T-Mobile HSDPA speeds plummetting

[Guest pete_thomson]

When I joined in March I was gettings close to 1Mbps speeds from my handset, but now it's struggling to get to 300kbps.

Anyone noticed a large drop in speeds???

Pete

[Guest estechco]

When I joined in March I was gettings close to 1Mbps speeds from my handset, but now it's struggling to get to 300kbps.

Anyone noticed a large drop in speeds???

Pete

Did you read through this thread to see if anything in it was relevant?

[Guest deanparkr]

When I joined in March I was gettings close to 1Mbps speeds from my handset, but now it's struggling to get to 300kbps.

Anyone noticed a large drop in speeds???

Pete

Looks like you've lost HSPDA speeds and gone down to 3G. Have you tried calling T to see if HSDPA is still enabled on the account?

haha wow! Just realised Pete, your the same person who helped me get HSDPA activated on my account via PM! Thanks! hehe ;)

Edited September 9, 2008 by deanparkr

[Guest pete_thomson]

Looks like you've lost HSPDA speeds and gone down to 3G. Have you tried calling T to see if HSDPA is still enabled on the account?

haha wow! Just realised Pete, your the same person who helped me get HSDPA activated on my account via PM! Thanks! hehe ;)

Glad I could help!

I've been using the phone a lot recently and noticed that speeds being all over the place.

I CAN get more than 384kbps (currently 586kbps) so thankfully I've not been demoted.

I can only think that as I'm in a large city that T-mobile not got enough b/w to go around!!!

[Guest andrewkeith5]

you're not using opera 9.5 are you out of interst?

from experience opera 9.5 on my tytn ii has proven itself to be unbelievably slow at downloading and rendering pages, gaining results os as little as 300kbps when internet explorer mobile in the same location and basically at the same time (as soon as one test finishes, the other begins, so on the same connection also) gets around 1mbps. when I access w'n'w through my laptop i tend to get around 1.2-1.7mbps using internet explorer 7, 8, and google chrome

which leads me to believe that its not the network speed thats reducing in my case, its just that the browsers i'm using a really really slow

obviously, this might not be the case for yourself, but its what i've been experiencing.

[Guest rikwebb]

Try using www.dslreports.com/mspeed

I must say, I have just run a few tests with the H showing on my diamond and got the following poor results:

2kb

45kb

90kb

46kb

32kb

WTF ????

[Guest andrewkeith5]

Always using mSpeed and the 1mb file, I just got:

1077, 1145, 917, 649, 719, 909, 965, 1069, 557, 889 kbit/s using Internet Explorer Mobile

this makes an average of 889.6 kb/s

all of those speeds were taken consecutively at 11:20am in a HSDPA signal (H showing on my T-Mobile Vario III with TLR rom) with 1-2 out of 5 bars (basically, I'm right on the edge of the cell boundary) - plus I'm on Web 'n' Walk standard so am technically not allowed HSDPA access, so the problem must be with either the phone or the particular mast you're connected to

have you tried in any different locations?

[Guest deanparkr]

Today I saw 120k down on the "Internet explorer download box".

Not too bad ;)

Its usually around 120-190k. So I guess it has wobbled a bit recently but nothing too bad.

[Guest Confucious]

I'm getting about 650 - 700k but have bad reception at home.

120k? That's awful!

[Guest deanparkr]

I'm getting about 650 - 700k but have bad reception at home.

120k? That's awful!

I think ive got the k /kbs /kwhatever wrong.

The speeds I have feel fast. Its much faster since the days of standard 3G on T-Mobile. 120k = 1.2mbps? (????????????)

[Guest Confucious]

120k will be 120 kilo BYTES per second = 120 X 8 kilo BITS per second = 960kbs = not bad ;)

For mor accurate readings use www.dslreports.com/mspead

[Guest rikwebb]

Strange, today in exactly the same place, I got:

1135

194

53

1175

333

1071

381

All with H showing at 2 bars on a diamond using ie.

Then with Opera:

292

155

275

1064

1070

1096

I dont think there is any pattern!

