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Using a Verizon / HTC Thunderbolt, final retail model.
Not even tethering, just holding the phone in my hand, I'm getting 4 bars of signal and a signal strength of -77 dBm.
Seems to work fine most of the time, with good downstream, well within acceptable limits of the "5 to 12 Mbps" advertised, though it's extremely variable (it tends to regularly oscillate between these speeds, occasionally dropping down to EvDO speeds).
But the speeds aren't important, just an indication of the good signal strength.
Maybe it's just my cell tower, but I am very frequently seeing no network activity at all; can't even get to google or check for software updates. It's about as unreliable as Verizon's crap DSL. This is the polar opposite of the rock-solid stability I used to get with EvDO in the exact same place (in my house). Is it the 4G network being unreliable, or the Thunderbolt? Anyone else have this problem?
Edit: In terms of the patterns of the total downtime, it seems to go down for periods of 5 to 10 minutes per hour. Sometimes the downtime only lasts 15 or 30 seconds, other times I am completely out for 10 minutes, even though it says "4G LTE" in the dock and I am still getting good signal strength. My data usage for the month is under 5GB but above 2GB. I tend not to make very bursty traffic; except for app downloads, most of my traffic is of the low throughput, consistent variety (loading webpages, listening to MP3 streams at 128Kbps, etc). I use it very often but the bandwidth usage at any given time is probably lower than the speed of an EvDO connection (unless you count webpages that are downloaded at faster-than-EvDO speeds for a split-second to load them). I'll be using it and then it's just *down*. I can still make phone calls during the outage.
I noticed the same thing. I was all over the place cycling through no data, 1x, 3G, and 4G in like a minute in the same spot. I rebooted and got a much more stable 4G connection.
I'm thinking your expectations are a little too much. There are many areas I don't get a good 3g, let alone a 4g signal. I live in a suburb of Chicago and am in 4g 95% of the time, I don't always pay attention, because, after all, it's a phone first, but 4g seems to be there whenever I need it.
Also, in regards to unacceptable, what are you comparing it to? Is there more acceptable 4g signals in your area?
fillyo said:
I'm thinking your expectations are a little too much. There are many areas I don't get a good 3g, let alone a 4g signal. I live in a suburb of Chicago and am in 4g 95% of the time, I don't always pay attention, because, after all, it's a phone first, but 4g seems to be there whenever I need it.
Also, in regards to unacceptable, what are you comparing it to? Is there more acceptable 4g signals in your area?
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I'm comparing it to Verizon EvDO / 3G. While speeds on EvDO were only about 20-25% of the max speed of LTE / 4G, it was completely reliable -- at least in my area.
Keeping the phone almost completely stationary sitting at my desk, connected to the same cell tower, and with my roaming data programmed to the latest version, my EvDO phone (a Droid 2) would have the connection available whenever I asked for it.
With the same exact usage pattern but with LTE, my Thunderbolt often has no connection, and it spontaneously comes back by simply waiting around for it to become available.
I expect the 4G channel to be "open" 24/7/365, not ever completely down -- especially while stationary in a standard building with a very high signal strength (always 4 bars). I have no unusual EMF like microwaves or bluetooth going on, just a laptop and a desktop and 2 LCDs. Wooden house, and I'm on the top floor.
If they can make EvDO stable 24/7, and EvDO is based on the same CDMA technology as LTE, why can't they make LTE stable 24/7 also? And I also don't understand why my phone does not fall back to EvDO if and when the LTE drops out. I recall a few times over the years of using it that my EvDO would fall back to 1x/RTT in the event of an EvDO downtime. But the MTBF of EvDO downtimes in my area was around 1 year. Now, the MTBF of LTE is about 50 to 120 minutes.
brandnewsimmy said:
I noticed the same thing. I was all over the place cycling through no data, 1x, 3G, and 4G in like a minute in the same spot. I rebooted and got a much more stable 4G connection.
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I rebooted my phone and am getting a more stable 4G connection now, too I wonder if the phone itself has a stability problem with its 4G transceiver after a certain period of uptime? I will test this theory over the next couple days by rebooting my phone whenever I have a problem, and see if it helps.
Edit: I usually keep my phone "up" 24/7, and just leave it on the charger when I'm not on the go. I power it off only rarely, because I want to receive phone calls and text messages. When I just rebooted it, it had 2.5 days of uptime (hard to have too much uptime considering launch day was just a few days ago!)
fillyo said:
I live in a suburb of Chicago and am in 4g 95% of the time...
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Out of curiosity, what suburb are you in that you're getting 4G 95% of the time? I live in Highland Park (about 20 miles up the north shore) and I don't have nearly as good of coverage (still decent though and I'm not complaining).
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
I'm guessing it has to be your area. I am getting amazing 4G coverage in LA. I going to assume its going to take VZW some time before their 4G coverage truly blankets areas. I remember when 3G came out.. it was totally spotty for a long time until they had enough towers.
