Am I really getting HSDPA on my T-Mobile Pulse?

[Guest jrec]

Hi there,

I'm a relative Android Newbie, though used WinMo/PPC for almost ten years. Have got to grips with my contract Pulse (Web and Walk Plus, 3GB allowance, stock 1.5 ROM) and have managed to iron out most problems. However, I have deep suspicions on the speeds I'm getting from T-Mobile and the network protocols being used.

I sit next to a colleague at work who bought a Samsung Galaxy Portal (also Android 1.5) from T-Mobile at the same time I got my Pulse. Same WnW Plus tariff. He routinely gets an H appearing as his connected network, but my Pulse stays resolutely on 3G. For a while, and researching on this forum, I thought it was just a foible of the Pulse that it just didn't acknowledge an HSDPA connection but that it was connecting at the higher speed when it could. But using Xtremelabs speedtest from the market it's clear that I'm getting basic 3G speeds (approx 320kbps downlink, c180kbps uplink) whereas he is getting (albeit slow) HSPDA speeds (c800+ downlink), but definitely faster than 3G. Out of the city centre he's up into the Mbit range whereas I remain at c320kbps whereever I have 3G coverage. And it always just says 3G.

I called 150 for the normal script-based complete lack of help. However, as I'm WnW Plus I should have HSDPA on my tariff. I certainly have the 3GB allowance. So, questions:

1. Is there something wrong in the internal Pulse settings? On paper its hardware is faster than the Portal (7.2Mbps for the Pulse vs. 3.6Mbps for the Samsung). But H never shows and speedtest is stuck at 3G speeds
   
   
2. Despite WnW+ being on my contract account, should I keep at Customer Service to enable something, even though they claim I'm on right settings for HSDPA?
   
   
3. Does a custom ROM make any difference?
   

Whatever, it's certainly disappointing to be surfing at not vastly dissimilar speeds to my old EDGE WinMo connection on Vodafone.

Any and all expertise/alternate experiences appreciated!

jrec

[Guest helikopter]

Hi there,

I'm a relative Android Newbie, though used WinMo/PPC for almost ten years. Have got to grips with my contract Pulse (Web and Walk Plus, 3GB allowance, stock 1.5 ROM) and have managed to iron out most problems. However, I have deep suspicions on the speeds I'm getting from T-Mobile and the network protocols being used.

I sit next to a colleague at work who bought a Samsung Galaxy Portal (also Android 1.5) from T-Mobile at the same time I got my Pulse. Same WnW Plus tariff. He routinely gets an H appearing as his connected network, but my Pulse stays resolutely on 3G. For a while, and researching on this forum, I thought it was just a foible of the Pulse that it just didn't acknowledge an HSDPA connection but that it was connecting at the higher speed when it could. But using Xtremelabs speedtest from the market it's clear that I'm getting basic 3G speeds (approx 320kbps downlink, c180kbps uplink) whereas he is getting (albeit slow) HSPDA speeds (c800+ downlink), but definitely faster than 3G. Out of the city centre he's up into the Mbit range whereas I remain at c320kbps whereever I have 3G coverage. And it always just says 3G.

I called 150 for the normal script-based complete lack of help. However, as I'm WnW Plus I should have HSDPA on my tariff. I certainly have the 3GB allowance. So, questions:

1. Is there something wrong in the internal Pulse settings? On paper its hardware is faster than the Portal (7.2Mbps for the Pulse vs. 3.6Mbps for the Samsung). But H never shows and speedtest is stuck at 3G speeds
   
   
2. Despite WnW+ being on my contract account, should I keep at Customer Service to enable something, even though they claim I'm on right settings for HSDPA?
   
   
3. Does a custom ROM make any difference?
   

Whatever, it's certainly disappointing to be surfing at not vastly dissimilar speeds to my old EDGE WinMo connection on Vodafone.

Any and all expertise/alternate experiences appreciated!

jrec

there was a topic discussing exactly the same problem. you can find it here:

http://android.modaco.com/content/t-mobile...a-on-the-pulse/

you can always check which network your phone is connected to by going to settings/about phone/status/mobile network type.

