Why are 3G speed tests so slow?

[Oddball]

Unless I am having a specific, measurable problem I completely discount those speed tests as they are useless.

Case in point: I ran the test once about 4 months ago believing I had a problem when I was streaming some music via Rhapsody.

So, I loaded a new song and with system panel lite in the background I switched to it as the Rhap client was loading the song. I saw well over 2mb/sec throughout the song download and then of course it tapered off.

I went back to the speed test site with all streaming off and re-ran the test. I never saw above 500-700kb/sec. To me that means a network congesting issue off of Ericsson's network or an issue with the overhead related to http sockets. Perhaps there's a performance trade off with a handset and network connections.

I re-ran the Rhapsody test over and over again and always saw it peak above 2mb and sometimes 3 mb/sec.

I just don't see the speed tests as a reliable indicator at all.

 

[bigpicture]

yep...


-Get your MSL(since you are rooted get msl reader from market)
-Dial ##3282#
-Edit Mode-type in MSL # press ok
-Go to Advanced and change "HTTP PD Proxy Port" to "0" & "HTTP PD Proxy Address" to 0.0.0.0
-go back and go to Evdo and change the Preferred Mode to "Automatic"
-then go back and go to Data Profile, hit menu to restore.......

 

[cmanbrazil]

just got a 003 version as a replacement. The 3g speeds are horrible compared to my june fourth phone. Thanks to this thread I am going to work to restore it this week.

 

[mosiah]

@cmanbrazil whats a 003 version?

I did the proxy clear but didn't change the preffered mode, it didn't help, took it to sprint and they scratched their heads and said something was obviously wrong with my phone and exchanged Evos for me, and now I have another Evo with the same problem and a different MSL

I really don't want to void the warranty on my phone to get the performance that the phone should have, could we keep any references to fixing this on rooted phones in a thread in the everything root forum, I mean its super you guys rooted your phones, I did it on my moment and had a blast with it.

Anyway, let me know if that stuff fixes your phone for you.

 

[bigpicture]

Rooting isn't necessary as long you have your msl but do a restore (it won't erase data)

 

[EarlyMon]

@cmanbrazil whats a 003 version?

I did the proxy clear but didn't change the preffered mode, it didn't help, took it to sprint and they scratched their heads and said something was obviously wrong with my phone and exchanged Evos for me, and now I have another Evo with the same problem and a different MSL

I really don't want to void the warranty on my phone to get the performance that the phone should have, could we keep any references to fixing this on rooted phones in a thread in the everything root forum, I mean its super you guys rooted your phones, I did it on my moment and had a blast with it.

Anyway, let me know if that stuff fixes your phone for you.

If you check the Sirius/XM thread, you'll find that the proxy fix is from Sprint. If you want to try this, follow the instructions in that thread for the actual case number to give on this known problem to Sprint tech support (I think it's copied at near to the last post), and they'll reset your proxy for you, over the air.

If you're concerned about other root statements, my apologies, kindly re-clarify your concern.

003 is a hardware revision of a phone. homescreen -> Menu -> Settings -> About phone -> Hardware information

Some people like to keep track of their hardware revisions, just in case it correlates to anything.

 

[ckeathley]

the restore worked for me! I got my first evo on 1/14/11 and 3g speeds were horribly consistently slow out of the box. Got a new one on 1/21/11 and same exact problem. Was doing many tests with speedtest.net app and from mobilespeedtest.com from many locations w/in about a 25 mile radius of my house. Before my downloads were 1 - 130 kb/s. Just did aobut 10 tests after restore and now i'm averaging ~700 kb/s with the last 2 tests hittin 1 mb/s.

For other newbies like myself, i did exactly this:

1. ##3282#
2. Select edit
3. Enter msl
4. Select data profile
5. Press menu
6. Select restore

i called sprint, told them i've been having consistent very slow 3g speeds and that i've been researching my own solution. Said i wanted to do a hard reset on my phone and i needed the msl code. She gave it to me w/o hesitation.

