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A question about Metro's 4G...

Yawa

Well-Known Member
Dec 10, 2010
134
32
Melrose, MA
This is addressed to those of you with THE BEST SIGNALS imaginable

What's it like?

An example, if needed to sum this up better to those of you who don't get what I'm actually asking.

In the outskirts of Boston (as well as many places in Boston) my indulge will hit a constant max of about 437K down but 1.2 mb up. In fact, the highest download speed I've ever seen (mind you I'm in a suburb) is 1.1mb, was still lower than my upload speed. My download speeds will also stutter insanely for no reason. As in starting at 1.2 20 percent into the download stopping completely, then starting back up at 230K and slowly climbing to the 400k range.

For those of you with near perfect coverage the following questions are for you.

What are your speeds like?
Does your download needle constantly stutter?
Does your upload needle go way faster than your download needle?
Do you drop 4G randomly in spots where it usually is strong?

Gimme the details yo.
 
When I am at work in Clearwater florida, I get 4000kbps down, 2500 up and love it. Most of the locations I work at through out the county I atleast get 2500kbps down and 1500 up.
As far as "stutter" if I use Speedtest.net's mobile I really don't see much fluctuation. the usual start slightly slower and then hit max within 20% of test.

35 miles north (2 miles from home) I still get 3000kbps+ down.
As soon as I turn into my subdivision, I go in and out of 4g. If I'm lucky enough to get it constant it's only about 1000kbps down and up.

N3M3515
N3M3515
 
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In Orlando, I get pretty solid 4g coverage, and have to force my phone to go to 3G (airplaine mode on and off / turn off 4g through the hidden menus)...
The speeds I get are around 1.5 to 3.5 mpbs down, but on some days, I do hit the great 4.0, but that's VERY rare...
upload speed seems to be pretty constant across days and locations, however, at 2.7mbps up - no matter how fast or how slow the download speed is.

The only place where I lose 4g is at work, because I work in a humongous ball of steel, literally. Nobody gets above two bars of signal there, and most of the time, you're lucky to have 1 bar...
 
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What are your speeds like?
Usually a lot better than what you see. Normally at least 2mbps down and the same up.

screenshotoll.png

By astmd1655 at 2011-09-07
Does your download needle constantly stutter?
Speeds are consistent.
Does your upload needle go way faster than your download needle?
Right now it is for some reason. Or I didn't notice until now!
Do you drop 4G randomly in spots where it usually is strong?
Everything is consistent especially the dead zones! But since I drive the same roads day in and out I know where they are and when to expect my Pandora to drop. I know once I go past certain roads the Indulge just doesn't pickup a 4G signal and sometimes any signal at all.

However the places where 4G is strong I don't notice any switching back and forth from 1x to 4G or dropped signal.
 
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Where I live I get about two maybe three bars if I'm lucky, when I'm on the road it obviously depends on where I'm at, where I usually drive for school / work I find myself at 3 or 4 bars of 4G. I only rarely get a problem where I'm dropped down to 1x instead of 4g and that's when I'm driving or when I'm doing volunteer work because I'm nice, the building im in is like a steel block, not fun.
 
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I was reading about 3g availability in dallas. I tried updating the prl using 228. Since then I have not been able to get 4g speeds no matter if I reset. Battery pull.

I tried to put a list of my speeds from a speed test but I am having a hard time with attachments using my phone. I can't close the window after attaching file. Anyways, I get 0.2mb\s up and down.

Using speed test, why does it think that kansas is closest to me?
How can I force it to think that dallas is closest and would it make a difference?

I can't watch any youtube.

I am on the $60 plan. I have bloatware removed from the beginning but not totally rooted etc..
Any ideas?

Battery dies like its 4g.

So I have poor bat life and horrible speeds....so I get the worst of it.

Thanks in advance.
 
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I don't know if this is just a coincidence but I got much faster speeds when I have gps turned on. I usually have it off to save as much battery life as I can, but when I turn gps on, my upload and download speed have significantly improved.

This is most likely a glitch from the app you're using. For example, speedtest.net will try to guess where you are located based on your GPS coordinates, and if it can't it tries IP Geo location. So it may think you are somewhere you aren't (because of metro's proxy settings) and find a less than optimum server to test from.
Of course, if GPS is enabled, you get the closest server and you get the correct speed read out.
 
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This is most likely a glitch from the app you're using. For example, speedtest.net will try to guess where you are located based on your GPS coordinates, and if it can't it tries IP Geo location. So it may think you are somewhere you aren't (because of metro's proxy settings) and find a less than optimum server to test from.
Of course, if GPS is enabled, you get the closest server and you get the correct speed read out.

This is also why the speedtest app will sometimes connect to a speed test server somewhere that seems weird, not at your current location. I think because Metro's network routes the traffic based on IP geo location, and if you come off Metro's internal network in Dallas, you pop up there or in Kansas. I am in Tampa, most of the time I hit Tampa server but sometimes I hit Dallas or Kansas.
 
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