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AT&T Crippling Upstream Speeds On '4G' Phones
Motorola Atrix And HTC Inspire Have HSUPA Capabilities Snipped

With the new murky ITU definition of 4G including pretty much anything, AT&T has taken to calling their wireless network "4G" like everybody else. Except as we noted briefly, several of the company's more recent smartphone releases, including the Motorola ATRIX "4G" and the HTC’s Inspire "4G" -- don't really fully support AT&T's idea of 4G. In fact, they don't yet even support the HSUPA upstream upgrades we noted AT&T completed nearly three years ago. That has resulted in several Atrix and Inspire customers filing complaints with the BBB claiming AT&T was "capping" upstream speeds, and offering hardware that didn't match the "4G" advertising blitzkrieg AT&T has been engaged in.

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AT&T PR has been a little murky about what was happening, initially suggesting the Inspire simply didn't support HSUPA, when in fact it technically does. AT&T's response to the Better Business Bureau complaints holds more detail. A user posting to the XDA Developers forum has posted AT&T's response to his complaint, which confirms the phones support the HSUPA standard, AT&T just hasn't turned the functionality on yet:
quote:
(user) complains that the recently released Motorola Atrix does not offer speeds anywhere near what advertised speeds claim. He is requesting activation of 4G services and removal of the cap on the Motorola Atrix services. Account research regarding this complaint shows that AT&T is focused on delivering a wide choice of solutions and the best possible Smartphone experience to our customers. Be assured that AT&T has not "capped" the upload speeds on the ATRIX. The ATRIX is a HSUPA-capable device, and we currently are performing the testing and preparations necessary to ensure that, when we turn this feature on, you will continue to have a world class experience.
In other words, the phones AT&T are advertising as offering a "4G" experience are actually being crippled so they max out at about 300 kbps upstream, in sharp contrast to AT&T hype surrounding their "4G" network and the revolutionary promises surrounding the Atrix, the launch of which was already soured by AT&T's dubious pricing. Keeping these devices penned in on the upstream suggests AT&T's privately still not quite fully comfortable with their network's performance in the age of smartphones, despite all of the "4G" rhetoric. We're going to note here that like most carrier-imposed restrictions, this can all be avoided (on both Inspire and Atrix) by rooting your phone.
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topics flat nest 
robo74
join:2003-10-23
Harvard, IL

robo74

Member

I thought AT&T was perfect?

Say it aint so!

LOL

Who is shocked?
jjeffeory
jjeffeory
join:2002-12-04
Bloomington, IN

1 edit

jjeffeory

Member

Re: I thought AT&T was perfect?

Not shock, but why pay a higher price for "4G" if they're not going to give you "$G"? Ooops, a typo 8-) I meant "4G". Heh...

Alcohol
Premium Member
join:2003-05-26
Climax, MI

Alcohol

Premium Member

Re: I thought AT&T was perfect?

said by jjeffeory:

Not shock, but why pay a higher price for "4G" if they're not going to give you "$G"? Ooops, a typo 8-) I meant "4G". Heh...

You're not paying a higher price.
NuShrike
join:2010-09-01

NuShrike

Member

Re: I thought AT&T was perfect?

Compared to T-Mobile, yes you are.

Alcohol
Premium Member
join:2003-05-26
Climax, MI

Alcohol

Premium Member

Re: I thought AT&T was perfect?

Yeah, you're paying for reception.

If tmobile gets 3g in my area i will switch the same day.

batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ

1 recommendation

batterup

Premium Member

Nothing new.

Truth in advertising is a nebulous term that has been stretched sense the beginning of advertising.

Funny how people that want the government to build 100/100 to the outhouses say it will help, business and hospitals yet all they use it for is "B" movie reruns and uploading their cat stuck in a bag to Facebook.
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

1 recommendation

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Re: Nothing new.

Not entirely true.

Let me ask you this. Have you ever watched high-quality video of a major news event? If so, then you've benefited from broadband. You may argue that you don't need 100/100 to do that, but the quality of the video is steadily increasing, as is demand for it. And I was looking at the list of channels for Roku's box just today, and, just for news, you can get Al Jazeera, France 24, and RT, channels many cable systems either don't offer or place in their expensive international packages. Again, this is only possible with broadband. And, in fact, Roku's box didn't even exist a couple of years ago.

