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Pew: 77% of Wireless Subscribers Complain About Slow Speeds
Study Tracks Wireless Opinion, Finds Marketing Spam Persists
A new study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project takes a closer look at the problems wireless phone subscribers continue to face, despite the consistent improvement in both devices and networks. According to Pew, 72% of cell owners experience dropped calls "at least occasionally," with 32% saying they experience dropped calls at least a few times a week or more. The survey also found that 77% of subscribers continue to complain about slow download speeds, despite the significant volume of LTE and HSPA+ upgrades. Meanwhile, consumer marketing protections clearly still need some work: 69% of text message users say they get text message spam, while 68% receive unwanted sales calls despite the Do Not Call Registry.
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VZTech
@verizon.net

VZTech

Anon

100% of wireless subscribers complain of cost..

If you're not on a truly unlimited data plan (is there really such a beast?), you're probably complaining about your wireless bill. Fast speeds are the wireless company's siren's song to get you over their "lucrative" rate plans ($50 / 2, 3 or 4GB) into their "criminal" overage rates.

Got unlimited data? Just wait until your next renewal / upgrade. Your old 3G phone data usage will pale to your new 4G phone's data usage; unless your paying attention. Even then - those new "bucket of minutes" to share between all the phones on your plan makes it nearly impossible to your usage until the bill comes in.
sonofsmog
join:2003-09-09
Ontario, CA

sonofsmog

Member

Re: 100% of wireless subscribers complain of cost..

I dunno about that. I have "unlimited" data on the Motorola Razr with LTE and rarely even use a gigabyte.

The phone spends most of its time at my office connected to the office WiFi or at the house connected to my zippy 165/50 FIOS WIFI. How much YouTube am i watching in the car while driving between the two places?

I feel like most of the people that complain about high bandwidth usage either are students at school all day long (don't they have WI-FI there?) or that lack broadband at home (they still make people like you?) or that don't know how to set it up.
stridr69
join:2003-05-19
San Luis Obispo, CA

stridr69

Member

Re: 100% of wireless subscribers complain of cost..

Ah, but you don't use your phone for other services it seems. Like your car. Have a newer one that offers Pandora? IHeart radio? Stitcher? I do. And I use streaming rather frequently so that adds up data pretty fast. Use your phone for tethering? I do. Yes, it's a rooted HTC incredible and I don't pay for VZW's BS tethering fees(nope, don't feel the least bit guilty about it either), so that data adds up as well. I don't use WiFi in public, as it's slow and unprotected. WiFi at the office? Slow as well. Average use per month? 5 gigs. My next phone will be purchased full priced as I'll never give up my unlimited plan. There are a lot of VZW peeps out there that will never give up their unlimited plan for the same reasons I listed. And they shouldn't. And they won't either.
pittpete1
join:2009-06-12

pittpete1

Member

But wireless is the future.....

But wireless is the future.....
Wireless is the way greedy corps like AT/T and Verizon can gouge customers for every last penny.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9

Premium Member

Re: But wireless is the future.....

Mobility is the future. How and what you pay for service is between you and your carrier(s).
pittpete1
join:2009-06-12

pittpete1

Member

Re: But wireless is the future.....

said by openbox9:

Mobility is the future. How and what you pay for service is between you and your carrier(s).

»googlefiberblog.blogspot ··· ies.html
google must be a bunch of morons then
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9

Premium Member

Re: But wireless is the future.....

Why, because you can't understand or acknowledge that a growing number of consumers are interested in being connected while not in their homes? Fiber to the house is great if you're in the house. It doesn't help you stay connected the rest of the time.

antdude
Matrix Ant
Premium Member
join:2001-03-25
US

antdude

Premium Member

How slow?

Is it slow as old dial-up modems (e.g., 3 KB/sec)?

David
Premium Member
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL

1 recommendation

David

Premium Member

Re: How slow?

Slowest I have seen on my 3G here in STL is about 12kbps. which my dial up connections I don't think really broke 6kbps on it's best day, 8kbps max. Most times I kept well above 12kbps and around 51 to 150kbps easy in the country.

I may not have the conversions right, but for dial up to 3G, 3G is definitely faster, in my experience with both.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

1 recommendation

rradina

Member

Re: How slow?

When quoting speeds, capitalization is important:

»Satellite Forum FAQ »What does KBps and Kbps mean and how do they reflect transfer speeds?

Are you referring to bytes per second or bits per second? I ran a 300baud BBS in the 80s so I've been around a while. When faster-than-2400 baud modems arrived, I don't recall having significant problems connecting at speeds greater than 6kbps. (That's really slow!) If the other end supported it, 9600baud modems usually managed 9600 baud. 14.4 modems usually connected at their rated speed. Most questionable phone lines didn't reveal themselves until 28.8 modems arrived. Once the 56K modems arrived, maximum speeds required digital telco interconnects and V90 dialup provider capabilities.

Jack_in_VA
Premium Member
join:2007-11-26
North, VA

Jack_in_VA to David

Premium Member

to David
Sprint 3G

tkdslr
join:2004-04-24
Pompano Beach, FL

tkdslr to David

Member

to David
I used to get 50-60 kbps per second downloads. Using v.42bis compression, I would often hit 200-220kbps while downloading usenet headers, 150-200kbps downloading mostly text based web pages (,jpeg usually didn't compress).

Naturally you had to have configured the serial port running @ 230kbps+rts/cts flow control. So don't under rate those old dial up modem connections.

David
Premium Member
join:2002-05-30
Granite City, IL

1 recommendation

David to antdude

Premium Member

to antdude
yea I don't get those speeds around here on sprint. I get about 38kbps down and about 38kbps up. I don't even break 1mbps with sprint. I moved to clear for the office, and that is giving me easily 5.87 down and 2.01 up easy.
pittpete1
join:2009-06-12

pittpete1

Member

Google is wasting thier $$ if wireless is the future

»googlefiberblog.blogspot ··· ies.html