XT vs Voda speed

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › XT vs Voda speed

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ahmad

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#304818 5-Mar-2010 15:40

freitasm:
ahmad: I don't think the methodology is particularly flawed because the limitations are well recognised. I'm just looking at how to do the best job possible.

The limitations are well recognised by you, me and others here. But John Doe on the street uses an iPhone and every time it fails he blames the network, when we know here the handset itself has some problems...

With respect, the report I published last August when I first tested was titled:

"XT Faster in More Dunedin Places for iPhone 3G"

One of the summary statements in conclusion was:

"It is clear from these tests that as of 7 August 2009, an iPhone runs “faster in more Dunedin places”.

I'm pretty sure I made it clear to John Doe and if JD is one to use my report to say "see - XT is better than Vodafone 3G", then he's going to come to that conclusion regardless of whether I publish a report or not.

harrylin

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#305062 6-Mar-2010 18:06

Lol. iPhone radio doesn't have any problem. My iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS both work very very well on XT. The problems lies on the network which provides the signal to my iPhones. No matter If I use sanding omnia 2 or iPhone or Nokia e71, or whatever phone, the 3G signal always drops back to 2G on Vodafone. 900mhz 3G signal doesn't even exist in big cities. Lol. So who cares about that?? Obviously, XT is new, so the speed I got was max out at 5.5mb. Vodafone max speed I got was about 1.7mb. And Vodafone doesn't give me constant signal for me to browse the web. I don't want 2G anymore, and nobody does. Lol. Lots of places in chch where there is no 3G 2100mhz signal at all. Even in chch city center my iPhone 3G signal drops to 2G. So what the heck is that then?? This problem doesn't happen to my iPhone on XT network. I have no problem with signal strength except some network outages. In my opinion, iPhone radio doesn't have any problem. It works fairly well on XT as far as I know. I have owned all 3 iPhones.

harrylin

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#305064 6-Mar-2010 18:14

I know how difficult is has been for me to use my iPhones on Vodafone. And obviously I have seen Many other iPhone users who always lost signal all the time with their iPhone on Vodafone and complaints. Majority of iPhone users don't jailbreak iPhones and don't know that their iPhones can work on XT. I just talked to a guy today who got a iPhone and he doesn't even know what an iMac is and he doesn't even know about Apple Inc. Lol

freitasm

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#305127 6-Mar-2010 23:47

Harrylin, your theory is incorrect because the iPhone connects to two different networks - 2100MHz on Vodafone and 850MHz on Telecom. Its radio has some problems on 2100MHz.

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harrylin

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#305129 6-Mar-2010 23:58

So my samsung omnia 2 and nokia e71 shouldn have problems. Why do they not work well on 2100Mhz Vodafone as well?? These 2 phones behave the same as iPhone on vodafon network. You don't know how hard I tried to make them work on voda. You have A samsung omnia. Do you. But I have a omnia 2

harrylin

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#305130 7-Mar-2010 00:01

My samsung omnia 2 and e71 connect to 900mhz 3g, right. But I can't see any sight of that signal around here, not even in rural area. 2g is everywhere but I don't need it

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sbiddle

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#305181 7-Mar-2010 10:09

harrylin: Lol. iPhone radio doesn't have any problem. My iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS both work very very well on XT. The problems lies on the network which provides the signal to my iPhones. No matter If I use sanding omnia 2 or iPhone or Nokia e71, or whatever phone, the 3G signal always drops back to 2G on Vodafone. 900mhz 3G signal doesn't even exist in big cities. Lol. So who cares about that?? Obviously, XT is new, so the speed I got was max out at 5.5mb. Vodafone max speed I got was about 1.7mb. And Vodafone doesn't give me constant signal for me to browse the web. I don't want 2G anymore, and nobody does. Lol. Lots of places in chch where there is no 3G 2100mhz signal at all. Even in chch city center my iPhone 3G signal drops to 2G. So what the heck is that then?? This problem doesn't happen to my iPhone on XT network. I have no problem with signal strength except some network outages. In my opinion, iPhone radio doesn't have any problem. It works fairly well on XT as far as I know. I have owned all 3 iPhones.

