full bars and 3g signal but not loading?

[tigres]

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).

I have been active on this thread for a while. Today, as I reported earlier, I have had my data working fine again. I have no idea what to conclude, nor why this last week has given me at least 4 days of non-exsistant data and testing speeds of nil-200k down, and latency as high as 13300.

It is strange beyond recognition. A gentleman who works w/me is not experiencing any data issues with his 3GS, yet mine has been basically off this week, with a few sporadic exceptions (today being one of them).

Honestly, I would return the device (and will) if I knew it was hardware. But it IMO is not in our case, and is reported all over the globe. It is mystifying to say the least when I have no data service yesterday, and someone in Germany is reporting similar issues- nearly exact.

I would love to hear why this is happening. If it is the provider throttling or tweaking the network, why are they killing data all together?

This makes no sense, and I am fricken tired of hearing  and AT&T pointing the finger at one another, and better yet acting like i'm off my rocker for even insinuating this is even an issue.

 

[jps1012]

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).

Thanks. I am getting between .69-1.29 mbps Download and .04-.1mbps Upload after a network restore. Thats bad right? And it feels much better with the network restore. and still has those #'s.

 

[junebug1]

I have 3 iPhone4s and have been running into this issue with 2 of them constantly. I can sit them all side by side with full 3G bars and have 2 of them sit and load whatever you try and run until they time out and 1 will load perfectly. After a reset of the 2 with troubles everything runs fine for maybe 12 hours or so until it happens again. So everyone saying its the network is dead wrong as its a phone by phone issue. Seems like they just have a connection freeze of sorts.

 

[tigres]

Thanks. I am getting between .69-1.29 mbps Download and .04-.1mbps Upload after a network restore. Thats bad right?

That's horrific. But, better than a time out (not being a smart ass mind you)

 

[tigres]

I have 3 iPhone4s and have been running into this issue with 2 of them constantly. I can sit them all side by side with full 3G bars and have 2 of them sit and load whatever you try and run until they time out and 1 will load perfectly. After a reset of the 2 with troubles everything runs fine for maybe 12 hours or so until it happens again. So everyone saying its the network is dead wrong as its a phone by phone issue. Seems like they just have a connection freeze of sorts.

Really???? This is the first I have heard anyone claim this, or prove this like you mention.

So, if I have you straight- one of your iP4 has never had this issue, and the other 2 have. Have you returned/exchanged the other 2 with favorable results?

 

[jps1012]

That's horrific. But, better than a time out (not being a smart ass mind you)

lol. I love the phone but might have to return it. This is a unusable. Going to call AT&T. What's the general consensus its an AT&T problem or an Apple problem?

 

[smithrh]

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.

OK, I'll re-make a few points here, re-state them, maybe I wasn't clear...

* I'd actually expect bad performance out of the iP4 while other devices (iP3, iPad 3G) work well.

That is to say, I'd target the iPhone 4s for throttling (for now - right now they're going to be the data hogs while their new owners try them out)

* I'd expect the throttling to come and go.

There's no point in throttling when the network isn't congested.

You'd only throttle when the network is congested, and that condition can come and go, and remain in effect for either a short time, or a long time. It could even happen at night, although I'd expect much less of it then.

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.

Your fourth reason is a provisioning issue with AT&T. So, you're doing the right thing by going to them.

I'd wait a bit before throwing in the towel, if throttling is in effect (and again, I don't know that it is, but I'd say it SHOULD be, and it's technically something AT&T could do) I'd expect AT&T to remove those policy rules once the data usage wave by the iPhone 4s passes.

 

[kwyn]

lol. I love the phone but might have to return it. This is a unusable. Going to call AT&T. What's the general consensus its an AT&T problem or an Apple problem?

I did this and I recommend everyone does:

I want to keep my iphone, but i want it fixed. I called ATT and made them refund my $30 for data this month. Do I think it's their issue? Dunno, probably not, but the more people who do this, the more ATT will lean into Apple.

What do you guys think?

Call 611 and ask for credit for your unusable 3G data!