Edited April 13, 2010 by helikopter

[Guest ogiogi]

Hi there,

I'm a relative Android Newbie, though used WinMo/PPC for almost ten years. Have got to grips with my contract Pulse (Web and Walk Plus, 3GB allowance, stock 1.5 ROM) and have managed to iron out most problems. However, I have deep suspicions on the speeds I'm getting from T-Mobile and the network protocols being used.

I sit next to a colleague at work who bought a Samsung Galaxy Portal (also Android 1.5) from T-Mobile at the same time I got my Pulse. Same WnW Plus tariff. He routinely gets an H appearing as his connected network, but my Pulse stays resolutely on 3G. For a while, and researching on this forum, I thought it was just a foible of the Pulse that it just didn't acknowledge an HSDPA connection but that it was connecting at the higher speed when it could. But using Xtremelabs speedtest from the market it's clear that I'm getting basic 3G speeds (approx 320kbps downlink, c180kbps uplink) whereas he is getting (albeit slow) HSPDA speeds (c800+ downlink), but definitely faster than 3G. Out of the city centre he's up into the Mbit range whereas I remain at c320kbps whereever I have 3G coverage. And it always just says 3G.

I called 150 for the normal script-based complete lack of help. However, as I'm WnW Plus I should have HSDPA on my tariff. I certainly have the 3GB allowance. So, questions:

1. Is there something wrong in the internal Pulse settings? On paper its hardware is faster than the Portal (7.2Mbps for the Pulse vs. 3.6Mbps for the Samsung). But H never shows and speedtest is stuck at 3G speeds
   
   
2. Despite WnW+ being on my contract account, should I keep at Customer Service to enable something, even though they claim I'm on right settings for HSDPA?
   
   
3. Does a custom ROM make any difference?
   

Whatever, it's certainly disappointing to be surfing at not vastly dissimilar speeds to my old EDGE WinMo connection on Vodafone.

Any and all expertise/alternate experiences appreciated!

jrec

High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is an enhanced 3G (third generation) mobile telephony communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) family, also coined 3.5G, 3G+ or turbo 3G, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity.

So the 3G icon on the Pulse is correct. I get around 4200 kbps down and 1200 kbps upload from T-mobile Macedonia using the speedtest.net app from the market.

[Guest flip360]

High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is an enhanced 3G (third generation) mobile telephony communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) family, also coined 3.5G, 3G+ or turbo 3G, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity.

So the 3G icon on the Pulse is correct. I get around 4200 kbps down and 1200 kbps upload from T-mobile Macedonia using the speedtest.net app from the market.

4200? mora da si merel zastanat do t-mobile antena hahahah ;)

i had HSDPA on my Sony Ericcson W705, and the speed of the pulse is 3G not HSDPA. sorry for the non-english post ;)

Edited April 13, 2010 by flip360

[Guest jmmL]

Well it's definitely not a hardware limitation of the pulse. I'm on O2, and when I get full 3G signal I can get around 6mpbs!

[Guest jrec]

there was a topic discussing exactly the same problem. you can find it here:

http://android.modaco.com/content/t-mobile...a-on-the-pulse/

Sorry, don't know how I missed that.

The utterly amazing thing is, looking at this post in the thread (http://android.modaco.com/index.php?s=&amp...t&p=1165036) and following the instructions (as incredulous as the poster was! - and I sympathise given some of the 'advice' I've been given on that line) it *WORKED* for me! Putting it into Prefer UMTS mode in settings, then powering down, removing battery and SIM, then rebooting, brought me the same speeds as my colleague's Galaxy, for the first time ever. No H icon, but it's clear now that not something the Pulse changes.

Now I just need to resolve the problem with I see no paid apps in the Market! One for another post (with improved topic searching beforehand...).

jrec

[Guest batch_2001]

Now I just need to resolve the problem with I see no paid apps in the Market! One for another post (with improved topic searching beforehand...).

Absolutely no paid apps, or no protected paid apps?

I couldn't see protected paid apps with the (rooted) stock ROM, I ended up re-flashing to a custom ROM and I now see the app I couldn't before (and so presumably I see all the protected paid apps now):

http://android.modaco.com/content/t-mobile...e-rom-to-blame/

If that's the same issue, maybe there is a way to 'hack' the stock ROM rather than reflash to custom. I didn't investigate too much.

