Slow LTE on Verizon in Northern Virginia

Sisyphus Jones · August 15th, 2012, 07:50 AM

This is for anyone else in the Northern Virginia area with a Verizon GS3. I've run speedtest 12 times since July 10th, when I got my phone, and generally have been lucky to outperform my old Motorola Droid! I'm wondering if it's something that could be fixed with an exchange of the phone, or if it's just that the LTE network is congested in this area. Of my 12 speedtests, my max download has been 5.9 Mb, and my max upload has been 9.15 Mb, but both of those were very anomalous. I generally get 1 - 3 Mb down and 0.2 - 4 Mb up (up varies more). Here are my averages:

2.39 down
2.62 up

All of these results are with the 4G LTE icon up top. Over wifi I get 19 down and 23 up, which is about right for my internet speeds.

Please let me know if you're in the area and are seeing speeds like this.

universem2 · August 15th, 2012, 09:59 AM

I have the exact results as you.

UserName872 · August 15th, 2012, 10:14 AM

Does anyone else you know have an LTE device to compare it to?

I was in DC and NOVA last weekend and saw around 21Mbps down and 15 up but I'm on AT&T LTE.

Where at in Fairfax if you don't mind me asking? I grew up in Fairfax Station across the street from Burke Lake Park. Was my first time back there in a number of years.

Stigy · August 15th, 2012, 10:31 AM

Unfortunately I am not near your area, but I can tell you my friend has an S3 and is getting speeds similar to my Galaxy Nexus.

Give it a try late at night and see if you get an increase in speeds as there should be less network traffic.

Mabashi · August 15th, 2012, 04:41 PM

i do not have that issue in Nova. I get around 15-20 mb down and 10-15 up

jerofld · August 15th, 2012, 04:52 PM

Moved to the Verizon forum as this appears to be more specific to Verizon than the S3 itself.

AntimonyER · August 16th, 2012, 07:20 AM

If you have concerns, go check out a Verizon store in the 4G area and compare to phones in the store, easiest way to know if it is network or phone.

Sisyphus Jones · August 23rd, 2012, 05:09 PM

Thanks for the replies! I ended up taking it to the store, and it was definitely super slow. The rep suggested I pull the SIM card, though, and it works great now. Probably should have thought of that one on my own :-)

Username872: I'm about ten minutes from Burke lake by the VRE. Love the area

Jerethi · August 23rd, 2012, 10:00 PM

Did the rep explain what had caused the problem, and why just pulling the SIM card would fix it?

GalaxyNexus · August 26th, 2012, 07:28 PM

Because of all the LTE phones on VZW the network should be pretty congested. My Galaxy Nexus gets similar speeds.