 

[smithrh]

That's horrific. But, better than a time out (not being a smart ass mind you)

If he's at a heavily used site, these aren't bad numbers (except for the .04 upload speed)....

 

[mgamber]

lol. I love the phone but might have to return it. This is a unusable. Going to call AT&T. What's the general consensus its an AT&T problem or an Apple problem?

Your guess is as good as anyone else's. Flip a coin, no one here can do any better. I can tell you this much, when I go out on my motorcycle later, I'm taking my old Fuze with me. Slowly being able to dial 911 is better than not being able to dial it at all.

 

[smithrh]

I have 3 iPhone4s and have been running into this issue with 2 of them constantly. I can sit them all side by side with full 3G bars and have 2 of them sit and load whatever you try and run until they time out and 1 will load perfectly. After a reset of the 2 with troubles everything runs fine for maybe 12 hours or so until it happens again. So everyone saying its the network is dead wrong as its a phone by phone issue.

I've never said it IS the network, I've said it COULD be the network.

FYI, nearly 20 years of cellular network experience in the industry here. You?

 

[byulasfjazz]

I've never said it IS the network, I've said it COULD be the network.

FYI, nearly 20 years of cellular network experience in the industry here. You?

this guys sounds like BS

 

[mgamber]

OK, I'll re-make a few points here, re-state them, maybe I wasn't clear...

* I'd actually expect bad performance out of the iP4 while other devices (iP3, iPad 3G) work well.

That is to say, I'd target the iPhone 4s for throttling (for now - right now they're going to be the data hogs while their new owners try them out)

* I'd expect the throttling to come and go.

There's no point in throttling when the network isn't congested.

You'd only throttle when the network is congested, and that condition can come and go, and remain in effect for either a short time, or a long time. It could even happen at night, although I'd expect much less of it then.



Your fourth reason is a provisioning issue with AT&T. So, you're doing the right thing by going to them.

I'd wait a bit before throwing in the towel, if throttling is in effect (and again, I don't know that it is, but I'd say it SHOULD be, and it's technically something AT&T could do) I'd expect AT&T to remove those policy rules once the data usage wave by the iPhone 4s passes.

It's not a matter of "bad performance", however. It simply doesn't work. There's NO data transfer at all while my wife's 3GS and my iPad are working fine and are both fast. If I turn Airplane Mode on and off and let it reaquire a signal, it may or may not work and if it does work, it works as I'd expect it to work. I would expect throttling to allow the phone to at least work, albiet slowly. Per the provisioning, I'll go to AT&T and let it be known that I'm having problems and so on, but it's totally random. I might flip it to EDGE and back a dozen times before I see it. Given how unreliable this phone is turning out to be, it seems more likely that the phone is trying to send it's ID, it's getting garbled and AT&T is replying with "no dice" than a glitch in AT&T's back end that suddenly showed up when I got this new phone.

The other thing I didn't discover until I got home is that my son's new iPhone does the same thing but not at the same time. Mine is dead in the water while his is working just fine. Later he comes to me and asks if my phone is dead, I try it and it's working fine while his is dead. So the same models are having the same problems at different times. It's either not throttling or it's the most bizarre throttling I've ever seen.

 

[WhisperMan]

FYI, nearly 20 years of cellular network experience in the industry here. You?

So I'm going to single you out here because of your experience. My scenario is that in specific areas (for me, my home), I'm consistently NOT getting ANY 3G data, despite the display showing a 3G connection and five bars (note: this means at least -91dB, which is a solid signal). Not low data rates, no data. iPhone 3Gs and 3GSs at my house get data. Put me on EDGE, I get data (and no complaints by the phone about provisioning). Put me in a different location, and I get data at screaming rates. But at home, invariant of the time of day (I tried this at 3am the other morning to prove it wasn't a congestion thing), no data.

I've had the phone since the 23rd, and I explicitly remember having no issues with my data connection at home for the first few days.

Take the possibility of selective throttling out of the equation. Is there any other network-related culprit out there?