And, as for your quip that the benefit to hospitals never materialized, you're wrong. My wife is a resident, and she uses our home connection to access the hospital network via Remote Desktop. No, that doesn't require 100/100, but it won't work on a slow connection, and it's definitely a start. And I know for a fact that facilities around here do in fact share medical imaging via high-speed connections, and that does use a good bit of bandwidth.

Oh, and if you have a major university nearby, go see what they're doing for distance ed. The tech that's being used is evolving at lightning speed, including the use of real-time audio and video, and even interactive use of these, so students can act as presenters instead of just watching what the professor sends out. And, just for the record, I work at one of these universities, so I know of what I speak.

The stuff that's being done now wasn't possible for many home users five years ago, but it is possible now. So maybe the people you know are just uploading cat videos, but don't assume that's all that's happening out there.
ISurfTooMuch

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Re: Nothing new.

And to add to the info on distance ed, even when we launched the precursor to what we're doing now, back in 2005, it required a broadband connection. Dial-up was a no-go, as was satellite, since latency was too high. We had one student try it with ISDN, and it sort of worked, but it wasn't great.

Here's my point. The people who rely most on distance ed are, naturally, those who don't live near a university that can offer the degree they need to get. Most of the time, they're out in rural areas. Now, if you're one of those rural residents, you're also the most likely not to have any broadband in your area. So now you're far from a university, have no access to many distance ed programs, and you probably live in an economically depressed area, which is probably why you want that degree.

batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ

1 edit

batterup to ISurfTooMuch

Premium Member

to ISurfTooMuch
said by ISurfTooMuch:

Let me ask you this. Have you ever watched high-quality video of a major news event? If so, then you've benefited from broadband.

The stuff that's being done now wasn't possible for many home users five years ago, but it is possible now. So maybe the people you know are just uploading cat videos, but don't assume that's all that's happening out there.

Actually the best HD I get is OTA with rabbit ears; FREE.

Funny though how my interweb tubes get sticky when the kiddies are out of school. If it is the great boom to business the tubes would be sticky from 9 to 5. The people I know don't expect the government to give them a hand out; the companies they work for buy all the dedicated bandwidth they want. They don't rely on a residential cut rate connection. If a business wants an employee to work from home or on the road they should supply them with a dedicated leased line or a G4 modem.
said by AlphaOne:

I'm pretty sure, pr0n is somewhere up there on the list.

Thank you; I almost forgot.
said by ISurfTooMuch:

Here's my point. The people who rely most on distance ed are, naturally, those who don't live near a university that can offer the degree they need to get. Most of the time, they're out in rural areas.

Right suddenly the places with the lowest high school graduation rates will now get advanced degrees. Sure they will.
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Re: Nothing new.

Hate to break it to you, but rural areas aren't the exclusive domain of uneducated hicks. There are many small towns that used to have manufacturing jobs that went overseas, and those workers want training in other fields. There are also situations where one spouse follows the other to a rural area because of a job and wants to continue their education. And rural schools, because of the low population density and limited tax base, may not be equipped to offer the same classes that larger districts can. These classes are often available through a regional consortium, but you have to have a way to connect the schools so they can participate.

And there really are people trying to conduct business in these areas. I know a woman who is a wedding photographer, which means she has to upload lots of very large files to her photo processor. The truble is that she lives in a broadband hole between two towns. Her house is paid for, so moving isn't an option, so the best she can do is struggle along with a cellular modem.

And I don't recall anyone discussing a handout. Ah, but you're saying that those who need this access should figure it out completely on their own. I'm glad people like you didn't win the day when it came to interstates. After all, the old U.S. highway system was good enough for most everyone, with the possible exception of truckers and traveling salesmen. Maybe we should have forgone that endeavor, too.

batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ

batterup

Premium Member

Re: Nothing new.

said by ISurfTooMuch:

And there really are people trying to conduct business in these areas. I know a woman who is a wedding photographer, which means she has to upload lots of very large files to her photo processor. The truble is that she lives in a broadband hole between two towns. Her house is paid for, so moving isn't an option, so the best she can do is struggle along with a cellular modem.

