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tmobile 3g speeds

this is my first week using tmobile in the US with the nexus one.
I am not able to get download speeds more than 800kbps. it does not matter how good the reception is.
I have tried in various places in north CA and in cleveland OH.
I think that such speeds are pretty bad for 3g. with at&t I used to 2-3mbps at times.
my friend with the verizon droid is seeing 1.5mbps-2.5mbps download speed .
what are other users on tmobile are seeing?
seems like tmobile is rate limiting the speeds or their network is just really bad.

How are u measuring the speed? I use the speed test app and it used to have a server close by in San Jose (65 mi) now I have to use a server in new Mexico and I'm in CA so that makes it seem slower too

There are two apps in the market i test with: speedtest.net and extreme speed test.
I also checked with the laptop tethered to the phone. same pathetic speeds. i can hardly call it 3g comparing to the competitors.
Is it the phone or is it tmobiles network?

clubtech said:
There are two apps in the market i test with: speedtest.net and extreme speed test.
I also checked with the laptop tethered to the phone. same pathetic speeds. i can hardly call it 3g comparing to the competitors.
Is it the phone or is it tmobiles network?
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i just got 2MB/s up and 400 kb/s down
WOW thats whats im talking about best ive ever seen
still waiting for those 6mb/s up and 1mb/s down (a.k.a. my cable high speed enternet at home)

I have never seen verizon that fast in my area, generally 500 kbits to 1mbits but I would say that you are getting the norm for tmo as mine have never reached 1 mbit but can go past 10 mbit on wifi.
BGR did a test a while back although not scientific agrees with the tests I have done in my area.
BGR Carrier Wars
Average Download Speed
1. Sprint: 1361kbs
2. AT&T: 933kbps
3. T-Mobile: 786kbps
4. Verizon: 701kbps
Average Upload Speed
1. Verizon: 322kbps
2. Sprint: 267kbps
3. AT&T: 180kbps
4. T-Mobile: 177kbps

Try this speed test....
I usually see 1000 - 1200 kbps but quite often see 1700 - 2000 kbps using the speedtest.net app in the android market. Something to remember, your 3G connection is initially UMTS and will switch to HSDPA on demand and when available. You may notice that your first test will show a ping of ~300ms and speeds of 500 - 700 kbps (UMTS), but if you hit "test again" immediately after the first test completes you should see a ping of about ~175ms and approximately double the speed (HSDPA). I've noticed that the default server (closest server according to the speedtest.net app) is usually slow and doesn't give me proper results. I've had very good luck using the Chicago server. Try using the Chicago server and run back-to-back tests, let us know if your results change.

I would agree T-Mobile's 3G is crap. Using a Rogers G1 on AT&T using speedtest.net app, I was seeing over 2Mbit down and over 800kbit up consistently.
T-Mobile's so called "7.2 Mbit upgrade" is a joke. Kind of like their coverage maps. I want to like them, but at least in my area, AT&T obliterates them. It's too big of a different for me. If an AT&T 3G compatible nexus one is released, I will have to get one. I could probably live with the slower speeds if the coverage wasn't so spotty.
Your move T-Immobile.
-James

jmacdonald801 said:
I would agree T-Mobile's 3G is crap. Using a Rogers G1 on AT&T using speedtest.net app, I was seeing over 2Mbit down and over 800kbit up consistently.
T-Mobile's so called "7.2 Mbit upgrade" is a joke. Kind of like their coverage maps. I want to like them, but at least in my area, AT&T obliterates them. It's too big of a different for me. If an AT&T 3G compatible nexus one is released, I will have to get one. I could probably live with the slower speeds if the coverage wasn't so spotty.
Your move T-Immobile.
-James
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As a former T-Mo Wireless Engineer Intern, I can tell you that there is only a very very small roll out on 7.2 right now. They are testing the network before they enable more circuits. The original plan when I worked there was for a gradual 2 city per month rollout. Then slowly build the network to cope with added traffic. Its suppose to be a gradual process that will also involve using old equipment and expanding current 3g service. The high speed roll out was priority one, then is service expansion. Also contracts were involved last I saw that would expand coverage 2-fold, but negotiations for tower rights were falling through, so I don't know where thats going.

