Speedtest....on Carrier and Phone...no Wifi

[RockinZ28]

Sprint 3G really is useless. I was truly paying for nothing.

Ha, yea. Tethered my S3 to it just to DL the speed test app. 9.7mb would take half the day. Their voice isn't that great either. Been numerous times I've had to use my personal phone for business calls.

 

[OCGuy]

I pay $120/mo for two smartphones, unlimited data on my line and 2GB for the wife. Way more minutes than we use, and free texting through GV. She uses like .05 GB/mo. I'm at 6GB not even halfway through my billing period.

Are you both on seperate accounts? When I got the SIII, I lost my unlimited data grandfathering on all 3 lines that are bundled.

 

[RockinZ28]

Are you both on seperate accounts? When I got the SIII, I lost my unlimited data grandfathering on all 3 lines that are bundled.

No. Got the S3 preordered before the cut off date.

 

[Paratus]

Sprint 3G really is useless. I was truly paying for nothing.

Most of the time it's good enough - barely for my use.

My best speed test was last week was
6 kbps down
0 up
1100msec ping

 

[phucheneh]

HD streaming video is the main thing, Youtube, Netflix, MLB.tv tethered to my tablet/pc/laptop/android stick. And pings are much better on 4G. Websites load much faster, I use desktop only view on Android. Pretty much everything that uses data just works better and faster. Don't even bother to use the ancient T1 1.5/1.5 wifi at work, especially since they block most websites.

I pay $120/mo for two smartphones, unlimited data on my line and 2GB for the wife. Way more minutes than we use, and free texting through GV. She uses like .05 GB/mo. I'm at 6GB not even halfway through my billing period.

Tethered to my pc at work:

I guess I can see the video thing. I just don't use it. An average 0.5mbps is plenty for maps/nav, regular browsing, ect.

Although Sprint 3G really is LOL-worthy. I feel bad for you guys with 3G iPhones on Sprint...I had thought your service was probably a lot better, and us VM cheapasses just got some combination of throttled and/or lower priority on the Sprint towers.

But can't Sprint users roam? Virgin's big negative is that you get Sprint towers ONLY, so if you go outside the cities or interstate system, you don't get service. Not a problem for me, luckily. But I would think that if you were on someone elses tower, you would get their 3G capabilities? Maybe I don't know how this works.

I tested a couple more times...at 1AM last night, I got 1mbps.

Just tested now and got like 90kbps (but still ~290 upload! woot!)...retested...401....then 461...it's actually seeming FAIRLY consistent at ~512ish speed, just has some hiccups. Ping times are like 300-400ms, though (1mpbs last night got a ~100ms ping).

Does signal strength have anything to do with these numbers? I've between a lake and an airport, and both areas seem to have a negative impact on signal strength. Also, do ping times really matter when web browsing?


Oh, also, the big reason I quoted the guy above, heh: That's a pretty damned good price (~$60 a phone). I know way too many people paying like $100 for their cell service. I still don't like contracts, though, and the whole 'discounted phone' things seems to be ever-diminishing.

edit: also, is the phone actually a factor? Seems like they've all got enough processing speed, but maybe other stuff is at play. FWIW I'm using a Kyocera with the "Qualcomm MSM8655 Snapdragon." From what I know, it's similar in capability (on paper) to a Cortex-A8...but the cellular modem, wifi, and other stuff is said to be 'on-die,' which I'm sure has an impact.

 

[Anonemous]

I guess I can see the video thing. I just don't use it. An average 0.5mbps is plenty for maps/nav, regular browsing, ect.

Although Sprint 3G really is LOL-worthy. I feel bad for you guys with 3G iPhones on Sprint...I had thought your service was probably a lot better, and us VM cheapasses just got some combination of throttled and/or lower priority on the Sprint towers.

Sprint 3G is about the same as Verizon 3G. Except you pay like 20-50% less that's why you don't see anybody touting Verizon 3G. For VM, if you get 4G service WIMAX in your area they are the best deal for 35/month. They don't throttle/limit their 4G unofficially. I get consistent Wimax speeds of 5-8Mbps which is awesome for tethering.

 

[Rubycon]

Netflix or streaming on a mobile is a great way to get sacked by your provider!

 

[OCNewbie]

I use MetroPCS in Orlando. The best I've seen is ~4.5 mbps up/down. There doesn't appear to be any servers nearby though, as the ping times are generally 130-170ms (maybe this is a MetroPCS weakness), so I assume that's affecting scores. I only pay $30 a month, total including taxes though, for unlimited talk/text and 250 MB data at 4G LTE, and unlimited EV-DO after cap, I believe (haven't reached cap yet). I mostly do only forum browsing, and basic web surfing, so I don't need a higher data cap. I use wi-fi at home.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I don't get the point of such high speeds on phone network, when they cap it. At that speed you'd hit the cap in about a minute here. I'd rather see those kind of speeds on my land line.

 

[Schfifty Five]

I don't get the point of such high speeds on phone network, when they cap it. At that speed you'd hit the cap in about a minute here. I'd rather see those kind of speeds on my land line.

Sprint has no cap or limitations.

 

[mmntech]

I'm getting 2.28 down / 1.04 up, which is slower than I remember it being in the past. This is on Fido 3G. Data is a paltry 500mb locked in to a three year contract. I pay $65/mo for it. Sometimes I f--king hate living here. Cell phone service is a colossal ripoff in Canada.

I really gotta call them because I see they've got a new plan for $60 that'll give me 500min and a gig of data. Probably loose my voicemail though, because they're dicks.

 

[Timorous]

I am only on 3g as there is only one 4g carrier in the UK at the moment but I get 15Mbit down and 3Mbit up on a galaxy s3 international. The fastest the phone can handle is 21Mbit down as it only has a single hsdpa controller and I did manage to hit that speed one night.

I have an unlimited data plan with no throttling and tethering is allowed. Since Jan 1st I have used 90GB of data and that is pretty common for me. One month I used 160GB of data without any throttling.

I pay £31.00/month on a 2 year contract for the phone and the plan. They offer the plan on a sim only 1 month rolling contract for £25/month.

 

[Wyndru]

My friend is over 51 gigs this month on VZW unlimited and was throttled for about 12 hours.

Does he tether or use an aircard, or is that all on his phone? I stream quite a bit of music and video on my phone, and I barely hit my 2gb limit. I couldn't imagine going over 50 gigs.

 

[Timorous]

Does he tether or use an aircard, or is that all on his phone? I stream quite a bit of music and video on my phone, and I barely hit my 2gb limit. I couldn't imagine going over 50 gigs.

I tether all the time at home because the phone is faster and more reliable than my ADSL. It is also useful when we go away at weekends because some places try to charge for internet access but I can usually use my phone instead.

I can watch netflix and game online at the same time and it works fine doing both. Once my carrier offer 4g and the contract is up on my ADSL I will switch to mobile only because it is better where I live.

 

[bucwylde23]

Got this yesterday at my house. Not the best I've had but pretty good still.

Phone is a VZW Note 2 and unlimited data.

 

[JimmiG]

Good old fashioned 3G (HSPA) here on the Optimus 2X.

I pay $12/month for 3GB which is enough for me (bit of web browsing, Spotify and the occasional Youtube video.

 

[TwiceOver]

0.

I'm out of data on my phone until the 4th.