Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
full bars and 3g signal but not loading?
- Thread starter x-evil-x
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Well, that's more because there weren't many networks that supported HSUPA more than anything else.
Overnight I got unheard of speeds of 5.1 Mbps (the fastest Id ever got with my 3G was 1.2). I dont even get wifi that fast (around 2.6 Mbps). However, this morning its back to puttering along at 100-200 kbps.
I have had the same problem since launch day in Columbus, Ohio. Hours on the phone with AT&T and Apple. We've tried every trick in the book. I've had each iPhone and in areas where my 3GS had great 3G connection the iPhone 4 lags far, very far, behind. Absolutely mind-boggling that none of the tech sites have picked up on this. I created an account here on MR just to join in the discussion.
I have a genius appointment set up tonight most likely will be switching back to the 3GS until this gets sorted.
I have a genius appointment set up tonight most likely will be switching back to the 3GS until this gets sorted.
I'm pretty sure with 12 pages of posts, most of which say something along the lines of "yes I'm having this issue too and I'm not holding it," means that it's not being ignored.
Is anyone not having this issue anymore or did you get it fixed somehow? My data still stinks. Even tried a restore.
I am NOT having this issue anymore. It went away after I called ATT and they "re-provisioned" my phone.
Yeah but no tech sites are reporting it. I sent an apple an email and posted on AT&Ts Facebook page. So far "it's the other ones problem ".
Hmmmmm.....
Just as something to be considered here...
Cell companies absolutely have the option of throttling bandwidth at central gateways, and they can limit that throttling down to phone types.
Now, let's say you wanted to avoid a total network meltdown after the iP4 was released. You could (and probably would, the more I think about it, and FYI I work in the cell industry) apply some congestion control rules to the central gateways.
Those rules would be along the line of:
IF the network is getting congested, THEN throttle accounts with iPhone 4s.
Operators outside of the US may have also instituted similar rules.
It's a well-established behavior - seen in call logs and PM stats - that when people get a new smartphone (iPhone, Droid, etc) that they use it. A lot.
How many iPhone 4s were loaded up on the network on the launch weekend? 1.7M? That's a HUGE number of data-hungry users downloading new apps, browsing the web, synchronizing email and so forth.
Any prudent network operator would have anticipated such a wave of data usage and implemented some reasonable congestion control, one that didn't cripple existing users.
I'll have to think about this more and see if I can't find some specific gateway throttling rules that are the equivalent of what I've just mentioned, I don't think it will actually be all that hard to find.
Just as something to be considered here...
Cell companies absolutely have the option of throttling bandwidth at central gateways, and they can limit that throttling down to phone types.
Now, let's say you wanted to avoid a total network meltdown after the iP4 was released. You could (and probably would, the more I think about it, and FYI I work in the cell industry) apply some congestion control rules to the central gateways.
Those rules would be along the line of:
IF the network is getting congested, THEN throttle accounts with iPhone 4s.
Operators outside of the US may have also instituted similar rules.
It's a well-established behavior - seen in call logs and PM stats - that when people get a new smartphone (iPhone, Droid, etc) that they use it. A lot.
How many iPhone 4s were loaded up on the network on the launch weekend? 1.7M? That's a HUGE number of data-hungry users downloading new apps, browsing the web, synchronizing email and so forth.
Any prudent network operator would have anticipated such a wave of data usage and implemented some reasonable congestion control, one that didn't cripple existing users.
I'll have to think about this more and see if I can't find some specific gateway throttling rules that are the equivalent of what I've just mentioned, I don't think it will actually be all that hard to find.
I don't have a problem with AT&T throttling data IF it's needed to prevent a network meltdown that kills 3G entirely.
But my problem is not slow data, it's NO DATA (ok, I have slow data too, but I am getting timeout error messages way too frequently). So if AT&T is throttling to keep data service consistent, then they need to do a better job. And why would they throttle just iPhone 4 data? It's their flagship device, why cripple it? Besides, they should throttle all devices otherwise people will notice and throw a fit.
EDIT: Obviously I would prefer increasing bandwidth to data throttling, but as a short term solution to keeping the 3G network running consistent then I see why throttling might be needed. Of course we don't know if AT&T is doing any of this so it's pure speculation.
If AT&T is *smart* they're doing it. Certainly they have the capability.
Note, policies could be written poorly, causing users to get nothing instead of slow data.
Here's a quote from a gateway brochure:
"[Our] solution delivers the advanced deep packet inspection and stateful signature matching technology needed to identify a wide rage of applications, as well as the tools needed to enforce traffic management policies based on this content at a very granular level. Per-subscriber, per-base station, or per-application policies can be defined for policing, shaping, prioritizing, filtering, charging or hot-lining traffic. These capabilities provide operators the control they need to ensure optimal network performance, fair use for all subscribers, and an optimal end-user experience."
*** The reason why they'd hit just iPhone 4 I alluded to previously - they're going to be the data hogs for a while. It's far far better to throttle in times of congestion versus having your network fall apart, which is pretty much the alternative.
I don't think it's a throttling thing, at least in my case. For me, it's a geographically-based issue, and only on 3G-- EDGE is fine.
So, unless my local 3G BTS is getting hammered 24 hours a day, and singling out iPhone4s and not 3Gs or 3GSs, I don't think that's the problem I'm seeing.
So, unless my local 3G BTS is getting hammered 24 hours a day, and singling out iPhone4s and not 3Gs or 3GSs, I don't think that's the problem I'm seeing.