She can get POTS at a government set price as that is a regulated service. I most likely subsidise that as I pay in every month and Verizon NJ has never gotten a penny from the USF.
said by mbrianc2:

You mean that none of my tax dollars went to grants for emergency services were you live.

I will bet a dollar to a doughnut you state gets more back in federal taxes than it pays. I'll tell you again, New Jersey gets $0.61 cents back for every dollar we send to the feds. That is last 50 out of 50 so I can safely say your state gets back more of what it paid in than NJ.

You people are like squeegee guys; give them a dollar and they think they own you.

ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

Re: Nothing new.

POTS? Are you serious? Have you ever tried to upload several GB's of photos over dial-up?

And nowhere am I discussing a handout any more than is already done for any other infrastructure project. Roads, for instance. If you want to get down to it, your money pays for those in rural areas as well as in your hometown. I suppose you'd just as soon have people in more rural areas make do with dirt and gravel roads so you won't have to subsidize them.

Have you even been to the kinds of places I'm talking about? Theoretically, they are great places to live. Beautiful landscapes, cheap land, but the infrastructure is rotting away. You talk about POTS, yet the copper in the ground is so old, you're lucky to get 28.8. Cell service? Forget about 3G unless you're on a highway. Get away from the highways, and you're lucky to get any kind of signal. And yet there are people there trying to make a living on what's left. And it isn't even the rural areas. I grew up outside Greenville, MS. In the late '70s and early '80s, the population was around 50,000, and they had a decent industrial base. The plants I can remember were Vlassic, Uncle Ben's, Schwinn, Boeing (aircraft painting), USG, and two shipbuilding companies that built tugboats. All of them are gone, with the possible exception of USG, which I'm not sure about. Since then, the population has steadily declined. Now, you tell me, what do we do with a city like that? You can't just abandon it because it's a major Mississippi River port that used to handle lots of goods, and easily could again. It also has the only operating commercial airport in the region. For better or worse, Greenville is the only thing keeping the Delta from sliding completely into an economic black hole.

Now, I'm not talking specifically about Greenville here, but there are countless areas where the economy has essentially collapsed because all the industry has gone overseas. Now you go to these places, like the Alabama Black Belt or rural West Virginia and figure out how you're going to revive them. I'm not saying broadband access is a cure-all, but I am saying that not having it is going to make these places that much less attractive to any business that might want to come there. You can't connect to remote classes, so you can't offer any more than the practically bankrupt school districts can afford to do themselves. Libraries? Kids really do come there to do research. Yes, I was astonished to see that they were actually still using the library in the tiny town where I grew up, and they really were trying to do research on the computers with the glacially slow Internet connection. Hospitals? They really do use broadband to transmit things like medical images, which would be important enough in an urban area but can make even more of a difference in a rural area where the doctors would need to consult with larger facilities. Sure, they can get a dedicated line, but those don't come cheap out in the boonies, and that's just one more expense the hospital would incur. Maybe it would be better for the county to either downgrade it to a clinic or close it altogether. And no, I'm not talking about using a DSL or cable connection, but if the area had a decent fiber network, that would be usable.

We didn't _have_ to wire rural areas for electricity and telephones. Those services seem absolutely critical now, but there was a time when they were considered luxuries, and, in the case of the telephone, of no real use. Ask Western Union about that.

batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ

batterup

Premium Member

Re: Nothing new.

said by ISurfTooMuch:

The plants I can remember were Vlassic, Uncle Ben's, Schwinn, Boeing (aircraft painting), USG, and two shipbuilding companies that built tugboats. All of them are gone, with the possible exception of USG, which I'm not sure about.

quote:
Well we're living here in Allentown
And they're closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they're killing time
Filling out forms
Standing in line

bobgwen
join:2001-07-07
Bartow, FL

bobgwen

Member

Re: Nothing new.

quote:
Well we're living here in Allentown
And they're closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they're killing time
Filling out forms
Standing in line
Oh that's your response?? Quoting a song??? Where is your heart? I also live in a rural town and it is just like the poster says. We're trying to make it here.

batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ

batterup

Premium Member

Re: Nothing new.

said by bobgwen:

Where is your heart?