Rik

[Guest Mark]

I'm still not actually convinced with the accuracy of this speed checker.

Maybe there is a more reliable one out there that can be used from phones?

I got 47 using o2 GPRS, and 1664 using wifi from a DSL line... Both of these are on the N95

You lot are all lucky you can get 3g/HSDPA, none of that around here!

[Guest rawly]

I agree with the first post. I've had T-Mobile HSPDA since it launched. I originally had the T-Mobile Pro Card for my laptop on a separate tariff, but last year integrated it all into my phone price plan with WnW Plus bolted on.

Nothing has changed with my setup, still have a Vario III which I use heavily as a MODEM on my laptop. Same place I mainly use it, but over the last 3 or 4 months the service is so bad I'm often left with download speeds closer to GPRS than HSPDA. It's not the connection to the network from what I can tell. I'm lucky to download at 20k at the moment. I used to get 250k-300k. Often get "Remote host disconnected". Images are re-purposed, so even downloading those little <1k gif images to navigate around Forum sites take 5-20 seconds to download them. I use FTP alot. The Ping time to get access to many sites is so slow, the FTP times out. We're talking 10-20 seconds just to make the connection every time I do an upload or download.

Hostnames often don't resolve all the time. It seems random. Sometimes I can't acces "Yahoo" Mail as I can't resolve the domain, sometimes it's the BBC News site, sometimes it won't resolve ftp sites I use. All random annoyances that I waste 5 or 10 minutes having to try reconnections to the network. Constantly having to CTRL-F5, and refresh to force a name server resolution. This is even on major sites like BBC and Yahoo.

Something has definately happened to the network, it is so sluggish it is a waste of £12.50 at the moment. It's almost to the point it is unuseable. I'll probably be off to Vodaphone next month (when my T-Mobile contract runs out). They've won awards for their mobile broadband. I think T-Mobile have let the grass grow under their feet i'm sorry to say. Not updated their infrastructure to accomodate all their customer. Slowing the download process by re-purposing images, even GIfs that are tiny anyway - is just loading down the response time. The big tell-tale sign is when you do pings! It's got awful response times through their network at the moment.

Awful! Have I made my point, d-ya think!

Edited September 30, 2008 by rawly

[Guest smartyspantswales]

I agree with the first post. I've had T-Mobile HSPDA since it launched. I originally had the T-Mobile Pro Card for my laptop on a separate tariff, but last year integrated it all into my phone price plan with WnW Plus bolted on.

Nothing has changed with my setup, still have a Vario III which I use heavily as a MODEM on my laptop. Same place I mainly use it, but over the last 3 or 4 months the service is so bad I'm often left with download speeds closer to GPRS than HSPDA. It's not the connection to the network from what I can tell. I'm lucky to download at 20k at the moment. I used to get 250k-300k. Often get "Remote host disconnected". Images are re-purposed, so even downloading those little <1k gif images to navigate around Forum sites take 5-20 seconds to download them. I use FTP alot. The Ping time to get access to many sites is so slow, the FTP times out. We're talking 10-20 seconds just to make the connection every time I do an upload or download.

Hostnames often don't resolve all the time. It seems random. Sometimes I can't acces "Yahoo" Mail as I can't resolve the domain, sometimes it's the BBC News site, sometimes it won't resolve ftp sites I use. All random annoyances that I waste 5 or 10 minutes having to try reconnections to the network. Constantly having to CTRL-F5, and refresh to force a name server resolution. This is even on major sites like BBC and Yahoo.

Something has definately happened to the network, it is so sluggish it is a waste of £12.50 at the moment. It's almost to the point it is unuseable. I'll probably be off to Vodaphone next month (when my T-Mobile contract runs out). They've won awards for their mobile broadband. I think T-Mobile have let the grass grow under their feet i'm sorry to say. Not updated their infrastructure to accomodate all their customer. Slowing the download process by re-purposing images, even GIfs that are tiny anyway - is just loading down the response time. The big tell-tale sign is when you do pings! It's got awful response times through their network at the moment.

