Help Why is Tethering So Slow?

[misterdroid]

I poked around a little before starting this, so apologies if this has been asked a gajillion times, but has anyone else had the experience of internet speed with PDAnet being maple syrup slow? I mean, obviously the Eris is not the fastest phone anyway, but there are, confusingly, times when it's actually quite fast. As a corollary to this question, are there ways to increase 3G/tethering speed? Thanks.

 

[brock350]

It may have to do with peak times...I have an Alltel air card (runs on same 3G network my phone is on)but during evenings and weekends its quite slow maybe like 512 kbps but when its off peak like early mornings or daytimes its quite fast in my area I can get about average 2 mbps.

 

[razorclose]

The fact that the Eris isn't the fastest has nothing to do with this. It really just depends on your signal strength and time of day. The nearest tower is probably a couple of miles away from you, so sending and receiving data that far away OTA is going to be a strain somewhat. In addition to that, if you have a couple thousand folks accessing the same tower at once, that's going to slow it down too. The fact is thus: using the phone as a modem for your computer is not going to be as fast/faster than using the internet (wifi) at your house unless you have dialup.

 

[kushineris]

I used to get 2.4mbps with pdanet. I recently rooted and have been getting 11mbps using wifi tethering. Runs perfect for me.

 

[The Praetorian]

I used to get 2.4mbps with pdanet. I recently rooted and have been getting 11mbps using wifi tethering. Runs perfect for me.

I would be interested to know more about that.

 

[misterdroid]

It may have to do with peak times...I have an Alltel air card (runs on same 3G network my phone is on)but during evenings and weekends its quite slow maybe like 512 kbps but when its off peak like early mornings or daytimes its quite fast in my area I can get about average 2 mbps.

Yes, this is generally my experience as well.

The fact that the Eris isn't the fastest has nothing to do with this. It really just depends on your signal strength and time of day. The nearest tower is probably a couple of miles away from you, so sending and receiving data that far away OTA is going to be a strain somewhat. In addition to that, if you have a couple thousand folks accessing the same tower at once, that's going to slow it down too. The fact is thus: using the phone as a modem for your computer is not going to be as fast/faster than using the internet (wifi) at your house unless you have dialup.

Are there any little tricks you're aware of to boost signal? Phone positioning, open windows, proximity to metal, etc.? I ask this stuff knowing I'm open to ridicule by the more tech-savvy forum members, but I have googled this stuff and it's yielded surprisingly little info.

 

[Hiroshika]

I used to get 2.4mbps with pdanet. I recently rooted and have been getting 11mbps using wifi tethering. Runs perfect for me.

Thats impossible. You might be getting 11mbps speed locally, but your internet throughput cant be that high over 3g. Thats just simply not possible over verizons network.

 

[Blrfl]

I used to get 2.4mbps with pdanet. I recently rooted and have been getting 11mbps using wifi tethering. Runs perfect for me.

You're not getting 11 Mbps out of the CDMA network, because the theoretical maximum speed for EV-DO is 2.4.

If you're seeing the 11 Mbps figure on your computer when you tether, that's the speed of the link to the phone. (It's also the theoretical maximum for 802.11b WiFi and one of the fallback speeds for 802.11g.)

What you may be doing is tethering your computer to your phone and using its WiFi connection to get to the Internet, which is just silly because you can leave the phone out of it.

--Mark

 

[kushineris]

thanks i get what you both are saying now. I didnt understand right the first time i guess. But i have no internet here just using wifi tethering on root. And it does work very well for me. So it really isnt pointless.

 

[Rossco_Pee]

I ran PDAnet when I was back on 1.5 unrooted. I didn't know what I was missing. 'Wireless tether for root users' is easily 3 times faster than PDAnet. Plus I can use it wirelessly (is that a word?). I have been streaming netflix off it lately with excellent results.

 

[misterdroid]

Good for you. Not rooted so irrelevant to my question.

 

[Fulltime Traveler]

We are on the road all the time. We normally connect with the Internet using a Verizon data card in a Wi-Fi router. In weak signal areas, I use PdaNet with the Eris to connect. It is ALWAYS faster than using the data card in those situations. (I'll leave it to others to speculate why that's so.)

If you are getting slow speed with PdaNet, something is wrong. Have you updated your PRL lately? Do that by calling *22899. You must be in a native Verizon area to do that.

