Lte speeds dropped drastically over last year.

[wessock]

I'm trying to figure out if I have an issue with my phone or if T-mobile's LTE speeds are just slower now. About a year, year and a half ago when LTE was fairly new to my area of the North Philadelphia suburbs I was speed testing at an average of high 60's to low 80's down, about 30 up, when I had full bars. Now, at most I get about 20 down, 2 up, but 99% of the time it's between 10-13 down. I've been testing all over the eastern part of PA and it's the same everywhere. Have a nexus 6, a 5 during 2014. Haven't played with settings or rooted or anything. Does T-mobile just have that much of an increase in traffic now because of new customers? I haven't really seen anything about people complaining about slower speeds though. Anyone else have a similar issue?

 

[sling1]

yes same issue up to a month ago.
Increase traffic mass new customer add on provided same lte speeds you described in my area - Va Beach
They added new tower 4 weeks ago with software upgrades to others blazing fast LTE is alive again

 

[Almeuit]

It just depends on the area. Some areas will get crowded / more congestion than others. You're most likely seeing reduced speeds due to more people using T-Mobile in your area. A lot can change in a year. Hopefully T-Mobile will be able to add some things to your area (towers, spectrum, etc.) to help alleviate it if it gets too bad.

Luckily for me speeds have been great. Below is a test from this morning and the other from the night before while on a VoLTE call. I average this around my house. In other parts of town (friends houses / work) I seem to avg around 30-50 Mbps. I am hoping that congestion doesn't take a huge toll for it in my area since I do rely on it to stream a lot.

 

[IAmSixNine]

If the network can be congested and you still get 10-15 down thats good in my book.

 

[anon(5719825)]

Seems to be increasing here in Colorado. I used to get about 35Mbps. A few days ago, I was near 100Mbps with 20 up.

 

[HawaiiD]

Download about the same as last year However, upload and ping greatly improved. Used to get 14MB upload Ave and ping was about 100ms Ave.

 

[GutterGuppy]

Have to saying has dropped significantly since I got my phone.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[ColoradoSteve]

i quit checking speeds a long time ago.

It's fast enough to stream anything I want and web pages/twitter/instagram/facebook come up very quick. Who cares if it's 20 or 100 down?

 

[Brayden Turner]

I can have 4g LTE with full bars and get great speeds on Verizon in a non public area. However where there are a lot of people it is very noticable that the speeds have decreased. That is what I have noticed. I just wish Data wasn't so darn expensive on Verizon. $15 per gigabyte per month gets pricey when you have 4 phones on your plan.

 

[HawaiiD]

I can have 4g LTE with full bars and get great speeds on Verizon in a non public area. However where there are a lot of people it is very noticable that the speeds have decreased. That is what I have noticed. I just wish Data wasn't so darn expensive on Verizon. $15 per gigabyte per month gets pricey when you have 4 phones on your plan.

If T-Mobile has good coverage in your area? There is a 4 lines of unlimited data plan for 150.00 dollars going on now

 

[verks]

Strange thing I noticed, I switched to tmobile last weekend to test it in my area. I ordered a S7 Edge. While I waited for it to arrive I used my Nexus 6P. The speeds with the 6P were good not great. I got little to no signal in my basement. Got the new S7 yesterday and the reception is 100% better. And I get full signal in my basement. I'm trying to figure out why the Nexus signal was so sub par.

 

[IAmSixNine]

What build is your Nexus 6 on when you had these sub par signals?

 

[Almeuit]

Strange thing I noticed, I switched to tmobile last weekend to test it in my area. I ordered a S7 Edge. While I waited for it to arrive I used my Nexus 6P. The speeds with the 6P were good not great. I got little to no signal in my basement. Got the new S7 yesterday and the reception is 100% better. And I get full signal in my basement. I'm trying to figure out why the Nexus signal was so sub par.

Are you comparing bars or the actual -dBm signal? The S7 Edge and the 6P calculate "bars" (well technically all phones do) very differently. The only way to fully compare a signal (apples to apples) is to compare the -dBm with the phones in the same spot.

Example Below -- The top left I use "Signal Check Pro" so I can always see the -dBm signal. My -dBm signal around town is about the same (a few better or worse sometimes) as it was on my 6P but if I was looking at the bars .. The S7 edge says it is way better than my 6P did.