Database Users

3G Speed issues - Vibrant vs Nexus One

I have had the Vibrant for about a week, and love it dearly despite its shortcomings. I have noticed the data speeds and connectivity are in no way related to the amount of bars of service showing, except when it drops to EDGE (which it seems to do an seemingly random times).
I ran the Speedtest.net app about 20 times in different settings, many one right after another without holding the phone. The speeds fluctuate so wildly I can't describe it.
Sometimes I get DL speeds of 100kbs and upload speeds of over 2mbs in the same test, and everywhere in between.
The Nexus one fluctuates a little bit, but no where near this. N1 is on CM6.
This sucks because sometimes for example I'll click the news widgets story, and the webpage will not load even with full 3g service.
And yes, I can stop the speedtest completely by covering the antennae bump with my finger.
Any Ideas?
I also suffer from very spotty GPS functionality, even after the fix. I am not able to root this phone the standard way, tried over 20 times to restart holding VOL up and down, never gets to recovery mode - have not tried adb yet. (I'm at work lol)

Have you done a factory reset on the Vibrant? You should if you haven't. Might solve this too but there is something you have to understand, bandwidth is shared on every tower. If 2 phones are downloading a 1GB file EVERYONE's speed will suffer on that tower. So make sure you're not doing them at the same time because it's not going to be accurate if you are doing them at the same time

Hmm interesting, and thanks for the response. I don't think two phones downloading a file at the same time should make a huge difference, I am in downtown New York City.
I usually kill all processes on an hourly basis usually to prevent lag. Should I not?
System restore from the recovery menu you mean?
I only did two concurrent tests on the N1 and my Vibrant - all others were done by itself.

heygrl said:
Have you done a factory reset on the Vibrant?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i see this alot, i got my vibrant and rooteded but never done a factory reset... Im not having any issues, is there a reason i should look into this?

SuperMiguel said:
i see this alot, i got my vibrant and rooteded but never done a factory reset... Im not having any issues, is there a reason i should look into this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I factory reset every new phone. Just because.. been doing it since windows mobile... any problems factory reset helps so I just start from a factory reset. ...

Do you recommend a backup first? Like Titanium if I was rooted?

heygrl said:
Might solve this too but there is something you have to understand, bandwidth is shared on every tower. If 2 phones are downloading a 1GB file EVERYONE's speed will suffer on that tower. So make sure you're not doing them at the same time because it's not going to be accurate if you're doing them at different times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Umm, not necessarily. We don't know how big the internet pipeline for each tower is. The way GSM works though, is each tower only has a specific number of slots for phones that can be connected at one time. Kinda lile a QOS type thing. So each phone sorta has a dedicated pipeline while it's connected. That's just on the GSM switchboard, though. As far as I know the internet pipeline is shared. I'm not saying one way or another on speeds slowing when more people are online, just saying "don't jump to conclusions". Because if they engineered the internet pipeline the same way they engineered the GSM switchboard, then each phone might have it's own dedicated pipeline. Just saying.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Just did a factory reset, seems speedier already.
I used mIQ to sync because I wasnt able to root the phone for Titanium. Will report back.

gravis86 said:
Umm, not necessarily. We don't know how big the internet pipeline for each tower is. The way GSM works though, is each tower only has a specific number of slots for phones that can be connected at one time. Kinda lile a QOS type thing. So each phone sorta has a dedicated pipeline while it's connected. That's just on the GSM switchboard, though. As far as I know the internet pipeline is shared. I'm not saying one way or another on speeds slowing when more people are online, just saying "don't jump to conclusions". Because if they engineered the internet pipeline the same way they engineered the GSM switchboard, then each phone might have it's own dedicated pipeline. Just saying.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3G is not GSM. Bandwidth on each and EVERY tower is a shared media. I know because I've done it myself. Two phones pitted against each other would always leave one phone slower than the other.
Also there is the possibility that the phones are each on a different tower.

heygrl said:
3G is not GSM. Bandwidth on each and EVERY tower is a shared media. I know because I've done it myself. Two phones pitted against each other would always leave one phone slower than the other.
Also there is the possibility that the phones are each on a different tower.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, 3G is a CDMA technology but I really doubt the pipeline is so small that two phones running a test would cause it to slow down. A more likely explanation would be that the radios in the two devices were interfering with each other, and suffered a slower data speed due to lower SNR.

unrelated to this, how do you guys get your speed test results to show on your signature?

temperbad said:
I factory reset every new phone. Just because.. been doing it since windows mobile... any problems factory reset helps so I just start from a factory reset. ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just learned that myself, for some reason my pinch to zoom was not smooth at all when loading certain websites it would be very choppy and such until I did a factory reset, now everything works perfectly. Also I think having a task killer is a must on this phone at times I can have 36 apps running at a time which makes for a laggy phone. I thought these phones had better self management systems. Guess not!

badaphooko01 said:
unrelated to this, how do you guys get your speed test results to show on your signature?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get the image of the speedtest result then [ img] picture link [ /img] ?
To get the image: Do a speedtest.. click Direct link when its done and bam.
But most likely since its T-MOBILE USA as the ISP.. they most likely tethered and did a speedtest on speedtest.net

badaphooko01 said:
unrelated to this, how do you guys get your speed test results to show on your signature?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you complete a test at Speedtest.net, it gives you a link to a picture of your results to post on forums and such.