 

[teddyballgame]

My understanding is Verizon Wireless knows that you are tethering and are not paying Verizon for tether services. Therefore, they slow down your 3g speed deliberately. It's all about Verizon and how much you pay for service, and not about PDA net. With all this said, I am still able to stream Hulu on my computer via PDA net. Not bad for $19-

 

[Fulltime Traveler]

My understanding is Verizon Wireless knows that you are tethering and are not paying Verizon for tether services. Therefore, they slow down your 3g speed deliberately. It's all about Verizon and how much you pay for service, and not about PDA net. With all this said, I am still able to stream Hulu on my computer via PDA net. Not bad for $19-

Do you have any reason for believing that, or is it just something you read on the Internet?

Any idea why the OP would be throttled to 1X (not 3G) speed and the rest of us, including you, aren't?

If you have any insight, I would sure like help in avoiding that.

Thanks.

 

[Demache]

I used EasyTether a ton this week. I normally had about 2 bars at my grandparents, and it was moderately fast. 500 Kb/s was the fastest I ever got. And that might be the cap for the area, because once I had full bars in the town nearby, and I still only got 600 Kb/s. Still, it was leagues better than my grandparent's satellite internet, takes an eternity to connect everytime you go to a new website.

 

[teddyballgame]

Do you have any reason for believing that, or is it just something you read on the Internet?

Any idea why the OP would be throttled to 1X (not 3G) speed and the rest of us, including you, aren't?

If you have any insight, I would sure like help in avoiding that.

Thanks.

I know for a fact Verizon throttles the download speed because my sling player shows the download speed drop into slower range the longer it streams. once you pause the streaming it shoots back up to over 1 meg per sec. I also talked with tech support at verizon regarding the constant speed issue when streaming tv. it is what it is. Atleast its un/imited data. Have a good one.

 

[Demache]

I know for a fact Verizon throttles the download speed because my sling player shows the download speed drop into slower range the longer it streams. once you pause the streaming it shoots back up to over 1 meg per sec. I also talked with tech support at verizon regarding the constant speed issue when streaming tv. it is what it is. Atleast its un/imited data. Have a good one.

That's bizarre. Never happened to me. I even downloaded a 300 MB file. It took nearly 2 hours, but it always remained at a constant 50 KB/s.

 

[Fulltime Traveler]

I know for a fact Verizon throttles the download speed because my sling player shows the download speed drop into slower range the longer it streams. once you pause the streaming it shoots back up to over 1 meg per sec. I also talked with tech support at verizon regarding the constant speed issue when streaming tv. it is what it is. Atleast its un/imited data. Have a good one.

Fortunately, that's not consistent with my experience. I downloaded a copy of Ubuntu (over 2 GB), and it maintained a consistent 1.4-1.8 mbps the entire time.

I don't stream TV, though, so our experiences may differ for some technical reason. I sure don't know.

 

[Blrfl]

I know for a fact Verizon throttles the download speed because my sling player shows the download speed drop into slower range the longer it streams. once you pause the streaming it shoots back up to over 1 meg per sec.

There are other explanations for that, such as the Sling software adjusting its compression rate higher over time as it learns about the link's behavior. Resuming from a pause might cause it to start over. It's also possible that the ISP providing transit for your Sling box is throttling the uplink.

--Mark

 

[trapt333]

How does this happen in every forum thread? By the time I read the last comment it has absolutely nothing to do with the original question. I am very interested to know how to either boost my signal or speed up my tethering access. I don't believe that there is a way to do so, but if there is then please let it be known.

I really don't care about if verizon knows and messes with the throttle and all that jazz.

The ONLY thing i am asking is the options available to increase my tethering speed.
Thank you

 

[kapone86]

Lol well said trapt haha, thats what the hell I wanna know????????

 

[ShadyGirl23]

Yes I am having a problem with tethering speeds also. Great signal phone is in my window by lots of metal, sometimes works freaking great, then sometimes not at all. Very annoying.

 

[ShadyGirl23]

i fixed mine by changing the channel in the options

 

[itstom]

How do you change channels?

 

[HTC.user2]

why is it my speed test says i should be getting 1.6mbps download but actual download speed is 4KBps? does this mean i'm getting throttled? i'm on an unlimited tethering package so they probably have a hidden cap even though there were no fair use terms.