[MAJOR SOLUTION] Fix your slow 3g speeds:EVO4g

[Mr. Ed]

Update 8/10/11

I no longer own an Evo, nor am I with Sprint at this time. I will continue to answer questions but I have no way to keep you updated on PRL updates etc.


4g connects faster..and maintains for about 10 ft further here at the store.

3g seems less affected by the method above now...4g is a pretty insane difference

Your Results May Vary

---There are some areas that have tower issues. This will not fix that. In
these cases notify sprint of the issue and the area.
---You may already be achieving great speeds. The target is 1.0+ Mbps
if you already there you may or may not see an improvement.
=---some have reported that updating the prl actually helped their connection. In every single test on my phone updating the prl resulted in the slow speeds seen below. Each phone will be different though so try it without, you can always go back in and update it.

The included HTTP fix is not new...it was suggested by Sprint to fix streaming media issues. While in EPST it is a good idea to change these, though it isn't necessary.

ORIGINAL INFO:

DO NOT UPDATE YOUR PRL
This is not doing anything to your PRL. It isn't updating it, It isn't downgrading it to something else. For some reason THE PROCESS OF UPDATING THE PRL AFTER A DATA UPDATE IS KILLING THE SPEEDS ON SOME PHONES!
​

If you must update your prl do it in the order I have listed. If you ever update it again, repeat this process again.

I have spent two hours testing this on two different roms and the results speak for themselves. I have run through the process over 1000 times, updating prl, and not and the results are there EVERY TIME. This should apply to all Evos EXCEPT ASOP.​

First Get your MSL

stock: call sprint or use the method I will list later. Sprint will give it to you if you get the right person and ask nicely.
CDMA WORKSHOP METHOD [How To] Retrieve MSL CDMA Workshop Method - xda-developers

Rooted Sense: use msl reader from the market. I added the link. Write this MSL# down, I guarantee you will need it again. Keep it safe.

Rooted ASOP: results may vary but some have had success restoring a sense backup, and then going back to ASOP. Don't wipe.

xtremelabs speedtest app from the market to test your internet speed. Remember to test 3-4 times each time you test.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.xtremelabs.android.speedtest&feature=search_result

Update prl first
TURN OFF GPS >Thanks Early Mon
Go to Phone
Type in ##3282#>>>Fixed...sorry for the confusion
Select Edit
Enter MSL
Select Advanced
scroll down to the last two, the http proxy settings and replace the settings with 0 -----------just one zero in each will work fine----------- (I get no credit for this one it iis all over the web)

Change HTTP PD Proxy port from 8085 to 0
Change HTTP PD Proxy address from pd.vog.sprintpcs.com to 0.0.0.0
some say they get better results with 0.0.0.0 so I have decided to do it that way.

This isn't new info...we are just doing this while we are in there. Some have reported a small increase in speeds after doing it...but nothing as significant as what NOT UPDATING the PRL after Data has shown

Use your arrow on your phone to go back
Select Data Profile
Hit Menu
Select restore
Hit OK to reboot...

PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR PHONE
After going through the set up process (Handsfree Activation, LET IF FINISH) you will select ok

YOU HAVE TO HIT CANCEL WHEN IT STARTS LOOKING FOR A PRL UPDATE
YOU HAVE TO HIT CANCEL WHEN IT STARTS LOOKING FOR A PRL UPDATE​

(If your phone hangs and does not reboot, reboot manually.)

​

Wait for the phone to finish it's thing. 3g Icon should be on, go off, then come back on.

Test speeds.

If I am right...EVERYONE will have speeds like never before. If you update your PRL you will have to do this again..and your speeds will drop to the insanely low speeds again.


If you perform the steps and your 3g speeds get WORSE,
power off, pull battery for 5-10 minutes, power on
then if still slow try the steps again
then if they are still slow go ahead and update your prl. (menu.settings.software updates)


I have found more than one post stating that calling *18 will reset your tower choice. This may help some that have a bad connection, or travel 40-50 miles daily. Feel free to give it a shot.

POST YOUR RESULTS​

DO NOT UPDATE YOUR PRL AFTER DOING THIS!!!!!!!!​

It is my belief that this is why most are not seeing the speed increases that others are.

my speeds went from .05-.3 Mbps to 1.5+ MBps download. Upload doesn't change much and varies from .25 Mbps to .7 Mbps

​

Again, If I am crazy, I am sorry. I have a very absent minded way of doing things.

 

[Mr. Ed]

I will test 4g tomorrow and see if this has any effect on 4g.

 

[lesawag]

Im going to try this tomorrow. Im not to sure how to read this speedtest result. Interesting though the difference between 3g and wifi. I wanted to see what my results were Before I tried what your suggesting. Right now on wifi I get 4.47mbps downloading and .46 on uploading. On 3g I get .50mbps on downloading and .02 on uploading. For a kick I tried 4g...6.32mbps and .25. What kind of numbers should we be reaching with the evo on 3g? I will try to get the MSL from sprint tomorrow. Somehow I always get the sprint Rep. who is difficult. Anyway, I was wondering what kind of speedtest numbers we are hoping for since I have no idea. LOL. I look forward to trying this tomorrow. If you get a chance in the next few days, can you list the method for getting the MSL? Thanks for all the hard work you put into this and thanks for sharing with us.

 

[isaemm]

I just made the changes and everything went fine. BUT.. now my weather is not showing. On the weather widget it is not showing my current location and when I try to update it, I keep getting the error message "connection error: blah blah blah.. my connection dropped while downloading and try again later" Any fix for this?

 

[Mr. Ed]

it should come back. try deleting the widget and re adding it.

I think this is a separate issue as there are alot of phones experiencing it. Do let me know

 

[isaemm]

it should come back. try deleting the widget and re adding it.

