Database Users

Anyone getting subpar 4G service (Philadelphia)

my 4g signal is coming in pretty weak and the speeds i am getting are fairly slow. when doing a speed test with the evo and my old g1 my results are:
Evo 2,700kbps on 4g
G1 3,800kbps on HSPA+
I know HSPA+ is fast but i would would expect the 4g to be a bit faster, when i use my clearwire usb stick on my laptop i can pull speeds upto 17mbps. I even tried it in different areas around the city with no change. I know its still an emerging technology but i would like to see if anyone else in a 4g are has had this issue. any thoughts?

Ive given up on 4g and Im completely happy on 3g with this phone, saves battery too.
Ive gotten 4g signal ONCE and ive had the phone for a week, in a 4G market. Still love the phone just not buyin the 4g hype. I dont even call it evo 4g anymore, its just...Evo
edit::: in Hawaii (oahu) btw

I hear ya, 4g seems more of a novelty at this point. I love the phone but im tempted to return it and stick with tmobile for now.

psycho9x said:
my 4g signal is coming in pretty weak and the speeds i am getting are fairly slow. when doing a speed test with the evo and my old g1 my results are:
Evo 2,700kbps on 4g
G1 3,800kbps on HSPA+
I know HSPA+ is fast but i would would expect the 4g to be a bit faster, when i use my clearwire usb stick on my laptop i can pull speeds upto 17mbps. I even tried it in different areas around the city with no change. I know its still an emerging technology but i would like to see if anyone else in a 4g are has had this issue. any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im right over the bridge in NJ and getting 2mb. isnt it capped anyway? its fast enough for me.

I'm around the philly area, and when I do get a 4th signal it will go from 2mbps to 5mbps

I'm near the Baltimore area and so for the most signal I have gotten was one bar and I hit 3500kbps but on average just the 4g icon is lit and I get about 2000kbps. Also when testing you should tether to a laptop because doing the test from the phone isnt very accurate.

I work in King of Prussia, PA and my 4g signal for the past two weeks has been anywhere from 2 to 3.5 mbps. Inside buildings it is worse. Just remember that when 3g first came out it wasn't as good as it is today. It just takes time for a new technology to become a great technology.

Im getting like 2mbps here in new jersey too...

I hear ya, 4g seems more of a novelty at this point. I love the phone but im tempted to return it and stick with tmobile for now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm thinking the same thing. Did you port your number?, what happens if you did and you decide to go back?
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App

I read somewhere earlier that Sprint was having a problem with the 4g network, a sprint rep told a guy over the phone (yes the are not always right, but in this case it seems to be something going on). Everyone around the US seems to be reporting similar problems with the 4g network.

I'm in Seattle, and when I do get 4G, it's about 1800kbps. In comparison, mt T-Mobile 3.5G on my N900 got about 3800kbps. So far, I'm very unimpressed. Might be taking this thing back if it doesn't get any better.
That being said, the 3G service seems to be very fast and responsive even though I'm only getting about 1000kbps.

as jus10 mentioned, sprints 4g is getting hit extremely hard. they were expecting it and that is why they have not crashed but theres only sooo much bandwidth. so with everyone saying 4g is bad right now, just use wifi for now haha.
we are basically beta testers for 4g. it has never been used in this large of scale. but anyways it will def. get better and better but hey anything faster than 3g is good.

im hoping it gets better cause it saddens me that tmobile hspa+ is faster. as i stated i can can pull 17mbps down on my clear usb 4g stick which makes me think they might need to push out an update for the evo.
I didnt port my number yet cause i wanted to try out sprints network before i commited lol.
also the 4g isnt capped on the down side, only on the up.