Kind of like what I recorded on my phone this afternoon....?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRTOCFoGFmU
5 min clip showing me cycling through web and map but getting no data, despite cycling airplane mode on and off. This has happened almost daily since getting the phone last Thursday, in multiple locations that are supposedly full 4G areas. Pretty annoying.
Double annoying since I got the Verizon phone because they're network's so much better (allegedly)...and yet my Nexus S on T-Mobile had full bars and fast "4G" data in the same location. I'd also had a reboot, and the 1tx symbols flashing but wasn't recording at the time. I'd been screwing around with this for at least 10 minutes before activating ShootMe to record it.
Thrillhouse847 said:
Out of curiosity, what suburb are you in that you're getting 4G 95% of the time? I live in Highland Park (about 20 miles up the north shore) and I don't have nearly as good of coverage (still decent though and I'm not complaining).
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
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Well im in Gurnee area with 4g 99% of the time. Only time without is in my GF's brothers house. no 3g there either though lol. otherwise i never loose 4g. Even driving to vernon hills and around i always have 4g. not sure y in HP u dont always have it.
i am complete opposite i have 2-1 bars inside a building getting 12mbps
I notice it has an issue where it just randomly drops all my signals to search for 4g even though its not in my area... I think the only way to get reliable signal would be to set the radio to whatever you are using mostly... *#*#4636#*#* will get you into diagnostics and select phone infotmation and then choose CDMA auto for 3g or lte mode..... I'm thinking in the near future there will be a update that allows for easier lte turn off like 4g on the evo... the automatic thing is nice but it wastes battery and seems to cause some problem
RafficaX said:
Well im in Gurnee area with 4g 99% of the time. Only time without is in my GF's brothers house. no 3g there either though lol. otherwise i never loose 4g. Even driving to vernon hills and around i always have 4g. not sure y in HP u dont always have it.
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Hm. Not sure either, Gurnee/Vernon Hills is pretty close, maybe I just need more testing time (I'm also indoors most of the time).
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
Thrillhouse847 said:
Hm. Not sure either, Gurnee/Vernon Hills is pretty close, maybe I just need more testing time (I'm also indoors most of the time).
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
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i mean i never saw 4 bars on 4g but 2-3 always and hit 30 on the down and 50 on the up while in the antioch walmart lol but never with out 4g expect in that one house lol.
I just set mine to LTE only let's see if its more stable than the auto mode
itzjonjon69 said:
I just set mine to LTE only let's see if its more stable than the auto mode
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let me know, i should try that too. never thought of that when looking at it. wonder if ill save a bit of battery not trying to also find 3g, im sure i lose very lil hunting for 3g but still. saving some battery may give me another in on 4g lol
RafficaX said:
i mean i never saw 4 bars on 4g but 2-3 always and hit 30 on the down and 50 on the up while in the antioch walmart lol but never with out 4g expect in that one house lol.
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You realize that the phone is incapable of 50 up, don't you? Those kinds of speeds are a known bug in the Speedtest.net and other similar speed tests that don't deal with the Thunderbolt's large transmit buffer properly.
Anyone else seeing any errors in the logcat that look similar to this?
D/DATA ( 1779):[QCTMM] DataNetStatistics sent == 0 && received == 0 newActivity=NONE
D/DATA ( 1779): sentSinceLastRecv=0,watchdogTrigger=10,maxindex=0
E/TrafficStats( 1555): [QCTMM]tryAll index =1
E/TrafficStats( 1555): [QCTMM]tryAll index =2
There is an entry like this every few seconds when I'm on mobile data.
RafficaX said:
Well im in Gurnee area with 4g 99% of the time. Only time without is in my GF's brothers house. no 3g there either though lol. otherwise i never loose 4g. Even driving to vernon hills and around i always have 4g. not sure y in HP u dont always have it.
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verizon towers fallowing u now? from 95% now 99% lol ...that 1% its your gfs house damn it.... probably a bridge on the way and tower to tall to go under ...****...otherwise u would it have 100% wooohoooo
I'm at my desk at work in times square, nyc. Yesterday I had 1-2 bars of 4g at my desk. Today, my phone has yet to switch out of 1x mode my entire 2 hour commute here and so far today. I tried rebooting and can't get 3g or 4g to come on. I'm pretty annoyed
I'm on T-Mobile, but trying to decide between Sprint and Verizon. I really hate Verizon, but all I keep reading online is how horrible Sprint's coverage is. Can you guys let me know how the service is on your new Evo 3Ds? I was planning to make the switch this September, but now I'm not so sure. My T-Mobile coverage is spotty at best and I only get EDGE speeds at work, so it can't be THAT bad. I hope not, at least.
