3g speed can be very slow :(

[dan55]

hi all,

im still struggling with the speed of the 3g/h connections on my desire - sometimes it is good and other times the browsers just sit there and do nothing very poor - they are better on wifi even when it isnt a very quick link :/

does android handle 3g data connection differently to a wifi one ?

it is very frustrating as i do a lot of browsing from my phone

oddly the stock browser seems to cope better at these times compared to 3rd party ones

cheers
dan

 

[Casual Pete]

Does this happen during peak hours?

I'm certain T Mobile throttle my speed during peak hours,I normally get about 2mbps download and during peak I've seen it as low as 0.20mbps.

Download speed test and keep an eye on it.

Speedtest.net Speed Test - Android app on AppBrain

 

[dan55]

thanks Pete. yes it could be that. do you get similar
symptoms with browsers at slow times?
cheers Dan

 

[deanshep85]

hi all,

im still struggling with the speed of the 3g/h connections on my desire - sometimes it is good and other times the browsers just sit there and do nothing very poor - they are better on wifi even when it isnt a very quick link :/

does android handle 3g data connection differently to a wifi one ?

it is very frustrating as i do a lot of browsing from my phone

oddly the stock browser seems to cope better at these times compared to 3rd party ones

cheers
dan

this happens to me on vodafone at times, especially peak...like pete said im sure the networks throttle when its certain times and your hitting certain speeds etc..

 

[dan55]

ok thanks. see you uajbg stock browser?

 

[deanshep85]

yea I use the stock browser, I also tether my laptop and I do notice especially at certain times of the day things get very slow indeed to the point I'd sometimes need to refresh the network.

 

[dan55]

running nice and quick now but not so hot last night

 

[deanshep85]

running nice and quick now but not so hot last night

it does sound like a network issue and as such just them capping when its busy....hell I had SO much trouble with vodafone last night....kept dropping for an hour or 2 like every 5 minutes...

 

[dan55]

right yes.that is very annoying isn't it as the browser
isn't much good on these phones without a full fat link
:-(

 

[Kimi The Worm]

I have also been having speed issues so I searched on the Vodafone website for help and it says to make sure you are as high in the building as possible.. I thought this was a load of crap but I gave it a try and the speed upstairs was 10 times faster through speedtest on subsequent tests at 8am this morning

 

[dan55]

:-D no way that's crazy not heard that before but I guess it makes some sense.
I'm off to stand on the roof ;-)

I'm on o2 uk btw

 

[deanshep85]

I have also been having speed issues so I searched on the Vodafone website for help and it says to make sure you are as high in the building as possible.. I thought this was a load of crap but I gave it a try and the speed upstairs was 10 times faster through speedtest on subsequent tests at 8am this morning

well that one is a given really...because obviously radio signals are affected by buildings and other interference...

but also take into account...8am there is less traffic on the cells than say between 5-6pm...

I mean for example I can ALMOST predict now the minute my net dies....all day its been perfect...BOOM half past 5 till now its dropping every ten minutes or so..slowing right down or just plain dropping...be like this till around 9 oclock I think..then will speed up again..

 

[dan55]

:-D right I'm off to the roof for a bit of net surfing ;-)

btw do you get the http errors at other times too?
been getting them quite a lot over last few weeks.
I'm on o2 uk btw

 

[deanshep85]

:-D right I'm off to the roof for a bit of net surfing ;-)

btw do you get the http errors at other times too?
been getting them quite a lot over last few weeks.
I'm on o2 uk btw

I've been having alot of that lately but its at specific heavy times really on vodafone...

and o2 a while back wasnt very good where I live and my friend down near cornwall used to have alot of trouble with o2 and the net as well..

 

[Jason71]

have you tried opera mini? all traffic goes via their servers and is compressed about 90% so only uses only a fraction of the bandwidth of a normal browser. Its not as pretty as other browsers but when the band width is low particularly on gprs it massively out performs standard browers.

 

[dan55]

hi
think i've tried both opera mini and mobile but I don't
find them very nice to use.the display isn't nice and
link selection tends to be pretty poor on my desire.

 

[Jason71]

hi
think i've tried both opera mini and mobile but I don't
find them very nice to use.the display isn't nice and
link selection tends to be pretty poor on my desire.

I agree it ain't pretty and there is no proper zoom either but under conditions when other browsers just sit and do nothing it still comes up with the goods so its worth putting up with. Note this only applies to Opera mini not to Opera mobile. I use dolphin on wifi or good 3g but as soon as it starts to struggle I switch to Mini.

