How are everyone elses 3GS UPLOAD speeds?

[chris975d]

As the title says, how fast (or slow, as in the case of my iPhone 3GS) is everyone's data UPLOAD speed? Not download, but upload? Even in a great 3G area like I'm usually in (east of metro Atlanta), when I'm getting 2000+kbps download speeds, my upload speed is horrendously slow, typically only around 150-200kbps. In fact, where I'm sitting right now, I have 2150kbps download, and only 93kbps upload. This makes using things like email unbearable most of the time. If I'm sending any kind of attachment with an email, it can take over 5 minutes just to send it. Not to mention uploading pictures to a website or uploading/updating facebook, twitter, etc. Using/sending email(typically with large attachments) is a must for my work. It's fine if I'm on a wifi connection, but with the 3G connection, it's awful. Conversely, I've noticed that the Verizon Droid I'm testing out has a great upload speed. It's download speed is typically a bit slower than AT&T's, usually around 1400kbps, but it's upload speed is usually only a bit slower than that, around 1000kbps. This makes a world of difference in sending email or uploading anything. It's lightning quick. Things are uploaded before the phone actually says "uploading". This alone makes the Droid more usable for me, even though I like the iPhone a lot more. So, is this just me/my phone, or is this a limitation of the 3GS? Or is this a difference in GSM 3G tech vs. CDMA EVDO 3G tech? Does EVDO by nature allow for upload speeds closer to its download speeds?

 

[thelatinist]

Um...almost every network -- be it DSL, cable or cellular -- has smaller upstream bandwidth than downstream bandwidth, often by a factor of about 10. That's unlikely to change.

 

[chris975d]

Um...almost every network -- be it DSL, cable or cellular -- has smaller upstream bandwidth than downstream bandwidth, often by a factor of about 10. That's unlikely to change.

What makes Verizon's network able to sustain such high upload rates though? I've tested it everywhere I'm typically at, and Verizon's (or more accurately, the Droid's) upload speed is never lower than 800kbps. I'm sure it's a bit lower in other areas of the country, but it seems to be more in line with what the download rate is in the area. This is a key thing for anyone who SENDS a large amount of data from their phone.

 

[Badfoot]

try a different speed test app. The one I used showed upload of 245 kbs, whereas my pc on the same network showed 470kbs.

I wasted a lot of time trying to find out why the iphone upload speed was lower, but trying a different speedtest app showed the correct figure.

App I use now is the 'Speedtest.net' one, can't remember what the one was called that gave the wrong readings.

This is my previous question

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10330045#10330045

 

[chris975d]

Ok ,10 minutes of searching and I've found the problem...it's the iPhone 3GS itself. http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/slow-chip-iphone3gs/
and https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/742890/
The iPhone 3GS is hardware limited to a MAX 384kpbs upload. Wow...guess I missed this discussion a while back. This does seem crazy that a phone touted for its video (and subsequent uploading to YouTube) capabilities is hardware limited to make this "feature" almost useless when tried on the cellular network itself. Just look at some of the estimated video upload times.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Ok ,10 minutes of searching and I've found the problem...it's the iPhone 3GS itself. http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/slow-chip-iphone3gs/
and https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/742890/
The iPhone 3GS is hardware limited to a MAX 384kpbs upload. Wow...guess I missed this discussion a while back. This does seem crazy that a phone touted for its video (and subsequent uploading to YouTube) capabilities is hardware limited to make this "feature" almost useless when tried on the cellular network itself. Just look at some of the estimated video upload times.

Strange. On my 3G the highest I've been able to achieve was 850kbps upload. That could be an anomaly though since my average is usually around 350kbps and on that particular day my download was only 750kbps when it's usually over 800kbps.

 

[fridgeymonster3]

Ok ,10 minutes of searching and I've found the problem...it's the iPhone 3GS itself. http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/slow-chip-iphone3gs/
and https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/742890/
The iPhone 3GS is hardware limited to a MAX 384kpbs upload. Wow...guess I missed this discussion a while back. This does seem crazy that a phone touted for its video (and subsequent uploading to YouTube) capabilities is hardware limited to make this "feature" almost useless when tried on the cellular network itself. Just look at some of the estimated video upload times.

Is that a 3G only limitation? Because I've tested mine and over wireless at my home I get over 1 MB/s upload. I was just about to test my 3G here at work....but of course my phone just switched over to EDGE.

 

[chris975d]

Is that a 3G only limitation? Because I've tested mine and over wireless at my home I get over 1 MB/s upload. I was just about to test my 3G here at work....but of course my phone just switched over to EDGE.

Yes, this is a 3G only limitation. It does not come into play when using wifi. This is in the 3G hardware itself. It explains why I can never successfully upload any video to YouTube before the connection times out and fails. Also why sending large emails will fail out frequently before they send.

 

[ziffos]

I received my 3GS yesterday..

Having previously read this thread I have been checking the speeds every few hours and these are the upload results:-

364
198
348
365
336
314
54
269

These results are over my wireless router (netgear) at home (in the UK) on Tiscali Broadband.

 

[thelatinist]

These results are over my wireless router (netgear) at home (in the UK) on Tiscali Broadband.

This is a separate issue from the OP's. He is talking about 3G speeds over your phone provider's wireless data network, not WiFi speeds. WiFi speeds are pretty much only limited by the speed of your own broadband internet access. I get 3-4.5 Mbps upstream on my iPhone 3GS over WiFi and about 13 Mbps downstream. But that's because I get those speeds from my ISP (Cablevision/Optimum Online).

 

[chris975d]

I received my 3GS yesterday..

Having previously read this thread I have been checking the speeds every few hours and these are the upload results:-

364
198
348
365
336
314
54
269

These results are over my wireless router (netgear) at home (in the UK) on Tiscali Broadband.

The 384kbps limitation shouldn't come into play if you are connecting to a wireless router with a broadband connection. This is cellular hardware specific (if I read correctly), and will only come into play on upload speeds over your cellular connection.

 

[ziffos]

This is a separate issue from the OP's. He is talking about 3G speeds over your phone provider's wireless data network, not WiFi speeds. WiFi speeds are pretty much only limited by the speed of your own broadband internet access. I get 3-4.5 Mbps upstream on my iPhone 3GS over WiFi and about 13 Mbps downstream. But that's because I get those speeds from my ISP (Cablevision/Optimum Online).

Ah I see - thanks and sorry - it shows my inexperience not only with forums but also with the 3GS

 

[jav6454]

For all of you lost. The iPhone's 3G radio is limited to 384 Kb/s. Where as with Wi-Fi, your limit is bounded to the upload limit your ISP sets.

 

[chris975d]

Ah I see - thanks and sorry - it shows my inexperience not only with forums but also with the 3GS

Don't worry, it was an easy mistake to make. Plus, the upload speeds you listed are close to this 384kbps cap that the cellular side has, so it only made it that much easier to get confused by it. It's all good. Welcome to the forums by the way.