Anyways, your opinions on Verizon and Sprint would greatly help me in trying to decide what to do next. I will NOT be a part of AT&T again and Sprint seems like the best choice. But if they get a flood of new customers, people on other forums are saying it will slow the Sprint network to a crawl (due to Verizon's new tiered data plans) Thanks.
I can assure you that you WILL get better coverage with Sprint. T-Mobile may have faster 3g but Sprints data coverage easily trumps T-mobiles. My sister complained ALL THE TIME in minnesota
Sprint speeds 3g speeds in Southern California are terrible. I put up with 200-300kbps and never really had a problem with it, until I came on here and saw people saying they regularly get 1000kbps
In CT at least.....Sprint coverage is halfway between T-Mobiles & ATT's spotty coverage and Verizon's the best.....For me I keep it for the $ and the good service I get at the local Sprint Store.
Yeah, I guess I shouldn't care as much since my friend's Epic 4G gets some good data speeds at work. I'm just worried about tons of people switching from Verizon and T-Mobile for Sprint and the network getting really bogged down.
Oh yeah and rumors are saying Sprint's getting the next Nexus possibly. Huge plus there and the Evo 3D is pretty bad ass. Checked out the other day and the 3D is pretty legit.
3g in my area has gone to ****. only 3 towers in my city and my verizon phones always get 300-400Kb/s at my house (a known dead zone according to verizon) and - even in a good signal area - the sprint phones are only getting 50-70Kb/s. in a good signal area the verzion phones are getting min 600Kb/s to 1.2Mb/s. even the the bigger city 50 mi away it's the same results.
Sprint 3G is terrible on the 3D...I hate saying it, but it's true. 3G wasn't great with my hero either, however, it wasn't as bad as with the 3D.
That being said, don't get me wrong, I still love the 3D, and hope there will be an update to the radio soon. If not, maybe when 4G hits this part of my area signals will get better.
Sprint data here in baton rouge,la are good.alot better than at&t,tmobile.verizon is good here too.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
My 3G and 4G have gone to hell over the past several months. This at my home right outside Phila., PA.
Over an 11 day period my average speed both 3G & 4G (when it'll connect) combined is 657kbps download, 391kbps upload, ping to test server (Comcast Phila.) 120ms.
My signal strength hovers in the -93dbm to -101dbm. Used to be -82dbm to -88dbm when I had much better data rates. Voice has never been a problem.
This is on an EVO 4g, not 3D.
Here in Montgomery, Alabama I'm getting 1 to 1.5 Mbps download speeds on 3g. There is only one 4G tower here, and luckily its a half mile from my job, but I'm getting 4.5 to 7 Mbps download. I would say coverage is very good, and you can't beat Sprint's prices.
Sent from my 3VO
I'd honestly stay with tmobile....I just switched to sprint from tmobile and really regret it...the 4g speeds are phenomenal...but the 3vo...(or atleast mines) doesn't hold signal....I'm on my 2nd phone and was basically told by sprint reps that the only option I have is to cancel since I'm still in my 30 day return period. Wtf !?!
Sent from my sh'm3vo
Coverage AREA is great, but speeds are pathetic in many areas across the US. Sprint is way behind in tower backhaul or something in these areas.
Well where I live when I was on TMO I only got 1 - 2 bars and edge. Now that I switched to sprint I get 5 - 6 bars with 3G. TMO 3G is way faster, but sprints 3G is stil fast enough for what I need. Hope this helps. Also noticed that TMO allows you full speed DL up to 200 mb, but afterwards past the 200 mb they throttle you. Atleast Sprint doesnt throttle. Just saying.
sprint 3g here sucks, and im finding my phone roaming on verizon more and more. a year ago id rarely ever roam, but now its becoming a daily occurance that i hear that roaming notification tone a few times.
I absolutely love this phone but the 3g speeds are kind if making me want to switch to tmobile and just use the sensation.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
As long as nobody else in on the tower your sitting right next to Sprint is fast. I notice a big difference at work when I'm there early or real late versus in the middle of the day. And don't expect the 4G to be that great on the 3vo. I too have connection issues when I'm outside in an area where my OG Evo got great reception. The 3vo seriously needs some radio updates.
A buddy of mine at work has T-mobile. His data blows mine out of the water. I'm talking 3 megs versus 56k. And that's no joke.
ericc191 said:
I'm on T-Mobile, but trying to decide between Sprint and Verizon. I really hate Verizon, but all I keep reading online is how horrible Sprint's coverage is. Can you guys let me know how the service is on your new Evo 3Ds? I was planning to make the switch this September, but now I'm not so sure. My T-Mobile coverage is spotty at best and I only get EDGE speeds at work, so it can't be THAT bad. I hope not, at least.
Anyways, your opinions on Verizon and Sprint would greatly help me in trying to decide what to do next. I will NOT be a part of AT&T again and Sprint seems like the best choice. But if they get a flood of new customers, people on other forums are saying it will slow the Sprint network to a crawl (due to Verizon's new tiered data plans) Thanks.