I think this is a separate issue as there are alot of phones experiencing it. Do let me know

Well it seems that wifi was the issue. Right when I turned off my wifi to check if that was the problem, my location and weather updated immediately. All seems well once again.

 

[EarlyMon]

OH - and for what it's worth on a related topic - turn off GPS and your wifi speeds will tend to increase dramatically.

On-topic - I don't know that anyone else deserves credit or anything - but I'd thought it was kinda common knowledge when rooting to always end rom updates with PRL update, then a Profile update...

 

[Mr. Ed]

I don't know that it's ever been discussed to do them in that specific order.

In my tests tonight...
update profile, update prl = drastically slower speeds
update prl, then profile = much better (as much as 75% better)

I went a step further
update prl, update profile, test speeds, awesome speeds, update prl , test speeds, crap speeds.

i then mixed up that variation until I came up with the results listed above consistently

if it's always been there and I missed it...then I'm a goob

 

[EarlyMon]

Well - you're totally not a goob, and I did have Matlock add it to the Rooting for Dummies thread a short while back because it went missing again.

It's just one of those old tricks that seems to keep coming and going from our rooting guides.

I'm going to add this one to this forum's sticky right now.

FWIW - I still far prefer 0.0.0.0 for that proxy address because I've seen good and incorrect socket source code, but I'm probably being a ninny.

 

[Mr. Ed]

in all honesty I did all of this with the proxy settings intact and then without...it really didn't make a difference in the fix. i am a firm believer that it helps with streaming though...and figured while we are in there.

I actually amazes me how many people were not aware of it.

 

[EarlyMon]

I totally trust you, no worries compadre.

PS - I went back and looked - in the dummies thread, I did NOT specify the order - in my mind, I totally did.

And - Matlock's removed it in a subsequent edit.

But for true - updating PRL then Profile tends to fix all sorts of weirdness, so it's best to just avoid the weirdness.

So - ace job - this is now stickied.

 

[Drew5150]

I don't get any change.

I test first .3-.4

update prl .3-.4

update prl the profile .3-.4 almost .5

enter msl and do the thing, canceled prl update .3-.4

update profile once again , just cause .3-.4

tried on wifi with gps on and off, don't remember the number but there was no real change.

I don't know, I'll try again later. I might see more of a difference when I'm not at home.

 

[Mr. Ed]

did you remove the http settings? there is the possibility that some towers just are not sending more than .5 I just don't know.

you added a bunch of testing steps just test before and after. do 3-4 tests each time.

 

[Drew5150]

I removed the http settings and tried 3-4 times each. I should go check to see if they actually saved though.

yeah I don't think I can get a great signal where I live (even tho its smack dab in the center of San Francisco). I live in the hills. so due to the topography and people that complain about cell towers I'm just glad it even works.

edit: checked, it was saved. did the whole thing once more. no real change.

 

[Mr. Ed]

cool keep me posted. I am going to do my usual tests on my 45 minute drive to work tomorrow. Checking speeds as I drive through different tower coverage. Today it was a consistent .1 dl until I hit one tower about 8 miles from my house..then degraded during the 8 miles to my house. Discovered this fix in my driveway and speeds consistently increased double-triple what they were when i started

 

[EarlyMon]

My turn to be the goop - try 3G with GPS on and off - see what happens.

 

[Mr. Ed]

Early..seeing an increase of .2-.5 Mbps by simply turning off gps.

adding this to the steps. I think it is why the immediate results are coming back slow

I notice the first speed test is typically the slowest

 

[EarlyMon]

Yeap - scratch that for wifi that I said earlier.

You know me - there's this theory that I actually know Evo stuff, but the truth is that at the end of long days, it's all mashed potatoes from eyebrows on up!

IOW, I get so confuzed I can't even spell it.

 

[Mr. Ed]

haha..trust me...these things I run across are just flukes. I notice the results of those flukes though and then have to figure out what the hell I "screwed up" that turned out to be good

 

[Drew5150]

so I decided to call in sick today... cough .. cough.. so no at work tests..

speed test results were about the same this morning. maybe slightly higher though I had full cell signal strength this morning.

My turn to be the goop - try 3G with GPS on and off - see what happens.

ok, so my gps was off after last night. so I turned it back on and my speeds actually went up. they were in the .5 to almost .8 then they came back down after a few tests to my usual .3-.5 range. turned gps off and they stayed.

honestly my speeds are too close and fluctuate too much to say anything has changed. I did load a few web pages this morning and they did seem to load a lot quicker on 3g. I'll keep giving it a try this weekend, mainly to see if my browser will remain loading quicker than usual.

 

[EarlyMon]

Sounds like you're simply stuck in a crappy service area where Sprint's ability to handle load is concerned.

 

[Drew5150]

^^ but its still better then AT&T and Verizon phones in my house

so I actually just did the test again and I had 3 tests in a row go slightly over 1.0 down. and it stayed consistently above .8

I'm not sure if this means much as I've never been home at this hour on a weekday before. well and doing speed tests on my evo

 

[Mr. Ed]

Sounds like you're simply stuck in a crappy service area where Sprint's ability to handle load is concerned.

Verified at work today. If the tower is supplying crap speeds the fix may help slightly...but not much.

speeds here at the office went from .01-.15 Mbps dl to .15-.33 Mbps dl after the fix. Updated the prl sent them back down again.

 

[jallp82]

So this fixed my problem where my phone was not actually connecting to the 3g network. Found out using Signal Strength Widget. Did this and now the widget shows i can now connect to 3g. I knew something was very wrong with phone was only getting speeds of 120kbps to 140 and now my highest with this is now 1030kpbs. THanks

 

[Mr. Ed]

Awesome!!!!!