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Pre-hack: ~19 up, ~22 down
Post-hack: ~19 up, ~22 down

On AT&T in sacramento area.
 
I installed the carrier file, twice as fast after, same location. It's a legitimate carrier file. Reminds me of the old days when you could activate hotspot for free.
 
My friend had an iPhone 4S on Sprint that never saw more than 500 Kbps download speeds. My brother, who also has a Sprint iPhone 4S, also sees similar speeds. My friend switch back to Android, and his phone sees nothing less than 1.5 Mbps downloads in most areas.

Yeah well people pretty much believe what they want to believe regardless of the facts. :)
 
Huh. I find this throttling practice to be very unfair. To categorize all iPhone users as people who use a lot of data? Hmmm. Why not do this to select few customers who use ANY phone that uses too much data to the point that it could disrupt the network?

Throttling by itself is actually a pretty common practice in many parts of the world. In the UK for example O2 throttle speeds of prepay customers and customers on its MVNO, Giffgaff. Whereas in Thailand, all iPhone plans come with unlimited data with the different quota. Once you hit it, your speeds will be reduced to 362kbps until you choose to buy more data blocks.
 
This is bogus. On AT&T I consistently get over 20MB down in Cincinnati, and regularly a crazy 45-50MB down in my area. In NY I regularly see 15-20MB down.
 
Out of curiosity: How does a provider who offers a flatrate make more money by letting his users download more data?

What percentage of the major providers data contracts are "flat rate"? :) Sounds like you want this to be true. How do you explain all the screenshots of people getting higher speeds? Just wondering.
 
So they want "Healthier" network instead of more money? Doesn't sound like the providers I know. You're very busy thinking of why this must be true. When simple logic says otherwise. How do you explain all the screenshots of people getting higher speeds? Put on you're thinking cap. :)


Just because a bunch of people are posting screenshots with high speeds doesn't mean that there isn't a throttling mechanism in place somewhere along the line.

If you honestly believe that carriers don't manage their networks by capping usage and throttling speeds to accommodate various levels of traffic, then there is no point in continuing the conversation.

People tend to have an extremely simplistic view of how carriers do what they do. In fact, it is extremely complicated. And yes, there are decisions that are made that prioritize infrastructure over dollars. If the infrastructure goes, then the dollars stop flowing.

The question is not "if", but "why?", "how?" and "how much?"
 
Think of an interstate highway. Why does it back up? it's not the fast cars, it's the ones that go slow that cause everyone to have to go slow.

Poor analogy. It is well established that the Internet is not like an interstate highway, but is actually a series of tubes.
 
Before and after hack results.

I live in central IL without LTE and here are my results with some moderate speed increases after the hack.
(top three after the hack)
mXGpswd.jpg
 
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't higher data speeds mean more data consumed? More data consumed means more money for the provider. Why would they want less money? Sounds a little fishy. What am I missing? I personally use VOIP and a MiFi device for phone and internet so am not real familiar with cellular billing. :)

Well, the obvious explanation is that their networks cannot handle higher total throughput at present.

A conspiracy theory is that they want to gradually increase their percentage of Android users base since they earn more from each Android user than an iPhone user (the same monthly rate, less subsidy payout, less actual network usage).
 
Apple has always been very kind to carriers and has always acted in order to limit bandwith consumption:
- no MMS on iPhone 3GS until a late version of iOS
- no Faketime over 3G for years after it would have been possible
etc etc.

That's why carriers used to love them so much in spite of their high prices.
But this is too obviously against consumers rights not to deserve some kind of trial.
 
If I could get 14.4Mbps on my home DSL internet I'd be fairly happy. Currently limited to 6Mbps for my home internet here.
 
Talk about first world problems. In Brazil, telecoms sell data plan speeds like this:
3G = 1Mbps (notice MegaBIT, not MegaBYTE)
"3G+" or "3G max" = 3Mbps
and now:
"4G+" or "4G max" = 5Mbps

I'd love to get 14Mbps on my vanilla 3G plan...
 
Copied from myself in another thread:
- - -

At what point do we not call it "throttled" and instead call it "the cellular companies have the right to manage their networks?"

If everyone's speed is being held to a similar standard than that's the carrier deciding what their network can handle with the number of users they have. It's their job to determine things like that.

That's not throttling, which is defined as specifically lowering a user's speeds under what they normally get.

It's impossible for everyone to be throttled 24/7. How can the average be lower than average? Then it simply IS the average.
0
I'd be fine with them limiting speeds if we had the option to pay for more speed like with terrestrial networks. And any such limits should be applied equally to all devices, within device capabilities of course.
 
Talk about first world problems. In Brazil, telecoms sell data plan speeds like this:
3G = 1Mbps (notice MegaBIT, not MegaBYTE)
"3G+" or "3G max" = 3Mbps
and now:
"4G+" or "4G max" = 5Mbps

I'd love to get 14Mbps on my vanilla 3G plan...

You're making Sprint iPhone users drool.
 
Copied from myself in another thread:
- - -

At what point do we not call it "throttled" and instead call it "the cellular companies have the right to manage their networks?"

If everyone's speed is being held to a similar standard than that's the carrier deciding what their network can handle with the number of users they have. It's their job to determine things like that.

That's not throttling, which is defined as specifically lowering a user's speeds under what they normally get.

It's impossible for everyone to be throttled 24/7. How can the average be lower than average? Then it simply IS the average.
0

Sure, as long as the carrier also proportionately refund me for discounting the service (what they actually provide vs. what they originally advertised).
 
What if they have it rigged and it detects "speed testing" it doesn't throttle... hmmm

I've noticed times I've done a speed test "safari seems snappier" but right after with general use it seems slower. (ATT, iP5)

What if we all wear tin foil hats to stop them from "throttling" our brains? Sounds good to me. :eek:
 
Don't we expect them to control the flow of data like that? They are providing and maintaining the network, this is a normal practice in many industries. It sounds to me like people are saying it is a bad or shady thing, but it isn't, it's a way to ensure availability of services... if you don't like the product, don't buy it.

If the carrier disclose this fact in advance, I am sure there will be less customers upgrading their services. So the carriers lied to get their customers pay more, and you call it "fair"?
 
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