[Guest ogiogi]

4200? mora da si merel zastanat do t-mobile antena hahahah ;)

i had HSDPA on my Sony Ericcson W705, and the speed of the pulse is 3G not HSDPA. sorry for the non-english post ;)

:}}}}}}}}}}}

Na 100m od mene e antenata vo Gjorce hahaha. Ama zatoa vo cenatar e 800 so 800 ;)))

[Guest ogiogi]

[Guest -Wii-]

my upload is 550kb/s thats faster than some broadband connections but my download is down at 320?

Whats that all about, that would strongly suggest that it is capped, how is it possible that my phone can upload information to the server quicker than it can download it that doesn't make any sense what so ever

Ok i rang t-mobile and to be honest the woman i spoke to didn't really have a clue, she said I should be able to get speeds of up to 4mb/s

thats what I thought

She has unticked my capped data rate for me and said it wouldn't cost so will let you know if that works but won't be active until tomorrow I don't think

Edited April 13, 2010 by -Wii-

[Guest -Wii-]

my upload is 550kb/s thats faster than some broadband connections but my download is down at 320?

Whats that all about, that would strongly suggest that it is capped, how is it possible that my phone can upload information to the server quicker than it can download it that doesn't make any sense what so ever

Ok i rang t-mobile and to be honest the woman i spoke to didn't really have a clue, she said I should be able to get speeds of up to 4mb/s

thats what I thought

She has unticked my capped data rate for me and said it wouldn't cost so will let you know if that works but won't be active until tomorrow I don't think

Further to that, I have apparently sorted it out, after spending an accumulation of over an hour on the phone to them. I had to get web and walk plus added for an additional five pounds to solo 20 but i just went down to solo 15 so it didn't cost me any more.

anyway as she was processing that I ran a speed test and it went up past 350 to around 1100kb/s for the first time ever. She said it would take affect immediately. . .

then she left me a voicemail saying that she got it wrong and that wasn't the case and I have to wait a week until i can go onto that plan now.. and I am back down to 350? odd?

So I will left you know if it works in a week

[Guest -Wii-]

Further to that, I have apparently sorted it out, after spending an accumulation of over an hour on the phone to them. I had to get web and walk plus added for an additional five pounds to solo 20 but i just went down to solo 15 so it didn't cost me any more.

anyway as she was processing that I ran a speed test and it went up past 350 to around 1100kb/s for the first time ever. She said it would take affect immediately. . .

then she left me a voicemail saying that she got it wrong and that wasn't the case and I have to wait a week until i can go onto that plan now.. and I am back down to 350? odd?

So I will left you know if it works in a week

Guess what! here we are a week later my broadband booster is active, and it still doesn't work on the phone to them now.... Lets see what they say now

[Guest -Wii-]

I have decided to send you an email as I am about to have a nervous breakdown trying to deal with your Customer Services who know far less about how my phone or any phone or android or your own networks actually works! I feel Like I am the one telling them how it works. Why they insisted on each separate occasion on making me turn my phone off and take the sim card out then check if I am in a HSDPA area despite the fact I told them each time that the last person I spoke to had confirmed I was so they insisted on leaving me on hold for 10 minutes while they went to check it. Something they repeated whilst checking the phone was HSDPA capable. Which again I told them it was.

Why do you think it is acceptable for your Customer Service representative to tell me to select a £5 booster which will "100% allow me to use HSDPA" what she said, and then I turn around after waiting a week for it to be enabled, (which is also ridiculous) and It didn't work. So I then ring up and am told I have to pay another £12 For web and walk?

First of all, I already have Unlimited internet, yes its 1gb but that's quite enough for what I want it for even with HSDPA? all I want is a little bit more kick so that I can watch BBC I player without any buffering, not really too much to ask when you are the ones selling the phone is it? Bearing in mind I am in a very good signal area and its not exactly perfect I think you have an obligation to turn your speed up a bit rather than cap it at around 350kb/s

secondly what exactly are you thinking about charging £12 a month for what is essentially probably going to be topping off at around 3-4mb/s at the most in a good signal area. This is for my phone not my laptop!? Do you not think that should bear some significant difference?

What incentive are you giving me to not just go over to O2 who will as I understand allow me to access hsdpa on my phone without paying over £150 a year for the privelege of turning up the speed a little bit?

