Database Users

reception sucks!

I hate to say it but I am having 3g issues. By that I mean no 3g and one to two bars. Usually I have perfect reception.
Sent from my ADR6300 using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk

i've noticed on the incredible that my displayed signal strength isn't as strong as it is on my droid. haven't noticed a difference in call reception or data speeds though...yet.

Eris users have noticed the same thing as you bzbz when compared to the Droid. Could be the cpu or something else HTC vs Motorola.

i've noticed on the incredible that my displayed signal strength isn't as strong as it is on my droid. haven't noticed a difference in call reception or data speeds though...yet.
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I noticed the same thing but my download/upload speeds are just as fast if not faster. I gave my Droid to my mom and took her upgrade so I have both side by side, off WiFi downloading a movie and the Incredible is actually 20-50kbs faster than my old Droid and yes the Droid is over clocked with petes 1ghz kernel.

I have had the Incredible for a couple of days, and I've noticed a lower displayed signal strength than I'd see on my Droid in the same locations.
But I've not experienced any reception issues, and my internet speed seems the same or faster.
This is what I expected. We all know that you can't count on those reception bars to compare different phones, and also that Moto tends to have better radios/reception than everyone else anyway. As long as you're phone's radio is close to Moto's in the ability to make/receive calls, then normally you're not doing bad.

well it's good to know that the signal strength concern may be more of a "cosmetic" issue than a legitimate performance issue.

daftlush said:
I hate to say it but I am having 3g issues. By that I mean no 3g and one to two bars. Usually I have perfect reception.
Sent from my ADR6300 using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
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how is the quality on said reception? Other people's replies seem to indicate good quality even with less bars.

BzBz said:
well it's good to know that the signal strength concern may be more of a "cosmetic" issue than a legitimate performance issue.
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This...
It is definitely cosmetic, the newest radio i have installed on my eris does the same. The reception on my eris is better then my friends with the older radio, but he has more 3G bars.

designerfx said:
how is the quality on said reception? Other people's replies seem to indicate good quality even with less bars.
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It may just be the way HTC displays the signal. I know on the Touch Pro 2 and Touch Pro, the signal indicator frequently shows incorrect (lower) signal strength but works fine.

I compared signal strength between my BB Curve 8330 and my new Incredible.
In spite of the indicated signal strength being lower on the Incredible, the dBm was the same. It's only one location and one user, but I suspect it's not an actual signal strength issue.

i used my incredible all day. i work in a downtown area with many tall building surrounded and i still got a good 3g signal and speed.
from Boston.

the 3G speeds on my incredible are slower that my 2G G1 running on AT&T. i get les than 200 kbps downstream. My friend with a droid standing in the same room will get aound 1100 Kbps. What gives??

if you are haveing a tough time with a signal.. I update my roaming towers... I had an issue today where I couldn't get much.. I did *228 option 2 and it updated my roaming towers and have had no problems since... sometimes you need to do that with a new phone so it knows exactly what towers to look for

tried the *228 to update. Update was successful but no improvment. still have very slow data speeds and terrible call quality. reception stays about around -100 dBm

I'm also noticing what appears to be poor reception. I was getting better reception with my Droid than I am with Incredible. I've tried the *228 last night and this morning but that hasn't helped. Hopefully there will eventually be some kind of software fix for this. I'm seeing other threads on other sites with the same kind of complaints so I don't think it's a select few who are experiencing this issue.

hoop762 said:
the 3G speeds on my incredible are slower that my 2G G1 running on AT&T. i get les than 200 kbps downstream. My friend with a droid standing in the same room will get aound 1100 Kbps. What gives??
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Your speed will depend on what tower your connected to. on my Eris, I've gone from 1mbps/0.70mbps in New York, NY to 2mbps/2mbps in West Haven, CT. It's not the phone. The newer radio on the Incredible will show less bars, but your signal strength will be fine .(dBm)

My phone keeps dropping 3G my droid never has done this in the location the incredible is. I will go into airplane mode then back out and I will have 3g again