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Florida, 3g before root and tweak . 0.40-1.9 mbs, thats not bad, cause i thether over 400 mbs download through usb, that's pretty awsome,, the tyrant att will give me a thousand dollar bill by now so i left them... Though the network is not as it used to be on Sprint its still pretty good. the 4g coverage is not perfected yet but It still beat anybody else. Think about it you get thunderbolt and thether you'll be cut short/T-mobile with the new ATT, so run away from all the tyrants and unlimite yourself with sprint...
I switched from TMO and as far as data speeds go, i really regret it. I went from 3-6mbps average to a whopping 150-300kbps.... Love this phone but it needs a radio update ASAP and Sprint has to get off their lazy butts and upgrade their network to handle all the users they are reeling in with their EVO's
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
My og EVO was getting very similar 3g speed tests as my friends thunderbolt. Now I have occasionally noticed that my 3vo is loading a little bit slower but I'm still getting 1.6 mb/s on 3g often. I'm in the Orem area of Utah.
Meh around Philly
I live about 10 miles NW of Philadelphia and get about 500 in each direction on 3G. This is with the Evo 3D. I really wish Sprint would get it together and up the 4G coverage in my area because I live on the fringe so the switch from 3G to 4G kills me. WHEN i am connected to 4G I get about 2.5mb down and 1.5 up. My wife gets the same speeds on her 3G iPhone(verizon)....
Did anyone see this on bgr?
http://www.bgr.com/2012/04/17/atts-...ound-to-be-nations-fastest-wireless-services/
They basically say Sprint lags behind everyone in 3G and 4G. I personally get really good 3G speeds (>1mbps), and 4G when I can get it but it is not at my house or work. Just in between. Not wanting to be a whiner. I feel like when Sprint rolls out LTE and Network Vision everywhere we'll be back. I'm rather happy with my wireless data, but it seems we are right now missing out on a lot.
My 3g speeds are just pathetic now. They used to be decent, like in the 800 plus range at work. Now I'm lucky if I pull 100kbps. Plus I always drop in and out and even go to roaming sometimes. Please hurry up the roll out sprint.
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
You guys have it made.I cant even browse facebook most days.Thats why I call it
"Sprint - The (i hope you dont need it right) Now Network.
This isn't anything new. They suck I give them 1 year. I like them a lot, just need to get their **** in order. The only reason I let them slide is price and I'm on wifi 20 hours of the day
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
Sprint DOES lag behind on network speeds. Even with the upgrades they've done in my area. Things have improved, but I don't think they're anything to brag about. Even 4G wimax when I have a strong signal is pitiful. There are times I feel 4G wimax is like AT&T or T-Mobile 3G. I don't complain, really, because it's fast enough for me to get by. But... congrats on taking the red pill and waking up
royshero said:
This isn't anything new. They suck I give them 1 year. I like them a lot, just need to get their **** in order. The only reason I let them slide is price and I'm on wifi 20 hours of the day
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
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I kind of feel like this also. In a year or so from now, I expect to have fast LTE and good 3G as a backup. If that is not the case I may go elsewhere. Allthough I hate to lose unlimited data and the other perks of being with sprint.
my 3g and now 4g speeds are pretty pathetic. 3g is 100k most of the time except in the evenings when the towers are so overloaded it drops to 1x or 3g will just timeout on everything and 4g is now down to anywhere between 200k and 500k during the evening and 1.5-2mb during the rest of the time. yet sprint continues to say theres no problems in the area lol.
This is definitely not news. My Sprint service has sucked for a while now.
I'm roaming often, and when I'm not roaming the signal is weak. When I'm lucky enough to get a good signal, 3G is still slower than dial up speeds, and 4G is slower than Verizon's 3G.
Sprint is in real trouble if they don't fix this. The only reason I am still with them is because I really do like my Evo 3D. No other carrier has a comparable phone, and I'm stuck in a contract anyway.
If Verizon got a Samsung Galaxy S 3D, I'd probably break my contract with Sprint to go to Verizon.
Who cares about unlimited data if it's practically unusable in most real world scenarios?
My city isn't even on the list of future LTE markets yet either, so I'm not holding my breath for that. I do have Wimax, but it's pretty crappy.
Sprint has totally fell off. I remember a few years ago when Sprint used to consistently be first or second in these data speed comparisons. Now I would have been shocked if they weren't picked last. And I'm sure most Sprint customers would have also been shocked if Sprint was anything but last in this most recent comparison.