 

[byulasfjazz]

It's not a matter of "bad performance", however. It simply doesn't work. There's NO data transfer at all while my wife's 3GS and my iPad are working fine and are both fast. If I turn Airplane Mode on and off and let it reaquire a signal, it may or may not work and if it does work, it works as I'd expect it to work. I would expect throttling to allow the phone to at least work, albiet slowly. Per the provisioning, I'll go to AT&T and let it be known that I'm having problems and so on, but it's totally random. I might flip it to EDGE and back a dozen times before I see it. Given how unreliable this phone is turning out to be, it seems more likely that the phone is trying to send it's ID, it's getting garbled and AT&T is replying with "no dice" than a glitch in AT&T's back end that suddenly showed up when I got this new phone.

The other thing I didn't discover until I got home is that my son's new iPhone does the same thing but not at the same time. Mine is dead in the water while his is working just fine. Later he comes to me and asks if my phone is dead, I try it and it's working fine while his is dead. So the same models are having the same problems at different times. It's either not throttling or it's the most bizarre throttling I've ever seen.

you have EXACTLY the same problem i do.. But both ATT and APPLE make excuses...cause no one really seams to know

 

[byulasfjazz]

So I'm going to single you out here because of your experience. My scenario is that in specific areas (for me, my home), I'm consistently NOT getting ANY 3G data. Not low data rates, no data. iPhone 3Gs and 3GSs at my house get data. Put me on EDGE, I get data (and no complaints by the phone about provisioning). Put me in a different location, and I get data at screaming rates. But at home, invariant of the time of day (I tried this at 3am the other morning to prove it wasn't a congestion thing), no data.

I've had the phone since the 23rd, and I explicitly remember having no issues with my data connection at home for the first few days.

Take the possibility of selective throttling out of the equation. Is there any other network-related culprit out there?

Im glad to hear im not the only one... thought I was deformed. My work always had perfect coverage with my 3GS but now nothing.. but at home it works on and off.. hmmm I live less than a mile from work too.. maybe there is something interfering ... maybe a new feature on the Iphone 4 that messes with the antena maybe around certain electronics? who knows... hmmmmmmmmm

 

[Ogrillion]

Just wanted to post an update: got a new sim yesterday and my connection appeared better.

This morning my 3G died completely. I made a genius apt for this afternoon. An hour later tried 3G in the same spot I was all morning and it is blazing fast. I only have 2 bars but it's flying. Anyone else? I wish it was an Att issue and it was just fixed rofl.

Still going to keep my genius apt because I know it will be bad again shortly.

 

[pearlbrian]

picked mine up today. My 3G was getting data fine at my desk this morning. the 4 won't load anything over 3G, have to switch to EDGE. Just terrible.

 

[smithrh]

So I'm going to single you out here because of your experience. My scenario is that in specific areas (for me, my home), I'm consistently NOT getting ANY 3G data, despite the display showing a 3G connection and five bars (note: this means at least -91dB, which is a solid signal). Not low data rates, no data. iPhone 3Gs and 3GSs at my house get data. Put me on EDGE, I get data (and no complaints by the phone about provisioning). Put me in a different location, and I get data at screaming rates. But at home, invariant of the time of day (I tried this at 3am the other morning to prove it wasn't a congestion thing), no data.

I've had the phone since the 23rd, and I explicitly remember having no issues with my data connection at home for the first few days.

Take the possibility of selective throttling out of the equation. Is there any other network-related culprit out there?

Given that particular scenario, the only thing I could think of is a provisioning mistake, but that doesn't allow for the geographic nature.

Note, given the fact that you get great speeds elsewhere tends to tell me it's not an iPhone 4 issue either. It doesn't make much sense that the phone would be OK "here" and not "there."

Definitely puzzling, this is true. Given what you've written (e.g., no logs, no alarms, no other data, etc) I'd suspect a throttling policy was written or implemented poorly - but you wanted me to ignore that so I respected that.

Can I assume you're not holding the iPhone 4 in any way? I do wonder if you're just on the edge of coverage, and holding the phone is basically killing the connection...