Over at Androidforums there is a thread going regarding reception issues. On page 2 is some help in running a debug on the phone that will give you dbm levels and some other info. I'm not sure how to use the info the debug gives but perhaps it may be of some use to someone here.
The link is http://androidforums.com/htc-incredible/70223-weak-signal-strength.html

rckeystone said:
Over at Androidforums there is a thread going regarding reception issues. On page 2 is some help in running a debug on the phone that will give you dbm levels and some other info. I'm not sure how to use the info the debug gives but perhaps it may be of some use to someone here.
The link is http://androidforums.com/htc-incredible/70223-weak-signal-strength.html
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You don't need to go into field test mode like this guy said, all you need to do is from the home screen > menu > setting > about phone > network.
Here you will see signal strength (typical between -100 to -80dBm) the closer to 0 you are the better your signal is (ie: 80dBm > 90dBm)
Hope that clears up some confusion. I've tested both the motodroid and the incredible side by side in a location with low signal and can say that my incredible gets better signal than the droid, even though the "bars" don't indicate as such.

my signal always stays at -81, is that a good thing?
im a new android and 3g user

My 3G is pathetic

I've even tryed the EVRC thing

Mine is very spotty. Sometimes I get 1.5mbps and other times (like right now), it looks like this:
Wifi is ok, but its results are slower in the browser vs. the actual Speedtest app:

Mine is also as horrible here in Phoenix.

I've been happy with my service in Jacksonville. Usually in the range of 1.3 - 1.5 mbps, upwards of 2 mbps

Steve325 said:
I've been happy with my service in Jacksonville. Usually in the range of 1.3 - 1.5 mbps, upwards of 2 mbps
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Are you rooted? Just curious.

zeuzinn said:
Are you rooted? Just curious.
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dont worry you are not alone, my 3g sometimes fast and sometimes slow....but on average, i got about 800-1200kbps.

campchi said:
dont worry you are not alone, my 3g sometimes fast and sometimes slow....but on average, i got about 800-1200kbps.
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Ditto. Either way though, my 3G connection is still faster than my home's DSL.
Then again, what would you expect from AT&T?

If you're using the SpeedTest app to check speeds, just be aware that it is inaccurate as all get out.

Same,
I just switched from ATT(St. Louis) My ATT 3g speeds are similar to my 4g Sprint speeds at times
3g on ATT in a rural area tested from 1.2-2.3mpbs, sprint 4g has topped out at 2.0mpbs downtown.
Very sad.
ortizdupri said:
If you're using the SpeedTest app to check speeds, just be aware that it is inaccurate as all get out.
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What do you recommend? DSL reports?
EDIT:
Here's the results
4g
Speedtest - 1.56
DSL Reports Flash - 3.8
3g
Speedtest - 155
DSL Reports Flash - 556
You may have something there sir
Seems for this app it either doesn't throttle or is using **** servers.

Well i dunno what to blame. I do live in a completly brick house. All though i can go to walmart and have 5-6 bars but go back to my house 5 blocks away with a good signal all the way untill i walk up my steps (garage appt) and into my door and drop to 0 to at best 4 bars. Its almost like my house is made out of led or something because it seems to block out any kind of signal, even the "new" digital tv signals. But even when i do have a full signal the best i get is 100kb/s

what is really stupid for me is that my upload speed over 3g is oftentimes faster than the download speed with full bars.

knives of ice said:
what is really stupid for me is that my upload speed over 3g is oftentimes faster than the download speed with full bars.
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That happens when you use the speed test app. It won't be the case with anything else.

4g speed increase and signal strength

With the new PRL update did everyone get increased signals and speeds?
My personal best at home and at a location I am very familiar with was 5.5 Mbps and I thought that was more than good enough.
Well today I tested and my bars increased in my home office by 1 or 2 bars(up and down) and I just got over 11.50 Mbps!
Nice job Sprint. Anyone else get much better results lately through the radio update and PRL change?

