tardmobile
Well-Known Member
Until yesterday, my 4G hadn't worked in Salt Lake for pretty much all of August, and I've never had more than 3Mb down.
Right now I can't get a signal at all by the airport.
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Best 4G Speeds?
- Thread starter SocialistPig
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- htc evo 4g
Until yesterday, my 4G hadn't worked in Salt Lake for pretty much all of August, and I've never had more than 3Mb down.
Right now I can't get a signal at all by the airport.
tardmobile
Well-Known Member
So after posting this and going out to the parking lot, something funny happened
I get around 6mb down and 1mb up in Costa Mesa near South Coast Plaza. The upload is caped at 1mb and never goes above it. Finally get 4G in my house. Loving it! I have noticed that if i use WIFI teather with 4G and do a speed test on my laptop its way slower than the speed test on the phone.
anyone know why this is? If i use PDAnet its right on par with the speeds on the phone. Only slows down with WIFI teather.
Thanks.
anyone know why this is? If i use PDAnet its right on par with the speeds on the phone. Only slows down with WIFI teather.
Thanks.
tmwilsoniv
Well-Known Member
I think most can guess why Sprint's Hotspot is much slower than the tower to device speeds. One is more likely to perform bandwidth intensive download/streaming on a real computer. Apparently, if one opts to pay the $30.00 per month, they are rewarded with significant throttling of network bandwidth. On the other hand, if one opts to use a third party application to access the network, they may enjoy "The 4G experience" with full bandwidth and through speeds, no throttling, and no $30.00 monthly charge.
Way to go Sprint!!
Cache22
Newbie
WiFi Tether is using more of the phone's CPU since it has to perform routing and NAT functions. That probably accounts for a significant portion of the speed differences since it results in less CPU time available to process the 4G/WAN side of the connection. Are you running Android 2.1 or 2.2 by the way?
I live 400 feet from a 4G tower. There's one really leafy tree between me and the tower and I'm about 120 feet below the antennas. I use speakeasy to measure speed.
My best speed (inside my house) has been 13.9mb with a .93 upload speed. More typically I get 9mb to 10.5mb download. Upload is almost always above .9 with a maximum of 1.1.
I live in west suburban St. Louis, Missouri.
Dean Park
St. Louis, MO
My best speed (inside my house) has been 13.9mb with a .93 upload speed. More typically I get 9mb to 10.5mb download. Upload is almost always above .9 with a maximum of 1.1.
I live in west suburban St. Louis, Missouri.
Dean Park
St. Louis, MO
Cache22
Newbie
Nice speeds ... unfortunately I don't have 4G at home. I'm out in Eureka, and I'm sure anything west of 141 on I-44 is probably last in line for 4G, although at home I just connect to 60mbit cable via wifi, so that works. (Signal in my house is hit and miss anyway, so have an Airave setup as well.)
But at work there is a tower across the interstate from my building (Shrewsbury), although my desk is in what used to be a basement storage area converted into offices, so the signal strength is usually pretty weak due to obstructions, but I still get 10mbit+ speeds despite often just 1 bar showing up. (never more than 2 unless I go outside.)
Pretty soon I am going to see about switching to Clear Office Pro internet and get rid of our awful DSL (the copper lines in that area are in pretty poor shape) ... can get 3-5 times the speed (depending on if we got the Office Pro 6mbit, or the Office/Mobile bundle that is uncapped) for less than they are paying now. If nothing else would be a better test of WiMax for non-mobile use where quite a few computers and devices would be running through it.
Just believe this, the test are not accurate. If you are getting over 10 consistently, then something is wrong. If you are getting under 3mbps something is wrong. The phone is made to work between 3-6. If it downloads a large file at 10mbps, it will start to downshift to 6 mbps, to save battery. For those that are getting 10+, I would say try downloading an actually file. What I believe is happening is the apps is detecting the cellphone, sending a 10kbit file, believing it is a 3g connection. Most people will get between 3-6mbps.
Cache22
Newbie
I would still like a reference for how the hardware is capped at 10mbit. Earlier you said it was a hardware cap that cannot be hacked, modded, or changed. Later you mention you cannot get more data through the WiMax chip without overheating, in another post you mention it can peak at 15mbps for a few seconds, then in this post you say it will drop to 6mbps to save battery. (And as far as the battery, what about when you are plugged into the 120V-to-5V 1A USB charger and battery isn't a factor?)
Now overall, I don't disagree with what the sustained speed limitations may be. Most current 4G/WiMax offerings are designed for a 6Mbps target speed, some plans have an explicit 6mbit cap while others (such as some of the Clear bundles) have no specific cap but are advertised as burstable up to 10Mbps. (And if I recall, the Sprint 4G phones have no listed cap, however the dedicated mobile hotspot devices do use the 6Mbps cap.) And I don't disagree that a sustained large download would taper back a bit over time. But as far as the accuracy of the speedtests, I have no reason to believe that every different test I ran is giving me incorrect numbers, since I ran tests using multiple apps as well as multiple web sites, and I used multiple servers for each as well. If the results are higher due to a higher burstable speed, it does not mean that they are wrong or the phone has a problem, it only means they have to be looked at in context.
