Ridiculous download speeds... fast/slow why?

[DevL]

I am using the speedtest.net app for my speeds.

When I am at work I get Download/Upload speeds like this...

2.28Mbs /.73Mbs
2.52Mbs /.78Mbs
2.17Mbs /.77Mbs
1.85M /.66M
1.90Mbs /.64Mbs

This is just great for 3G! Very happy!

At home with wifi I get...

7.94Mbs /1.08Mbs
7.82Mbs /.75Mbs

Also great there and I am happy!

However, my 3G at home is ridiculously slow on download but not upload... some examples.

.08Mbs /.80Mbs
.08Mbs /.74Mbs
.01Mbs /.77Mbs
.05Mbs /.66Mbs
.02Mbs /.72Mbs

I live in the Galleria area of Houston... a very populated area. This speed exists even standing outside. I did get my fastest reading outside my apt though...

.10Mbs /.69Mbs

Am I supposed to believe that Verizon has a major area of Houston, the largest shopping area of the 4th largest city in America, with a 3G network of .01 to .1 Mbs maximum capability? I show 4 bars of reception at all locations. Calls work great, uploads work great, but I am forced to use wifi at home and if I go anywhere outside my home my downloads are so slow I cant use the 3G network for certain items like Pandora, etc.

What is going on here and how do I fix it?

 

[Backnblack]

Just a stab here...

Have you updated your PRL?

 

[DevL]

Is that the one where you upload most current cell towers? I researched that before posting and that was my only stab at a fix and it did nothing. Why can I upload up to 10X-70X faster than I download though? I would think a bad cell tower fix would kill my upload speeds as well.

 

[Backnblack]

Know anyone else with a Droid? maybe you can do a side by side comparison.

 

[jsh1120]

I am using the speedtest.net app for my speeds.



I live in the Galleria area of Houston... a very populated area. This speed exists even standing outside. I did get my fastest reading outside my apt though...

.

Let me guess...You test your 3G speed when you (and all your neighbors) get off work and start using their phones in your "very populated area."

 

[DevL]

I work night shift so my work times are 10pm to 6am. I just tested now at home at 9:40 AM. Results re typical for home no matter if its day or night for this location.

.05Mbs download .66 Mbs upload 9:40 AM

Other times I tested at home have been...

4:18 PM .10 up /.69 down
8:53 PM .02 up /.71 down

I have not had the phone long, only about a week. I am a police officer and we use some sort of Verizon connection for our wireless notebooks in our vehicles. Could it be that I am getting such great results at work because of some sort of amp boosting my signal in the vehicle or at the station? The municipality I work for is very small on the border of Houston and only a few square miles in size. Perhaps there is a close tower for the city I work in but not at home? I have not had the opportinity to try the speed elsewhere in Houston to see if it is just slow at home or just fast at work. I have one reading on the 290 freeway between home and work and it was...

.24 Mbs up / .61 Mbs down at 9:39PM and Pandora ran fine on the way to work.

 

[DevL]

Know anyone else with a Droid? maybe you can do a side by side comparison.

No, unfortuantely everyone else I know with a smart phone has an iPhone or Blackberry.

 

[DevL]

So noone else gets downloads that slow? Is it my phone? The Verizon network in my area? Some setting? Any ideas appreciated!

 

[BiGJaYDROID]

if your getting 7+ mbps a second on wifi then it is def not your phone... and def sounds like your squad car and station are giving you a boost while your at werk def check around any other areas you can get to away from your squad car and try to re program your phone #228... see if that helps good luck ....

 

[megaerairae]

bump. I think this may be a Verizon network issue. I've been having the same problem. I live between the Galleria and West U. Might be time to call Verizon.

 

[takeshi]

What is going on here and how do I fix it?

You don't. It's a known data issue in the Galleria area in Houston. Don't forget 611. Symptoms like this tend to indicate network issues of some sort.

I've been having data issues at home myself but I'm in Montrose. They claimed it was related. Guess we'll see...

 

[megaerairae]

What weirds me out is that for me, I was tooling along just fine till half a week ago. Now my speeds aren't just slow; they're non-existent. No download. Nada. It almost seems like it's spreading like some sort of download-less epidemic. For Pete's sake, I literally live right across the street from a Verizon Store!

 

[kodiak799]

I get variances as well. Have seen 2-2.5 mps on 3G at off-peak times, and maybe half that at busier times. Tested from the same area. In your case, signal strength could also factor in.

Got the same thing with WiFi at home. Have peaked at over 10mps, just the other day got around half that. I can test my laptop and get similar results, but like 8-9mps vs. 16+mps.

 

[twentw]

Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but I'm experiencing a similar issue. My wife just got a Droid X. We live in the Galleria area of Houston (actually closer to Greenway Plaza) and the 3G download speeds are consistently bad - typically 250-350 kbps. In fact, upload speeds are consistently 2-3 times faster. And my iPhone on AT&T is about 8-10 times faster at the same location.

Is anyone else still experiencing slow downloads in this area, and is there anything that can be done?

 

[furbearingmammal]

You can try rooting and installing the unthrottled mod.

Right now there may be problems with the 3G network due to the the LTE rollout.

For comparison the connection at my house is so bad I can have 4 bars and my 3G will cut out every 5-10 seconds.