I'm not sure about what would be considered excessive, but I believe that Sprint is throttling data speeds, and here's why:
My wife and I both purchased new Evo 3D smart-phones recently ago and activated them on our family plan. We were both pleased with the Evo 3D and were satisfied with the 3G data speed (4G coverage has not come to our area except for a couple small patches).
We found that both of our phones produced download speeds in the neighborhood of 900 to 1200Kbps fairly reliably with a 4-6 bar signal. This was determined using the Speedtest.net android app.
After having the phones few days, we discovered that Youtube and SprintTV would not stream video to either of our phones. We got error messages. We called customer service who explained that they were already working on a fix and that they expected it to be functional within the next few days. (OTA updates had already been loaded)
It turned out that they did get it to work a few days later. But in the meantime, not knowing what was happening, I decided to experiment with it. I wanted to see whether it was the phone software, or a network issue. I found a tethering app (PDANet) that allowed me to use my phone as a modem on my home PC. Using the phone to stream data to the PC, I found that Youtube could play videos on my PC browser. I left the PDAnet software installed on my phone for several days then uninstalled it. Other than Youtube and SprintTV, the phone continued to function normally with good download speeds. PDANet was never installed on my wife's phone.
A few days after my call to Sprint, the video streaming began to work on both phones. On that same day though, the data download speeds on MY phone dropped to about 15% of what they had formerly been. I could now only get about 125Kbps with very little variation. The phone still showed a 3G icon with a good signal, but these seem like 2G speeds. My wife’s data speed was just as fast as ever. I ran speed tests throughout the day with virtually the same 125Kbps result. These tests were done at work, at home, and in several places along my 20 mile commute. They produced almost no variation due to location or test server (I tried many).
I updated the phone profile, PRL, and pulled the battery…no improvement. I called Sprint tech support, who suggested the same steps (and others)…no improvement. I asked if they were “throttling” my data, and they assured me that they don’t do it. They suggested taking the phone in for testing.
I brought the phone to a nearby Sprint corporate store the next day. They tested the phone and found no hardware issues. They did a hard reset and re-provision (not sure what that is). They sent me on my way saying it would take some hours for the data connection to start working. When it returned there was, again, no improvement. Tests show 125Kbps download speed with very little variation. I spent significant time setting up my home screens and accounts again for nothing.
I bought the phone back to the same sprint store again the next day, and showed them that it had not improved. They gave me a new phone. Hooray! The result?
NO IMPROVEMENT! TEST SHOW THE SAME 125Kbps DOWNLOAD SPEEDS WITH ALMOST NO VARIATION!!!! IT LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE A SPEED CAP TO ME!!!
I can run tests on my phone and my wife’s side by side. Mine always gets about 125Kbps, hers gets 900-1200! Mine is so slow and it shows on even simple web pages. It is excruciating!
Now how can I be getting those same results time and again on one phone, again after a hard reset, and then on 2nd new phone, if I am not being capped/throttled???
I believe that they discovered the PDA net app was installed (albeit for a short period) which triggered the cap/throttle.
This evidence seems strong to me.