I gave at the office.
mbrianc2
join:2008-08-16

mbrianc2 to batterup

Member

to batterup
Think that going back and editing previous posts instead of replying to my post makes your argument better? Don't have jobs in your big northern cities? I will use your argument now. If you don't have jobs, move if they are that important to you? If your legislators fail to get government money flowing back into your state, move to one that does. Instead of bashing programs that will help people, STFU. It is not a handout if we still pay the bill for service. Or are you accusing other states of offering welfare internet for the unemployed now?

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

Jack_in_VA to ISurfTooMuch

Premium Member

to ISurfTooMuch
said by ISurfTooMuch:

And there really are people trying to conduct business in these areas. I know a woman who is a wedding photographer, which means she has to upload lots of very large files to her photo processor. The truble is that she lives in a broadband hole between two towns. Her house is paid for, so moving isn't an option, so the best she can do is struggle along with a cellular modem.

She doesn't want to move or do anything herself but has no problem with probably effecting everyone else trying to use the service on her tower. It's all about her right?

batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ

batterup

Premium Member

Re: Nothing new.

said by Jack_in_VA:

She doesn't want to move or do anything herself but has no problem with probably effecting everyone else trying to use the service on her tower. It's all about her right?

This is where time of day/day of the week, peak/off peak use should come into play. From the beginning of telephone service the time of day and day of the week were a part of how much it cost. It is expensive to build a network that can handle 100% of the demand at peak time and then have that network sit 80% idle 1/3 of the time.

AlphaOne
I see
Premium Member
join:2004-02-21

AlphaOne to batterup

Premium Member

to batterup
said by batterup:

... Funny how people that want the government to build 100/100 to the outhouses say it will help, business and hospitals yet all they use it for is "B" movie reruns and uploading their cat stuck in a bag to Facebook.

I'm pretty sure, pr0n is somewhere up there on the list.
mbrianc2
join:2008-08-16

mbrianc2 to batterup

Member

to batterup
This argument is tired. If you don't want to subsidize rural broadband deployments, Then I don't want my tax dollars going to police, fire, and highway departments in metropolitan areas. I mean I don't use your services the way you do, so why should I pay?

batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ

batterup

Premium Member

Re: Nothing new.

said by mbrianc2:

I mean I don't use your services the way you do, so why should I pay?

You don't support them. You most likely don't even support the Port Authority Police that protect Port Newark. That is where goods come into the US and get shipped to you.

Verizon NJ has never gotten one cent of USF yet I pay every month into it.

FYI New Jersey gets back $ 0.61 for every $1 paid in federal tax; last 50 of 50. New Mexico gets back $2.03 for every $1 paid; first 1 of 50. There is no doubt you live is a take more back than you put in state; one that yells they want small government.
mbrianc2
join:2008-08-16

mbrianc2

Member

Re: Nothing new.

You mean that none of my tax dollars went to grants for emergency services were you live.

»fwix.com/newark/share/62 ··· j_police

Every area has needs depending on the region. Rural areas have less broadband deployment and less crime, so we don't need funding for that. NJ has more crime and more broadband deployment, so naturally your state needs help with law enforcement.

For a non resident of my area to tell me what we need from our tax dollars simply because he doesn't feel the same need or never will due to his location is asinine and that was the flavor of my post.

And by the way, I don't think that anyone wanting municipal and subsidized broadband to take the deployment power away from ISP's who will only consider immediate profits is screaming for less government.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina

Member

iPhone 4 Benches nearly 2Mbps

I have an iPhone 4 and while it doesn't do "4G" (whatever that is), Ookla's SpeedTest.Net App has recorded upload speeds near 2Mbps. If someone on AT&T's network can only get 300Kbps, regardless of time and place, something is limiting the potential of the device.

tiger72
SexaT duorP
Premium Member
join:2001-03-28
Saint Louis, MO

tiger72

Premium Member

Re: iPhone 4 Benches nearly 2Mbps

said by rradina:

I have an iPhone 4 and while it doesn't do "4G" (whatever that is), Ookla's SpeedTest.Net App has recorded upload speeds near 2Mbps. If someone on AT&T's network can only get 300Kbps, regardless of time and place, something is limiting the potential of the device.

This is precisely why people are complaining. Other devices already get much faster upload speeds. My unlocked T-Mobile Vibrant is able to get 5 down, and ~1.6 up when I put in an ATT Sim card.