But regardless of the speed tests, the caps aren't implemented on the phone/device hardware. So whether you are using an Evo or using a Clear Office Internet plan, your speeds are going to be appropriately (and much more accurately/efficiently) capped by Clearwire's networking hardware on their end and not the WiMax modem. If I am wrong, please cite a reference. Obviously hardware can be a limiting factor, I could never hit 10Mbps on Android 2.1 because the CPU would hit full load around 7.5Mbps, however Android 2.2 is much more efficient. But that isn't a cap, it's just a bottleneck.
But if I have time Tuesday, I will run some tests comparing average speeds while downloading 10MB, 20MB, 100MB, 500MB, and 1GB files and see what I come up with to at least get more precise real world numbers and clarity on if the connection is burstable over 6Mbit, over 10Mbit, for how much data, etc.
tardmobile
Well-Known Member
You're in for a world of pain if you expect to get honest answers out of people when you call them out like this on this forum.
Cache22
Newbie
Oh I know
Although in this case there may be something I will learn (based on how my testing works out Tuesday when I am back in a 4G area), regardless of the difficulty in getting consistent information and references. But I really do think I have something to learn from those I debate with, even if we never see eye-to-eye on most things. 
Cache22
Newbie
The references I was asking are in regards to the 10mbit cap ... and *how* that cap is implemented, since I was given conflicting information:
How is the radio on the evo capped, and if it cannot be changed (unhackable, unmodifiable, etc, for many, many, many reasons), why in future posts does the same poster state it can go over 10mbps but will overheat, or later it was stated it could go over 10mbit but then would throttle back to save on battery.
Why does the official data sheet (PDF) for that chip state 40Mbps+ maximum speeds? Where are the sources that show the Evo implementation of the SQ12010?
And lastly, if it is capped at 10mbit (which I still maintain would have to be on the network side, not device), how am I getting consistent tests above 10 from a variety of test types and sources? Now, this is the point that I am going to hold off on my arguments until I run more thorough testing, since I don't know how much of my speeds are from a possible (likely?) short-term burstable speed boost feature configured on their network hardware vs a result of optimal signal conditions and an optimized phone. My testing will include smaller files (10-50MB) that would benefit more from a burstable connection, and then larger files (500MB-1GB) that should after a few minutes even out to a specific speed cap if there is one. Based on the information presented to me by my arch-nemesis (j/k
) it does seem quite likely this will in a way prove both of our points.The above tests will tell me either:
1) It is indeed burstable over a certain speed, and will not maintain that speed for large downloads. (And part of my initial argument would prove to be incorrect)
or
2) The speeds I am hitting are uncapped and I get the maximum under the conditions and variables I have. (Phone OS, CPU, Radio performance, overclocking, distance to tower, obstructions and signal issues to tower, etc.) Running the same tests via USB tether on the PC should give some insight if this is a possibility as well since some resources on the phone would be freed up. (CPU for application that does the download, writing to storage, etc, would all be offloaded to the PC) Keep in mind I plan to test both phone-only and tethered.
Cache22
Newbie
The 6mbit cap is a firm cap for the particular plans it applies to, but the 10mbit on Clear's plans is listed as no cap, however the fine print says up to 10mbit. I went over this in an earlier post. However, my point is that either you *can* exceed 10mbit, the question is that just for burstable traffic or for prolonged periods.
And I did find one of the pages I made a reference to earlier that I couldn't recall the specifics:
Click the link, then click the "Speeds" tab to see this information straight from Sprint.com
MonkeyBoy2000
Member
Evo 4G fluctuating signal | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
The 7840 reading is my all time high reading.
I get short bursts of speed, but they only last a couple of minutes
Note the rest of those readings ? ZERO
I'm +2000- ft from my towers ( three of them ) and keep getting dropped signal.
tmwilsoniv
Well-Known Member
This is interesting.
I am running 2.2, stock browser, and after countless speed tests using Speedtest.net and Speakeasy.net, every which way from Sunday, my results for 4G Hotspot wireless & tethered remain consistent. I can expect a 40% to 50% drop in through speeds when using Hotspot.
Two recent exceptions:
Last night, immediately after a Sprint initiated profile update, my Hotspot and device speeds came within 10% of each other over the span of six tests each. Unfortunately, this morning's light showed my Ferrari had turned back into the too familiar Yugo, with a blown transmission.
This evening, following another Sprint initiated profile update, device and Hotspot are running neck and neck. At this point, I'll be happy waking up to a Buick, as long as it's firing on all cylinders.
uniquenameEVO
Android Enthusiast
So, I admit it. I was addicted. I was testing 3G like crazy when I got the EVO. Then, when I got 4G I would test in every new area I hit. I would wonder why I got 6mb in one spot and 3 in another ad nauseum.
Today, I downloaded a new rom on my phone. My cable modem (a supposed 20 megabit that I have NEVER seen) lagged behind my 4G with one bar showing.
Evo=196MB in under 3 minutes.
PC=196MB is almost 5 minutes.
I have decided that the speed tests mean nothing to me, it is more about how the phone responds.
Today, I downloaded a new rom on my phone. My cable modem (a supposed 20 megabit that I have NEVER seen) lagged behind my 4G with one bar showing.
Evo=196MB in under 3 minutes.
PC=196MB is almost 5 minutes.
I have decided that the speed tests mean nothing to me, it is more about how the phone responds.
tmwilsoniv
Well-Known Member
I think you nailed it.
As long as I can keep the Netflix buffer fat and happy, so am I!!!