dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
7912

triptrailz
@clearwire-wmx.net

triptrailz to eieiomax

Anon

to eieiomax

Re: MARCH 2011 4G WiMax Speeds



change is good.
»www.speedtest.net/result ··· 6099.png
2nd time is always better
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

4 edits

criggs

Member

As you can see, your second result did not post properly. Speedtest has apparently screwed up their Forum Copy function. I've written them an email, and I hope others do the same. Hopefully that will encourage them to fix it in a few hours.

In the meantime, some are using the dslreports.com speedtest images instead, so here's what I'm getting today:



By the way, what does that Boost statistic mentioned in the dslreports.com speedtest image above refer to?

Edit: Okay, after I posted the above, FizzyMyNizzy taught me how to use brief embed code to get around Speedtest's screwup until they fix it, hopefully later today. So here's what Speedtest is giving me for speed today:

criggs

criggs

Member

So here's my result for today:



Yeah, I know about the [img] embed code thingummy for the new Speedtest look. Well, I refuse to use it on principle. They had a perfectly good Forum Copy thing going, and there's no excuse for them not to put it back. And until they do I'll be using the dslreports.com test.

So there.

Hey, there are some who claim the Speedtest.net tests are not even that accurate anyway. I'll tell you if the whole forum stopped using them then I would feel happy about just dropping them like a bad habit (Speakeasy is more accurate, as an example, I suspect; so is 2Wire). But since most people use them I feel compelled to do likewise so at least we're comparing apples to apples.

Except when Speedtest does a lame a** thing like kill their Forum Copy link, of course. One must know when to draw the line, you know.
ticktock8
join:2011-01-08
Saint Charles, IL

ticktock8

Member

Not digging the new speed test format. Kind of cool at first, like - wow, that's neat, but seems to take more time now. All glam but no bam.

»www.speedtest.net/result ··· 2748.png
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs

Member

Missed a day. Here's what I'm getting today:


lunarPlexus
Nothin' Up Muh Sleeve
Premium Member
join:2003-02-08
Chicago, IL

1 edit

lunarPlexus to criggs

Premium Member

to criggs
said by criggs:

Then it's time to do what I did; ask for a full credit for the month for below spec performance. The first month or so they'll give it to you just to shut you up. Round about the third month they'll finally start taking it seriously because they'll start to cry about giving you the credits, but of course at that point they're stuck because it's on the record that they've given you the credits, so it makes it doubly difficult for them to suddenly deny you the credits.

In my case, it was round about this time that they'll finally send a technician out to actually try to fix what's wrong. The first time that sequence occurred was in 09, and they finally fixed it, after about 9 weeks. The second time that sequence occurred was last year/this year, and I'm now in the phase where they're taking it seriously and really trying to fix it. A technician has been out to my apartment twice, they replaced one part on the tower and satisfied themselves that that didn't do bupkus (sp), and tomorrow they'll be visiting me again with their own modems and laptops and are going to be trying various combinations of modem and laptop in my apt. to see whether they can figure out what's causing the problem.

So, buoyed by this, I emailed a speed test image (not hi-grade evidence, but whatever) and the logs from the overdrive to support, and they gave me $20 off. Then I finally broke down and took the device back to a Sprint service center (again) and this time they managed to come up with some fault. Personally, I think they just felt sorry for me, but who knows. They ordered a new device that I have to go pick up on Monday. Not sure why they couldn't just send it to me, but where would be the fun in that? They charged me $35 plus tax and tax and tax, but I got my support buddy (who I have had WAY too many conversations with lately) to take that off my account also. We'll see on Monday if anything is any better. If not, I can start tilting at the towers.

edit: To keep thread on track, here's a speed test. Raised my grade to a D!!


criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs

Member

said by lunarPlexus:

I emailed a speed test image (not hi-grade evidence, but whatever) and the logs from the overdrive to support, and they gave me $20 off.

Way to go! Good for you. The ice is starting to crack. Keep it up.
said by lunarPlexus:

They ordered a new device that I have to go pick up on Monday...They charged me $35 plus tax and tax and tax, but I got my support buddy (who I have had WAY too many conversations with lately) to take that off my account also.

This is great. You're learning and they're learning.
said by lunarPlexus:

We'll see on Monday if anything is any better. If not, I can start tilting at the towers.

To be frank, I'm not optimistic, but I hope I'm wrong. I doubt if it's the modem, but we'll see. My guess is that it's the tower.
said by lunarPlexus:

To keep thread on track, here's a speed test. Raised my grade to a D!!

Well, your download speeds are at least in spec at the moment, over Sprint's minimum average 4G WiMax speed spec of 3 mbps. Of course, your upload speed is ridiculous, barely half of the minimum average speed spec.

And here's my speed today:



By the way, I had a minor technical problem today with my HTC Evo Shift 4G phone, so I called Sprint Technical Support. I've never actually sat down and kept track of the minutes lost and the people assigned to me, but today I did. I went through three levels of idiots before I finally got to someone who knew anything. The first three levels each took almost exactly the same amount of time, 20 minutes.