PePPaZ said:
I have had the Vibrant for about a week, and love it dearly despite its shortcomings. I have noticed the data speeds and connectivity are in no way related to the amount of bars of service showing, except when it drops to EDGE (which it seems to do an seemingly random times).
I ran the Speedtest.net app about 20 times in different settings, many one right after another without holding the phone. The speeds fluctuate so wildly I can't describe it.
Sometimes I get DL speeds of 100kbs and upload speeds of over 2mbs in the same test, and everywhere in between.
The Nexus one fluctuates a little bit, but no where near this. N1 is on CM6.
This sucks because sometimes for example I'll click the news widgets story, and the webpage will not load even with full 3g service.
And yes, I can stop the speedtest completely by covering the antennae bump with my finger.
Any Ideas?
I also suffer from very spotty GPS functionality, even after the fix. I am not able to root this phone the standard way, tried over 20 times to restart holding VOL up and down, never gets to recovery mode - have not tried adb yet. (I'm at work lol)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing.
I will say though that speedtest.net is not very accurate and very buggy. I've experienced some of the same issues as you and have been using speedtest.net for a very long time.
I'm curious to know what the most accurate speed test site is out there.
Try: www.MobileSpeedTest.com
When doing the test, let the initial test finish, but scroll down and click on 2MB test to test it again. That should give you a pretty accurate result.

so there is no way to do it from the app itself?

badaphooko01 said:
so there is no way to do it from the app itself?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not that I know of. I looked for that option but couldn't find it.

i keep getting a "Missing Liscense Key" error at speedtest.net.

badaphooko01 said:
so there is no way to do it from the app itself?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could do a speedtest on the phone and take a screenshot of it on the phone if you REALLY REALLY wanted it but it wouldn't look very official lol.

badaphooko01 said:
so there is no way to do it from the app itself?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, go to the results tab then go to the specific test you want the results to. Then hit the menu button and click "email results", it will send you the same picture that the "direct link" would give you.

How is this possible

I thought the phone was limited to much less than this

Simple. WiFi.

mobilespeedtest is not accurate. I've had similar on 3G several times. Ookla's speed test has never given me such bogus numbers.

ytj87 said:
mobilespeedtest is not accurate. I've had similar on 3G several times. Ookla's speed test has never given me such bogus numbers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^ use the Speedtest.net Speed Test app on the market

Yes, that site is unfortunately giving bogus results - especially on this device for some reason

So thats why I was having lag issues on my interweb!

[Q] Low DL Speeds, Increased UL Speeds after DI18 Update...

Ever since I downloaded the new update (DI18) this morning, I cannot get good download speeds, but my upload speeds have greatly increased. Any ideas? Here is some proof...If someone could give me a clue of what the problem could be, that would be great.
I tried to insert the pictures of speedtest.net results, but since I'm new, it won't let me.
I've had crazy results like 97kbps down and 702kbps up?!?

my download has remained the same while the upload increased

Between 900 and 1200 down and 400 to 700 up depending on signal strength. I'm in the western suburbs of Chicago.
Sent from my Epic 4g

I had same problem, I rebooted the phone and all seems fixed now
Sent from my Epic 4G

All seems normal after OTA update, loving the increased upload speeds.

I was getting like 650s up and about the same or worse down. Very laggy net and things would time out frequently. 600 or 700 was the best down I could get even with full signal strength. I flashed the previous release and all went back to normal. Up was between 100 to 200 and down was 1.5 or better. I guess I prefer better down. I guess if when it gets pushed to me officially, and things act like that, I will go back to 06. Really looking forward to 2.2 and the improvements it offers.

Downstream speeds are exactly the same or better for me. My update was pushed OTA. Is everyone waiting for the GPS to resolve completely before testing? It seems to affect speed, this happened with my Evo, and seems to still be the case with the Epic.

Right now I'm getting 6.24 mpbs download and 1.13 upload on 4g is that good?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

my download is always awful on 3g after the update.

J3ff said:
my download is always awful on 3g after the update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude why are you complaining this is by farrrr the best phone right now....and a few months down in developement imagine how much better it will be i still am in awwww with a 2.1 rom if you have so many complains take your phone back.