Yet the brand new "4g" devices don't. Maybe it's because their upload capabilities are significantly higher than a standard "3g" HSDPA/HSUPA device, and ATT is scared of users uploading faster than 2mbps. Who knows?

Either way, yet another example of ATT's mismanagement of its data network.
gworkman
join:2005-10-18
Las Vegas, NV

gworkman

Member

Re: iPhone 4 Benches nearly 2Mbps

How are you able to get anything other than Edge on a T-Mo device?
Big Dawg 23
join:2002-03-27
Northfield, MN

Big Dawg 23

Member

Re: iPhone 4 Benches nearly 2Mbps

Some device contain more bands that once unlocked can get 3G in some locations. Samsung put more bands in their device. However some parts of the country only use bands that will force the device to Edge only or even no signal because they don't have the 850MHZ band.

guest
@bellsouth.net

guest to tiger72

Anon

to tiger72
att doesnt want to spend the money in upgrading their systems. most cell towers are are feed by copper, they are in the process running fiber feed to all towers. plus they are getting ready to wifi to all subdivisions to cut down on cell cite traffic.

AlphaOne
I see
Premium Member
join:2004-02-21

AlphaOne to rradina

Premium Member

to rradina
said by rradina:

I have an iPhone 4 and while it doesn't do "4G" (whatever that is), Ookla's SpeedTest.Net App has recorded upload speeds near 2Mbps. If someone on AT&T's network can only get 300Kbps, regardless of time and place, something is limiting the potential of the device.

Pics?

Twaddle
@sbcglobal.net

Twaddle

Anon

More 4G lies and inuendos

I also have a"4G whatever that is" capable phone and even have been told I have should have strong 4G signal in my home but lo and behold no 4G signal downloads and uploads are akin to entry level dsl service(on a good day) but the "rich experience" of 4G is worth an additional 10.00 dollars a month.
The advertising we see on the various ads are nothing but creative BS to get people to sign up for a contract and perpetuate the scam of 4G.

batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ

batterup

Premium Member

Re: More 4G lies and inuendos

said by Twaddle :


The advertising we see on the various ads are nothing but creative BS to get people to sign up for a contract and perpetuate the scam of 4G.

Verizon 4G modem speed test wile going 100 MPH.


»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· uTvsvsJ4

w0g
o.O
join:2001-08-30
Springfield, OR

w0g

Member

Re: More 4G lies and inuendos

Sprint, Clear and Verizon definitely have real 4G networks (with which you'll get speeds between 6-10Mbps or better). It's T-Mobile and AT&T who don't, and have completely corrupted the term by re-labeling their 3G networks as 4G.
Neozonz
join:2010-06-11
North York, ON

Neozonz

Member

RAGE!!!

I have not raged this much since loosing against a 8yr old at CS 10 years ago.

Twaddle
@sbcglobal.net

Twaddle

Anon

More 4G lies and inuendos

I also have a"4G whatever that is" capable phone and even have been told I have should have strong 4G signal in my home but lo and behold no 4G signal downloads and uploads are akin to entry level dsl rservice(on a good day) but the "rich experience" of 4G is worth an additional 10.00 dollars a month.
The advertising we see on the various ads are nothing but creative BS to get people to sign up for a contract and perpetuate the scam of 4G.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

3 edits

FFH5

Premium Member

Too bad marketing depts don't report to legal dept

Maybe if company's marketing departments reported up thru the legal departments instead of direct to CEOs we wouldn't have these problems. Marketing types have a rather tenuous grasp on the truth. The sale means all and need not have any relationship to the truth. And then legal has to cleanup the mess when the shit hits the fan when the truth comes out.

»dilbert.com/strips/comic ··· 0-10-01/
--
»dilbert.com/strips/comic ··· 0-07-18/

•••

moldypickle
Premium Member
join:2009-01-04
Haughton, LA
ARRIS SB8200
Ubiquiti UDM-Pro
Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-nanoHD

moldypickle

Premium Member

ya...

my experience also is that marketing rarely has any idea what is actually going on, and just blows up the end result, even if the company is no where near the end result.

that said, i'm in "3G" coverage w/ full bars and can't even come close to 2 megs down, let alone 1/2 meg up. it'll be some years before i buy into 4g

Elite
Kiss My Ass
join:2002-10-03
New Haven, CT

Elite

Member

True!

