ normal rate.
Now when I got the evo, the speeds were down. Epic the speeds were down. Photon speeds were down. Epic 4g Touch the speeds were up at 1.8
So my experience for fastest as follows:
Hero: fastest 3g @2.5mbs
Photon: fastest 4g upload @1919mbs
EpTouch: fastest 4g download @15.179mbs

poit said:
Um, actually it's both. The Epic, (and the nexus too) have mediocre signal reception. Couple that with low signal strength and you get really slow data. If Sprint's coverage were better the weak reception wouldn't be as big an issue. If the phone were more sensitive it could deal with the lower signal strength better.
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It's not the phones! Again until about a month and a half ago my phone used to scream and now it sucks! I never had reception problems ever. Sprint has done something (at least in my area) to slow down data service. It's obvious.

Sprint certainly had outages in various areas. Common sense would say check Sprint Forums or do a simple Google search.
Phones certainly can have an effect on your speeds but not as much as a Tower.

Having both phones side by side its Sprint and not the phone....
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium