4G Tweaks/Settings for better performance - EVO 4G General

Hey guys,
Now that Columbus has the 4G's I've been excited to see it popping up here and there as I'm walking around town. I was wondering if theres any way to increase the sensitivity of the radio on the Evo or if there are any good techniques for getting and keeping signal. I currently get good 4G when I am outside walking around and in a few buildings but for the most part (work and home) there is no signal.
Any ideas? Has anyone even played around with this? Is it even possible?

4g is definately pretty awesome, but if you read up on it, it has difficulty penetrating walls and such. We've had it here in the DFW area since June. Some retailers like radio shack have repeaters that boost the signal in the store so they can help sell the whole 4g experience; anyone correct me if i'm wrong

As far as I know there is nothing out there to change the sensitivity, or power for the WiMAX radio. But there is a thread in the Dev section about changing the scan/reconnect settings for the WiMax radio.
Hey RockDrummer whatcha got? Banging on a very expanded Roland TD-12/ESi ES-5000 Ultra kit.

I modded an old Tama 1974 ImperialStar. its fantastic

Related

Im worried that DC 4G may be a joke

cant post pics apparently.
i work at the 11th floor on 19th and G in NW(2 blocks from white house) and my 4g is non-existent. I pray that its just some cruel joke. I was getting better 4g at my house which is about 9 miles outside the city in Alexandria.
Anyone else experiencing this?
Its a new tech that has pretty much just started roll out. Its not going to be available perfectly everywhere.
Remember when 3g came out and it was spotty as hell? Some areas had great coverage others not so great. It takes time.
I mean...of course. I was just hoping that i would get it some where at here, being they said "core areas of DC" Theres not much more "core" than this.
I just wanted to know if other people around here were too.
I have noticed that 4G has issues getting inside buildings. But it seems like a large portion of DC and Northern VA has 4G.
i was just outside in full 4g and got 864kb down and 1021kb up

Sprint's 4g connection not stable...

Im in the northern chicago area and I'm able to connect to 4g but the connection is slow and unstable...(even with 4 bars). Ive extended the idle time using ##data# but still I have the same issues??? Anybody with a solid connection care to share their ##data# settings? Im thinking the issue might in the settings......
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
I'm in Seattle and see similar 4G behavior. Usually 2 bars or so and not great performance (marginally better than 3G). I'd be interested to see if this can be improved by tweaking the settings also.
the 4G antenna in the EVO is half the size of the USB one, I don't even get signal at my house on my EVO, yet I get 1.5MBs on my USB stick. Size matters.
Idk about 4G but i just moved into a new house and i have TERRRIBLE reception no matter where i am. If im not outside, it sucks. Its funny though, as soon as i step out the door, 5-6 bars. Im keeping the phone in hopes that as soon as they get 4G around here (Elmont, NY... Long Island), things will change. =\
sprints 4g is in a horrible part of the spectrum. it's frequency is too high to pass through anything
This thread does not belong here. Take this drivel to the appropriate subforum.
unless you are a running a stock rom with the latest updates, i don't think you can make any of these complaints that you all are unless 4g isn't fully up and running in your city. My girlfriend just got the white evo and we installed the latest updates and she gets a very good 4g signal, i have the black evo running fresh 0.5.3 and i get a pretty good signal myself. Not to mention we live in mpls and 4g isn't even officially here yet. A lot of these problems people are having are user errors, flashing things with no knowledge of what they are doing. I would say go back to stock do to ota update with the new radio and wimax enhancements then tell me what type of 4g coverage you are getting. otherwise you are just trusting the chef that everything is set up right which i would take with a grain of salt because non of them seem to understand exactly how the wimax radio works as of yet. Proof of this is all the problems people are having after trying numerous roms
BB15 said:
I'm in Seattle and see similar 4G behavior. Usually 2 bars or so and not great performance (marginally better than 3G). I'd be interested to see if this can be improved by tweaking the settings also.
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That's not very encouraging, I am very disappointed by Sprint's 3g speeds. I have yet to see over 1mbs, and over the 4th of July weekended saw .2-.7 mbs. Yes, .2 as in 192kbs. This was in Miami.
vespoli said:
This thread does not belong here. Take this drivel to the appropriate subforum.
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I started this thread with the intentions of looking into the settings of the wimax ##data# menu....not too rant about the service. I believe with the good signal I'm getting and the fact that I do connect shows that there's an issue with either the roms were flashing or the setting mentioned above. Anybody care to post their settings?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Changing the wimax idle sleep time from 10 secs to 300 secs could help. My 4G stays on pretty much constantly now instead of switching back and forth between 4G and 3G. You would need your MSL to edit the settings though.
I have similar issues in the chicago land area as well. Very frustrating. I am using a stock rooted rom, but I am using an older OTA update. When I'm outside I always have a strong 4G signal. However, as soon as I go in doors I either loose the signal or have a very weak one. Before you say anything about updating, my GF's EVO is completely stock with the newest OTA update and her 4G behaves very similarly. I actually pick up a better signal at times. It just sucks because if the signal was just a LITTLE bit stronger I would be really happy.
Thats just due to the spectrum used for wimax is at such a high frequency that it does not penetrate walls very well. I'm not sure how sprint will try to remedy this problem, I'm not sure but I get strong signals at my work office and thats inside a building. At home I can get 4G if I am outside once inside I cant seem to get it at all.
What's "##data#" ? I would search it but haven't quite figured it out yet on the app. Google didn't help either (surprisingly).
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
jrpointer said:
Im in the northern chicago area and I'm able to connect to 4g but the connection is slow and unstable...(even with 4 bars). Ive extended the idle time using ##data# but still I have the same issues??? Anybody with a solid connection care to share their ##data# settings? Im thinking the issue might in the settings......
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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jr - I am in Gold Coast and recently noticed the 4G signal was junk. It used ot be great inside my 13th floor apartment. I went to the sprint store and they said one of the towers was being serviced (they called a tech. and he said this while I was there). They said end of this week it would be fixed. I was going to give them another week or so and see what the deal is then.
IMO it kind of defeats the purpose of having 4G then. 90% of the time that I want to surf the internet or use 4G I'm indoors, and I would imagine that goes for pretty much everybody. I know this isn't a problem for everybody so it seems, but I think for a lot of people it is.
interesting you say 4 bars of 4g. when i look at my phone i can get up to 6 vertical bars for 3g's signal strength, but with 4g on, and outside i can get 3 "bars" more like "upper wifi arcs" above the 4g signal. and inside my 4g doesn't even register anything, it just shows 4g with no arcs...
however my technique is to put the phone right next to the window and run my micro usb cable from there to my computer. and i then get great data connection...
still experimenting, (had the phone for less than a week) but i think it might work better to go to menu/settings/wirless&networks/ and uncheck mobile network so the phone doesn't use the 3g for data connection when 4g isn't there...
thus if the 4g signal is low, it doesn't drop it to grab the higher signal 3g...
lastly. i'm heading to the store to try to pick up a 2 buck plastic soap dish with a suction cup for the "high tech holding station" on my window. that and a 10 foot micro usb cable i think that will help even more...
best of luck.
I have figured out where in my neighborhood I can get a 4G signal (and I too keep my phone near the window when I want to use it at home). However since the OTA, I noticed that if my 4G signal drops it won't come back unless I toggle the 4G radio. It will just sit in "scanning" and use 3G.
Anyone else noticing this problem?
I would assume that one of the settings/timers need to be tweaked, but I have no idea what my those values were before the OTA.
oreoOozZz said:
Idk about 4G but i just moved into a new house and i have TERRRIBLE reception no matter where i am. If im not outside, it sucks. Its funny though, as soon as i step out the door, 5-6 bars. Im keeping the phone in hopes that as soon as they get 4G around here (Elmont, NY... Long Island), things will change. =\
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4G has nothing to do with 3G. Clearwire maintains the 4G network and Ericsson maintains the 3G/1X network do if your 3G is bad now, it won't be any different when 4G launches unless Ericsson improves the situation.
If I'd got this device predominantly for 4G...Id've returned it in day one...(IN Chicago also). In fact wouldn't have bought it going in knowing what I knew about the spottiness of tapping into 4G frequency wirelessly.
that makes absolutely no sense.
per your words, 4G has nothing to do with 3G as in Clearwire has nothing to do with Ericsson so what would it matter if Ericsson decided to step its game up if Clearwire is the 4G company?
4G is on a whole different frequency not to mention a whole different tower technology and tower location possibly so there's definetly a good chance that I can maintain a great 4G signal once it arrives in my area compared to the terrible 3G coverage I get.
well see what happens... my luck they will never put 4G by me lol.

[Q] Epic reception Issues

So here it is. I have an Evo and Im in those forums all the time. Mostly browsing, posting occasionally, but mostly just reading and trying to soak in as much info as possible.
Ive started reading up on the Epic recently. My girl just recently got one, and she loves it. Few minor issues here and there, but for the most part shes crazy about it. I am not, personally. Coming from an Evo running CM6, Id like to think I know a little about what a fast phone is. In my opinion, the Epic does have a bit of lag. However I read that there is a fix for it, but I havent read much beyond that.
The real problem I have with her phone is the reception. I have read from a few places that the reception on this thing is less than stellar. Example: I live in Coral Springs, FL. She lives in Coconut Grove. Its about 50 miles away. Now, when Im at her house, I get great signal, decent speeds, and never am without service. Her on the other hand, cant get a signal in her own house to save her life. Cant get a signal in most of Miami for that matter. Chances are its a defective phone, **** happens. But I also saw that some people complained of an update completely ruining signal strength. Im at a loss. I just wanted some opinions on what you guys think it could be.
Is it worth trying to fix? Should I swap it out for a different one, or just get an Evo? Looking for some guidance here
And if it matters, since someone will ask, her phone is completely stock. All Ive done is install Launcher Pro.
Thanks in advance for any advice or flaming, either works for me.
afflikt3d said:
So here it is. I have an Evo and Im in those forums all the time. Mostly browsing, posting occasionally, but mostly just reading and trying to soak in as much info as possible.
Ive started reading up on the Epic recently. My girl just recently got one, and she loves it. Few minor issues here and there, but for the most part shes crazy about it. I am not, personally. Coming from an Evo running CM6, Id like to think I know a little about what a fast phone is. In my opinion, the Epic does have a bit of lag. However I read that there is a fix for it, but I havent read much beyond that.
The real problem I have with her phone is the reception. I have read from a few places that the reception on this thing is less than stellar. Example: I live in Coral Springs, FL. She lives in Coconut Grove. Its about 50 miles away. Now, when Im at her house, I get great signal, decent speeds, and never am without service. Her on the other hand, cant get a signal in her own house to save her life. Cant get a signal in most of Miami for that matter. Chances are its a defective phone, **** happens. But I also saw that some people complained of an update completely ruining signal strength. Im at a loss. I just wanted some opinions on what you guys think it could be.
Is it worth trying to fix? Should I swap it out for a different one, or just get an Evo? Looking for some guidance here
And if it matters, since someone will ask, her phone is completely stock. All Ive done is install Launcher Pro.
Thanks in advance for any advice or flaming, either works for me.
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Living in Florida, I know Sprint's service here is TOP NOTCH compared to other places in the country. I frequently go to South Florida to visit my gf and sister. I haven't had reception issues with the Epic or Hero that I've owned (Pre, now thats a different story... ****ing phone). Anyway, I would say defective unit. I get better service (not bars) with the Epic. There is one dead zone on the drive down from Brevard to South Florida right at the border of Brevard County. The Hero and Pre always drop out. Epic didn't. My Download speeds using apps as a guide are slower, upload speeds... well, you can read about that. However, functionally, the phone is faster than the Hero. Sprint TV produces a picture that is usable and everything seems to download faster (can't do a side-by-side test over 3G as my Hero is deactivated). Market apps download and install much faster, and streaming content online is a much better experience than the Hero (no matter what rom/overclock kernel I had on it). The Epic is a great phone. If she still can, I would see if she could get it exchanged.
I haven't gone to my Sister's place in Tamarac, but in the past, service has been horrible in her house with Sprint/Verizon. My sister has T-Mobile for that reason. Really, its the structure of her house because when I go outside, I get no issues with reception. I've noticed the signal isn't that great out west. My Gf couldn't even get signal on her pre (grrrr) over by Coral Square. Hero was much better than the Pre and the Epic so far has been a little better than the Hero.
As far as gain readings...:
Right now in my Room which has mediocre service (I'm on an island, I don't expect great service, but its decent). My signals for both phones are as follows:
Hero -93dBm (shows 3/4 bars on Froyo ROM)- no 3G test
Epic -101dBm (shows 2/6 bars, completely stock)- 3G download speed: 1233, 3G upload speed: 142
My girl lives in north laud. I bought her the epic n no complaints so far. She can't talk n use the net though - no 4g in fort laud yet.
Sent from my Epic xda style. http://zedros.com
KaiserLinux said:
My girl lives in north laud. I bought her the epic n no complaints so far. She can't talk n use the net though - no 4g in fort laud yet.
Sent from my Epic xda style. http://zedros.com
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There are in some parts... You should check out the amazing speeds on us1 from oakland park to mcnabb. There are other parts, too, but that's were I've gotten it. 7 down capped at 1 upload
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Thanks for the replies guys. Looks to have been a defective phone. She went and swapped it out for a new one, and is currently experiencing no issues at all. She can even pick up faint 4g occasionally from inside her house, whereas before, she couldn't get it even in a place I know it to be. So now I'm jealous lol.
Thanks again
afflikt3d said:
Thanks for the replies guys. Looks to have been a defective phone. She went and swapped it out for a new one, and is currently experiencing no issues at all. She can even pick up faint 4g occasionally from inside her house, whereas before, she couldn't get it even in a place I know it to be. So now I'm jealous lol.
Thanks again
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No problem. Glad you guys got it resolved
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

[Q] The moment I get to my door... NO SIGNAL

So I got the Nexus S yesterday and LOVE everything about it.
I'm unable to get any acceptable reception inside my apartment (on the lowest level of a three story complex thats surrounded by other apartments).
I live in Hermosa Beach, CA and TMO says I have good coverage here... and they're right... because once i walk outside I'm blazing... like literally once I'm outside my door... what gives??? How can I go from 3G 4 bars lit up in green to that stupid EDGE with one bar... lucky to be green... or no reception at all.
Will I be stuck with not being able to use my phone inside my apartment? I called TMO and they are sending someone out here to check the reception I guess... but I'm stuck using WiFi inside my apartment without being able to use the phone.
Anyone else experience similar issues like that? My sprint phone never did this.
look into getting a signal repeater or something
T-Mobile definitely has issues penetrating buildings, in my opinion. Both my home and one of the two work-sites I frequent are almost dead-zones on T-Mo.
I purchased one of those zBoost cell repeaters for my home, which greatly improves reception, but you need to be able to run a cable to an outside antenna for best results.
Here's an Amazon link for a starting point to different models: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=mobile&field-keywords=zboost+tmobile&x=0&y=0
That said, it's ridiculous to have to pay $250 to get your cell signal. I only did it because the one I got does both AT&T and T-Mo frequencies (not T-Mo 3G, though) and my AT&T phones can get signal inside the house, but just barely.
I too have issues in buildings not necessarily my house but businesses
This is a T-Mobile issue. Not a nexus issue. Also is not a new issue.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
cpcrazyfly said:
This is a T-Mobile issue. Not a nexus issue. Also is not a new issue.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
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Technically correct, but if the Nexus S is your first T-Mobile phone, you might not know this. It would be easy to think the NS has a poor antenna. It's a valid question to ask, in my opinion.
redhatyellow said:
So I got the Nexus S yesterday and LOVE everything about it.
I'm unable to get any acceptable reception inside my apartment (on the lowest level of a three story complex thats surrounded by other apartments).
I live in Hermosa Beach, CA and TMO says I have good coverage here... and they're right... because once i walk outside I'm blazing... like literally once I'm outside my door... what gives??? How can I go from 3G 4 bars lit up in green to that stupid EDGE with one bar... lucky to be green... or no reception at all.
Will I be stuck with not being able to use my phone inside my apartment? I called TMO and they are sending someone out here to check the reception I guess... but I'm stuck using WiFi inside my apartment without being able to use the phone.
Anyone else experience similar issues like that? My sprint phone never did this.
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This is just a fundamental issue with the frequencies t-mobile uses for their 3g network, 1700 and 2100mHz. Those have poor building penetration vs for example lower bands like the 850mHz on ATT which penetrates buildings much stronger. It requires them to build towers closer together but that isn't always possible, its hard enough to get towers up as it is.
This is one reason I've tried to stay on ATT 3g as their 3g band performs much better in these situations, when its available.
distortedloop said:
T-Mobile definitely has issues penetrating buildings, in my opinion. Both my home and one of the two work-sites I frequent are almost dead-zones on T-Mo.
I purchased one of those zBoost cell repeaters for my home, which greatly improves reception, but you need to be able to run a cable to an outside antenna for best results.
Here's an Amazon link for a starting point to different models:
That said, it's ridiculous to have to pay $250 to get your cell signal. I only did it because the one I got does both AT&T and T-Mo frequencies (not T-Mo 3G, though) and my AT&T phones can get signal inside the house, but just barely.
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Do you think TMO will provide this for me? Have people got TMO to do this before?
