Hi,
Quick question....I have a GS4 and a GS3. The GS4 shows HSPA:11 and the GS3 show UMTS:3.
The GS3 pulls down considerably faster data speeds than the GS4. I thought HSPA should be faster than UMTS??
Thanks
ok, this is a very complex and extensive subject, so actually there is no such thing like a "quick question"...but i'll try and make this a short answer....
UMTS is EVERYTHING that can be considered 3G, all the way from the 1st 3g, up until before 4G.... including what can be considered as 3.5G, 3.75G and 3.9G (NOTICE THAT THIS IS HSPA+)
-this covers from EDGE EVO, to the WCDMA...
*the WCDMA includes the HSPA standard, and first versions of HSPA+
3G , or early versions of UMTS, are slow, that is true... BUT the latest HSPA version can go UP TO: 14.4 Mbit/s down and 5.76 MBit/s up....
the early versions of HSPA+ that are considered as 3G, can go up to 42 Mbit/s down and 11.5 Mbit/s up.... (although some carriers tend to advertise this one as 4G)...
now... latest versions of HSPA+ CAN be considered as 4G, which would start at 84 Mbit/s down and 22 Mbit/s up, BUT IT STILL IS PART OF THE UMTS-WCDMA STANDARDS!!!!!!!
so, concluding this part...UMTS includes (but is not limited to) HSPA.... which, without the + sign, can reach up to 14 Mbit/s in the downlink and 5.76 Mbit/s in the uplink....
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now, the numbers, are just the channels used by your phones..... in the case of your GS4, it is working on channel 11, while your GS3 is working on channel 3....
IT DOES NOT MEAN THEIR VERSION, NOR THE SPEED! it just says the wireless channel they are working on.............
all data transfer speeds i've mentioned before, are THEORICAL top speeds.... the actual speed will depend on the distance to the nearest antennae, and how "crowded" is the channel you are currently on... for example, in my city, at peak hours and before i had the GS4 with 4G, while on 3G i would download even SLOWER THAN EDGE!!!! so i usually toggled to GSM mobile networks which were less crowded, and therefore working even faster than 3G (at that precise moment)
yhe channels will usually be changed by your device itself when it is completely out of range from the previos one (not necesarily when there is a better one available), which means that you can have 2 phones, connected at different channels at the same time, even that they might or not support the exact same channels....
now, we need more info on your devices... exactly which models you have? which ROMS? are they rooted? what are the carriers on both phones? or is it the same? do you have a plan limit? are you still within your limits? .... if both have the exact same carrier and capabilities, you can TRY and restart both of them, and they MIGHT connect to the same channel, obviously this is nothing sure, because depending on their firmware version, one might give certain priorities to some channels or standards over other ones, OR they might try to connect to the newer standards, even if it is farther away, or connect to the one with the highest signal strength, not caring if it is very crowded.....and so much more kernel-level decisions for the connections.
hope this helps you understand a little bit how mobile internet works and what's happening with your devices... and don't hesitate to ask further questions
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