hamshu said:
As a former T-Mo Wireless Engineer Intern, I can tell you that there is only a very very small roll out on 7.2 right now. They are testing the network before they enable more circuits. The original plan when I worked there was for a gradual 2 city per month rollout. Then slowly build the network to cope with added traffic. Its suppose to be a gradual process that will also involve using old equipment and expanding current 3g service. The high speed roll out was priority one, then is service expansion. Also contracts were involved last I saw that would expand coverage 2-fold, but negotiations for tower rights were falling through, so I don't know where thats going.
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Wow, talk about an honest answer. If I could just get coverage at my house, I could support team Magenta
-James

There is an issue with 3g on the nexus that has been commented on a number of times, and that is the flapping of UMTS and HSDPA. (not to be confused with those flapping between 2g and 3g). With my G1 I was able to get speeds as high as 3Mbit, but I too have only seen 800Kbit max on my nexus and I believe its due to this constant flapping of 3g technologies.

Today is my first day on tmobile with the N1, I've been running on Edge ATT.
I was worried about switching over because my gf has had tmobile and doesn't have great service at our house.
I was afraid mine would be worse with the 3g issues the N1 has been having but it appears to be almost identical to hers.
in my living room we get 1-2 bars 3g and I see test speeds of 50-300 down and 950-1250 up.
I go to my office right above the living room and get 3 bars and 700-900 down speeds with 700-900 up speeds.
No stoked about it but I havnt had any signal swapping issues so I'm going to use it for GPS to test out now and see how it does. GPS and mapping even on edge with ATT was super fast so I have high hopes.

bofslime said:
There is an issue with 3g on the nexus that has been commented on a number of times, and that is the flapping of UMTS and HSDPA. (not to be confused with those flapping between 2g and 3g). With my G1 I was able to get speeds as high as 3Mbit, but I too have only seen 800Kbit max on my nexus and I believe its due to this constant flapping of 3g technologies.
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So are you saying that if you pop in the SIM card from the N1 to the G1 in the same place you get 3Mbps vs. 800Kbps on the N1?

clubtech said:
So are you saying that if you pop in the SIM card from the N1 to the G1 in the same place you get 3Mbps vs. 800Kbps on the N1?
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Correct, I get full signal at my work (-63dBm 25asu). The G1 didn't skip around and stuck firmly to UMTS, and I was getting much better rates with it. My N1 however maxes out at no more than 800.

@jmcdonald what are you agreeing with LOL were talking about decent speeds then you say you agree with the low speeds??? LOL
Anyway I don't have 3g flopping problems neither did I on my g1

I am seeing speeds in most cases upward of 2.2 mbps... and am even averaging over 1mbps in upload speeds which is pretty good when I have full 3g reception in the Northern NJ area.

I get anywhere from 2.0 - 3.5Mbps down on average, and I have seen up to 4.5Mbps down on occasion. Up is always around 1 - 1.3Mbps.
However, I'm in Philadelphia, and we have HSPA+

Wow, I don't know how you guys are getting DL speeds upwards of 1.5mbps! Here in San Diego, the most I've seen anyone on ATT get is around 1.2mbps, and 1.1 on Sprint. Tmo is usually anywhere from 700-1mbps with some spikes over that now and then.
My G1 and N1 get the same speed range.

I'm in Maryland, just outside of D.C. I also just switched from AT&T to T-Mobile (yesterday actually). I'm also getting DL speeds of like 700-800 kbps. Hope it will someday be a little faster than that.

download - 137kbps
upload - 217kbps

From all the repots in this post it seems that tmob is just slower in some parts of the country and faster in others.
I hope they are planning on catching as 700-800kbps is a joke.

Slow hspa speeds on T-Mobile?

I got around 12 Mbps with my old s3 at work and I did a speed test with my n4 same spot and can only get maybe 6 Mbps what gives I thought this phone had the 42 Mbps radio??
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

Same here, my internet doesn't seem to be working like before. Sometimes it will work other times it won't.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Exactly.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

it can be many different factors:
- location
- case/grip
- kernel
- baseband

thought i was the only one

horr1blek1tten said:
I got around 12 Mbps with my old s3 at work and I did a speed test with my n4 same spot and can only get maybe 6 Mbps what gives I thought this phone had the 42 Mbps radio??
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
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Check about phone > status and make sure you are getting an hspa+ connection. Check it when the mobile network is active and data is transmitting because it will drop down to regular hspa while idle. Also, in order to get DC-HSPA (which is required for 42mbps) it has to be available in your area. Not a lot of markets have it yet.

