Help Samsung Galaxy S3, capped by system or operator?

[KyleElyk]

Hello.

The facts:

• Connection: Either H+ or 3G, no less
  
• Connection stability: Extremely stable until very recently
• Phone: Samsung Galaxy S3, never rooted
• System: 4.3 Jelly Beans
  
• Provider: Virgin Mobile UK, VIP tariff (all unlimited)
• I am IT professional, I know what I can or cannot touch in my phone
  
• I did not install anything or touched any settings in weeks.
• I have no kind of apps that control connection in any way, alerts and limits are turned off
  
• There are no background processes choking the bandwidth.

The problem:
Until 24.12 this year my connection was excellent. On 24.12 my mobile data connection often lost gateway or couldn't reach DNS server. Both gateway and DNS were on the same IP, so it could be holiday network congestion as on 25.12 it became stable again.
However, ever since then my connection is capped to 50KB/s either way.

After disabling WiFi and performing hard reboot I tested mobile data as follows:

• Used FTP server on the device, downloaded from another PC over internet (upload speed 49KB/s)
• Downloaded from debian FTP server (download speed 47-50KB/s)
• Performed Ookla's Speedtest using Android app (Both download and upload: 0.39mbps (49KB/s)
• Tethered over USB 2.0 and 3.0 with NDIS6 driver, DU Meter never shows more than 51KB/s download.

WiFi on the other hand reaches speeds in megaBytes per second immediately, only mobile data seems to be capped at 50KB/s.

I called VirginMobile, they confirmed I did not trigger fair usage policy and that there is no cap or any kind of throttling applied to my account, even if there was cap applied it would be 3mbps, not 400kbps. They did reset my connection on their end, I re-registered connection per their advice by searching provider again.

The question(s):
Is it possible my phone is capping the speeds?
On three different occasions the provider said they can't see anything wrong with my connection. This never happened before, could something have gone wrong within my phone on its own?
They said I may need to perform factory reset to see if that helps, I'd rather not.

Footnotes:
I recall two things that separately occurred on, or around 25.12:

• Phone popped default warning that I used 2GB of mobile data, I immediately raised that warning bar to 50GB (didn't use more than 3.1GB anyway)
• I updated RNDIS drivers on Windows from version 5 to 6.

I tried to be specific, hope it's not an overkill, any help appreciated.
Thanks,
Kyle.

 

[svim]

Is your S3 running 4.4.2 (KitKat)? If you go into your Settings >> Data usage menu there's a 'Mobile' tab and a 'Wi-Fi' tab. In the 'Mobile' section is the 'Limit mobile data usage' box checked? I'm assuming it isn't as you mentioned you just bumped up the warning bar to 50GB and that's in the same 'Mobile' section but just to double-check. (I confuse myself by inadvertently checking/unchecking stuff on my phone all the time.)
Also, have you updated your PRL (Preferred Roaming List) and Profile recently? They're both supposed to be relevant to cellular connectivity.
http://support.sprint.com/support/a...I/WHowToSetupGuide_542_GKB49823-dvc6430001prd

This 3G/4G/LTE utility from OpenSignal is a nice app to test your phone's cellular (and WiFi) connectivity. One of its features is an arrow compass that points to the closest tower(s) in your area, along with a local map showing coverage (make sure your 'Location' is enabled for the local map function). The coverage saturation mapping is crowd-sourced, not necessarily based on what the cellular carriers claim, so its accuracy is better in more heavily populated regions.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.staircase3.opensignal
This 'Netalyzer' utility will give you a pretty thorough summation of your online connectivity. I like it more for WiFi as I can use it to make alterations to my home router, as opposed to cellular issues that are beyond my control and determined by my carrier, but you might find it worth running just to see if something notable pops up that actually is relevant to your phone.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=edu.berkeley.icsi.netalyzr.android&hl=en

 

[KyleElyk]

Oh I missed this detail. It runs 4.3 Jelly Beans. It's not upgradable as it has 1GB RAM, however ridiculous that sounds, thanks Samsung.

Thank you for extensive response, the "limit usage" option is turned off, also the warning bar is high. This limiting though disables mobile data, does not limit it. The connection is still there, capped but certainly not disabled.
My system does not have "Preferred Roaming List" option, might have been added after 4.3.
You did not mention any hidden setting in Android which could be by fault set by Android, I hope there's no setting like this.

Once the tech support person learned where I am they checked maps and cross-searched cellular masts nearby. They said there's slim chance I may still be connected to a mast which was faulty recently but both to them, and to me it sounded strange that a mast would cap internet speed like this.

I'll roam the town tomorrow looking for other masts, they told me where to go best to make sure I connect to other masts than the faulty one (if that is the case).
I'm also going to check those apps, thanks!

I'll keep you posted.

 

[svim]

About the only other thing I can think of is maybe this actually is a temporary issue (with Virgin Mobile that is). This being a major holiday period there might not be enough repair crews available for a couple of days. Maybe the cellular mast closest to you went out and your phone is just trying to connect the next closest one?

 

[KyleElyk]

VirginMobile said they didn't have such reports and confirmed network is not congested, they advised to check that mast on my own as they couldn't really do it remotely.

Let's hope I come back tomorrow with positive test results.

 

[svim]

VirginMobile said they didn't have such reports and confirmed network is not congested, they advised to check that mast on my own as they couldn't really do it remotely.

Seriously? Seems odd that VirginMobile doesn't have the ability to remotely check their own access points. Even more odd that they're suggesting you do it yourself -- in a vague sense your working for them as an unpaid, independent contractor and since you're one of their customers you're actually paying them. I'm confused.

