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Squilly

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Nov 17, 2012
2,260
4
PA
Sprint is absolutely pathetic. Full bars and this is the speed I get?
 

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maxosx

macrumors 68020
Dec 13, 2012
2,385
1
Southern California
Full bars are relatively meaningless. Meant to be nothing more than an estimate of signal strength, they've mislead millions of users. It has very little to do with the brand or model of phone, or service provider for that matter.

Around since the first cell phone, for all intents & purposes we'd be better off with just a single indicator letting us know the phones receiving a signal.
 

posguy99

macrumors 68020
Nov 3, 2004
2,282
1,530
Full bars are relatively meaningless. Meant to be nothing more than an estimate of signal strength, they've mislead millions of users.

And people have gotten (from somewhere) the idea that a stronger signal must mean the connection is faster. After all, the bandwidth available couldn't POSSIBLY have anything to do with the backhaul of whatever tower your phone might be talking to at the moment.

The only thing bars have to do with it is that when you have none, you probably don't have a connection to the tower.
 

joshwithachance

macrumors 68000
Dec 11, 2009
1,994
915
I used to witness speeds like that myself. It's just atrocious really. Switched to AT&T for the iPhone 5 and have been a happy camper ever since. Even with just HSPA+ I still pull around 5 mbps down.
 

CEmajr

macrumors 601
Dec 18, 2012
4,448
1,228
Charlotte, NC
Yeah Sprint is pretty bad. I remember when I had an unlocked 4S on T-Mobile Edge data and used to get the same data speeds as my friends who had the 4S on Sprint.
 

dictoresno

macrumors 601
Apr 30, 2012
4,482
619
NJ
it looks like there is something wrong with maybe the server youre connected to. i had a few speedtests look like that and it wasnt my verizon wireless or fios networks. it was a bad server. other times my graphs looked like that was when i was hit with the wifi bug. rebooting or shutting wifi on and off helped, as did resetting network settings.

before you blame sprint, change the test server and reboot the phone. those graphs arent steady and it looks like youre having some type of connection issue, not necessarily sprints network speed being the issue.
 

LoloBond

macrumors 6502
Nov 21, 2011
436
1
I used to witness speeds like that myself. It's just atrocious really. Switched to AT&T for the iPhone 5 and have been a happy camper ever since. Even with just HSPA+ I still pull around 5 mbps down.

Did the same with my family plans and we couldn't be happier! I know LTE is good and all, but for my music streaming HSPA+ is more than enough.
 

dukedvl

macrumors member
Aug 5, 2008
87
2
I had pretty bad speeds too but sucked it up because of the lower bill I pay with Sprint compared to Verizon/AT&T. Sprint LTE is rolling out in my area so I am a little happier now. These were speeds I had last week:

442794178.png
 

Mrg02d

macrumors 65816
Jan 27, 2012
1,102
2
I wonder if sprint is going to upgrade their 3G networks as well? I've got a 4s and never see over 2.2Mbps DL.
 

Johnnygogo

macrumors member
Mar 30, 2012
59
0
Sprint is awesome in Chicago. Live it and pay 110 for 2 phones. You gotta do your homework. Been with sprint since the Nextel merger and have always been a satisfied customer. No LTE=No Sprint. I thought everyone knew that
 

upnorth85

macrumors 6502a
Oct 2, 2011
629
202
MN, USA
The speed is you show is pathetic for 3G. Your speeds are in KbS. Divide by 1000 to get speed in Mbs. 2Mbs is barely 3G. Even T-mobile gets better 3G speeds than this.
Every tower is getting upgraded for faster 3G and LTE capability.

My Sprint is actually really good right up there with Verizon for 3G speeds.
Image
 

Johnnygogo

macrumors member
Mar 30, 2012
59
0
Sprint has a map and website of what towers and cities are being upgraded. Or you could always call and ask. It's what I did before getting my iPhones
 

ValerieDurden

macrumors 6502a
Feb 3, 2010
673
70
Philadelphia, PA
The speed is you show is pathetic for 3G. Your speeds are in KbS. Divide by 1000 to get speed in Mbs. 2Mbs is barely 3G. Even T-mobile gets better 3G speeds than this.
2Mbps that I am getting is almost maxing out the CDMA standard, for CDMA it's actually fast. Obviously it does not compare to what GSM is capable of, but it's hardly slow.
 
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