Help my phone 3G is really slow

[joshseo]

Hello,

I'm a new VZ Samsung Fascinate user. I got the phone 4 days ago.

I have noticed that my bars are never full. I even compared it with my friend's Nexus One w/ her T-Mobile service and she had 3 bars when I only had 1.

I constantly get zero or 1 and occasionally 2 if lucky. I thought I was in a bad service area but I'm sitting at home where I had full bars before getting this one - same Verizon.

What could be the cause? Do I need to take it to VZ store (I got the phone from BestBuy) and have them take a look?

My apps - Facebook/Twitter/Google Finance/Etc are all slow and often fail because of low connectivity. It's really annoying and I'm not getting full 3G impact on my phone for $30 that I'm paying!

 

[OMJ]

You could try dialing *22899 which will update your prl. Do other people with verizon smart phones get good 3g coverage in your area?

 

[nightelvesreasy]

I have to agree on this one, coming from a droid, where I got 3-4 bars, and now the fascinate, i get 0-1 bars, even after *228, i love the fascinate, but the signal is becoming a problem really quick

 

[Leonard1818]

FWIW my signal seems kind of inconsistent. At my desk at work, sometimes I'll have up to 3 bars but sometimes I won't have any 3g signal. It's frustrating but as long as I can send/receive txts, I'm OK. I don't really have any 3g needs at my desk.
I haven't tried *228 however so I may need to try that on this phone.

 

[nitsuj17]

my 3g is as fast or faster than my x or incredible...at work 1.5-2 down constantly...my x was 1.5 occasionally, my inc 1.2-1.6

signal reports poorly, but ive yet to drop a call or not have service

 

[f@scin8]

With 3G, what can affect speeds outside of the phone? The best I've seen with Speedtest and 3G on my stock SF is about 500Kb down and 800Kb up. Not what I would expect. It will be interesting to see if 3G and WiFi speeds get better when the next update comes.

larry

 

[bezerk19]

Hello,

I'm a new VZ Samsung Fascinate user. I got the phone 4 days ago.

I have noticed that my bars are never full. I even compared it with my friend's Nexus One w/ her T-Mobile service and she had 3 bars when I only had 1.

I constantly get zero or 1 and occasionally 2 if lucky. I thought I was in a bad service area but I'm sitting at home where I had full bars before getting this one - same Verizon.

What could be the cause? Do I need to take it to VZ store (I got the phone from BestBuy) and have them take a look?

My apps - Facebook/Twitter/Google Finance/Etc are all slow and often fail because of low connectivity. It's really annoying and I'm not getting full 3G impact on my phone for $30 that I'm paying!

Do you have this problem while driving or being just in a fixed location?
I noticed more online problems when on the road, even on areas that do have more bars, but my phone tends to choke when you really try to use the internet such as i do:

1)have google maps or Waze running
2) listening to Slacker Radio
3) trying to send a text via google mic

Its not high usage, but i feel it should be able to handle it since I'm able to get at most times 1.6mbp download speeds.

 

[Leonard1818]

what site does everyone use to test 3g speeds? I used to use speakeasy on my laptop but it's flash-based I guess and doesn't work on the SF.

 

[bezerk19]

what site does everyone use to test 3g speeds? I used to use speakeasy on my laptop but it's flash-based I guess and doesn't work on the SF.

There is an app in the android market called Speed test, and another one called FCC something, both work very well.

http://www.appbrain.com/app/fcc-mobile-broadband-test/com.ookla.fccbroadband

http://www.appbrain.com/app/speedtest-net-speed-test/org.zwanoo.android.speedtest

 

[f@scin8]

My 3G speeds are all over the place. Last night at home I could only get about 250Kb going up and down. A little bit ago here at work, about 30 miles from home, I got about 800-900Kb up and down whereas yesterday in the same spot I only got bout 300Kb and my friend with an iPhone got 1.5Mb (AT&T of course). So, it still could be "generic" Verizon coverage issues, still not sure. Hopefully in a little bit I'm going to compare to another friend here at work with an Incredible.

larry

Edit: Little bit later: I was standing next to a friend with an Incredible running latest 2.2 + update and his 3G speeds were slower than mine running Speedtest. I don't feel so bad now...

 

[joshseo]

I did the *22899 - although not really sure what it does...

But the good news is that it seemed to improve my overall speed. I've seen full bars here and there although still usually 1 or 2. My internet speed is average. At home, it's faster but it's only because I'm using my home wi-fi.

Like everyone said, maybe it's generic Verizon problem. I plan to stop by VZ store and ask question about it.