I get anywhere from 15-22 Mbps here in NY and that's with the $30 plan.
Sent from my Nexus 4

24mbps in seattle area

This might not seem like much to you guys but I live in a rural area with no 4g and on my HTC sensation I got about 1mps
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

I'm getting between 5Mbps to 10Mbps speeds with my Nexus 4 in Phoenix AZ.
Which is an improvement from my Galaxy Nexus that got 1Mbps to 3Mbps (yeah, that was HSPA+).

I'm on T-Mobile here in NYC and just received 19.5mb down and 1.6mb up.

dcarpenter85 said:
Check about phone > status and make sure you are getting an hspa+ connection. Check it when the mobile network is active and data is transmitting because it will drop down to regular hspa while idle. Also, in order to get DC-HSPA (which is required for 42mbps) it has to be available in your area. Not a lot of markets have it yet.
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I am getting hspa+:15 in the settings with speed test running in the background. What does that mean? 42mbps? Speed tests 6-7mbps at best with 1sec latency! Latency is worse than what I had on hspa 14 on the Samsung exhibit ii.
I am in Philadelphia. I thought we got hspa+ 42 a long while ago here. Although the network seems to always be congested here, often coming to a complete halt, forcing me to go to edge to send and receive emails.
[EDIT]: I think I was wrong on HSPA+ 42 being available in Philadelphia. We're still on 21. According to an article on android central we will get HSPA+ 42 on the 1900Mhz band here instead of 1700Mhz AWS. HSPA+ category 15, which is what the reading in the settings are showing, refers to HSPA+ 21 ... so no DC-HSPA here ... I hope the upgrades come soon, and take care of the congestion issues around the busy parts of the city during the day. It's stupid to have a smart phone that cannot even send an receive emails !

Here in Charlottesville, VA (where HSPA+ 42 is supposedly available), I am getting less than 512 kbps down with over 1000 ms ping. This was in an area that indicated HSPA+:15.
Did I get a phone with a bad radio? Or just a location thing?

This is consectutive tests on different servers further and further away (started with closest last is in south Dakota - pings suck but speeds are great)

glenroebuck said:
This is consectutive tests on different servers further and further away (started with closest last is in south Dakota - pings suck but speeds are great)
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You have a 3G icon... my Nexus 4 only shows H for HSPA. Are you on a custom ROM?

nope stock it switches back and fourth from 3 to H when I am not using the internet it is 3 I do something internet and H pops up.

glenroebuck said:
nope stock it switches back and fourth from 3 to H when I am not using the internet it is 3 I do something internet and H pops up.
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I've never seen 3G pop up on my Nexus 4. Strange. Either way, I guess my terribly slow speeds are a result of being in Central VA.

it is to save battery life it sits on idle afaik on 3g until you call up 4g - there is a post on it on the qa forums.

AT&T Data Speeds in NYC

I am a resident of NYC and an AT&T subscriber, currently using the Samsung Galaxy S3. LTE coverage in NYC is excellent, and I typically get 25-50 Mbps downstream, depending on the area. However, I've always been a fan of the Nexus line, so I ordered the Nexus 4 from the Play Store when they became available again a couple of days ago. Here's my question: how are AT&T's HSPA+ speeds in NYC? I'm well aware that the N4 is not LTE-enabled (the LTE Band 4 hack will not work in NYC, since AT&T runs LTE on the 700 mHz frequency here), so I'm concerned with going back to slower speeds.
LTE has really spoiled me, to the point where I would be willing (albeit reluctantly) to forgo the untainted Android experience and slow updates if data speeds will be slow.