I don't get 4g in my house, but I did notice a speed increase with my 3g coverage. I'm in a weak signal area and got around 200-400 kbps with the old prl, and now with the new prl I get 500-700 kbps.

abanh said:
I don't get 4g in my house, but I did notice a speed increase with my 3g coverage. I'm in a weak signal area and got around 200-400 kbps with the old prl, and now with the new prl I get 500-700 kbps.
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Can't complain about double right?
I also did notice my 3G speed increased as well. I am fortunate to have 4G as now I have a tethering solution wirelessly and USB for PC and MAC
I hope Sprint continues down the path they have been going lately and get a foothold of the 3.5G(4G) market. I am liking their Customer Service and their speeds along with their phones. They are finally understanding the game.

Yeah, I see better signal and 3g speeds with the new prl. Lakeland,fl
Sent from my EVO!

I drive by the Sprint Campus in Overland Park, KS everyday and I have full 4G bars. I have never get over 3.5 and it's really annoying and with all the latest updates it now doesn't go past 1.8...
It's funny though because my 3G speed has in fact increased. Ok, well not so funny because I want the 5+ 4G speeds other's seem to get.

Before 2.2 I used to get spotty 4G coverage at my house with about 5mbps down/1mbps up but didn't notice any issues with battery. Now with 2.2 I consistently get 4G at my house and get about 7-8mbps down/1mbps up, but the battery life is horrible! I left 4G on this morning when I unplugged my phone from the charger around 9AM with 100% battery, its now close to 1PM and I have hardly used to phone (just checked some emails) and I am down to 20% in 4 hours. Anyone else seeing this as well??

Oh yeah, I've noticed a huge increase. Before I wouldn't go past 4MB, now I am getting Over 8MBs! Pic for proof here

I live right in the city of Seattle just northeast of downtown and in a very old building with thick brick walls. I could only get 2 or 3 bars of 3g and could not get a 4g connection at all. when I updated to froyo rooted Rom, and the radio to the 7.28 and wimax to 26023, I can now get 3 bars of 4g!
the 3g signal did not change, but after thinking wimax indoors would never happen due to the structure of my building, surrounding tall buildings, the wavelength used for 4g, and a tiny dead zone a block from my apartment, I am very pleased and surprised.
and no, I did not discover some new magical hotspot of reception inside my apartment - I checked every square inch to find the best reception for tethering in the past and set the phone at the exact same spot, on top of my 2nd window's curtain rod.
this happened before I updated the PRL, but now with the updated PRL it still works the same, so maybe it was partly the radio too?

Inconsistent 3G speeds

Has anyone noticed really inconsistent 3G speeds?
Often I'll get well over 1 mbps download rates, but sometimes its disgustingly awful.
For example, 3G(not 1X) just netted me this:
68 Kbps or 0.1 Mbps (8 kB/s)
:|
(Sprint btw)

Speed depends how many bars show up when you're using Ev. Zero or 1 bar could get the result you listed, but it will be awesome if you have full bars.

That really isn't true on a cdma network. I also have seen large variance in mobile network speed, probably just from heavier traffic on sprints network.

I've had ranges from 2.1mb/s to 300kb/s on 3G.
Sent from my bathroom, with toilet paper.

intx said:
Has anyone noticed really inconsistent 3G speeds?
Often I'll get well over 1 mbps download rates, but sometimes its disgustingly awful.
For example, 3G(not 1X) just netted me this:
68 Kbps or 0.1 Mbps (8 kB/s)
:|
(Sprint btw)
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Yeah, I get that every day. Most noticeably Mon-Fri.. I live in the Detroit area which in my opinion, barely has 3g as it is. Forget ever getting 4g here.
Anyway, after 9am my internet is unusable for anything except gmail telling me I have new emails. Even then sometimes the connection times out. Pings of over 1000ms and speedtest speeds like I'm back in 1994 on dial-up (3.4 kB/s).
2 other co-workers of mine have hero's (both stock, i'm running cm 6.0 nightlys) with the same problems.
I've called and complained a few times to which they tell me it's my phone. But no, it's not. It's your network!

T-Mobile is Growing: Data is Slowing Down

Anyone else notice slower data? I used to average 7.2mbps on my Vibrant, I even scored 10mbps on a G2.
Nexus S averages out at 4mbps.... Sometimes 2.5. Highest I've got it to was 5 on a lucky day. My GF has my old Vibrant and she is getting the same download speeds.
Don't know if I should be happy or sad Lol!
Anyone else notice speed slowing down in the last 6 months?

