Houston Newspaper trashes AT&T!

Droidmaniac · September 22nd, 2012, 03:57 AM

I had just purchased a Galaxy Note a few weeks ago. Speed Tests in Houston fluctuated... connected, not connected.... connected, not connecetd... It would time-out due to "no data connection", but wait 3 seconds and have blazing, mind-numbing speedtests at 45 mb/sec.

Coming from 3G, anything over 5 mb/sec really blew my mind.

Oddly, even in hi-speed 4G LTE areas, some pages would time out and not load at all. I could then walk 3 paces and download a 5 minute video in a flash.

My wife's 3G was consistent and kicked my butt up and down the street.

After a few weeks, back and forth with customer service and multiple techs, sadly, I returned it. Appreciating 3G more than ever now.

Then, I saw this article in the Houston Chronicle. The first few lines of the article say that the article has been updated with ATT rep's confirmation that the problems are now resolved (and the article was softened up a bit as it was originally kinda harsh), but as of Sept 21, I can tell you that speeds and connectivity in Houston still suffer. It's really pitiful.

It seems to me that the 4G signal is sent out in waves or pulses, rather than a steady blanket of coverage.

Anyway, check this out, especially the comments that follow... AT&T’s LTE network in Houston is having connection problems [Updated] | TechBlog | a Chron.com blog

WA_Bob · September 22nd, 2012, 07:16 AM

Par for the course. Over the last 9 years I've lived in the Houston area, AT&T's 3G has been pretty reliable (the big exception was after Hurricane Ike as locals may remember) and generally smoother than Verizon's, but Verizon has no competition as far as 4G LTE is concerned in this area. VZW covers more area and is almost always consistently reliable now. AT&T LTE seems to be where Verizon was about 1 1/2 years ago so I assume they'll catch up, just not for some time yet.

Rico ANDROID · November 14th, 2012, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Droidmaniac

I had just purchased a Galaxy Note a few weeks ago. Speed Tests in Houston fluctuated... connected, not connected.... connected, not connecetd... It would time-out due to "no data connection", but wait 3 seconds and have blazing, mind-numbing speedtests at 45 mb/sec.

Coming from 3G, anything over 5 mb/sec really blew my mind.

Oddly, even in hi-speed 4G LTE areas, some pages would time out and not load at all. I could then walk 3 paces and download a 5 minute video in a flash.

My wife's 3G was consistent and kicked my butt up and down the street.

After a few weeks, back and forth with customer service and multiple techs, sadly, I returned it. Appreciating 3G more than ever now.

Then, I saw this article in the Houston Chronicle. The first few lines of the article say that the article has been updated with ATT rep's confirmation that the problems are now resolved (and the article was softened up a bit as it was originally kinda harsh), but as of Sept 21, I can tell you that speeds and connectivity in Houston still suffer. It's really pitiful.

It seems to me that the 4G signal is sent out in waves or pulses, rather than a steady blanket of coverage.

Anyway, check this out, especially the comments that follow... AT&T’s LTE network in Houston is having connection problems [Updated] | TechBlog | a Chron.com blog

Hi Droid (love the avatar) I remember.that article and the regressed services. I was figuring, since Houston was one of the first metros to pilot 4G LTE there mist have been some localized structure damage since all was practically new?

Did any follow-up get published of what the cause was?

Fonof · January 9th, 2013, 03:38 PM

I've done speed tests of HSPA+ around the greater Houston area and found results to be very spotty overall.

I get fast internet (4MPBS+) in my bedroom but hardly get a signal in my kitchen lol.