Help HSPA+ dropping on and off

[coolcamden]

I live in the SF Bay Area, (SF and SJ are supposed to be LIVE based on T-Mobile coverage map) and occasionally I get the much awaited H on my phone. Most times it's not and a lot of time it's the no-signal x.

Is the HSPA+ signal/reception going to be more robust and stable going forward?

Also, I used extremelab speedtest to run a few speed checks, and th results were abysmal. Is it the test? Is there a better benchmark?

 

[justme8800]

Sucks that you have bad reception... I don't get very good reception either, but I don't exactly live downtown.

When you see the H up there, it stands for HSPA, plus or not. Pretty much the only way to tell if it's HSPA+ or HSPA (normal 3G) is to run a speed test.

 

[Eazail70x7]

I don't understand why they would not make different symbols for when you are accessing hspa and hspa+ or even a 3g symbol for when you are on 3g. How are you supposed t know when you are getting 4g? It makes no sense to me and hopefully they do a software update to fix that issue (if its even possible).

So basically at this point, do you have to just hope you are on hspa+ when your city has it? Maybe its just me...

 

[justme8800]

I think there's a way to know if you dig into your settings (about phone > status), but it doesn't say HSPA+, it uses some technical identifier. The simplest way to know is to download something and see how long it takes.

 

[colnago]

I live in the SF Bay Area, (SF and SJ are supposed to be LIVE based on T-Mobile coverage map) and occasionally I get the much awaited H on my phone. Most times it's not and a lot of time it's the no-signal x.

Is the HSPA+ signal/reception going to be more robust and stable going forward?

Also, I used extremelab speedtest to run a few speed checks, and th results were abysmal. Is it the test? Is there a better benchmark?

You are more than likely only going to see the "H" when the phone is actually sending/receiving data. My N900 would only show "3G" when idle, and "3.5G" when accessing the net.

For a more accurate speed rating, use:

Speakeasy - Speed Test

...and choose a server that's closest to you.

FWIW, I was able to get 7.44Mbs at a store just 3 miles away from my house in March. However I was only averaging 900Kbs inside my house. Starting a few weeks ago, I am now able to consistently get 3-4Mbs, so I think the roll-out is still in progress. Only problem is I still get little to no signal inside my local supermarket, along with a few other stores, but full bars 3.5G in its parking lot.