What are you guys speed testing with. Also you'll probably see 4g has big advantages on latency and upload speed. Doesn't matter how big the pipe(bandwidth) if the pump (latency) is too slow. Latency will make a big difference in voip and video conferencing. I suggest doing some video streaming comparisons vs. Pure bandwidth tests.
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA taptalk app from my EVO

donatom3 said:
What are you guys speed testing with. Also you'll probably see 4g has big advantages on latency and upload speed. Doesn't matter how big the pipe(bandwidth) if the pump (latency) is too slow. Latency will make a big difference in voip and video conferencing. I suggest doing some video streaming comparisons vs. Pure bandwidth tests.
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA taptalk app from my EVO
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually Sprint caps upload and latency isn't better than HSPA..
psycho9x said:
im hoping it gets better cause it saddens me that tmobile hspa+ is faster. as i stated i can can pull 17mbps down on my clear usb 4g stick which makes me think they might need to push out an update for the evo.
I didnt port my number yet cause i wanted to try out sprints network before i commited lol.
also the 4g isnt capped on the down side, only on the up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When did you hit 17Mbps & is it easily repeatable? I'd just test both back to back in the same area to pin point the problem. Sprint could have the HTC Evo at a lower priority on the network over the data sticks and hotspots.

I can hit 17mbps at my friends house which is about 3 miles from me. tried the evo there and still only getting about 3mbps.

Did a quick test today, 250KBps (2Mbps) down. Thats outside, cuz inside I dont get signal at all... and I thought that Portland, being the most mature city for 4G, would be at least better than that... as someone said above, I also given up on 4G. Tether 3G through USB and I get 140KBps to 200KBps down on my laptop, which is more that enough for emergencies. Otherwise I just use wifi in my house & office. Can't beat 22Mbps comcast connecton
That being said, atm Evo "4G" is just a marketing term, nothing more.

here in Vegas,
This is at my house in whats considered a spotty 4g area. I have noticed over the past couple days the 4G service keeps getting faster. On the first night i was only able to get 2.3 Mbps down.

portland oregon
3g 1.78mb/s down at best
4g 2.89mb/s down at best with full bars

Any PHILADELPHIA updates from EVO owners living in the Philly area? (S, Jersey, Philly burbs, etc)
I am curious about 4G availability, reliability, and speeds.
Thank you.

weak 3g reception?

especially from a g1 user's perspective, for me it seems the slide has noticably worse 3g reception; anyone else notice the same?

Yes it does, I'm sure t-mobile will send out radio firmware updates as they did for the g1. I know the last one gave me a big boost. For now you can choose for it to use 3g only and you'll see a lot less dropping to edge, I have mine set like this and sometimes have very low signal but haven't found a spot yet where it was completely dead.

Hmm, that's weird. I used to have the G1 and as soon as I clapped my hand due to my phone getting atleast 1bar of 3G signal it would drop to E. Which meant me not clapping anymore. But with this phone I am clapping once again.

turboyo said:
Yes it does, I'm sure t-mobile will send out radio firmware updates as they did for the g1. I know the last one gave me a big boost. For now you can choose for it to use 3g only and you'll see a lot less dropping to edge, I have mine set like this and sometimes have very low signal but haven't found a spot yet where it was completely dead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as I understood the g1 radio update mainly made the phone hold onto a weaker 3g signal longer rather than any substantial improvement in overall reception; where I work I get no signal at all if I lock 3g only whereas with my g1 I had nearly 100% 3g uptime, the g1 might not have been state of the art but it's cell radio sure was pretty impressive compared to every other phone I've owned

i get better reception than what i did with my mytouch 3g and way better uplaod and download speeds to

N1M1TZ said:
Hmm, that's weird. I used to have the G1 and as soon as I clapped my hand due to my phone getting atleast 1bar of 3G signal it would drop to E. Which meant me not clapping anymore. But with this phone I am clapping once again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second this, my G1 gets crappy 3G reception even on the most recent radio. I'm picking up my MT3GS tomorrow.

My G1 was next to my old Razr in having near perfect signal. My slide drops out of 3G quite often, even at my house sitting right next to my wife with my old G1 that is still on 3G.

