3G slower by the day...

[AtrusNex]

800Kbps to 3Mbps usually. This is fine for me at-least.

 

[AdamPA1006]

probably there is so many more ppl on verizon smart phones than last year

 

[???]

wow.. I'd call that really good. anything around 1meg and my phone is happy. get Dow under like .3 and it lags badly, kills the battery fast and gets hot trying to surf on it.


wish I could get your speeds here. I've never seen 3meg even on my WiFi. even thou I have on other WiFi, mine just hates my phone. lol

 

[???]

probably there is so many more ppl on verizon smart phones than last year

that's what I was thinking..

 

[AtrusNex]

wow.. I'd call that really good. anything around 1meg and my phone is happy. get Dow under like .3 and it lags badly, kills the battery fast and gets hot trying to surf on it.


wish I could get your speeds here. I've never seen 3meg even on my WiFi. even thou I have on other WiFi, mine just hates my phone. lol

If it's killing your battery it sounds like you're switching between 3G and 1X a lot. You said you updated your roaming, and since you had good signal at one time the only thing I can imagine is physical interference (cases and the like) or just server load. It could be your radio is bad but I've never really seen a case of that and couldn't tell you.

 

[mcatdtDroid]

I blame everyone that tethers for free, ruining it for others

 

[ruinah]

I've had this same thought for the last month or so. I just ran a test and got 475kbps down and 755kbps up. I used to easily get over a meg. I had 3 bars with that test on 3G. I just ran it a second time and got 245kbps down and 893kbps up. I am using the Speedtest.net app for this, not sure how accurate it really is or not. I then changed the server from something local to a server in Michigan (halfway across the country) and got 229kbps down and 750kbps up. Fairly consistent I guess but not as good as I would like to see. In my usability of the phone I haven't noticed much of a lag or anything, some webpages load faster than others of course.

 

[Arkainzeye]

My 3g speeds in Pittsburgh pa have been cut in half. I thought it was my phone until I seen this thread...

 

[keiichi25]

I'm joining this a little late and didn't read the other pages but something you should all understand.

Just like the comment about how DSL is better than Cable for Internet speeds, the true problem for Wireless 3G is a limitation of the number of people using it in that particular area. Towers, regardless of range or 'line of sight', will have a limitation of how much information it can pump out on its radio to a number of users within range. As more and more people happen to 'latch on' to a tower within range, the bandwidth of that tower is reduced.

It's like turning on a faucet in a small building. The water comes out pretty fast when it is opened up all the way, but if someone else in that building starts using the water, it slows down, and slows down again as more and more people uses other faucets there.

What little I saw in the first page is also true. More and more people are now adopting smartphones, more so due to the novelty that iPhone has approached things, but now people are seeing the benefits of smartphones beyond the corporate area. Blackberry actually had a good thing going for them in the Corporate world, but with the iPhone bringing in non-corporate people into the mix and the Droid now touting how it is a good iPhone Competitor, the drive for BB, iPhone and Droid based smartphones are now making 3G data become more strained due to demands. Add to it, people making use of the Wireless Broadband Modems for computers, you have several users who might be abusing the network more than they should be... Hence the hoopla before about "Unlimited Internet" debates before.

 

[barcodelinux]

keiichi25 makes some good points.

However, I do believe that big red also has some blame to share here. I think they are falling into the trap of raking in huge profits without upgrading their network (think AT&T) whilst selling millions of smartphones every month.

 

[???]

sucks when my iPhone friends are pulling down 3 meg here with no issues and I am at .03ish. it is better around town in some places. but never what it used to be.


oh and I find the speedtest.net app lies on upload speed. I'd you have flash load the real site and are the up you're really getting. it then matches the other speed test apps.

 

[keiichi25]

keiichi25 makes some good points.

However, I do believe that big red also has some blame to share here. I think they are falling into the trap of raking in huge profits without upgrading their network (think AT&T) whilst selling millions of smartphones every month.

Actually, any company is going to suffer this, not just Verizon, but also Sprint with their 4G network hype and people rushing to get Evo 4G and the 4G broadband they have been hyping for the last year.

You have to remember, regardless of whoever you go with, there will always be a big demand and people hopping the boat. Even companies like Blizzard did not expect a huge out turn of people on their first release of World of Warcraft and frantically trying to keep up with demand. And even with now knowing rough demands, every time they have a major patch or expansion, they suffer some serious issues due to demand. And they even had Sony's SOE/Verant model for Everquest to see the potential and still not account for the dramatic upsurge of people on the first few days.

Also, remember... No one really looked at the Droid seriously until the Verizon/Droid viral commercials. When T-Mobile touted their Android phone, Google G1 and the MyTouch series, I don't recall many people making a big deal about it until Verizon did their "iCan't" viral commercials that made the Droid phone look like the better alternative to the iPhone and it wasn't even locked into AT&T.

Also, the only serious alternative to the iPhone was the Blackberry, and even I didn't really want to make my personal phone a Blackberry. When I saw the droid commercial, I was looking forward to see what could be done. I compared it next to the Blackberry Storm on the same network and in the same region and decided to go with a Droid because it just seemed better than the Blackberry and more to my liking.

It still currently is, and now that I am with just this phone and not at my old job, while there are some things I miss with the blackberry, I still prefer the Droid over the Blackberry overall.

But like with all things, as well as the supposed belief that iPhones no longer being sold in New York due to saturation (apparently, there is an article stating this is not the case...) The fact that Sprint, AT&T and Verizon are looking at re-adjusting their stance with Data, (Even though their current data plans do have a cap) because of the demand for smartphones have, quite literally, exploded and will be even more the case if the rumor of Apple getting Qualcomm CDMA chips for a new batch of iPhone 4 is true, which means Verizon and Sprint will also be taking more data loads for iPhone users who might switch to them over AT&T for one reason or another.

 

[???]

I don't know.. I mean of its load like say dsl it would get faster on off peak times. I started my tread at like 3am. I doubt the tower was in heavy use at 3am.

I think they have just dialed is back or something.


either way, so much for Verizon costingmore but being worth it for the service. so far i saw it at first on a road trip from Tampa to NC but the last few my friends with tmo and at&t both are holding their own. in fact when I was in California for the motogp race. when it was over I tried to make calls to hook up with friends on the way out and dropped 3 in a row, with good bars. had to have my tmo buddy make the calls. 20mins later as it thined out. mine worked again. I never really make voice calls but damn if that didn't suck when I just left tmo 6months ago and was telling everyone it was because of the service. I got owned... now the data side is failing me in town.


I'm just bummed.

 

[mjforte]

Yeah I notice it slowing down now too. I looked at some speedtest results back in May and average speed was 1-1.5 mbps, even as high as 1.9. Now I do a speedtest and get maybe 600 kbps at best...this really sucks.

 

[lumpysherman]

There a lot of new Droid X owners as well as D2 owners along with the old D1 owners that are not going to upgrade, like me. Add that and OTA updates, tethering, and possible some VZW throttling could explain the slow dow. Also schools are back in session, kids with new phones with data plans... How about sun spots!?!?!? It is a full moon you know! OK I'm reaching on the last two I hope you see where I am going.
Droid ON peeps..