Turn off LTE and then test your speeds. You will have your answer.
Sent from my Amaze 4G using xda premium

kgbkny said:
I am a resident of NYC and an AT&T subscriber, currently using the Samsung Galaxy S3. LTE coverage in NYC is excellent, and I typically get 25-50 Mbps downstream, depending on the area. However, I've always been a fan of the Nexus line, so I ordered the Nexus 4 from the Play Store when they became available again a couple of days ago. Here's my question: how are AT&T's HSPA+ speeds in NYC? I'm well aware that the N4 is not LTE-enabled (the LTE Band 4 hack will not work in NYC, since AT&T runs LTE on the 700 mHz frequency here), so I'm concerned with going back to slower speeds.
LTE has really spoiled me, to the point where I would be willing (albeit reluctantly) to forgo the untainted Android experience and slow updates if data speeds will be slow.
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I was curious about this myself. I am in Queens on T-Mobile (out of contract) and get 20 Mbps down and 2.5 Mbps up (faster than TWC).
If T-Mobile is an option, it's worth it! As for AT&T, I have only seen numbers for Straight Talk (via AT&T) and they are not good (less than 10 down).

big gulps huh? said:
Turn off LTE and then test your speeds. You will have your answer.
Sent from my Amaze 4G using xda premium
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This.
You can easily turn off your LTE and test out hspa.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

AT&T's GS3 doesn't have the toggle option to disable LTE. From what I understand, AT&T has also disabled the dialer code to turn off LTE. I'll look into it a bit further.

SpookyTunes said:
I was curious about this myself. I am in Queens on T-Mobile (out of contract) and get 20 Mbps down and 2.5 Mbps up (faster than TWC).
If T-Mobile is an option, it's worth it! As for AT&T, I have only seen numbers for Straight Talk (via AT&T) and they are not good (less than 10 down).
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Unfortunately, T-Mobile is not an option for me, as the data speeds top out at 0.5 Mbps downstream in my area (Bensonhurst). I am actually a former T-Mo subscriber who ended up leaving for AT&T. I get an average of 20-25 Mbps on LTE inside my apartment (up to 50 Mbps outside), so the Nexus 4 would really have to impress me to use it as a daily driver.

[Q] Nexus 4 LTE not strong?

I got a Nexus 4 after trading away my Blackberry Z10 which I have been using for the past year or so and I rooted it yesterday and flashed a couple of LTE-capable radio zips. Unfortunately, the best modem only shows 2 bars out of 4 when on 4G LTE when I am indoors and at most only 3 out of 4 bars when I am outside.
I did a speedtest outdoors and I am only getting 10-15 mbps at most which is not significantly different from what I got with just HSPA+. I used to own a Motorola Atrix HD LTE and I got speeds of over 20 mbps on that phone before it got stolen (similarly with my Blackberry z10).
Does anyone know if this is normal for the device? Or is it just my network is bad?
Thanks.

Androiddeveloper1991 said:
I got a Nexus 4 after trading away my Blackberry Z10 which I have been using for the past year or so and I rooted it yesterday and flashed a couple of LTE-capable radio zips. Unfortunately, the best modem only shows 2 bars out of 4 when on 4G LTE when I am indoors and at most only 3 out of 4 bars when I am outside.
I did a speedtest outdoors and I am only getting 10-15 mbps at most which is not significantly different from what I got with just HSPA+. I used to own a Motorola Atrix HD LTE and I got speeds of over 20 mbps on that phone before it got stolen (similarly with my Blackberry z10).
Does anyone know if this is normal for the device? Or is it just my network is bad?
Thanks.
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The bars are not mobile data. That's your voice side. The E, 3g, H, H+ etc is your mobile data.
LTE on these things is only band 4 and is not officially sanctioned. If your carrier doesn't use band 4 for LTE, you'll never see it.

Are you a T-Mobile customer?

i constantly get 62mbps download speeds in my area,lte. your data speed is influenced by how busy the network is, and how far from the tower you are on. oh, and btw, i get hspa+ speed around 40-41mbps download. just because your h/h+ speeds are similar to your lte, it means nothing. it means thats the results of how busy your network is and how far from you the tower is. there are places that i get higher h+ speeds than lte. but your lte upload speed will almost always be much more than h+.

