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AT&T capping 3G upload speed in NYC (iPhone 4)

I had lots of errands to run yesterday and went all over the place (Orlando area). I tried the speed test throughout the day in varying locations, with varying results, but nothing seemed to be "capped". I think it's safe to say you can remove Orlando from the list of affected regions.
 

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Me too. This is ridiculous, and I am REALLY ****** beyond consolation at this move by AT&T.

Just look at the most recent test results compared to a few days ago.
gxtrfz
 
Possible connection to unlimited plans?

While I haven't had a chance to read over every single post, I haven't noticed anyone mention whether or not they were on an unlimited plan or not. Is it possible that AT&T is capping those of us with unlimited plans to try and "encourage" us to switch to a capped plan?

I'm in Portland Oregon with an unlimited plan and my bandwidth is being capped at 99 up as of 7/7.
 
As of July 6th 8.15am Seattle still having this issue of less than 90kbps upstream.

AT&T is a terrible company.
 
IndustrialSpace said:
How can AT&T cap bandwidth when you have an unlimited plan?

This seems like a violation of the contract.
Click to expand...

Even calling it an Unlimited Plan is a violation of the contract, because the fine print explains that it is no way unlimited.

They are just a walking class action law suit.
 
mrbimpel said:
While I haven't had a chance to read over every single post, I haven't noticed anyone mention whether or not they were on an unlimited plan or not. Is it possible that AT&T is capping those of us with unlimited plans to try and "encourage" us to switch to a capped plan?

I'm in Portland Oregon with an unlimited plan and my bandwidth is being capped at 99 up as of 7/7.
Click to expand...

It should be AT&T is encouraging all of us to leave them...
 
This could be a stupid theory, however during the keynote at WWDC Jobs said that in the near future Facetime would be available over 3G. Could this be ATT enabling the faster infrastructure to handle Facetime?
 
I know everyone here is perfect and flawless and never makes a mistake but did anyone consider that maybe something is just broken? Maybe not every issue involves black helicopters.
 
milan03 said:
Dude, the evidence is everythign people posted on this topic. It's striking that someone can't draw a conclusion from tons of screenshots and tons of users.

Throttling means that the customers are getting deliberately slower speeds provided by the ISP, in this case ATT. Now why are they doing that, I do not know or care. It's about time for them to come clean.
Click to expand...

Evidence everywhere points to SOMETHING going wrong. It doesn't mean that AT&T is throttling your speed. Why would they throttle uploads and not downloads? Seeing as downloads is what people abuse or overuse and use until there is no end. Shouldn't AT&T be capping downloads? By your logic they should because its AT&T.

However, you have to look at the ENTIRE picture. And that picture is of few markets being affected and some people in those markets not affected. What conclusion can you draw? It's a server or hardware failure. How else can you explain that only West Houston is affected but the the East? How else can you explain why many southern/central cities are unaffected. Why is it that California as a whole doesn't report a case? It's SOME cities not all experiencing bad uploads.

As I see it right now, it's the majority of the Eastern cities being affected, which can be pinged down to a server problem.




Edit - And by the looks of the front page and AT&T's recent Press release, I was right on the spot. Server (hardware + software) problems were/are slowing down data uploads. Now, I wonder where that theory of capping speeds go? Oh yeah! The trash. Big tip for next time, look at the bigger picture.
 
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/07/...atel-lucent-as-slow-upload-culprit-fix-in-th/

"AT&T and Alcatel-Lucent jointly identified a software defect -- triggered under certain conditions – that impacted uplink performance for Laptop Connect and smartphone customers using 3G HSUPA-capable wireless devices in markets with Alcatel-Lucent equipment. This impacts less than two percent of our wireless customer base. While Alcatel-Lucent develops the appropriate software fix, we are providing normal 3G uplink speeds and consistent performance for affected customers with HSUPA-capable devices."
Click to expand...
 
Whatever it is hardware or software failure, the speeds have been capped for the past week. That's a fact. I'm not talking about being intentional or not, but 100kb steady is a cap.
 
Steviejobz said:
Less than 2% my arse. 2% of total users but 75% of tech forum members?
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I hear ya. Although the laptop connect and HSUPA user base probably does only include a small percentage of total customers, (maybe 10 or less) and considering not all markets are having problems, I'd say it COULD be as little as 2 percent.