I have not every really had a problem with you before but you have pissed me off no end in this last couple of weeks, totally incapable of answering my questions when I put them forward to you, some of your staff can hardly understand me, leaving me to spell my name out about 15 times.

Last week one of your representative has me on hold on no less than 8 separate occasions one of which was well over 15 minutes. No single one of them has given me any information that matches I have seriously lost all faith in ringing you up.

Its totally unacceptable and I would like to know what you are going to do about it, and if the answer is nothing then you can kiss goodbye to £250+ you have been getting off me and I will take my business else where..

and you can reimburse me my money for the last 2 weeks of dialling customer services as you have done nothing but cause me more problems.

And a sorry have a nice day is not good enough! I am sure it will take you a week to reply anyway!!!

Sincerely!!!

One seriously Annoyed customer,

I am keeping the phone but Might not be on T-Mobile much longer

[Guest Samlock]

Get onto Orange mate, never had an issue with them personally... Sounds like you're having a rough time with T-Mob? ;)

[Guest -Wii-]

Get onto Orange mate, never had an issue with them personally... Sounds like you're having a rough time with T-Mob? ;)

all I want is unlimited texts HSDPA and like 200 calls? would quite happily pay 20-25 quid on a sim only but no one wants to give me it

[Guest meinnit]

I don't think you're allowed to stream on the £5 booster so they might use that to get out of this one!

[Guest -Wii-]

I don't think you're allowed to stream on the £5 booster so they might use that to get out of this one!

I am back on my sim 20 now

600 mins plus 200 extra mins

unlimited texts

unlimited internet (1GB)

20 quid a month

thats what i was on before

don't get me wrong I can steam I PLAYER its just that I don't see why I can't access the next level of 3g seems pointless for them to restrict me?

[Guest meinnit]

Actually streaming isn't disallowed so I'm mistaken

Unlimited Internet Booster

To choose the unlimited internet on your phone booster, text WEB to 879, call 150 from your mobile, visit one of our stores or go to www.t-mobile.co.uk. You'll have to be on a selected pay monthly plan (including current plans for new customers) to get it. The booster costs £5 a month and the cost will be added to your next bill and then every bill each month until you ask us to remove it. We'll send you a text to let you know when your booster is ready to use and you can ask us to remove your booster, simply call 150 from your mobile. You'll need internet coverage, check it at t-mobile.co.uk/streetcheck. Remember that you can only use internet on your phone in the UK and you can't use your phone as a modem or use internet on your phone for peer to peer file sharing, instant messaging or making internet phone calls. *This booster comes with a fair use policy of 1GB a month. We'll monitor how much you send and receive each calendar month so that we can protect our network for all our customers. If you use more than your fair use policy amount, we won't charge you any more, but we may restrict how you can use your booster, depending on how often you go over your amount and by how much. If you remove your booster and then use internet on your phone you'll automatically be charged our daily rate, see t-mobile.co.uk.

[Guest MountfordD]

I was and still am, on SIM 15 (which includes unlimited internet), using a Pulse.

Before actually parting with my money for the Pulse, I rang T-Mobile to confirm a few details and this is what they told me:

1. I can buy any T-Mobile or any SIM-free phone and simply put my existing SIM card into it. All existing functions with the SIM 15 plan will continue working and as it includes unlimited internet, the SIM 15 plan is ideal for a smartphone.

2. As the Pulse is mobile broadband compatible, I can use it as such with my computer connected (tethered) to it. BUT it will not work at mobile broadband speeds even if I am in a covered area unless I took out the extra Mobile Broadband Booster. This will cost as near as damn it, £20 for a 5Gb monthly limit or £11 for a 3Gb limit, plus 17.5% VAT on top.

I have confirmed this by using my phone as a standard modem with my laptop using the Android Bridge adb and Proxoid (http://wiki.modaco.com/index.php/Huawei_U8220) but I CANNOT turn on to HSDPA (mobile broadband) speeds unless I pay for one of the Boosters. AFAIK I can burn up as much bandwidth as I can eat at GPRS speeds or slower with no cap.

My only major reason for wanting HSDPA speeds is to have broadband convenience on my laptop when staying away from home but as I have since found, there isn't a lot I can do on my laptop that I can't do on my phone and a tethered GPRS connection suffices in the other instances, so I can't really justify spending another £15 a month.