Anderdroid said:
Anyone else notice slower data? I used to average 7.2mbps on my Vibrant, I even scored 10mbps on a G2.
Nexus S averages out at 4mbps.... Sometimes 2.5. Highest I've got it to was 5 on a lucky day. My GF has my old Vibrant and she is getting the same download speeds.
Don't know if I should be happy or sad Lol!
Anyone else notice speed slowing down in the last 6 months?
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HSDPA or HSPA+ makes no difference in the end. Reason we get a performance boost from HSPA+ even though we dont support it is HSPA+ is all in the backend.
which means faster speeds for all. Imagine what the speeds would be without HSPA+

I realize this. But speeds have been slowing down lately.
We do get the boost from HSPA+ but what slows it down is the fact that T-Mobile is getting tons of new customers... The network may get clogged and we could have an AT&T disaster!

Anderdroid said:
I realize this. But speeds have been slowing down lately.
We do get the boost from HSPA+ but what slows it down is the fact that T-Mobile is getting tons of new customers... The network may get clogged and we could have an AT&T disaster!
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hm, i noticed this too, and also, theres at least 20+ people that i know that used to have ATT/Verizon that has jumped over to tmobile in the past month or 2.

I haven't noticed any noticeable difference in average network performance over the past seven months. I haven't been clocking it, though; just speaking from my personal sense of how quickly it was downloading.

Yes, I've definitely noticed a slow down in the past 60 days.
I used to get 3800 to 4400 Kb/s on my N1. Once I switched to the NS, I've never seen faster than about 3000 Kb/s. I posted in a different thread yesterday that I ran some tests with both the N1 and the NS (using the same sim card in both) and found that the N1 no longer goes over 3000 Kb/s.
Conclusion: the service has degraded around here.
But it just occurred to me that I had been "throttled" for being a data pig last November, and the throttling was supposed to last until mid-December. Here's the interesting part, even "throttled" my speeds only declined to about 2800 Kb/s; which means I'm still getting those speeds that I got while "throttled". I wonder if they forgot to "un-throttle" me.
I'll call customer service today and double check. I'll also complain about the drop in speeds.
Is it possible you're being throttled and missed the notification?

I'm in central Florida and can say there has been a big decrease in speed here in the past 3 months. I too came from a Vibrant that my wife now uses and can say the same as the OP.

I think its a mix of things. New customers on high data use handsets utilizing that advertised 4g speed. I also think it being winter time that people are staying inside and using their phones and devices more, much like how gas use in homes goes up in the winter time. There's less to do outside, etc, so you are connecting more through electronic means. Hopefully tmo continues to expand their back haul, and they will have to to achieve those even faster than 21mbps speeds. I think conversely that in the summer you will see your speeds come back.
Sent from my HTC Dream using XDA App

Glad I'm not the only one! Let's hope it's just for the winter! Heh

Wouldn't winter help more? Since having wireless in the home? By your logic it would be worse in the summer because it's nicer weather and people travel more and need mobile data to facebook it up.
If you want to test if the service is slowing down due to many people, test it at least 4 times throughout the day with at least twice at night such as 1am and 3-4am, shouldn't be many people on then.

About 6 months ago I was on T-Mobile at which time I switched to Sprint for yearly updates and a supposedly cheaper plan. When those two things ended up not happening I switched back and I can say without a doubt that my speeds are faster. This could be due to the fact that I had a MT3G before and now have a NS or that when I was on Tmo before their HSPA network was not really available or it could be just that its faster. Either way I'm much happier as with Sprint I was topping out at 1.5mbps on 3G and now on Tmo I'm getting up to around 3.5 some times even closer to 4.

About 20 days ago I started experiencing data slowness. Before I was averaging 3.0-4.0 I called Tmobile multiply times to reset me with the towers. No luck. I have the nexus S and my girl has the vibrant. Now we can barely hit 1.0 its very frustrating I thought I was the only one but after googling and finding this thread I see Im not alone.