What it boils down to is that Sprint Technical Support now runs you through a 60-minute gamut of BS before you get someone who knows anything and has the remotest clue on how to help you. No fewer than three levels of ignoramuses are forced down your throat before you finally get real support. Truly remarkable.

lunarPlexus
Nothin' Up Muh Sleeve
Premium Member
join:2003-02-08
Chicago, IL

lunarPlexus

Premium Member

Called and it came in today. On the bus on the way home (with 5 bars)




We'll see how it is at home. Might have to move to the bus.
lunarPlexus

lunarPlexus

Premium Member




Pretty drastic changes block by block. 4G is touchy, I guess.
lunarPlexus

lunarPlexus

Premium Member

Can't connect to 4G at all at home. Just searching, trying to connect, searching, repeat ad infinitum. Sent an email to customer service to see if they will start to work on checking the tower.

Fuq.

Sprint User
@spcsdns.net

Sprint User to jay608

Anon

to jay608

lunarPlexus
Nothin' Up Muh Sleeve
Premium Member
join:2003-02-08
Chicago, IL

lunarPlexus

Premium Member

After several reboots, I get this:




which is nice, but won't last more than a few minutes before it degrades to crap.

Does anyone have a comment on this news I got from tech support? He said I was on the "inner edge" of the optimum distance from the tower, that the signal was "going over my head" and I should move the Overdrive FURTHER away from the window. I have been moving the device around obsessively for a few weeks now, trying to chase that elusive signal. The magic spot seems to change by the minute.

I don't know if the signal strength that the overdrive reports is accurate in any way. I generally have 3 to 4 bars and a CINR of 20 or more. If true, it wouldn't seem that signal strength is the issue.

Anyway, I have the third device in hand, but the tech told me to wait 5 days to activate it. Presumably they are working on the towers.(?) As I mentioned in the 3G thread, 3 towers near me had trouble tickets already, and the tech added the other 2 (closest to me) to that list. Not sure how speedily they check these things.
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs

Member

With a signal strength of three to four bars, and with a CINR of 20, it's super-tough to believe that your problems are related to signal strength.

May I ask you this: Has moving the modem around occasionally resolved the issue? If it has, then that would suggest that the signal is wandering from minute to minute.

What would cause it to wander?

How's this for a crazy off-the-wall theory? As I understand it, the spectrum in which WiMax operates (it's something like 2.4 or 2.5 gHz, I believe) is p**s-poor. It is easily deflected by objects, like walls and so on. In addition, I believe I've read somewhere that trees are highly destructive of signals at this frequency as well.

So what if there are some trees, or trees, blowing around in the wind, or perhaps some movable foliage in the vicinity (like hedge shrubs which the owner may be constantly moving), that is causing the signal to constantly change location, angle, direction, etc. etc.?

Obviously this theory doesn't help you much; but it might help to explain what's going on.

lunarPlexus
Nothin' Up Muh Sleeve
Premium Member
join:2003-02-08
Chicago, IL

lunarPlexus

Premium Member

criggs See Profile, Nothing would surprise me at this point, but I live on the second floor and it's still pretty much winter in Chicago despite the weather this week, so generally not much foliage and my landlord is not Paul Bunyan, so he isn't moving anything between me and the tower.

I had to resort to going to the public library (only a few blocks away) to use their wifi to get any work done as I couldn't sustain either a 3G or 4G connection for sh*t. Just for fun, I brought Overdrive #2 to see how it would be. I'm in a brick building, not near any windows and I'm getting four bars, a CINR of 32, and this speed test:




I'd say it isn't the device that's the issue.
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs

Member

Wow. Now that's a good WiMax connection. I suppose you brought this to Sprint's attention, and they acted like you were talking in Martian.

lunarPlexus
Nothin' Up Muh Sleeve
Premium Member
join:2003-02-08
Chicago, IL

lunarPlexus

Premium Member

said by criggs:

Wow. Now that's a good WiMax connection. I suppose you brought this to Sprint's attention, and they acted like you were talking in Martian.

I had customer service forward that info to tech support (evidently there's no way to carry on an email correspondence directly with tech support and I wasn't up to calling, entering number, verbally repeating number, telling story, retelling story, etc.).
We shall see.

No 4G AT ALL yesterday. Fresh reboot of everything a few minutes ago yielded this:



I can't believe how many months you spent getting your problems dealt with or even listened to. After eight months of mediocre service and two of complete bs, I'm willing to give them one more month, and then that's it.

Edit: F PLUS! I feel like king of the dung heap!
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs

Member

Yes, there are three ways of getting in touch with them by email, but you have to scream loud and long before they give them to you.

And even then you only get it one at a time, usually over the space of about two months.

The first email address they give you is okcqc@sprint.com , which I got after about two months of complaining and reporting.

The second email address they give you is trvesc@sprint.com , which I got after about four months.