 

[KyleElyk]

It was more like this, they mentioned mast locations and potential problem, I told them I'll be in town centre tomorrow anyway so they said I could check it. VirginMobile UK is a virtual operator that utilizes EE network that belongs, correct me if I'm wrong, to T-Mobile and Orange.

 

[mikedt]

Seriously? Seems odd that VirginMobile doesn't have the ability to remotely check their own access points. Even more odd that they're suggesting you do it yourself -- in a vague sense your working for them as an unpaid, independent contractor and since you're one of their customers you're actually paying them. I'm confused.

Virgin Mobile is an MVNO, they might not be able to. Probably have to get EE to do it for them otherwise, the actual network operator.

 

[svim]

Virgin Mobile is an MVNO, they might not be able to. Probably have to get EE to do it for them otherwise, the actual network operator.

Ahhh, that makes a little more sense, I wasn't aware that Virgin was a MVNO. But still, even if there's a problem that requires a hand's-on repair by an EE technician, it doesn't make sense to me that VirginMobile doesn't have the ability to remotely run diagnostics on their own equipment.

 

[KyleElyk]

So I was in town centre, removed battery and hard rebooted the phone, connection was still capped.
I got this app now:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.staircase3.opensignal

I live near the edge of town so the reception isn't too great, but it worked just fine for nearly 2 years like this.
The app shows it switches cell towers every now and then but mostly is connected to the one 3 miles away from me and shows:

70%
-85 to -91dBm
9 to 10asu
HSDPA+

Any ideas if there's an issue with my phone, the tower or with provider?

 

[svim]

So checking around online your numbers appear to be pretty much average (-60 dBm would be excellent, -100 dBm and higher is typical). One thing I forgot to ask was did you experience that same about 50 KB/s slowdown when you were someplace away from home?

One other thing I just ran across was a reference to the now dated 2G cellular, which caught my eye only because it's notable for its 50 KB/s transfer speeds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2G#Capacity
In my Sprint based, 4.4.2, S3 there's a Settings >> More networks >> Mobile networks >> Network mode menu (can't recall it was similar in 4.3). In mine there are options for 3G/4G or 3G/4G/LTE but whatever applies to your U.K. VirginMoble. Is your network mode selection still your preferred one?

Try restarting your S3 in safe mode and testing your mobile data speed to see if perhaps there's just some random installed app that's screwing up your cellular connection.
https://www.androidpit.com/forum/590970/samsung-galaxy-s3-how-to-get-into-safe-mode-on-the-galaxy-s3
And since you'll be restarting your phone anyway, clear the cache partition. Sometimes some temp file gets corrupted and just won't be automatically cleaned up so manually wiping the cache partition can often solve a lot of things.
https://www.androidpit.com/forum/608583/how-to-clear-the-system-cache-for-the-samsung-galaxy-s3

 

[KyleElyk]

Thanks again svim for extensive response and new ideas.

The available network mode options are as follows:

• WCDMA/GSM (auto connect)
• WCDMA only
• GSM only

I switched from "WCDMA/GSM" to "WCDMA only" back and forth and it made no difference, the phone indicates it uses 3G by H, H+ or 3G icon in notification area, it never displays E for EDGE or G for GPRS. I know it can do it, I've seen E or G when I was in a town without 3G coverage once.

Following your advice I hard-rebooted and successfully restarted phone in safe mode, problem remained.
Then hard-rebooted and proceeded to developer menu and successfully wiped cache partition, problem remains.

VirginMobile suggested it's either broken phone or broken SIM and offered to send a SIM replacement, but first I'm going to test my SIM card in my sister's iPhone 5 (brrrrr, last resort, forgive me) and this should indicate if the problem is with the phone or the SIM card.

 

[svim]

Let's hope it's just that your SIM card went bad. Much less hassle than a Factory Reset, or taking your phone somewhere to be fixed. Well, unless you're looking for a reason to get a shiny, new phone...

 

[KyleElyk]

Indeed, my contract has inclusive insurance anyway, also I'm getting free new phone in February as my contract hits 2 years mark in March. We'll see about SIM in few days, I'll keep you posted.

 

[KyleElyk]

Update.
I was about to test my SIM card on another phone tomorrow but I noticed something at 00:05am, that's five minutes into year 2016...

EDIT:

It looks about right for my 3G coverage here.
This one shows 00:30 but I re-tested it to take picture for you.

• It's not related to my billing period at all, totally different week of a month
  
• Fixed itself with year change.

Conclusions?

Happy new year!

Oh and I forgot to comment on it earlier:

So checking around online your numbers appear to be pretty much average (-60 dBm would be excellent, -100 dBm and higher is typical)

My phone appears to lower antenna's power while network-idling, during voice call it elevates to -70dBm.

 

[KyleElyk]

Here we go again, just like it automagically fixed itself 5 minutes after midnight 01.01.2016, it went rogue after midnight today 09.01.2016.
This is so frustrating, hope someone out there knows what potentially causes it.

It looks slightly different now. Whenever I load a website, download a file, upload a file or begin a speed test, the speed bursts up to several Mbit/s for 2 seconds and then immediately is throttled down to 50KB/s. This can be repeated every 5-15 minutes.

I called the carrier again and they said that literally nothing changed or triggered in my account and that it looks completely fine.

 

[KyleElyk]

Enough with off-shore first line support, just flood them with fancy words such as: gateway, IP, DHCP, DNS, HTTP, asu, SSL, CDN, APN to make them give up and connect you with an actual professional.
It worked and they told me it's actually the fair usage policy that slows it down to 48KB/s, off-shore agents told me it's 3mbps and 1mbps, apparently it's 384kbps.

Mystery solved then, the only issue remaining is that some sites such as facebook or reddit won't load, remain stuck at transferring a single asset from content delivery network.

I guess thread can now be closed and thanks everyone who tried to help, much appreciated.