So I'm skeptical but open-minded. I just hope they get their firmware fixed so we can all enjoy the capabilities of the iP4!
 
Glad to hear that there "is" a reason, though I'd love to have gotten details on the specific defect and what are the specific conditions that trigger it. Not surprising they didn't offer that, and I'm glad I'm jaded enough to not bother with expecting them to provide an estimate on when the problem might be fixed.

I guess my understanding of "normal 3G uplink speeds" being must be off-kilter, as my 3GS usually got almost triple the <100kbps I'm seeing now.
 
Is there anybody here that is still running iOS 3.1.3 or older on either the 3G or the 3GS? If so, please report your upload speeds here in this thread and I'll pass that info along to the engineering teams.

The more information that I can give the people in the AT&T Wireless Engineering department the faster we can come to a resolution.
 
I was in Indianapolis on the 5th. i was getting 400 kbps up.

also checked from Central NJ (shore area) today (7th). I am getting 4100-4600 kbps down and 200 up. it 'sticks' at 100, then just before the test finishes it counts up to 200.

(iP4 unlimited data)
 
AT&T: 3G speed crash a Alcatel-Lucent bug, being fixed

AT&T today explained the sudden upload speed drops that had plagued iPhone 4s and other devices on its network. The carrier claimed that the issue was sparked by a "software defect" in Alcatel-Lucent's 3G base station hardware that stalled uploads for any device that supports HSUPA. A fix is being developed, a spokesman said, but there was no estimated time for when it would be resolved.

The company spun the story by claiming that only two percent of its customers would be affected and that the glitch still meant "normal" HSPA upload speeds. Customers have disagreed as the speed dropped from typical speeds of more than 1Mbps up to, in some cases, less than 100Kbps. HSPA usually provides more than 100Kbps, and sometimes within a few hundred Kbps.

While a much more definitive explanation than since debunked rumors of deliberate upload caps, the glitch is another flaw for iPhone 4 users, which have faced antenna sensitivity problems regardless of the strength of their networks. Potential reception has gone up with the iPhone, but holding the phone left-handed or in another form that bridges the antennas can reduce or even kill the signal. Slow upload speeds could magnify the issue by rendering uploads unusable where they would still have worked in the past.
 
add albuquerque, nm to the list of cities affected by the screwed up hardware/firmware. my upload speeds plummeted over the weekend to less than 100kbps.

as you can see, the problems started on the 2nd (before the holiday weekend).

photo-18.png
 
I'm glad we can put the "upload cap" theory to rest. However, some parts of AT&T's response do not make sense and are just plain inaccurate:

"...we are providing normal 3G uplink speeds and consistent performance for affected customers with HSUPA-capable devices."

100 kbps is NOT "normal 3G uplink speeds", though I'll give them the "consistent" part. It definitely has been consistently near 100 kbps for the last 5 days! But "normal" non-HSUPA upload speed is certainly faster than 100 - more like 200-300 with a theoretical limit of 384 kbps.

Wired is even reporting that a temporary "fix" is in place, but I would beg to differ:

"AT&T says a temporary fix is now in place, so upload speeds for AT&T 3G users should be back to normal...."

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/07/att-blames-slow-3g-on-alcatel-lucent-bug/#ixzz0t1RUAI63

AT&T also says that this impacts "...less than two percent of our wireless customer base." But it's much larger than that if you count the non-HSUPA devices that have also been affected by the 100 kbps limit. For example, I have an iPad 3G that also shows speed tests of 100 kbps uploads, when it normally would be in the 200-300 range. Granted, that's not as big of a difference as 1600 to 100, but still noticeable.

Also, how is a "software bug" responsible for suddenly dropping upload speeds from 1600 to 100 overnight? Did they perform some kind of software "upgrade" in these markets that went wrong? Was there some kind of Y2K bug that just appeared on July 1? They don't say, but I must admit this still seems a bit suspicious.

And finally, they have no idea when the fix will be in place. That's just great! Could be a day, could be a week, could be a month! They run one of the largest networks in the world and many of their major metro areas are experiencing this issue, and yet they can't even pinpoint a timeline?
 
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