You totally misunderstand why handsets drop back to GSM mode. This can happen for a variety of reasons, lack of 2100 coverage being only one. If you don't want GSM buy a handset that supports 900/2100 3G and lock it to 3G mode. Saying that XT doesn't drop back to GSM is just nonsense as Telecom don't have a GSM network.

If you establish a packet switched data session on Vodafone 3G your session will stay on 3G providing you are in 3G coverage. It will not hand down to GSM unless you drop out of 3G coverage entirely. If you are handed over to GSM or establish a data session in a GSM coverage area your packet switched data session will hand back to 3G when you are back in 3G coverage.

If you're in an area with strong GSM and 3G coverage then any handset that is set for dual mode can easily chop and change between both GSM and 3G networks. You're asking the phone to lock on to the strongest signal and it's doing just that. Neither the phone or network is broken, it's performing as you asked it.

If you're on many 3G networks around the world and make a voice call on 3G at times the call can drop back to GSM. It will then stay on GSM and will not step back to 3G even if you're in a 3G coverage area, this is exactly the case with Vodafone NZ. It makes perfect sence to carry voice traffic on an existing GSM network so that the 3G network can be left to handle data.

Speed issues on the iPhone using 2100 are known about, just because you don't think there isn't a problem doesn't mean one doesn't actually exist.

ahmad

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#307491 15-Mar-2010 18:58

Ok I will be repeating the iPhone Speed test tomorrow in Dunedin.

I have decided that instead of using the potentially inaccurate SpeedTest App for iPhone, that I will instead tether my laptop to the iPhone instead.

I would appreciate any help on making the test as valid as possible. Here is what I have worked out so far:

1. I will be using an Intel MacBook running 10.6.2 and Safari 4.0.5, tethered via USB to the iPhone

2. I will run "Software Update" and make all updates before testing, to minimise risk of background updating and checking during the tests

3. According to Steve, I should try to download a 20Mb+ file from an Akamai server like an MS update - "anything less and HSDPA has hardly ramped up so it's not an accurate test". Although someone else has suggested 10Mb would do?

4. Do I just download said file using Safari and time the download? Do I reset Safari and cache before and after each test? What else do I have to do?

Any other advice would be truly appreciated. This test will be run at several sites in Dunedin tomorrow, and XT and Vodafone 3G SIMs will be alternated at each site for the testing.

NonprayingMantis

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#307505 15-Mar-2010 19:43

suggestion:
at eachlocation run it five or more times per SIM, with each SIM alternating (so it goes, XT, Voda, XT, voda, XT, Voda, etc). discard the highest and lowest of each one, and average the other three.

ahmad

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#307520 15-Mar-2010 20:07

Not sure I'm going to have enough data to do that to be honest.

I haven't even worked out how long it will take to download a 10Mb or 20Mb file tomorrow.

If I have 100Mb data available - what is the best use of this? More sites or more tests at the same site(s)?

ahmad

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#307881 16-Mar-2010 16:38

Ok testing has been conducted at 4 central Dunedin locations scattered around the city geographically (all supplied by Vodafone 3G signal).

Results will be compiled and hopefully can be up late this evening (probably later rather than sooner).

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ahmad

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#308139 17-Mar-2010 08:56

Hi everyone, I have conducted a repeat speed test for Dunedin locations using an iPhone 3G after hearing of changes made to the backhaul of Vodafone 3G which should improve speeds.

The results of the test suggest that regardless of any improvement in speeds (it was hard to compare because of inaccurate data from the first test last August), XT is still clearly ahead when it comes to raw speed.

There may be any number of reasons for this (including an undisclosed number of XT users shifting to Vodafone for their voice and data), and I would welcome your thoughts and any corrections in my data or conclusions.

Check out my blog post below which summarises the results and links to the full report:

iPhone 3G is STILL faster in more Dunedin places on Telecom XT

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