I've noticed this. It seems to have horrible horrible 3g reception. I was in a tiny guard shack, maybe 10'x10', walls were thin, and most of the side walls were made of glass patio doors. Inside the shack I would get E all the time, I could literally step 6" outside of the shack, right on the curb, and I'd get 4 bars of 3G.

in my building i get 3g in the elevator, must be practically living right under a tower!!
my AT&T phones used to drop the signal as soon as the elevator doors closed.

Upstate NY here and I'm getting the in/out 3G with Tmo, wish they would get their 3G working right before even trying to consider releasing 4G (as I was told by a rep)

My phone can drop in and out of 3G and 2G. If u put the phone on wcdma only it doesn't happen. Mine will hold 3G all day long without a problem and it downstairs burn as much battery either.
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App

Sorry double post

a few question:
Does anyone know when the radio update will be available?
How does one go about getting the radio update?
Will the radio update work on a rooted phone?
Thanks.

Really??
Are you kidding me??!! I am so surprised (and disappointed) to read this.
First, the Nexus One, then the HD2 (which I owned), and now the MyTouch Slide?? I think I even heard that the Incredible having these issues.
What is it with HTC phones losing reception?
It's one of the reasons (but not the only one) I returned the HD2. I've been strongly considering the MyTouch Slide, but after hearing this, I have to scratch it off the list until/if/when they fix it.
For those who already own this phone, I sincerely hope they fix it for you.

I've noticed weaker 3G speeds also while at work. I've just activated wcdma only it's a lot better now, but I'm at home right now, so I'll post an update tomorrow to see of it is better at work
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

I've noticed it really sucks. I'm sitting in my kitchen right now, where I always had a strong 3G signal on my G1, yet now I don't have one. If Tmobile doesn't fix this soon, I'm considering canceling my contract and going elsewhere.

Ive been having issues for the past 2 months or so (dating back to the G1 btw) where Id be on 3G with full service surfing the internet then everything would stop loading, Id drop down to GPRS and it would stay like that for a few minutes. Then 3G would pick back up again.
Ive been having that issue ever since they started rolling out HSPA+. The TMO reps keep saying that it shouldnt happen, but it is. And not just on my phone. My brothers G1 and now his slide did the same thing and my friends MT3G did it as well.
And this issue isnt in a localized area. Its happening all over VA. Im a roving technician and I get this issue wherever 3G is. If the area only offers Edge, I dont have any issues. When the 3G holds though, its decently quick (check signature).
/rant

Thongvilay said:
Upstate NY here and I'm getting the in/out 3G with Tmo, wish they would get their 3G working right before even trying to consider releasing 4G (as I was told by a rep)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tmobile isn't releasing 4g, is expanding its HSPA+ network, which is technically faster than 4g. Be careful when you ask the reps anything. I have had reps tell me things that I know for a fact weren't true but majority of them don't know any better.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

laphoneuser said:
It's one of the reasons (but not the only one) I returned the HD2. I've been strongly considering the MyTouch Slide, but after hearing this, I have to scratch it off the list until/if/when they fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take what you read here with a grain if salt. Yes some people experience some 3g coverage issues but that doesn't affect everyone and there are a lot of factors to consider. Nonetheless, if you scratch this phone off your list, you'd be missing out on a great device.
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

forgot about this thread... turns out due to some strange coincidence at the time I first bought my slide the cell tower where I worked went on the fritz and the tech people weren't updated on it yet. I have 3g again at work but still notice that I drop to edge a bit more often than with my old g1... and the data works absolutely horridly on edge with latency issues and timeouts that the g1 never did. oh well, still a solid device although I have my upgrade credit saved for whatever emerald/vision/vanguard madness TMO has planned for this fall

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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. =\
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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] T-Mobiles HSPA+ on Vibrant??

i just came to the vibrant from a nexus and i was used to the fast hspa internet speed on my phone i was wondering if there is any way to get that on the vibrant? i already did the lag fix got a 2219 quadrant score way faster than the nexus just wish the internet was a little faster... any help would be appreciated

Last I heard, there were no phones released for TMobile that could use HSPA+, including the Nexus One. HSPA, yes, but not "+". The Vibrant and the Nexus should be capable of about the same 3G speed, but that is going to vary significantly based on usage in your cell and on the internet...