I have no complaints here in terms of TMOs speed. With the NS I get about 4-5mb consistently. When I was at best buy playing around with phone the MT4G hit 11mb down, although the average speed was closer to 9mb

jlevy73 said:
I have no complaints here in terms of TMOs speed. With the NS I get about 4-5mb consistently. When I was at best buy playing around with phone the MT4G hit 11mb down, although the average speed was closer to 9mb
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What part of Los Angeles are you in?
It was 3.8 - 4.2 pretty consistently near the Van Nuys Airport for a while, but now it's never more than 3.0.

distortedloop said:
What part of Los Angeles are you in?
It was 3.8 - 4.2 pretty consistently near the Van Nuys Airport for a while, but now it's never more than 3.0.
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I'm in the Hollywood area.

It's area dependent.
Brooklyn
in 18th/68th, I get top speed (up to 9Mbps with N900), average 4-5
in home area (N train Bay Parkway), I also get top speed
in Bay Parkway/86th, the speed is slower (2-3Mbps)
in Downtown (Fulton/Jay, A/C/F/R train station), the speed is barely workable
Manhattan
in Lower Manhattan (both Canal Street and City Hall), the speed it up to 2Mbps
in Midtown (Empire State Building), the speed is much slower (no more than 1Mbps)
in Inwood (A train 207 Street), the speed is good (4-5Mbps)
The speed test was conducted with either MT4 or NS except stated.

mingkee said:
It's area dependent.
Brooklyn
in 18th/68th, I get top speed (up to 9Mbps with N900), average 4-5
in home area (N train Bay Parkway), I also get top speed
in Bay Parkway/86th, the speed is slower (2-3Mbps)
in Downtown (Fulton/Jay, A/C/F/R train station), the speed is barely workable
Manhattan
in Lower Manhattan (both Canal Street and City Hall), the speed it up to 2Mbps
in Midtown (Empire State Building), the speed is much slower (no more than 1Mbps)
in Inwood (A train 207 Street), the speed is good (4-5Mbps)
The speed test was conducted with either MT4 or NS except stated.
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Wouldn't the MT4G get higher speeds and skew the results since it can access HSPA+ while we can only rid the coattails of it? Since only the MT4G can access the HSPA+ (the G2 can do HSPA, I believe but it cannot do the higher speeds) wouldn't that mean that the number of devices slowing that network was significantly smaller and therefore the amount of throttling due to network bottleneck would be significantly lower. Therefore to make an accurate speed test you would have to use the same type of phone (or to be completely scientific, the same phone).

mingkee said:
It's area dependent.
<snipped>
The speed test was conducted with either MT4 or NS except stated.
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I've always said cell service is like real estate, it's all about location, location, location.
Your point doesn't address the real issue. Sure, in different parts of town with different devices that have different speeds abilities we're going to see different speedtest results. We'll even see different results depending on the time of day in some areas.
The issue is that those of us who were averaging some particular speed, using the same device, in the same location, at the same time-of-day are now seeing reduced speeds.
For me it's a 25% reduction, consistently, on two different devices...

insanemachine said:
Wouldn't winter help more? Since having wireless in the home? By your logic it would be worse in the summer because it's nicer weather and people travel more and need mobile data to facebook it up.
If you want to test if the service is slowing down due to many people, test it at least 4 times throughout the day with at least twice at night such as 1am and 3-4am, shouldn't be many people on then.
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My last speedtest was at 4am lol

jlevy73 said:
I have no complaints here in terms of TMOs speed. With the NS I get about 4-5mb consistently. When I was at best buy playing around with phone the MT4G hit 11mb down, although the average speed was closer to 9mb
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It's as I feared. They're throttling non 4g devices so that the 4g devices get worlds faster. I used to max out at 7.2mbps on Vibrant. I wonder if the G2/MT4g still get 10mbps around here. Damn.
The Nexus S does get HSDPA and benefits from HSPA+. It should be maxing out at 7.2 if MT4g is getting over 7.2.
I mean. I am getting 3-5. Which is still awesome... But. I want my 7.2 back.