And yeah, I know this isn't a NS issue... I LOVE THE NS -- MY FAV PHONE OF ALL TIME!!, but i am new to TMO and love them as well EXCEPT for inside my house !!
Has anyone ever got TMO to provide better reception inside their home?? You would think they would provide people with like wireless routers for their homes!
I had the G1, Nexus One, G2, and MT4G before the Nexus S and have to say that the Nexus S gets hands down the best reception in my apartment.
The G1 was worthless, the N1, G2, and MT4G were pretty much on par but only got reception in certain parts of the apartment which means I couldn't move very much when on the phone (unless when on wifi calling of course).
The Nexus S has reception everywhere in my apartment with superior call quality throughout. Very impressed with it so far. T-mobile still sucks inside buildings but you're better off with the Nexus S than other T-mobile devices.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
find another place lol
why you are living deep down under. afraid of nuke or something ?
Also, I live in Los Angeles and we've been having lots of rain here... will that affect reception at all?
And what about femtocell technology? Does TMO use it??
redhatyellow said:
Also, I live in Los Angeles and we've been having lots of rain here... will that affect reception at all?
And what about femtocell technology? Does TMO use it??
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Im about an hour away from you and the rain is horrible but i havent had any issues...
and I dont think they do
LOL! I cannot stop laughing reading this comment
ll_l_x_l_ll said:
find another place lol
why you are living deep down under. afraid of nuke or something ?
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Rain seems to be affecting my T mobile service, I'm in the valley and areas I normally get 3g on have been edge or no service since the rain storms began.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Hopefully someone will port the tmobile wifi app to the nexus s. I may return mine and wait for it because I don't want to keep switching phones at home because one has the ability for wifi calling and the other doesnt.
Also I have tried sip calling to no avail on both nexuses.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Rain is known to sometimes cause interference with reception; I notice this as well in NYC. I have noticed that the Nexus S is pretty good at keeping the signal alive, certainly better than my N1 or Vibrant.
To improve your reception, set the phone to airplane mode and then turn it off a few seconds later to get the closest towers. Also call 611 and ask them to reset your phone on the network from their end. Surprisingly, this sometimes does help. As someone said previously, the higher the band (2100 mhz for Tmo 3G), the worse penetration is unfortunately. I think Tmo stopped selling their repeaters earlier this year or last year (hotspot @ home).
I tweeted on Sunday my dissatisfaction with T-Mobile service. I was 75' outside one of their own stores in an area marked as 3G on their maps, couldn't get data at all inside another store, couldn't get better than EDGE outside in the parking lot.
Their reply was to try a new SIM. The SIM I have is from my N1 original, it's not even a year old. Anyone think it's worth the effort swapping? Do SIMS actually "wear out" that fast?
I suspect that's one of those "we don't really have an answer or fix, but give the customer something to try so we look proactive" kind of answers. LOL
have you tried setting up SIP + GVoice over Wifi?
This doesn't resolve the tmobile issue, but at least you can make and receive calls on wifi without eating up your minutes...
It's not ideal, but it works.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=877879
My friend had this problem with his ATT phones. He contacted them, *****ed, and they set up one of those repeaters in his apartment. He's the only one that could log into it and set up a filter to use only phones he registers. Maybe you can talk to Tmobile about this, though I'm not sure if they're eager to give everyone these things (or if Tmobile even gives them).

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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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

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