Finally there are a group of people who deal with folks that have had long-standing issues for months and are extremely unhappy. These are folks who apparently report directly to CEO Dan Hesse, since the email address in question is dan@sprint.com . I got that email address about three months ago.

If I were you, I'd simply send ONE message and address it to all three, describing exactly what's been going on.

And it wouldn't hurt if you could give them a trouble ticket number, assuming Tech Support has given you one. If they haven't, before you send the message call Technical Support and insist on one.

lokithemad
@spcsdns.net

lokithemad to jay608

Anon

to jay608
»www.speedtest.net/result ··· 0218.png

it seems i am too dumb to figure out how to post this as a picture. my download speed with 3 bars connected to 4g is .31mbps. my 3g is faster than that. around 1.15mbps. i have only had this service for a couple of weeks and it seemed very slow. reading this thread confirmed it. i have not contacted sprint yet but for $60 a month i was hoping for more. any ideas why it is so low?

lunarPlexus
Nothin' Up Muh Sleeve
Premium Member
join:2003-02-08
Chicago, IL

lunarPlexus to criggs

Premium Member

to criggs
Wow, criggs See Profile, that is some handy info! I will consider that the nuclear option. Meanwhile (and I hate to jinx things), but current 4G uptime is approaching 10 hours and this:


criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs to lokithemad

Member

to lokithemad
said by lokithemad :




it seems i am too dumb to figure out how to post this as a picture.

Idiotically, Speedtest got rid of its Forum Copy link. Why I have no idea. I've written an email to them complaining about it but so far they have not written back word one. I've urged others to write them as well.

In the meantime, you need to add two words in addition to the pasted link in order to get it to display properly. The first word, which you need to place before the paste, is [img] . The second word is [/img] , which you need to place after the paste. As you can see, I've added those two words in my quote from your message above.

However, to tell you the truth, I no longer trust Speedtest on the download side. I've found Speakeasy generally gives a more reliably typical result. By typical, I mean that their results are more in line with the average I get from a dozen or so speed test sites out there, while Speedtest tends to yield higher download speeds, on average, than the other sites.

Speaking of which, it's been a rough morning for me, Internet-wise. My 3G is once again screwy, after the first four trouble-free days I've had with it since September. So, once again, I'm being told to go back to the store and get a new modem. I can't believe this.

So my testing days are over again for my 3G connection, and I'm back on 4G.

And on 4G this morning, I discovered that, while the connection is in spec, it is noticeably slower than usual. Here's what I'm getting today:

said by lokithemad :

any ideas why it is so low?

Well, about the only thing I can think is that you're in an outdoor, rather than an indoor, coverage area. Have you checked »sprint.com/coverage?

If you are in an indoor coverage area, then I would definitely report that to Sprint; that's not right. Your minimum average download speed spec should be 3 mbps and your minimum average upload speed spec should be 500 kbps. Obviously your download is nowhere near that, though your upload speed is hale and hearty.
criggs

criggs to lunarPlexus

Member

to lunarPlexus
said by lunarPlexus:

current 4G uptime is approaching 10 hours and this:


Well, that certainly looks hopeful.
criggs

criggs

Member

And here's what I'm getting today, from Speakeasy:

Last Result:
Download Speed: 4466 kbps (558.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1005 kbps (125.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
criggs

criggs

Member

And here's what I'm getting today:

criggs

criggs

Member

And here's where I'm at today:

seaprobe
join:2006-07-16
Sunnyvale, CA

seaprobe to jay608

Member

to jay608
Here's today's Overdrive, okay on download, slow on updload




Why do I need to manually type the forum tags now?
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

1 edit

criggs

Member

Because Speedtest.net did a lame redesign and forgot to include that link in their "cool" "design".

I thought it was so absurd myself that they hadn't seen fit to remedy that omission that I refused to use them again until they do. And I told them so through email, as I urged all who were likewise annoyed by this continuing omission to do as well.

However, as of this morning, I am DELIGHTED to note that they have FINALLY fixed this problem.

Their solution is not very user-friendly, however, and you need to look sharp to see it. After you click "Share Your Result" the copyable image pops up. However BEFORE you click copy you need to look at those super-tiny "share" links above the URL. One pulls up the standard results image (the one that's useless without image tags). However, the other share link pulls up the appropriate language for forum sharing. All you can SEE is share-fo, and obviously one can be forgiven for not realizing what that is. So Speedtest still needs to get its act together better. However at least they are now providing the Forum Copy link again, a significant step back into rationality.

Accordingly, I will start using them again. Here's what I'm getting today:




And yes, I will send them a note thanking them for finally fixing this but pointing out that the implementation is still a bit lame.
seaprobe
join:2006-07-16
Sunnyvale, CA

seaprobe to jay608

Member

to jay608
Upload much better on the Overdrive than last night. And the rain has let up a little.


criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY

criggs

Member

Good morning, everyone. And here's what I'm getting today:

criggs

criggs

Member

And here's what I'm getting today:


criggs

criggs

Member

And here's how I'm doing today: