Nexus 7 3G speeds - disappointing?

[Doubletwist_mndd_3]

So I got my new 3g Nexus 7 on Monday, ran right out to T-Mobile and got the $25/mo pre-paid plan with 1.5GB/month. In my area, AT&T isn't very good, and T-Mobile supposedly has the 42Mbit HSPA+ around here [Dallas].

So far, I can't say I'm terribly impressed. Even when the mobile connection says 'H' and has full bars, the fastest I've been able to get using the Speedtest.net app is 2.7Mbit down/1.5Mbit up. I'm really disappointed in that download speed.

I also have a Samsung Captivate [original Galaxy S] on AT&T's network. That phone only supports the 7.2Mbit 3g network, and I'm able to hit 2.9Mbit down with it.

I thought maybe some settings were off, so I went back to the T-mobile store. I tested against a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 they had there. The Note was able to hit 7+Mbit/sec at the same time my Nexus 7 was only able to hit 2.5Mbit. I checked and my APN settings were the same as the Note, so I don't think that's the issue.

Is there something wrong with my tablet? Am I missing something else? I really expected my new tablet to get better speeds with a network that's supposed to be 6 times faster than my almost 2.5 year old phone.

I haven't seen a lot of speed test results from mobile on the Nexus 7 as it's so new, so I'm hoping I can get some posts here for comparison.

 

[zedorda]

You are aware that the Nexus 7 3G is only HSPA+21 right?

21.1 Mbps = 2.6375 megabytes / second

 

[azhagan]

So I got my new 3g Nexus 7 on Monday, ran right out to T-Mobile and got the $25/mo pre-paid plan with 1.5GB/month. In my area, AT&T isn't very good, and T-Mobile supposedly has the 42Mbit HSPA+ around here [Dallas].

So far, I can't say I'm terribly impressed. Even when the mobile connection says 'H' and has full bars, the fastest I've been able to get using the Speedtest.net app is 2.7Mbit down/1.5Mbit up. I'm really disappointed in that download speed.

I also have a Samsung Captivate [original Galaxy S] on AT&T's network. That phone only supports the 7.2Mbit 3g network, and I'm able to hit 2.9Mbit down with it.

I thought maybe some settings were off, so I went back to the T-mobile store. I tested against a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 they had there. The Note was able to hit 7+Mbit/sec at the same time my Nexus 7 was only able to hit 2.5Mbit. I checked and my APN settings were the same as the Note, so I don't think that's the issue.

Is there something wrong with my tablet? Am I missing something else? I really expected my new tablet to get better speeds with a network that's supposed to be 6 times faster than my almost 2.5 year old phone.

I haven't seen a lot of speed test results from mobile on the Nexus 7 as it's so new, so I'm hoping I can get some posts here for comparison.

Unfortunately the Nexus 7 3G does not support HSPA+ 42, it only supports HSPA+ 21. I believe that the AT&T HSPA+ 21 network will get you faster speeds, than the T-Mobile HSPA+ 21 network.

From the Google Play Store:

NETWORK
Unlocked GSM/UMTS/HSPA+
GSM/EDGE/GPRS (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
3G (850, 900, 1700, 1900, 2100 MHz)
HSPA+ 21

 

[Doubletwist_mndd_3]

Okay,fair enough, so it is only HSPA+21. But shouldn't it still be capable of better speeds than my HSDPA 7.2 Mbit phone?

 

[zedorda]

Yes in a perfect world but there maybe issues with your provisioning so call T-mobile and get a good tech to go through it. The Nexus 7 is a fairly new 3G device.

 

[Ben Indawyn]

So... how does this compare to a desktop getting 13 Mbps? (of course, this is with 15 tabs to gawk at while the new one takes 30 sec to load.)
I'm confused. Will the N7 get (up to) 21Mbps or just 2Mbps? Basically==> can I replace my desktop with a tablet?

Also, even given all the variables, is having a 42mbps plan faster than a 21mbps?

Thanks, this seemed like the best place to put this.