Didn't see any slow download speeds on my 3g are >1000 and uploads >150. So I'm fine over here. Go outside or somthing, this could deal with your location.
And even before this update my phone perfformed fine on all radios.(less upload of course)
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

II5StarII Swag said:
Dude why are you complaining this is by farrrr the best phone right now....and a few months down in developement imagine how much better it will be i still am in awwww with a 2.1 rom if you have so many complains take your phone back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The guy asked a question.
My downloads since the update here at home on 3g has never been above 400k/sec
That's pretty weak isnt it?
Also my uploads since the fix have ALWAYS been faster! Which is neat, but man.

hmm maybe something is wrong with your phone bro if your getting that on 3g..didnt know it was that low

II5StarII Swag said:
hmm maybe something is wrong with your phone bro if your getting that on 3g..didnt know it was that low
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like I'm not the only one.
The pictures posted in this thread are exactly like what I'm seeing.
http://androidforums.com/samsung-ep...ds-increased-ul-speeds-after-di18-update.html

I just did a test w two bars of 3 g and dl speed was 400 and up speed 70 ? On wifi it was 600 dl and 147 up the update made my phone slower is that possible wtf
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

I just downloaded the speedtest net version and
got 550 dl and 250 upp and wifi 680d 450up

I get 500-1000 down consistently and up to 700 at times up.
I do remember pre update going over 1000 down was very common and pushing 2000 wasn't out of the question either.
While not complaining my downstream did take a hit but with the nature of networks and cell towers it could simply be not phone related. If it's the same a few weeks or so from now I would consider it phone related. (Unless someone can run side by side tests with another phone). 4G is still blazing fast though.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

I'm just wondering. Are you noticing slower download speeds or are you just going by the speed test programs?

You can tell the difference in just browsing. There used to be a not so dramatic difference between 3g down and 4g down. At work. 2000 down on 3g wasn't uncommon at all.. I get full bars here all day long on 3g. Just running a speed test on a server 12 miles away I got 649 down with full strength. Tried different server, the same. At home the results are worse. So yeah you can notice the difference between 500-1000 down(average is 700 with good signal) and 1000-2000 down without speed tests.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

Let me add also. Speed tests down before the update the needle on the meter was fluid and smooth in movement. Now it seems to be rigid and make sudden jerky shifts in speed like there is some kind of random packet lose.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

[MOD?][CDMA] possible 3g speed tweak

Came across this->http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1466245 thread on the x2 forums. It cites that most 3g speed tweaks are aimed at gsm, and suggests a build.prop edit that might improve cdma 3g speeds. Before I go any further, I should say, I have no level of expertise in this, and have no knowledge of what function this line in the build.prop served before or after said modification. Now, with that out of the way. I checked the build.prop on my r800x running cm7 to find the line in question was not even in my build.prop. Perhaps for a reason however, as I said ^^^ no knowledge whatsoever in the matter. In any case, I added the line suggested to be edited and changed the value to the suggested value. From my rather breif and unscientific testing, my 3g speeds seem to be faster. Browser, xda app, twitter, and google+ just to name a few seem more responsive when requiring data to load what's being displayed. Keep in mind, my observations are strictly just that, observations. This could all be placebo.
The line is:
Code:
persist.ril.uart.flowctrl=1
Its suggested that it can be any number between 1-10. And recommends 10.
I just added it to the bottom of my build.prop. and changed 1 to 10, then rebooted
*Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for ANYTHING you do to YOUR phone*
Well, anyone else feeling adventurous? Moreover if any more knowledgeable folk know what atrocity I just committed, I'd enjoy your entertaining my ignorance with your input . I'm curious why my build.prop lacked this line. Also, I'd love to know what purpose its actually for. On that note, I'm off to Google.
Sent from my R800x using xda premium

I read through the entire thread of replys form the link you found, Seems this does work for some and others didnt notice.
Im def. gonna try it out later , thanks for sharing!

I'll try this later as well.

I been playin around with it now. I used the recommended 10 and didnt try any other numbers. I used the SpeedTest app and tried to do it in as much of a "controlled environment" as possible.
I first chose one spot in my office at work that id say was the best for service and I held my hand in same position for the entire test of this tweak idea. Then with tweak applied I turned the phone off , waited 30sec, turned on, waited 30sec, Opened Speedtest, made sure my server was the same each time then began speed testing. I ran each test back to back without leaving the app or shutting the screen off, There were about 5 seconds in between each test, only to write down test numbers.
I did (10) tests with and (10) tests without the tweak in build.prop
I attached my results. I highlighted the best score from each set of tests in each catagory. ( someone correct me but isn't a "lower Ping" better? )