Just tested my iPhone 4 side by side against my friend's Atrix. I pulled about 1.1 Mbit upstream, but he only pulled about 300Kbit. WTF ATT?

telcotech
IBEW 2222 Boston, MA
Premium Member
join:2004-09-02
united state

telcotech

Premium Member

5G is here!

3G .. 4G.. it's all old hat! Why pussyfoot around claiming fastest 4G blah blah blah.. since no one really gives a crap about the definition of 4G? I wonder why none of the big players hasn't started yammering about their new, super duper, 1GB speed 5G network!

Of course, you'll never hear how it is throttled to 3MB downstream and 250K upstream speeds (during OFF peak periods - more so during peak periods).. and the cap is 2GB / month.. all for the low, low price of $100 / month! Excessive use throttles you to 56K and overages are just $30 per GB.

I submit that the real throttle for all this technology is the cost per byte. Make the network faster and more efficient; phones with power that rival a desktop computer - but who could afford to USE it on the network??

bobgwen
join:2001-07-07
Bartow, FL

bobgwen

Member

Selling these phones

I lately have wondered why the cell companies sell these devices that are suppose to do all these wonderful things but if you dare use these apps, you are fined for going over a cap or they cripple their cell network so these devices don't work like they should. Why in the hell do they sell these things if they are gonna cripple and fine you?????!!!!
WernerSchutz
join:2009-08-04
Sugar Land, TX

WernerSchutz

Member

Re: Selling these phones

said by bobgwen:

I lately have wondered why the cell companies sell these devices that are suppose to do all these wonderful things but if you dare use these apps, you are fined for going over a cap or they cripple their cell network so these devices don't work like they should. Why in the hell do they sell these things if they are gonna cripple and fine you?????!!!!

So stupid people that have no idea how to use them buy them and companies can brag, then actually charge you more for a service already sold when you try to really use it.

All the marketing types should be in jail. All the crooked executives should be sent to a hard labor camp for 10 years and actually learn the meaning of work. Institutionalized deceit and crime have become the norm here. The tide will turn but what comes after will not be pretty or any better after a while. Look up Germany 1936 and Russia 1917.
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN
Ubee E31U2V1
(Software) pfSense
Netgear WNR3500L

Chubbysumo

Member

This is a restriction put on the phone, via carrier settings

I would like to point out that this is a restriction that is put on the phone by the carrier settings, and can easily be removed or modified by rooting the phone, and editing the carrier settings. I have seen it done, and with the Atrix running on the 3G net(the HSUPA, and HSUPA+ has not been truly turned on by AT&T yet) it will get 2-3 mbps upload in most markets. Remember when the Iphone started capping out at 100kbps upload? That was because AT&T released a phone specific update(can now be done over cell network because of 4.0) that would limit the Iphone from going faster. The public backlash made them say that this was a mistake, and then they sent out another carrier update, that removed this setting(I saw both of these carrier settings install, and they were easy to edit, as the second one had a limit of 5000kbps, or 5mbps on the upload side, which isnt bad, really, if you could ever get it on their crap network). I have a jailbroken Iphone3gS, and I saw this limit set in the carrier update, almost as soon as it was installed. It was also easy to remove, and my phone was, once again, able to get faster speeds. The Iphone "mistake" was an early sign of AT&T testing the ability to limit upload and download speeds by specific phones/handsets thru the carrier settings. Now that they have practice, they have done this to the "4G capable" devices on the 3G network, so as not to show how poor their networks performance is. I can post a link on how to remove this limit if someone would like, but you risk bricking your phone in the process of obtaining root access. Another solution is to make your own carrier settings, and force an update with some handy software over USB, just google it.

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02

Karl Bode

News Guy

Re: This is a restriction put on the phone, via carrier settings

I would like to point out that this is a restriction that is put on the phone by the carrier settings, and can easily be removed or modified by rooting the phone, and editing the carrier settings.

