Have you noticed a decrease in your 3G speed?

[YankeeDudeL]

While trying to solve yet another problem for my g/f's DInc, I was cruising their forum and I came across a thread about 3G speeds slowing considerably. It got me thinking, as I've def noticed that DLs, websurfing, certain apps, have all gotten progressively worse.

Am I the only one, or have other Droid and/or Verizon customers noticed this too?

 

[2old4this]

While trying to solve yet another problem for my g/f's DInc, I was cruising their forum and I came across a thread about 3G speeds slowing considerably. It got me thinking, as I've def noticed that DLs, websurfing, certain apps, have all gotten progressively worse.

Am I the only one, or have other Droid and/or Verizon customers noticed this too?

I noticed this about a month before 4G started being offered by Verizon (I have the Original Droid). I'm in a Cleveland suburb. Signal strength has dropped noticeably; never a problem before, after many years with Verizon.

I forget where I read this, but a magazine testing 'who has the best 4G network' noticed that 3G speeds had decreased. The companies swear they are devoted to maintaining their 3G networks- my experience tells me that isn't true.

So no, you aren't imagining it; what a clever way to push people towards 4G for their next phone.

Hope that is of some use,
-2old4this

 

[Deleted User]

Yes, slowing down. Might be all those Iphones, millions added to the network recently, pulling more data?

 

[fiscalmd]

I live/work in suburban Maryland near Annapolis, and Verizon 3G has come to a crawl. I too was using a OG D1. No issue until Feb 2011, then data rates decreased on a daily basis. I placed several calls to VZW customer service. The VZW customer service reps told me that their network is functioning within normal parameters. One call I asked, "so you consider data rates slower than AT&T GPRS good?" Their response was to escalate to Motorola b/c it was clearly a hardware issue with my phone. LOL.

My speedtest stats
Stats for Dec 2010 averaged 1.2Mbps down/800Kbps up.
Stats for Feb 2011 averaged 900Kbps down/600Kbps up.
Stats for Mar 2011 averaged 600Kbps down/400Kbps up.
Stats for Early Apr 2011 averaged 200Kbps down/320Kbps up.
Stats for Late Apr 2011 averaged 80Kbps down/200Kbps up.

Latency was never an issue in all my samplings (100-400ms). Signal had also dropped at my house to one bar, but "4G is now available." What a joke when the cs rep. tried to offer me a TB at discounted rate.

I am convinced it is an issue with their 3G network capacity or proactive backhaul policing on it to ensure the 4G LTE devices and iphones have a decent experience.

Either case, it is not my problem anymore since they failed to retain a customer. My new problem is that they call everyday with the "We noticed you canceled a cell line with us...."

 

[mahashel]

I don't have any numbers, so my account is anecdotal, but I've noticed a serious reduction in 3G speeds on my OG Droid. It started roughly 4-6 weeks before the TB launched.
This is in northern Colorado. Denver (an hour away) was an official 4G launch market, though some acquaintances who bought the TB assure me that 4G is working in our community, which is slated for 4G "by the end of the year". Meanwhile, 3G performance has tanked.
A symptom of adding a deluge of 3G iPhones to the network, or an intentional throttling to encourage 4G adoption? I don't think we'll ever get an official response.. though the cynic in me is leaning toward the latter.

 

[YankeeDudeL]

I suppose if I wanted to indulge the conspiracy theorist in me, it's def not a stretch to think they'd throttle back 3G to push 4G. But it's very conceivable to believe it's due to the amount of data traffic. There's no doubt the iPhone coming to Verizon has played a part. And when you consider the TB outsold the iPhone on Verizon, there's reason it's feasible that not every single one was sold to a market with 4G. Then there's the fact that smartphone users are growing exponentially. I believe I read that 50% of cellular users own smartphones now.

So, whatev. If only Verizon can get on the ball and give us a dual core 4G Android phone, my prob will be solved.