EDGE is so slow it probably doesn't need to be throttled at all.
It could very well be that they're protecting the BTS that you're under.
Or, that BTS could be in a bad state, or has a backhaul bandwidth issue.
Let me also add that *IF* AT&T are throttling iPhone 4 users in times of network congestion, then I'd also tend to think that at some point they would remove that policy.
After some time, people tend to be used to their new phones and the data usage tails off pretty substantially.
After some time, people tend to be used to their new phones and the data usage tails off pretty substantially.
I highly doubt that the tower would be singling out iPhone4s. I could see it if they were throttling only HSDPA connections, but 3GSs aren't affected.
i also am NOT having this issue today as of yet (*knocks on wood*). everything seems to be loading fine and i haven't had any time out issues. the speeds are not insanely fast, but they're decent (1.5-2Mbps). I did a few tests comparing with a 3GS and it certainly keeps up every time, if its not faster. i haven't called at&t or anything, it just seemed to work. if this keeps up, and hopefully it does, i won't be calling at&t at all, as they will likely do something to screw it up hah.
The "Tower" (BTS or cell site) would not be, the _gateway_ would.
If you read that quote I included above, it's within the gateway's capability to throttle by subscriber or handset type.
Note, I'm not saying they're doing this, I don't know.
But it's something they could do easily. And there would be reasons for doing so. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that AT&T would have been dumb to not put such throttling in place.
Ugh this problem is brutal. I live in Long Island, NY and switched from a blackberry bold to iphone 4 and my service has been terrible and it used to be great. Its really upsetting. Glad I am not alone. I just download one of those connections test apps. Whats should the download speed, upload speed and latencty be?
Depends on a variety of factors, including time of day, load on the cell site, distance to the cell site, what HSPA level the cell site is at and so on.
Having said that, I would hope that you would see at least 2MBPS down and somewhere between 250-750KBPS upload. Latency (ping) will vary quite a bit, a good ping time is 250-300MS but if your phone has been inactive for a while you can see something around 2500MS (the phone needs to establish a data session first before running the test).
It doesn't act like I'd expect intentional throttling to act. First of all, my wife's 3GS works fine while mine is spinning it wheels doing nothing. Second, the iPad 3G also works fine while mine is spinning it's wheels doing nothing. Third, it seems to come and go at random. One minute 3G works, the next minute it does not and minute after that it works again and so on. Fourth, when I turn off 3G so at least something works, it goes to EDGE and if I try to do something, usually the first thing that happens is I get that message about not being provisioned for data. Basically it says I don't have a data plan. If I try again, then EDGE works fine. Finally, I don't trust this phone at all any more. If I have to decide who's fault this is, Apple or AT&T, I'd actually pick Apple at this point. I'll stop by AT&T and ask if they can "re-provision" the phone and if that doesn't work, it may go back to Apple and that'll be the end of that. I hate to get rid of it, it has some nice features that I really like, but it can't be relied on, it's useless.
That's fine, but my symptoms aren't low throughput or high latency-- I'm the extreme case, where I'm not getting a data connection AT ALL (or all of my requests are timing out). If this were happening intermittently and getting low data rates otherwise, then I could see your point that throttling be the culprit here.
By the way, I'm not discounting your theory at all-- I'd imagine that the throttling would be more subtle, likely so that it'd be imperceptible to most data usage.
Additionally, I apologize for mixing my wireless lingo-- while my knowledge base with EDGE systems is good, I'm fuzzy at best on UMTS networks.
So I have had my Iphone 4 for a week now.. AND MY SERVICE SUCKS.. my
3GS couldn'thave had better service... no dropped calls always amazing coverage..
but since DAY 1 I have had the worst coverage ever!!! every single call cuts out or DROPS.. NO 3G maybe like 5 percent of the time it works. So I live on the edge network now.
Ive gone to two different ATT stores.. tred all the same methods. EVERYTHING THEY COULD DO ON THEIR END.. I have been in two different states even.. still sucks
Went to Apple store yesterday.. THE WAITING LIST FOR THE IPHONE TECHS was 2 days long!! I was put on standby with 3 others.. After a few HOURS I was helped. The apple guy told me at first they were replacing phones, but they found out that the same customers were coming back SAME ISSUES.. he compared his iphone 4 with mine.. same issues.. HE ALSO LIVES ON THE EDGE (network) lol .. anyways he just said we have no answers at this point BUT it is specifically the IPHONE 4
I bet apple screwed something up BIG and does not want to do a MASSIVE RECALL so they are finding excuses..
3GS couldn'thave had better service... no dropped calls always amazing coverage..
but since DAY 1 I have had the worst coverage ever!!! every single call cuts out or DROPS.. NO 3G maybe like 5 percent of the time it works. So I live on the edge network now.
Ive gone to two different ATT stores.. tred all the same methods. EVERYTHING THEY COULD DO ON THEIR END.. I have been in two different states even.. still sucks
Went to Apple store yesterday.. THE WAITING LIST FOR THE IPHONE TECHS was 2 days long!! I was put on standby with 3 others.. After a few HOURS I was helped. The apple guy told me at first they were replacing phones, but they found out that the same customers were coming back SAME ISSUES.. he compared his iphone 4 with mine.. same issues.. HE ALSO LIVES ON THE EDGE (network) lol .. anyways he just said we have no answers at this point BUT it is specifically the IPHONE 4
I bet apple screwed something up BIG and does not want to do a MASSIVE RECALL so they are finding excuses..