216Monster said:
I been playin around with it now. I used the recommended 10 and didnt try any other numbers. I used the SpeedTest app and tried to do it in as much of a "controlled environment" as possible.
I first chose one spot in my office at work that id say was the best for service and I held my hand in same position for the entire test of this tweak idea. Then with tweak applied I turned the phone off , waited 30sec, turned on, waited 30sec, Opened Speedtest, made sure my server was the same each time then began speed testing. I ran each test back to back without leaving the app or shutting the screen off, There were about 5 seconds in between each test, only to write down test numbers.
I did (10) tests with and (10) tests without the tweak in build.prop
I attached my results. I highlighted the best score from each set of tests in each catagory. ( someone correct me but isn't a "lower Ping" better? )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lower ping is better, these definitely suggest lower speeds as an outcome of the edit. Weird since I still "feel" like load times are faster. Ah the power of the mind
Sent from my R800x using xda premium

antEris said:
Lower ping is better, these definitely suggest lower speeds as an outcome of the edit. Weird since I still "feel" like load times are faster. Ah the power of the mind
Sent from my R800x using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea the beautiful mind! I thought it felt faster at times but it would seem not :/

This won't really matter.
Unless your service provider caps speeds on the device, as opposed to on the network (e.g. T-Mobile, with 100mbs of 4g, followed by the network provider limiting your speeds) this really won't make a difference... (as seen by 216monster's results)
On the other hand, what if this number is like golf (lower is better) and deals with power input? Does switching to 10 provide better battery life?
@216 -thank you for testing out every new idea that comes along, whether it's missing your play to try to add an hdmi port out keeping up with cdma uk ROM
Sent from my R800x using Tapatalk

paxChristos said:
This won't really matter.
Unless your service provider caps speeds on the device, as opposed to on the network (e.g. T-Mobile, with 100mbs of 4g, followed by the network provider limiting your speeds) this really won't make a difference... (as seen by 216monster's results)
On the other hand, what if this number is like golf (lower is better) and deals with power input? Does switching to 10 provide better battery life?
@216 -thank you for testing out every new idea that comes along, whether it's missing your play to try to add an hdmi port out keeping up with cdma uk ROM
Sent from my R800x using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. I enjoy working on it.
Sent from my R800x using xda premium

Hot Spot is CRAZY Slow

Have any of you noticed how slow the Hotspot functionality is? I am on Verizon and earlier with nearly a full LTE signal I was only getting .23 Mbps download and .03 Mbps Upload as tested on Speedtest.net. Web Pages were taking forever to load. Has anyone else experienced these issues. I'm going to try it again at home to see if it was just the area I was in, but I did have great signal strength on my phone.

slow hotspot
robn30 said:
Have any of you noticed how slow the Hotspot functionality is? I am on Verizon and earlier with nearly a full LTE signal I was only getting .23 Mbps download and .03 Mbps Upload as tested on Speedtest.net. Web Pages were taking forever to load. Has anyone else experienced these issues. I'm going to try it again at home to see if it was just the area I was in, but I did have great signal strength on my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have noticed this as well, curious on others experiences and possible causes to look into

robn30 said:
Have any of you noticed how slow the Hotspot functionality is? I am on Verizon and earlier with nearly a full LTE signal I was only getting .23 Mbps download and .03 Mbps Upload as tested on Speedtest.net. Web Pages were taking forever to load. Has anyone else experienced these issues. I'm going to try it again at home to see if it was just the area I was in, but I did have great signal strength on my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No where near as slow as yours but still slower than I've experienced with other VZW phones...

mademan420 said:
No where near as slow as yours but still slower than I've experienced with other VZW phones...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shoot I would be thrilled with that! Gonna try again right now while I'm at home and see what it does. I'll report back.

robn30 said:
Shoot I would be thrilled with that! Gonna try again right now while I'm at home and see what it does. I'll report back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blazing fast at home for me! I was at work earlier

mademan420 said:
Blazing fast at home for me! I was at work earlier
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Holy cow, that's crazy! Are you on Verizon? I have never seen speeds like that on LTE where I'm at. Here is my at home speed, and I'm happy with this.

I've experienced this. It's intermittent. When it's happening it's dirt slow. Sometimes a reboot fixes it, sometimes it doesn't... but it's never as fast as my Droid Maxx's hotspot used to be.

I'm on Verizon, grandfathered unlimited data, and never had any issues tethering from this phone or any other. At times my 60 MBPS home wifi gets congested so we use our phones to pick up the slack.
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

robn30 said:
Holy cow, that's crazy! Are you on Verizon? I have never seen speeds like that on LTE where I'm at. Here is my at home speed, and I'm happy with this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, VZW here! Totally surprised myself as I almost never use it at home but signal is way better than what I was getting at work earlier
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

I also notice that when i connect a device on the hot spot there is no notification that indicates that a connection is established. Is it specific to Android stock ? On my M7 i could view all the connections opened.