Note, my phone is stock (unrooted). Status:

phone:
htc evo - unrooted (stock)

hardware:
hardware version - 0003

software:
android version - 2.2
baseband version - 2.15.00.11.19
kernel version - 2.6.32.17
build number - 3.70.651.1
software number - 3.70.651.1
browser version- webkit 3.1
pri version - 1.90_003
prl - 60674

all these versions were the same before and after the reset (phone automatically checked for updates after reset). I probably do the proxy bypass lil later but for now i'm very happy. Good luck.

this works. Thank you

 

[jallp82]

Use Signal Strength Widget (Download Signal Strength Widget for your Android phone on AppBrain) to verify that your phone is actually conneting to 3g, mine wasn't ever, if not the restore fixed it for me.

1. ##3282#
2. Select edit
3. Enter msl
4. Select data profile
5. Press menu
6. Select restore

Also this is a fairly simple way to get your MSL if you are not rooted without having to call sprint
[How To] Retrieve MSL CDMA Workshop Method - xda-developers


Just thought I'd add it all here as it took me reading three diffident forums to come up with this solution for me

 

[Mr. Ed]

Remember to cancel the prl update after reboot

 

[brewcrew9]

mine is definitely switching between 3g and 1x. One second when it is working normally i will get 1350 kbps down and the next when i see it switch to 1x it almost makes the phone unusably slow. Web pages dont load at all, I can barely get the speedtest to work its so slow. I got download speeds of anywhere from 0 to 10 kbps. Just as i finish typing this it switches back to 3g and i get 1826down/840 up. Seems when it works properly i average about 900-1200down/600-800up. Id be happy with this if it just worked all the time but it switches almost constantly. Should i return this to the store and try getting a new one?

 

[knightwolf123]

I think its the area you are in and sprints ability to deliver. I work in one city and live in another. Where I work (san antonio) its been crappy. Where I live, (small town near austin) my 3g kicks butt. Like 2mbps (per speed test.org)
My conclusion, some times you have good days, some times not so good. Welcome to sprint

I've been an evo user since june last year. Some days just suck. End of story

 

[Old Shadow]

Haven't done anything to my phone but just ran the speedtest and got 1740 down and 478 up. Should I try the procedure you guys are talking about or leave well enough alone?

 

[Mr. Ed]

mine is definitely switching between 3g and 1x. One second when it is working normally i will get 1350 kbps down and the next when i see it switch to 1x it almost makes the phone unusably slow. Web pages dont load at all, I can barely get the speedtest to work its so slow. I got download speeds of anywhere from 0 to 10 kbps. Just as i finish typing this it switches back to 3g and i get 1826down/840 up. Seems when it works properly i average about 900-1200down/600-800up. Id be happy with this if it just worked all the time but it switches almost constantly. Should i return this to the store and try getting a new one?

Other than speed tests, how are you monitoring the switch between
1x and 3g?

 

[brewcrew9]

with the signal strength widget.

 

[Mr. Ed]

gotcha...I always wondered if that one would show it. I am using one called 3g 2g toggle that displays in the status bar. the problem I have with signal strength is that I can only see it working while looking at the widget lol. I can't see it while I have apps open

check out an app called test my signal and actually open signal maps is what i have been using most . there are a few more I am using as well. they show the tower closest to you among other things.

It may be an issue with that tower...it may just be your entire area.

I am currently working on a log to pass on to sprint as the issues I am having in specific zips are completely unacceptable

 

[binder]

Anyone have just upload speed problems? I'm going to try this fix but my download speeds are fast. My upload speeds are 200-300 kbps even on 4g. I have 3 meg download and 300k upload. That just doesn't seem right. Im in st Louis in case anyone else is in the area on Sprint.

 

[dajeepman]

gotcha...I always wondered if that one would show it. I am using one called 3g 2g toggle that displays in the status bar. the problem I have with signal strength is that I can only see it working while looking at the widget lol. I can't see it while I have apps open

check out an app called test my signal and actually open signal maps is what i have been using most . there are a few more I am using as well. they show the tower closest to you among other things.

It may be an issue with that tower...it may just be your entire area.

I am currently working on a log to pass on to sprint as the issues I am having in specific zips are completely unacceptable

Dallas 3G sucks... I went to east Texas... to a small town.. I was getting 1.7 -1.9mb down and 600k up... here in dallas it varies so much... Duncanville Sucks the most I get 200k-500k down at the most..