 

[Bomberman]

:-D right I'm off to the roof for a bit of net surfing ;-)

btw do you get the http errors at other times too?
been getting them quite a lot over last few weeks.
I'm on o2 uk btw

I do! A lot and it's really annoying. I'm sure it wasn't happening a couple of months ago...

 

[deanshep85]

I agree it ain't pretty and there is no proper zoom either but under conditions when other browsers just sit and do nothing it still comes up with the goods so its worth putting up with. Note this only applies to Opera mini not to Opera mobile. I use dolphin on wifi or good 3g but as soon as it starts to struggle I switch to Mini.

I will agree that when the other browsers are having issues or you are constrained on a 3G network with your data costs....opera mini is the choice to use...

hell I been brought up so to speak on mini from version 3, to version 3 advanced, 4.2 and the long awaited version 5/version 5 touch...

and yea it ISNT great but it does get the bare minimum of a job done when its needed..

 

[zezlez]

Change to 2G in the phone settings, both my wife and myself had problems with no internet connection at the same time so I knew it had to be an issue with vodafone or the mobile connection and changing to 2G solved the problem for us and if it doesnt work for you it is easy to change back to 3G.

Its certainly worth a try.

Use google to see the difference bewtween 2G and 3G

 

[deanshep85]

Use google to see the difference bewtween 2G and 3G

difference is quite easy..

2G is Edge and GPRS speeds which is slow as hell...and even using opera mini where 90% of a site is compressed it will STILL be slow as hell..

3G is faster much most stable and better connection obviously..

3.5G or H (HSDPA) is a much faster...MUCH faster connection which is just...plain awesome'ness lol

the reason as been explained zezlez, is that companys like vodafone put restrictions on the higher speed lines when alot of people are on...especially if they notice some people using HIGH amounts of traffic...so they restrict it...and it unfortunately causes drops too....Im waiting for my next drop..in the last hour I've dropped twice lol

 

[Jason71]

difference is quite easy..

2G is Edge and GPRS speeds which is slow as hell...and even using opera mini where 90% of a site is compressed it will STILL be slow as hell..

3G is faster much most stable and better connection obviously..

3.5G or H (HSDPA) is a much faster...MUCH faster connection which is just...plain awesome'ness lol

the reason as been explained zezlez, is that companys like vodafone put restrictions on the higher speed lines when alot of people are on...especially if they notice some people using HIGH amounts of traffic...so they restrict it...and it unfortunately causes drops too....Im waiting for my next drop..in the last hour I've dropped twice lol

I agree as a solution to slow 3G or drop outs switching to 2G is like choosing to walk everywhere to avoid the risk of getting stuck in traffic!

 

[deanshep85]

I agree as a solution to slow 3G or drop outs switching to 2G is like choosing to walk everywhere to avoid the risk of getting stuck in traffic!

well yes because your using a different system..and theres far less people using 2G/EDGE/GPRS anymore as compared with people surfing the high speed systemms..

 

[IA]

I do! A lot and it's really annoying. I'm sure it wasn't happening a couple of months ago...

I have noticed it is pretty much unusable recently. And it definitely wasn't this bad few months ago. I am getting 0.02/0.03 MAX MBPS download speeds with SpeedTest.net software. And this is with FULL GPRS signal. This has been like this for the last few weeks now.

Anyone else experiencing this? Or are most people experiencing similar speeds on GPRS?

I have HTC Desire on Vodafone

 

[deanshep85]

I have noticed it is pretty much unusable recently. And it definitely wasn't this bad few months ago. I am getting 0.02/0.03 MAX MBPS download speeds with SpeedTest.net software. And this is with FULL GPRS signal. This has been like this for the last few weeks now.

Anyone else experiencing this? Or are most people experiencing similar speeds on GPRS?

I have HTC Desire on Vodafone

well I dunno bout GPRS speeds...never tested those myself...given that speed test downloads and uploads 2MB...for GPRS that WILL be slow...gprs being the slowest net speed you have now.

I will say Vodafone in the UK at least have been extremely unreliable in the last few weeks...and especially now with their 'break in' early hours monday morning...I say 'break in' because myself and many others had dead connections from saturday evening onwards, then the rest went down dead on midnight sunday...so was most likely a system upgrade and they screwed up and rather than admit it they come up with a cock and ball story...

Even when the connection is stable...they still arent very fast..I am always changing between dongle/Desire and numerous other 3G phones and they still crawl...and this has been when I've been travelling to...so not just my area..

while they have coverage their speed has been dropping steadily since december time I would say :/ not sure if thats just system updates or just major congestion..