This has obsolutely NOTHING to do with development.
But to answer your question: both the nexus and vibrant support HSPA, so you should see the same speeds. I came from a nexus one as well, and have seen the same speeds. T-Mo finally announced their first HSPA+ phone today, the G2.

ttabbal said:
Last I heard, there were no phones released for TMobile that could use HSPA+, including the Nexus One. HSPA, yes, but not "+". The Vibrant and the Nexus should be capable of about the same 3G speed, but that is going to vary significantly based on usage in your cell and on the internet...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i had hspa on my nexus and i also have it on my wifes hd2 both phones were rooted with custom roms... idk if thats what makes it run on hspa
and yea your right i meant hspa not hspa+

I've hit 4.78 mbps down/.78 up on a 3 bar connection on my Vibrant. Good enough for me.

I've moved this thread to the general section.

I get an avg of around 3.9 mbps speed on speedtest.net on the phone, and I have gotten 6.9 mbps using speedtest tethered to a computer running speedtest.net though the browser on the computer.

Are you referring to the H icon in the notification bar? That's just a custom mod for the rom, the stock Vibrant rom does not display H when connected to hsdpa (even though it is).
Sent from my SGS Vibrant

Wheres my hspa???

I use to notice a h symbol in my notification bar which I assumed my network was connected to hspa but I havent seen it in months how can I connect to it?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Were you running a custom rom? Stock doesn't/has never shown this for me. I get the slightly higher speeds I believe though.

Bspence415 said:
I use to notice a h symbol in my notification bar which I assumed my network was connected to hspa but I havent seen it in months how can I connect to it?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3g = h.
h = 3g.
Only custom roms show H. But even if it "just" shows 3g, you're still connected to the same network.
It's like the difference between pancakes and flapjacks. Some people call em pancakes. Some people call em flapjacks.
In the end they're the same damn thing.

^ true, but sometimes in my area I will have 3G, sometiems H, and sometimes Edge... (on my Nexus One). Seems odd that the phone makes a distinction between 3G and H if there is no difference. I also prefer the H and wish it showed on my phone (Vibrant this time) instead.

s15274n said:
^ true, but sometimes in my area I will have 3G, sometiems H, and sometimes Edge... (on my Nexus One). Seems odd that the phone makes a distinction between 3G and H if there is no difference. I also prefer the H and wish it showed on my phone (Vibrant this time) instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The distinction sometimes refers to basic UMTS, but at least in the United States, every UMTS tower has HSPA upgrades. The reason the distinction even started was because in Europe, there were many towers that were UMTS-only without HS[D/U]PA upgrades. That's not the case here.
On the other hand, now ROMS sometimes show H for HSPA+ areas. That is all fine and dandy, except that your Vibrant doesn't go faster than 7.2mbps HSDPA, or 5.6mbps HSUPA. It's not like when your phone is showing "H", that you're magically going to get faster speeds than your phone was designed to achieve.
So when it comes back to the OPs question, of "connecting" to a faster network, it's irrelevant. Once you're on 3g, it's all the same network. HSPA+ and HSDPA and UMTS are all the same network - just different data upgrades. And your phone will ALWAYS try to access the fastest data upgrade that it can.

Bspence415 said:
I use to notice a h symbol in my notification bar which I assumed my network was connected to hspa but I havent seen it in months how can I connect to it?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's depend on the phone i think. Before i switch to the vibrant (3G display), I used HD2.
On the HD2, i got H notification all the time. And speedtests on both phones yielded same results.

^^ great read, and I understood all of it... I just never understood why sometimes I got 3G and sometimes I got H in the notification bar, makes sense I suppose. I realize the same speeds were usually achieved.