If you really cannot live without broadband speeds, there are a surprising number of WI-FI hotspots around the country - either free or PAYG gateways. This may prove cheaper than buying a mobile broadband booster.

[Guest -Wii-]

Got a phone call from t-mobile this morning, I don't think the guy even took the time to bother reading the email past the title to be honest with you completely didn't understand the point I was getting at

has anyone got an email of someone English of which I can send this email that will fully understand that I am not happy, I am fed up of dealing with foreign ***** reading off scripts. ?

[Guest Hornet69]

Get onto Orange mate, never had an issue with them personally... Sounds like you're having a rough time with T-Mob? ;)

lol, quite soon they will be one in the same in the UK ;)

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/01/t_orange_approved/

[Guest Hornet69]

Got a phone call from t-mobile this morning, I don't think the guy even took the time to bother reading the email past the title to be honest with you completely didn't understand the point I was getting at

has anyone got an email of someone English of which I can send this email that will fully understand that I am not happy, I am fed up of dealing with foreign ***** reading off scripts. ?

This may help??

If you don't get help from the bottom, try the top?

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/about-t...y/uk-directors/

[Guest klutsh]

From what information I was given when having the same problem,

Web n' Walk+ is HSDPA (That's the £5 a month or £20 for 6 month booster)

I'm on a PAYG Sim and got the Free Unlimited internet package from them, that was Limited, They gave me the 6 month booster as a keep me quiet sort of thing when they decided to block gTalk and Market downloads for all non WnW+ users, I now get around 1680kbps, That about right in my area as thats all I get from Three and O2 too.

Your best option is to go into the store, they are the retailers and regardless of what they say it is their job to sort out any problems you are having, you should not have to call a service center.

The free allowance that comes as standard is NOT HSDPA and is capped at 350kbps.

As for tethering to a Laptop all providers consider that Mobile Broadband and charge extra for it.

[Guest -Wii-]

From what information I was given when having the same problem,

Web n' Walk+ is HSDPA (That's the £5 a month or £20 for 6 month booster)

I'm on a PAYG Sim and got the Free Unlimited internet package from them, that was Limited, They gave me the 6 month booster as a keep me quiet sort of thing when they decided to block gTalk and Market downloads for all non WnW+ users, I now get around 1680kbps, That about right in my area as thats all I get from Three and O2 too.

Your best option is to go into the store, they are the retailers and regardless of what they say it is their job to sort out any problems you are having, you should not have to call a service center.

The free allowance that comes as standard is NOT HSDPA and is capped at 350kbps.

As for tethering to a Laptop all providers consider that Mobile Broadband and charge extra for it.

How exactly are they ether to know if you are tethering your connection. I understand what your saying, but surely the appreciate that you aren't going to use your phone with a 3gb allowance purely as your main internet source.

Im quite happy to accept 3g when out and about, if they could take my connection up to around 600kb/s i would be happy just 350 when in a poor signal area can go down just a little bit too low

[Guest MountfordD]

I get the impression that T-Mobile's marketing department does not communicate with the rest of the company, certainly not with Support! They also suffer from fancy product names that simply confuse the issue. What they call Web 'n' Walk is really HSDPA. The "Unlimited internet" as klutsh pointed out is plain GPRS. Added to that, PAYG and SIM 15, 20, etc. differ. The SIM products are really monthly contracts and it includes genuine unlimited GPRS internet while with PAYG, you pay for everything including internet access. Buying a £5 booster is therefore the cheapest way to get internet access on PAYG but it is only GPRS. To achieve HSDPA, you have to buy the more expensive booster regardless of whichever plan.

When they talk about charging for tethering, what they really mean is using your phone at HSDPA speeds - ie. getting the expensive booster. Tethering at GPRS speeds is achievable and cost nothing more. It is simply using your phone as a proxy. It connects to the internet using GPRS as normal and the packets sent by your computer is routed via the phone. It is very slow compared with HSDPA and streaming is really out of the question.

I have found that calling 150 in the mornings gets me to a call centre in Europe - sounds like Holland by the accent and I have found that the operatives seem a lot more knowledgeable and more "with it". If you want to stream, I really don't think you've got any choice but to get the HSDPA booster or change your supplier.

Hope you get your problems resolved.