Yes. A-men. Now isn't it obnoxious that this is even required to have a truly decent user experience?
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN
Ubee E31U2V1
(Software) pfSense
Netgear WNR3500L

Chubbysumo

Member

Re: This is a restriction put on the phone, via carrier settings

yea, kinda sad that you have to root or jailbreak your device to get the grips of AT&T removed. This only demonstrates that AT&Ts HSUPA network is not running, and to not have a flood of data eating devices, that would created a new Iphone like bottleneck, they have limited the speeds that the new devices can obtain on HSPA(true 3G). this is sad.
Big Dawg 23
join:2002-03-27
Northfield, MN

Big Dawg 23

Member

I passed on "4G"

I just moved to AT&T from T-Mobile. I never got "4G" except twice on my G2. I decided against the Inspire because I really didn't want to root my phone again. Instead I went with iPhone 4, which smokes my G2 on T-Mobile.
tennisman94
join:2010-02-18
Palm Harbor, FL

tennisman94

Member

Re: I passed on "4G"

said by Big Dawg 23:

I just moved to AT&T from T-Mobile. I never got "4G" except twice on my G2. I decided against the Inspire because I really didn't want to root my phone again. Instead I went with iPhone 4, which smokes my G2 on T-Mobile.

Wait. You went from a rooted android phone to an unjailbroken iPhone? I think you'll miss some of the customizability and end up jailbreaking anyways. (Not to say the iPhone is a bad choice, many people prefer it for the easy to understand, polished, and very fluid UI)
alfnoid
MVM
join:2002-02-18

alfnoid

MVM

Nothing new from att

I have seen this behavior from att for many years.
I had the fuze (touch pro) on att and it had the hardware to do hsupa and does just fine. Most of the time if I tether I get about 4mb down and 1+up. This with a phone that came out in 2008.

Thing is I had to flash a custom ROM to enable this speed (and tethering). Exact same thing as today.
MyDogHsFleas
Premium Member
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX

MyDogHsFleas

Premium Member

So yet again I have to spend time digging to find out truth

The headline says that AT&T has "crippled" and "snipped" upstream speeds on "4G" phones. The only legit "scare quotes" in this headline are the ones around "4G". The others are completely bogus.

Lo and behold, read the actual article, and you find out that AT&T is simply in the process of enabling HSUPA on these specific new phones, not "4G" phones in general, and HSUPA will be available soon. You also find out that some posters report that the iPhone 4 already supports HSUPA on AT&T.

I'm really tired of this crap.

FastiBook
join:2003-01-08
Newtown, PA

FastiBook

Member

iPhone 4.....

Dunno what's going on here but my iPhone 4 gets 1.4 megs up 4.5 megs down in these "4G" areas.

- A

Blaque
@ameritech.net

Blaque

Anon

Rooting the atrix

I'd like to dispute one thing the original author said "rooting" the atrix doesnt remove the "cap" nor does it improve upload speeds in the least
MyDogHsFleas
Premium Member
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX

MyDogHsFleas

Premium Member

Re: Rooting the atrix

Glad you mentioned that. I thought that was completely bogus too, but had no way to check. This analyst that Karl seems to embrace uncritically is full of it.

If AT&T doesn't support HSUPA from the device, jailbreaking or rooting it is not going to help. This is not a "crippled feature" that you can un-cripple.

Someone needs to do their homework.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT
·Frontier FiberOp..
Asus RT-AC68

BiggA

Premium Member

Re: Rooting the atrix

You would have to load a ROM that can handle HSUPA. I loaded one on my Captivate for totally non speed-related reasons, and it magically got HSUPA in the process.

However, who the heck cares about HSUPA? It's not useful. Wow, Facebook pictures go up two seconds faster. Big whoop. I think the bigger issue is that the HSPA+ IS NOT 4G, will never be 4G, and should not be advertised as such.

Theoretically, 4G has to be 100mbps for mobile, but I'll let Verizon and Sprint call LTE and WiMAX 4G, since it is IP-based, and much faster than 3G, with much lower latency, but anything that is HSPA-based is 3.5G, maybe 3.9G, but NOT 4G.

compuguybna
join:2009-06-17
Nashville, TN

compuguybna

Member

AT&T are such liars.

Glad I took my INSPIRE back before I was stuck in a contract.

They're such liars. and got busted thru BBB complaints, then try to wiggle their way out of complaints with rebuttals.

i'll NEVER own another AT&T phone. they're such greedy bastards.

Amazing my phone still showed H+ and I had neither 3G or 4G.
I was on EDGE. EXPLAIN THAT AT&T.