Sprint has got more and more expensive over the years, and the service has got worse and worse. Not a very good outlook for the future at all.
does anybody really think sprint lte will be fast? why do they not assume it will be similar to Wimax speeds?
sprint has 3g but nobody assumes it is as fast as the competition.
rude awakening! you will be unsatisfied with lte speeds and then you will realize that Wimax wasn't the problem, SPRINT is the problem
royshero said:
This isn't anything new. They suck I give them 1 year. I like them a lot, just need to get their **** in order. The only reason I let them slide is price and I'm on wifi 20 hours of the day
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
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as soon as there network is upgraded... they will morph right into verizon's evil twin. price, and everything. just watch.
the only thing keeping them from not charging an ass load of money is that they are being outperformed in network capability in a lot of areas. i am fortunate to live in an area with very good 4g and 3g, so i can't complain. but man i sure feel your guys' pain with the slow network ****. that would be frustrating. it's like paying for wifi and your wifi is never working or never running fast.
cobraboy85 said:
as soon as there network is upgraded... they will morph right into verizon's evil twin. price, and everything. just watch.
the only thing keeping them from not charging an ass load of money is that they are being outperformed in network capability in a lot of areas. i am fortunate to live in an area with very good 4g and 3g, so i can't complain. but man i sure feel your guys' pain with the slow network ****. that would be frustrating. it's like paying for wifi and your wifi is never working or never running fast.
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They already aren't that much cheaper than Verizon anymore. I think last time I checked Sprint was like $5 a month cheaper or something like that. And that wasn't even factoring all the nickel and dime fees Sprint puts on there.
The only thing Sprint has on Verizon these days is unlimited data. The price isn't a big enough difference to really be a factor. And the unlimited data isn't really a factor (to me at least) if it's too slow to use. Sprint's just lucky their network went to **** after they already had me locked into a contract. And even then, I'd have probably left if I could get a phone comparable to the Evo 3D on another network.
Sprint did the same thing that AT&T when they got the iPhone...they didn't anticipate all the traffic on their network thus not preparing for it. I am holding out though. By the end of the year, a lot of us will have a great network to go with the unlimited data. And will be better than all the others.
Sent from my iPhone with the bigger GeeBees.
The problem with these anecdotal tests is they mean very little in your town. When I worked downtown, Sprint was 800kbps. Not blazing, but amazing compared to AT&Ts 20kbps or Verizons 50.
Different side of town? Sprint is 100 and not very useful. And if I drive 3 minutes away I'm getting 1100.
The best thing to do is do a speed test and get people on other carriers to do them right next to you
Saneless One said:
The problem with these anecdotal tests is they mean very little in your town. When I worked downtown, Sprint was 800kbps. Not blazing, but amazing compared to AT&Ts 20kbps or Verizons 50.
Different side of town? Sprint is 100 and not very useful. And if I drive 3 minutes away I'm getting 1100.
The best thing to do is do a speed test and get people on other carriers to do them right next to you
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Yup true I did the 4g against Verizon test he hit 11mbps I hit 10mbps the only difference was ping his was 58 while mines was 101
Sent from my powered Shooter E3D with Infection of AnthraX Jamz by wolf.
Saneless One said:
The problem with these anecdotal tests is they mean very little in your town. When I worked downtown, Sprint was 800kbps. Not blazing, but amazing compared to AT&Ts 20kbps or Verizons 50.
Different side of town? Sprint is 100 and not very useful. And if I drive 3 minutes away I'm getting 1100.
The best thing to do is do a speed test and get people on other carriers to do them right next to you
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thats true, if i head to the **** side of town i can get good 3g speeds but no 4g lol. or if im around a sprint store they make sure the towers are working perfect. just some observations ive experienced here in san antonio. hell around my parents house half the time i get network busy when trying to make a call. sprint says theres no problems that the network is working as it should haha. they get all pissed when i ask them so for 200+ a month im not supposed to beable to make a phone call and have data speeds that are so ****ty it basically turns my phone into a cool looking paper weight.
I get 900kbps to burst speeds of 1.5mbps most days. Just heard from a couple of sources that I'm getting 4g in a month or two
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA
Didnt check 3g as Im always on 4g but you guys are right. 3g slowed down for me too. Used to get 1000+kbps now down to 700kpbs.
aznmode said:
Didnt check 3g as Im always on 4g but you guys are right. 3g slowed down for me too. Used to get 1000+kbps now down to 700kpbs.
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Yeah mine slowed down too I used to get 10 kbps now I get 5 kbps.
DarkManX4lf said:
Yeah mine slowed down too I used to get 10 kbps now I get 5 kbps.
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lol, your speeds are like mine
I'm lucky if I get 300kbps in my home area. Luckily, I found out they took down the closest tower in light of the fact of upgrading the others to network vision and haven't yet...so I complained. Until then...it's non-stop bill credits. I'm making them pay for the lack of service. I ask what I get over someone with a $50/mon prepay plan other than the fancy phone I bought...the answer? Nadda.
Pisses me off that we'll have to get new phones again to take advantage of the 4G LTE. Thanks a lot.