 

[Mr. Ed]

Dallas 3G sucks... I went to east Texas... to a small town.. I was getting 1.7 -1.9mb down and 600k up... here in dallas it varies so much... Duncanville Sucks the most I get 200k-500k down at the most..

indeed. the further north I get I get better signal. 1 mbps +

but here in dallas/richardson...I am lucky to get over .2

playing with a verizon prl trick I found on xda...I get 1 mbps+ everywhere now.

 

[longshot]

Ironic timing for this thread. I have been testing 3G here in seattle and can't get over 500k consistantly. A lot of the time, it stays around 200-300. My upload speeds vary from horrible to great (700k). 4g speeds are 2.5 meg down and about 1 up, but I'm on 3G more than 4G.

Hoping this gets fixed.

I live in Clarksburg, WV and I used to test my 3G speed often just to see what I would get. I used to get 1mb to 1.5mb download speed everytime I checked it and around half that with download speed. Now everytime I check it I get .30 to .50 mb and the same with upload. I have never seen the upload faster than half the speed of the download. This test had been done on two EVOs and both get the same results. I called Sprint and of course nothing is wrong on their side, all they said was I had too may apps on our phone and to wipe it back to factory specs. I cleaned it up and shut sync down so nothing ran in the background and still the same results. Apparently Sprint needs to open the pipe up some because they can't keep up with the traffic.

 

[longshot]

I just had the same issues you did i wasnt getting anything past 128 kbps download and 190 kbps upload!

I just did the same thing you did and now same location same server on speed test i am getting 1012kbps download and 604 kbps upload

If you have a rooted phone will it take it back to stock and "unroot" it??

 

[judge_droid]

Was at the sprint store looking at chargers. While there I did a crude comparison with the Epic, comparing the time to download this forum's home page. The Epic was much faster than my EVO in this simple test, side by side, same start time. I didn't keep close track, but I think the Epic was around 7 seconds, and the EVO was more than double that (almost 20 seconds). Had 4G turned off on both, and 3G signal strength was very good. Tried it twice, both times the Epic much faster. I realize this isn't a very good test.

Have never rooted. I don't think speed limiting would be something that Sprint does intentionally on the EVO. If I take the steps mentioned above to see if it improves download speed, do I lose user data? (and will I have to start over again with Angry Birds I've not done a hard reset yet, so not sure how that works with paid apps I've loaded.

 

[Mr. Ed]

Was at the sprint store looking at chargers. While there I did a crude comparison with the Epic, comparing the time to download this forum's home page. The Epic was much faster than my EVO in this simple test, side by side, same start time. I didn't keep close track, but I think the Epic was around 7 seconds, and the EVO was more than double that (almost 20 seconds). Had 4G turned off on both, and 3G signal strength was very good. Tried it twice, both times the Epic much faster. I realize this isn't a very good test.

Have never rooted. I don't think speed limiting would be something that Sprint does intentionally on the EVO. If I take the steps mentioned above to see if it improves download speed, do I lose user data? (and will I have to start over again with Angry Birds I've not done a hard reset yet, so not sure how that works with paid apps I've loaded.

You wont lose anything and the steps are reversible

 

[judge_droid]

You wont lose anything and the steps are reversible

Ok, thanks !

 

[Ken C]

Crazy, looking for an idea. Today I updated my radios, can't give ya exact numbers atm. Before update my pri was 1.7 after it went to 1.9 and that's when I started having drastically slower 3g. I tried Mr. Ed's data fix. No difference. I downloaded the older radios but when I tried to flash them I got something about multiple firmware. Runs fine on wifi but before the update I had regular dl speeds of at least 1.0 mbps all the pages I try to load take forever to start and near the end slow down again. I've noticed xda, and here on the forums always makes my connection slower so I kinda use that as a standard. If those two load fine no prob on other sites. Does anybody know how to get the older radios and pri/nv back to where it was before I pulled a needless dumbass move? I'm running mikfroyo 4.4 but I know the rom isn't at fault since it was fine before. Any help would be great. Haven't done a factory reset. I've had to do that in the past and never saw any changes in the 3g connection. Not to say I wouldn't try it again if ya'll think that'll take my radios back

 

[EarlyMon]

Factory reset won't help your radios or PRI version - hope this link helps!

[ Radios ][ 12-17 ] All EVO Radio, WiMAX, PRI, NV & HBoot versions - xda-developers

Pair your radios to the right rom -

http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Supersonic/ROMs