Awful! Have I made my point, d-ya think!

[Guest smartyspantswales]

Even worse here, i live right by a phone mast and use an ariel and get a steady 97% hspa reception. speeds at peak time have declined from 1.2megs in november last year to sub 56kbps, as low as 3kbps, speeds at off peak have degraded to around 150kbps and getting worse week on week. Phoning up does no good, get some idiot on the other side saying modem must be faulty. If i stick a 3 sim card in (its unlocked), i get over 500kbps peak time. Im stuck on this crappy contract for another 13 months at 35 quid a month. What started as a brill service is no completely useless. heres a speed test from a minute ago. http://www.speedtest.net/result/332771011.png. I live in south wales by the way, a town called Abertillery.

[Guest humph12345]

T-mobile are having the same problem Vodafone had a few years ago.

You upgrade the network and start marketing your HSDPA network, you sign up lots of new customers, more than the network can cope with and speeds drop right off.

Vodafone have less capacity in their netwok than T-mobile, they want to put more in, but can't afford too.

Edited October 5, 2008 by humph12345

[Guest Confucious]

I'd never had more than 1200k but have been getting 1450 approx regularly now - guess it's not to congested here!

[Guest smartyspantswales]

I'd never had more than 1200k but have been getting 1450 approx regularly now - guess it's not to congested here!

what part of the country are you out of interest??

ive used it in many places down south and most places are pretty poor now, devon was the best when i used it on holiday, but everywhere ive tried it south wales in recent months has been sub 100kbps at between 7pm and midnight.

and with virgin mobile broadband sitting on top now, i cant see things getting any better for most of us anytime soon.

maybe your mast has been upgraded. i remember reading about bt fitting ethernet based backhaul of around 40megs to each phone mast instead of the crappy 2mb ones they use now.

does anyone know if thats actually started yet?

[Guest smartyspantswales]

i'm certainly not the only one getting sub 56k speeds, judging by these reviews

http://www.mobile-phones-uk.org.uk/t-mobile-broadband.htm

[Guest Confucious]

Here in Woking I get as low as 770kbs but usually nearer 1400. The lower speeds are at home where my reception isn't very good and the higher speeds at my office in the centre of town.

[Guest FlangeArtist]

you're not using opera 9.5 are you out of interst?

from experience opera 9.5 on my tytn ii has proven itself to be unbelievably slow at downloading and rendering pages, gaining results os as little as 300kbps when internet explorer mobile in the same location and basically at the same time (as soon as one test finishes, the other begins, so on the same connection also) gets around 1mbps. when I access w'n'w through my laptop i tend to get around 1.2-1.7mbps using internet explorer 7, 8, and google chrome

which leads me to believe that its not the network speed thats reducing in my case, its just that the browsers i'm using a really really slow

obviously, this might not be the case for yourself, but its what i've been experiencing.

Using HTC Diamond, from the exact same location, loading pages one after the other and then again in the different order

Using Opera 9.5 - 312Kbs

Using IE - 1213Kbs

Shows that Opera is the problem!

[Guest deanparkr]

i'm certainly not the only one getting sub 56k speeds, judging by these reviews

http://www.mobile-phones-uk.org.uk/t-mobile-broadband.htm

Ive been using T-Mobile HSDPA alot more now Uni has started - i'm getting great speeds at around 120k ;)

Thats down in the South.

[Guest humph12345]

maybe your mast has been upgraded. i remember reading about bt fitting ethernet based backhaul of around 40megs to each phone mast instead of the crappy 2mb ones they use now.

does anyone know if thats actually started yet?

Not started and I know of no plans as yet. And I am upgrading T-mobiles network.

[Guest humph12345]

Here in Woking I get as low as 770kbs but usually nearer 1400. The lower speeds are at home where my reception isn't very good and the higher speeds at my office in the centre of town.

If you live near the football ground you may see an improvement from next wednesday. I am upgrading the site wednesday morning, only doubling the capacity though, usually it would increase four fold, but the links aren't available.