Am thinking about the evo 4g lte because I've read excellent reviews about the call quality. I already know I won't be getting lte in my area for a long time. Are the 3g speeds actually worse on this model as compared with other Sprint models ? (some reviews have claimed this)
My 3g is slow enough as it is on my HTC Touch (can live with it though), but won't be able to accept anything slower.
i have kno problems with this phone.. its perfect for me im just bored with it... i need a new phone every 6 months i think!!! lol..
I'm hoping the following review is incorrect:
The ugly:
This is where the phone starts to fall apart for me. The network capabilities are awful. They are a clear downgrade from my Evo 4g. I live in Kansas City, and my old Evo 4g had both excellent 3g coverage, and excellent WiMax coverage. Ping times were the only problem I had with WiMax (typically in the 200-300 range), but I typically got 3-7Mbps down and ~1Mbps up with very reliable coverage, especially in my home. Outside of WiMax range, I reliably got 3g coverage that pulled ~1-2Mbps down and up. This is what I would expect, given that I am in Sprint's home market.
I upgraded to the Evo 4g LTE after hearing that LTE was officially "live" in Kansas City. Unfortunately the news that I missed was that by "live", they really mean "about 30% live". There is little to no actual LTE coverage in the city. At my apartment, where WiMax was previously very strong, I can only connect to LTE rarely, and when I do the signal is so weak that my connection times out regularly. Watching antenna strength, the LTE connection sits around -115 to -120dBm (in non-technical terms, that is just a hair above zero bars). I actually disabled the LTE antenna on my phone because it is disruptive FAR more often than it is useful.
"So what", you might say. "Just use 3g". I would agree with you. 3g should be able to get me by in the next few months while Sprint continues their LTE rollout, hopefully with an antenna near my home. Unfortunately the phone's 3g antenna is also highly problematic. 3g signal pickup is weaker than my old Evo 4g, and speeds are considerably worse than my previous phone. Pings usually sit around 200, which is acceptable, but I almost never get above 0.5Mbps down, or up. Additionally (and even more importantly), the phone has a habit of dropping the 3g signal. I tether often, and when I do I tend to lose 3g every few minutes. This is in close proximity to a 3g tower, and with a strong signal (4-5 bars, in the -70 to -80dBm range). The phone will just inexplicably lose 3g connectivity. Google around a bit and find out: this is a known problem that many people are dealing with, and HTC/Sprint have acknowledged the issue and are trying to rectify it. Problem is, it isn't fixed. I truly hope that in the near future an OTA update will fix the problems... after all, I'm basically stuck with this phone for the next 23 months. The network issues are bad enough that I really do miss my old Evo 4g, and I'm very tempted to reactivate it.
Conclusion: at the end of the day, the Evo 4g LTE is a phone, and as such I think the network issues are a pretty big deal. If you are on WiFi constantly, then they won't be an issue for you, but if you're dependent upon Sprint's network in any way, be very careful... this phone has some major baggage.
Update 9/25/2012: A couple OTA updates later, and it is still in pretty bad shape. I am very used to 500ms+ ping now, and 0.1Mbps download/upload speeds. 4g coverage is still nonexistant. According to xda and s4gru, this problem is SPECIFIC TO THE EVO 4g LTE. As in an iPhone 5 and SGIII will both connect just fine to 4g, but an Evo in the same room will not.
Try this neat trick: Go to craigslist and search for Evo 4g LTE. See how many nearly new Evos are being sold for less than half the price of a new one? That speaks more volumes than my review does
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http://wireless.amazon.com/customerreviews/B007ZUN6GS/ref=cr_detail_histogram_top
These post really make me scratch my head...In Memphis LTE is only a month old and only in the northern parts of the city...constant 15mbs+ and elsewhere 4g isnt on yet 3G is maxed out....I never have any problems maintaining a over decent connection on 3G.....it's just odd how much I hear how crappy the ELTE is.....Is it really a bad phone and I'm just in a city where Sprint has it act together or are some of you vice-versa??
jauger said:
These post really make me scratch my head...In Memphis LTE is only a month old and only in the northern parts of the city...constant 15mbs+ and elsewhere 4g isnt on yet 3G is maxed out....I never have any problems maintaining a over decent connection on 3G.....it's just odd how much I hear how crappy the ELTE is.....Is it really a bad phone and I'm just in a city where Sprint has it act together or are some of you vice-versa??
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I sure would like to know before I upgrade to this device.
TravisBean said:
Am thinking about the evo 4g lte because I've read excellent reviews about the call quality. I already know I won't be getting lte in my area for a long time. Are the 3g speeds actually worse on this model as compared with other Sprint models ? (some reviews have claimed this)
My 3g is slow enough as it is on my HTC Touch (can live with it though), but won't be able to accept anything slower.