Oh, and one saying we've always had in the industry - "Bars don't mean *****!" Invariably one of my buds would complain to me about this or that calling issue and say "I had all 5 bars!" and I'd say that doesn't mean diddly. We'd also call them "Customer Mollification Devices" amongst other things. Read the Ars or other articles that have just come out and you'll have a better understanding.

 

[SlavKO]

My latest test was...
117kbps down
61kbps up
ping 520ms

This is ridiculous. Someone said on facebook that a restore "as new" helped them. I may try that, dont think it's the issue but I will try it and then try and get reprovisioned.

 

[mgamber]

One last thing that just occurred to me...a couple evenings ago I brought up MLB at Bat and it sat and spun for a while and eventually timed out with the message that it couldn't retrieve any data. Great. I turned the phone off and back on and brought up the app again and it worked so I started watching a game via the streaming video and that worked just fine. Nice and fast. For the next 2 hours and 15 minutes I watched that baseball game without a single problem and this using the latest version of the app which has a high resolution and, one would presume, throws around more data.

In addition, I recently read about a new "feature" being incorporated into some phones where the radio is turned off after it's been idle for a certain amount of time in an attempt to lengthen battery life. Given these two things, I wonder if this is trying to be that "feature" but Apple screwed it up?

 

[smithrh]

The other thing I didn't discover until I got home is that my son's new iPhone does the same thing but not at the same time. Mine is dead in the water while his is working just fine. Later he comes to me and asks if my phone is dead, I try it and it's working fine while his is dead. So the same models are having the same problems at different times. It's either not throttling or it's the most bizarre throttling I've ever seen.

The choices an operator can use for choosing how to throttle are many.

It could be:

* your heaviest data user this month
* your heaviest data user today
* your heaviest data user in the last hour
* the person who last used data
* people running speed tests (yes, you can do this)
* people running ptp
* people running voip
* people using a certain tcpip port
* people using a certain phone type
* people using a certain app

...you get the idea.

Or combinations of the above, which yields just about infinite choices...

 

[SlavKO]

The choices an operator can use for choosing how to throttle are many.

It could be:

* your heaviest data user this month
* your heaviest data user today
* your heaviest data user in the last hour
* the person who last used data
* people running speed tests (yes, you can do this)
* people running ptp
* people running voip
* people using a certain tcpip port
* people using a certain phone type
* people using a certain app

...you get the idea.

Or combinations of the above, which yields just about infinite choices...

Would reps be able to see that occurring on a case per case basis or not since this occurs at the gateway(if i understand you correctly).

 

[mgamber]

The choices an operator can use for choosing how to throttle are many.

It could be:

* your heaviest data user this month
* your heaviest data user today
* your heaviest data user in the last hour
* the person who last used data
* people running speed tests (yes, you can do this)
* people running ptp
* people running voip
* people using a certain tcpip port
* people using a certain phone type
* people using a certain app

...you get the idea.

Or combinations of the above, which yields just about infinite choices...

Given that, I should be golden. I don't think I've ever used 5 GB a month and, until baseball started, I barely used 1 GB a month. AT&T should LOVE me. And again, it shouldn't be stone dead even if I'm the worst customer they have. It might be really, really slow, but not completely dead. It shouldn't even really be any slower than EDGE, ever, because I can always turn off 3G and EDGE almost always works just fine. If AT&T can kill my connection because they feel like it even though I've done nothing to deserve it in two expensive years as a customer, I should be able to walk in there right now, cancel my contract without an ETF and flip them off on the way out without hearing a word from anyone. I really, really doubt this is any kind of intentional throttling. Really doubt it. If I was a betting man, I'd put a paycheck on this being yet another problem with the phone.

 

[smithrh]

Would reps be able to see that occurring on a case per case basis or not since this occurs at the gateway(if i understand you correctly).

Reps would not have a clue about this, or if they did, I'd think they'd be explicitly told not to say anything about it.

Traffic engineers would have set up these rules, likely with the guidance/approval of at least middle management if not CxO-level management.

I would suspect this would be tightly held information.

Again, I have absolutely no inside knowledge of anything going on at AT&T - I'm just explaining what could be happening.