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Possible Solution to Widespread Problem of Slow/Spotty 3G Speeds on iPhone 4

M

mrFinder

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 25, 2010
51
0
I started a thread a few days ago about these slow/sporadic 3G speeds on the iPhone 4:

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=10418000#post10418000

A user, amirdieselx64, posted in the thread, saying that this issue on his iPhone 4 has been resolved after he spoke to at AT&T rep. The following was his post:

"I called AT&T and they were able to fix my 3G from being soo slow by readying the network information the phone uses to find cell towers. They said that the day of activation the towers were overloaded and the phones probably didn't get updated cell tower info. The csr sent a hit to my phone and reset it. I turned it off and back on and my 3G was blazing fast. Anyone else out there with a slow 3G iPhone 4 maybe you should try that as it worked for me."

So it seems as if the AT&T rep needs to "ready the network information that the phone uses to find cell towers," or update the phone with the latest cell tower info, in order to fix the issue. In his case, the rep "sent a hit" to his phone, and after he reset it, the issue was resolved.

Can anyone else confirm having done this? I will be calling AT&T tomorrow to suggest this and will certainly post back here, but if anyone has already had any experience with this, please do let us know.
 
I simply paraphrased what the other fellow said regarding resetting / updating the sim card with new network/tower information and my CSR did it for me. It did improve things (actually made my 3G usable, though it's nowhere near the 7.2 Mbps they advertise...I got more like 1 Mbps but at least I can surf the web / check email).

I'll play around with it tomorrow morning and see if the improvement sticks.
 
RoarinRow said:
I installed this app called 3G Booster and now I'm consistently getting over 1.3 MBs over 3G with 5 bars.
Click to expand...

That is interesting. I also consistently get very good speeds (2-3Mbps), but only during late night (11:30PM - 3:30AM) however. It is during the day that I experience terrible slow downs and inconsistent speeds. Have you used that 3G Booster app during the day time? If so, did it work then too? Were you previously having problems, and then after installing the app, everything was fixed? Are you getting consistent speeds?
 
Even if this is true, it’s a BS move on AT&T’s part. We’re all supposed to call AT&T now? Give me a break. Shouldn’t this be something THEY do AUTOMATICALLY, if what that CSR said was true? I know it took me awhile to activate (it would’ve helped if the CSR had told me to turn my phone off and on after he handed it to me).
 
The sim is supposed to do this automatically when you go to different states and whatnot. I asked them to do it again explicitly just in case the pre-order delivery craziness somehow screwed with the processing of this while activating my phone and somehow the settings for my data plan weren't completed properly...I'll explain a bit further:

I'm a new customer and the i4 is my first phone with them. I preordered but it was delayed so I talked to AT&T and told them to partially activate my line as I had another GSM phone that I could use. Obviously at this time the data plan was not set up since my phone was a dumbphone. Once I got the i4 we finished the rest of the activation process. This occurred Monday evening, and it seemed like 3G was ok. Evidently I did not thoroughly test 3G because the next day it was far too slow for any purpose. Hence the possibility that my 3G setup was botched.

At this time we don't know for sure what the hell's going on, and believe me I'm quite miffed because I'm paying for 3G that doesn't work? BS...but I grit my teeth since I really and truly like the new iPhone (I'm lucky that I don't really get the signal degradation).
 
Can't you just do it yourself by going to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings ??
 
senorhappy said:
Can't you just do it yourself by going to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings ??
Click to expand...
reservedegotist said:
That just resets your wifi passwords and stuff IIRC
Click to expand...

Is this really the case?
If not, this is cool. If it's so, I don't think many users know resetting network settings effects the phone's cell tower recognition/assignment. I don't know how this works, so I'd just have to take your word for it. So, can anyone else confirm/deny this?

Edit: nevermind, I didn't get that you were just clarifying what "reset networks settings" does. I get it now, but definitely wasn't aware that AT&T could do this with your phone. Like Aggie though, I never thought it should be necessary.
 
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