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My 3g has been much better than my old HTC Hero and better than my Dad's og Evo(not to mention my mom's Samsung Nexus S, My brothers' Samsung, Motorola, and my sister's iCrap 4s).
As long as you stick to stock based roms, you'll be fine. HTC has some great tweaks that cm10 and aosp roms don't have that seem to boost bandwidth and 3g speeds.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Test it out. Set a timer for 13 days just to be sure.. Thats why carriers give you the 14 day trial period to make sure your happy before being stuck 2 more years with them.
I for one am happy with my EVO LTE. I also have a GS3 and from time to time go back and forth.
I had a chance to spend about 3 minutes with this device today at the Sprint store. Love at first sight. I can't put into words how elegantly this phone felt in my hand.
Didn't have time to check out the 3g connectivity, but call quality did seem above average for a Sprint phone.
Can you download a larger format dial pad for this phone (that works properly) ?
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I'm in Boston mass 4g is 27-34 mgb and 3g is about 3-5 on my lte no issues
pbedard said:
I'm in Boston mass 4g is 27-34 mgb and 3g is about 3-5 on my lte no issues
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Are you saying you're getting 3-5 Mbps download speeds while connected to 3G?
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
I just got a HTC One on T mobile and waiting to port my number from ATT but the data speeds using speedtest are abysmal less than 500kb and sometimes not even connecting at all. I decided to just test the browser to see if real usage makes a difference not just in the speedtest app and same result web pages taking too long to load and sometimes time out because of slow connection.
I'm in Daly City/San Francisco area, before deciding to switch I did my research and Tmobile coverage shows I should be in "excellent" 4g speeds here where I live.
Before I run back to the store and return it and stay with AT&T , is there something I can do to check the correct APN settings or what else can i do ? I'm disappointed so far, I wanted to try T mobile because of their no contract and cheaper plan but at these data speeds it's just not worth it.
Thanks for any advice / help.
Been seeing great speeds here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2247966
But try out a demo phone in the store and test the speed. It might be the phone, or the tower (temporarily) you're connected to. SF is a market with great speed. I've seen speed tests from ppl around. Definitely better the AT&T's HSPA+ speeds.
last night I posted great speeds, today I'm down to 2g although in a different geographical area.
earlier today I lost all data connectivity, it was something wrong with TMO's system. support had to "hook something up" behind the scenes for me to get it back.
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Update: I noticed that the phone was defaulting to 2g. No matter what, it stayed there.
Using tips from this thread: http://support.t-mobile.com/thread/37862
I went to Settings > Mobile Data > Network Mode and switched it to WCDMA Only.
The data connection re-set and went to 4g.
Repeating the above step, I went back to GSM/WCDMA/LTE Auto, and the phone reset data and got back on 4g.
I think this all had something to do with this morning's outage.
Tmobile tends to have outages sometimes, a few days ago the network in Dallas was down and I was getting horrible speeds. I say that you wait a bit and see if there is any improvement in the next couple of days. Also maybe call in to make sure that your sim is fully activated.
I'll just leave this..
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
HSPA+ in South Seattle area (up to 15mbps down). Can't wait for some LTE here soon.
J-Hop2o6 said:
HSPA+ in South Seattle area (up to 15mbps down). Can't wait for some LTE here soon.
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Don't like Tmobile
spade56 said:
Don't like Tmobile
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?? What's the purpose of this post and quoting me?
Thinking about making the switch from Sprint (EVO LTE) to T-Mobile and the HTC One. I'm in the Seattle area (Federal Way/Milton) and commute back and forth to downtown Seattle (5th and Pike) every week day. How's the coverage and speed along the I5 corridor? I've looked at the sensorly data and it looks solid, but just really wanting to get a real world feel from a user.
Thanks!
cantos said:
Thinking about making the switch from Sprint (EVO LTE) to T-Mobile and the HTC One. I'm in the Seattle area (Federal Way/Milton) and commute back and forth to downtown Seattle (5th and Pike) every week day. How's the coverage and speed along the I5 corridor? I've looked at the sensorly data and it looks solid, but just really wanting to get a real world feel from a user.
Thanks!
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The Puget Sound I-5 corridor has great Tmo coverage and speed. Never have problems streaming music in my car via bluetooth. Plus LTE in and around Seattle should launch in the next couple of months.
J-Hop2o6 said:
The Puget Sound I-5 corridor has great Tmo coverage and speed. Never have problems streaming music in my car via bluetooth. Plus LTE in and around Seattle should launch in the next couple of months.