simms22 said:
i constantly get 62mbps download speeds in my area,lte. your data speed is influenced by how busy the network is, and how far from the tower you are on. oh, and btw, i get hspa+ speed around 40-41mbps download. just because your h/h+ speeds are similar to your lte, it means nothing. it means thats the results of how busy your network is and how far from you the tower is. there are places that i get higher h+ speeds than lte. but your lte upload speed will almost always be much more than h+.
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Now those are some great speeds in my area i get in the 20s - 30s with H+ usually around 10-15 but they are more than enough for what I need.

playya said:
Now those are some great speeds in my area i get in the 20s - 30s with H+ usually around 10-15 but they are more than enough for what I need.
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in my part of southern brooklyn(manhattan beach), it doesnt make any difference which i use for download speed. but for uploads its a huge difference. hspa+ upload speeds of 3-3.5mbps, lte upload speeds of 22mbps. also, i get a full hour more sot on lte than on hspa+

Just curiosity but which lte hybrid modem are everyone using? I cant figure which one 'are the best' like you said OP. Simms22 is absolutly right. Lte connection and speed depends on your local area. There are some people out there who hasnt lte connection at all (like me)

I use the older 33/84 hybrid radio

Tmo launched LTA, Post your speed tests

News article: http://bgr.com/2014/12/15/t-mobile-wideband-lte-new-york-city-announcement/
Well ill go first
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1085183484 **
Damn messed up the title lol. If a mod could change that to LTE-A

So that is in PA
BAD ASS NOTE 4

Been hitting 60+ in sw Houston area. 80 max. But consistently 30+ easily the last few days. Used to be 15-30 maxing out out at 40.

Southeast Hou. Im at 13-14

Honolulu here. 34mb DL. 12MB UL.

I live in Anaheim California which is on the list but am only getting 28.33 Download & 3.50 Upload, no difference from what I was getting when the Note 4 first came out

i would think this would help more with consistent speeds vs everyone getting higher speeds. Im sure if you are connected to the wideband lte you would see higher speeds during non peak hrs but i can definitely tell the difference in peak hours vs non peak hrs in ABQ NM. Ive seen as low as less than 1mbps down due to congestion and no, i wasnt throttled. Around 11pm, my speeds would jump up. It basically forced me to use my wifi at home due to such low speeds. Hopefully the wideband increase will help clear up congestion as the faster people load/download their data...the faster they can get through the pipeline allowing for a smoother flow. Considering youtube would stop qrtr way through the video due to buffering... i would hope this would fix some of those types of issues.

How do we know we are using LTA? Do you get a symbol on the phone? If so what does it look like? Screenshot maybe?

Virusbetax said:
How do we know we are using LTA? Do you get a symbol on the phone? If so what does it look like? Screenshot maybe?
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This is what I'd like to know as well. According to "LTE Discovery" I'm on Band 4 right now. The linked page shows that my city should be LTE-A active. My speeds haven't changed even a little. Mid-teens down, a handful up.

I was in Boston last week and was getting 70 mb down and 26 mb up.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app

Getting 62/22 in Metro Detroit on Band 4.

66 down and 27 up in bronx, new york. Will check the city when I get back to work Saturday. They should be faster there.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app

In Indianapolis, lte has stopped yesterday morning. Maybe they are updating our network. Can't wait.

The highest i got in Queens NY was 67/22 and 50/23 in Long Island.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app

Just type *#0011# in the dialer. When it is conection to band 12 you are on wideband.
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

Do you have to update modems or something to get it? I've been rooted since new and never took any of the updates.
I haven't seen anything other than band 4 locally.
This is the best I've done in town, but only the downtown area gets 4 bars. I'm usually 2 or less around most of the town.. This is versus what I typically get around my house.

When you go into the service menu by dialing *#0011# on the first line you will see Band 4 BW: 15MHz. When you have a connection of 15, or 20MHz you are using wide band lte.

mardukeme said:
When you go into the service menu by dialing *#0011# on the first line you will see Band 4 BW: 15MHz. When you have a connection of 15, or 20MHz you are using wide band lte.
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This is correct. This is like a 4 lane highway instead of a single lane. This also includes the lowband spectrum 700mhz it baught from Verizon which is band 12. Band 12 is what travels far and through buildings. You might even get signal in an elevator because of it.
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

yep, same here in chicago land, getting 40 down and 20 up, in the basement of my house!