Is 3G really 3G on Evo?

[celticcitation]

In my local area in Idaho, I get the 3G symbol anytime I send or receive data. However, it is pretty slow on my EVO. Is it possible that it is not 3G at all, but that the EVO doen't use any other symbol? I have been in good established areas like SoCal, and the 3G seems much faster

 

[vteclipsegs]

My EVO shows 3G even in areas that I know for a fact are 1xRTT. It's either a bug or a marketing gimmick, or both.

 

[robber]

More likely is that the netowrk node your traffic is flowing through is slow.

One way to confirm is to stream something over your data connection while calling your phone. If the call breaks your data connection and the EVO rings you are using 3g. If the call goes to voicemail you are either on 2g or have set your phone up to do so.

 

[PhilR8]

I travel in an area that is fringe Sprint coverage and I roam on Verizon regularly. The 3G icon remains, even when roaming - but a roaming triangle appears on top of the signal bars. Speed tests while roaming show around 150kbps, this is solidly in 1x territory. I don't think there is a 1x icon.

 

[NicksGarage]

The user guide shows a 1x icon.

Viewing the Display Screen

 

[gadgetluva]

I know that the 1x never shows up when it's supposed to - I've verified this with the app "Network" (also by dialing #*#*4636*#*#) and looking to see which data network I was on, and also when using Real Signal. Seems like a software bug, hopefully delicious FroYo fixes this issue.

 

[dkotoric]

don't seem to have the problem any time I'm not in a 3g area it displays 1x

 

[Nebilim]

i am ALWAYS in 3G ive never seen this icon...

 

[deparson]

What is 1XRTT?

j/k

 

[npark]

Well, remember that data streams are digital signals going over radio. So, just like radio, data streams get garbled and screwed up from time to time. Unlike voice data over radio, where you can make out what they are saying anyway, data packets have to get resent.

Signal strength and quality of connection can play a big factor on data speed. Additionally, your data packets are handled by Sprint's backend network before it hits the Interwebs. If Sprint's backend network is slow, then data is going to be slow (think AT&T in NYC and Frisco).

In summary, just because it says 3G doesn't always mean you'll get a consistent speed anywhere at anytime. Sometimes on 3G when my signal strength is bad, I'll get 30kbps download speeds. Sometimes I'll get 1.8mbps (the max I saw was 2.4 once... and I think that was late night, probably ideal conditions).

 

[RayStinkle]

I know there's an actual 1x icon cause when I flash different themes on my nexus, which is a gsm phone, it includes all evdo, 1x, etc icons since I guess android OS has all those icons in the system, just not used on the gsm variant. But the icons are there when I dig thru the zip file for what its worth.

 

[SanGo]

My evo flips between 3G and 1X all the time in my house (which eats cell signals alive). When I'm in 1x it even tells me I won't get a voice connection when I'm using the internet

 

[intheb0x]

ive NEVER seen the 1x on my phone...

even when doing a speedtest and its extremely slow..

 

[vteclipsegs]

I can be in an area next to 4 or 5 other sprint phones (palms and BB) and they will all show 1xRTT but I will show 3g bit if I go into the network status under phone dialer I can see that it is in fact 1xRTT. Maybe its a bug on certain towers, like how text messages have timestamps that are 5+ hours off.

 

[St13fL3r]

Im thinking its only a bug, but hey. Least the Evo gets reception!