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I was already getting LTE in the factoria mall area near T-Mobile head quarters. I was getting speeds around 25Mbps down. I think we are close to lte roll out across all Seattle area, I spoke to a T-Mobile rep in Bellevue store and he says it should be sometime in May.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
kirdroid said:
I was already getting LTE in the factoria mall area near T-Mobile head quarters. I was getting speeds around 25Mbps down. I think we are close to lte roll out across all Seattle area, I spoke to a T-Mobile rep in Bellevue store and he says it should be sometime in May.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
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Glad to hear :victory:
alus415 said:
I just got a HTC One on T mobile and waiting to port my number from ATT but the data speeds using speedtest are abysmal less than 500kb and sometimes not even connecting at all. I decided to just test the browser to see if real usage makes a difference not just in the speedtest app and same e of slow connection.
I'm in Daly City/San Francisco area, before deciding to switch I did my research and Tmobile coverage shows I should be in "excellent" 4g speeds here where I live.
Before I run back to the store and return it and stay with AT&T , is there something I can do to check the correct APN settings or what else can i do ? I'm disappointed so far, I wanted to try T mobile because of their no contract and cheaper plan but at these data speeds it's just not worth it.
Thanks for any advice / help.
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I and my wife recently purchased One's moving from Sprint to T-Mobile. We live in Oakland. Our speeds are similarly slow. Actually, in the week I've had the phone I've rarely had speeds much higher than 400kbs down. Strangely, upload speeds are usually three times faster. This is from inside my apartment where I typically have 2 bars of 4g...three bars every now and then. These speeds are horrible. I called T-Mobile who responded by dispatching an engineer to the tower I use. Within 24 hrs the speeds almost doubled however T-Mobile's feedback was there were no issues. But after a couple of days speeds had declined back to an avg of 350kbs down with upload speeds still 3x download speeds. In my experience, whenever upload speeds are consistently and significantly faster than download speeds and the download speeds are far below what is expected, then either there is a problem with the network or the network is being actively reconfigured.
Assuming I might just be in a "dead" spot due to geography I decided to test speeds in I my neighborhood as I walk my dog. There are no tall buildings or anything I could see to cause much interference. On my street the speed was about the same as inside. About 1/4 mile from my apt the signal was very strong lighting all 5 bars...but speeds only increased slightly. Throughout the area I walked (1/2 circle around my home with radius of 3/4 mile) the signal strength ranged from 2-3 bars fluctuating to 5 solid bars. But there was not much correlation between data download speed and number of bars. In some places 4g speed was as fast as 10Mbs and a bit down the block it could be low as 400Kbs. The speeds were duplicateable...meaning in front of one house speed might be 5Mbs and a speeds in front of a house say 6 houses down the block speed may be 1Mbs. Those speeds would be pretty much the same when I returned later on another walk.
The most surprising discovery is there is a narrow area about 5 houses wide that had LTE. In that small area the speeds were slightly greater than 20Mbs down and 10Mbs up.
The results lead me to believe T-Mobile is actively fumbling with their towers to get LTE quickly, yet attempting to do so as quietly as possible. Due to my disappointment at the painfully slow data speeds I would consider returning the One's firing T-Mobile and moving on. However, the discovery of LTE 1 1/2 blocks from my home AND MAYBE EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY no real alternative for an "unlimited" data plan that makes financial sense to me (Sprint is nolonger an option since their network is almost unusable)...has me pretty excited as to what my T-Moble experience will be. I hope they aim that LTE antenna in my direction.
@chakathebird:
Wow, I'm in Hayward which is not too far from Oakland and I also switched from Sprint (which is just awful in the Bay Area these days). On Sprint I was lucky to get over 400kbps on 3G and I couldn't even get 4G LTE. (Although 4G WiMax on my old GS2 was fantastic for me). On T-Mobile 4G HSPA I get 8Mbps down / 3 Mbps up on my HTC One and similar speeds on my Nexus 4. With those great speeds I normally just leave LTE turned off on the One, but I did do a speed test with LTE turned on and got 11Mbps down / 6Mbps up.
I work in the South Bay, but sometimes head over the bridge to San Francisco and travel throughout the Bay Area. Everywhere I go I get similarly fantastic speeds on T-Mobile. So if you are getting such slow speeds there is definitely something wrong with either your phone or the tower in your neighborhood. I'd take the phone to other nearby towns and see if you're getting similar bad speeds. If so, I'd have T-Mobile exchange the phone as it may be defective.
I'm in the Northern VA area and there is some LTE. If I'm not driving around and sitting in one place, I can stay on LTE, but driving around, it's bouncing in and out of LTE which just shuts off data all together. So i turned off LTE till they get more towers updated.
On a side note, the radio in the HTC one seems really nice. At my house I can get 13Mb/s down on the HTC but I can only get 6Mb/s down on my data stick sitting beside me. Both connected at HSPA+.
I am not even running on LTE here in NJ and I am still impressed with the speed. It actually comes pretty close to my friend's GS3 on Verizon with LTE.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
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That being said...I still can't wait to have LTE here in the NYC area. If HSPA+ is this good then LTE should be ridiculous.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2