fbpx

How often do you get 3G speeds this great?

One of the ways I do to really measure the peak speeds of my 3G connection is run multiple downloads all at the same time, maximize network connection and monitor the cumulative download speeds.

The results are always mixed — from good to decent to slow. But sometimes, you bump into connections like this and you can hardly believe it’s true.

Yugatech 728x90 Reno7 Series


Yes, that’s a 2.3Mbps consistent/sustained download speed. I was downloading 4 files — one was getting 110KB/s, 2 more getting ~40KB/s and the last one getting just ~10KB/s.

From various tests I’ve made, I’d say the answer is all about location 99% of the time. I’d often compare the behavior of the signal strength to that of the AM radio.

There’s one trick I do that usually helps in speeding up the connection. In the dialer, go to Settings -> Network Settings and select W850M in the Band Settings.

Disclosure: Smart gave me this SmartBro micro-SIM with 6 months free subscription which I can opt to continue using and pay for after the trial period.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 976 other subscribers
Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

36 Responses

  1. Avatar for kaicho kaicho says:

    for some reason, 850mhz works better in different location compared to 2100Mhz. Because the waveforms of 850mhz are slightly larger than 2100mhz waveforms. Smaller waveforms are harder ro recieve than larger ones. So this must be the reason why 850mhz 3g reception is slightly better

  2. Avatar for kzma kzma says:

    all 3g networks in the philippines are running on 2100 mhz and going out of that frequency cap will make the connection unstable. so how come you say that going to 850mhz band is better. that is one of the reasons why other 3g phones in US is not compatible in the philippines.

  3. Avatar for strife strife says:

    Sauce D nmn 22o yan

    khit 4 bars 3g ung smart prepaid ko 0 recieving data

  4. Avatar for Jonathan Jonathan says:

    Hey Yuga,

    Just want some confirmation here, is w850m really better than w2100m? How come? I’ve tried switching to w2100m before and found out that it’s very good with youtube. But lately, my signal keeps on changing from hsdpa to 3G, the latter being worse, receiving no data at all. So right now, I’m going to switch to w850m as you’ve adviced.

    Regards,

    Jonathan

  5. Avatar for H H says:

    I used to have stable download speeds of 1 MB/s. Not 1 megabit but 1 Megabyte per second. From time to time, I still touch that speed but SmartBro sucks lately. All the IPs they lease for pluugits are blocked as they are used by spammers and harvesters. XD

  6. Avatar for H H says:

    I used to have stable download speeds of 1 MB/s. Not 1 megabit but 1 Megabyte per second. From time to time, I still touch that speed but SmartBro sucks lately. All the IPs they lease for pluugits are blocked as they are used by spammers and harvesters.

  7. Avatar for Bert Bert says:

    Kaya pala naga-advertise na naman sa TV ang Globe ng SUPER(kupad)SURF nila, disgruntled ang mga subscriber… kasi ki-nap nila to 1GB ang download… how deceptive their ‘bottomless’ stunt…

  8. Avatar for Jomar Jomar says:

    Smart Bro is so fast here in Pasay…I’ve tried Globe but it sucks! as in super slow..
    SmartBro is the best! Promise…

  9. Avatar for anne tan anne tan says:

    i agree with you permissiondenied. smartbro sucks!

  10. Avatar for PermissionDenied PermissionDenied says:

    I’ve tweaked my USB dongle to try all networks…
    Location: Antipolo Town Proper

    All networks were good for the first week… They all hit their 2MBps mark at some point… I can download a mp3 for a matter of seconds… But after a week of experience using one network, the speed is getting worst…

    The biggest speed dropper award goes to Smart.
    -for giving me an internet connection speed that’s as slow as a dial-up connection (they are also the recepient of my most expensive prepaid broadband provider) :D

    My Globe and Sun experience are almost the same. Both are good on weekdays and fails on weekend :P… But i still can get 1KBps from the two networks. But one thing i hate when using Globe is that, images are shown in much smaller qualities. Isn’t it cheating? they should modified their ads to read “Up to 2MBps speed (with free image compression).”

    And obviously, there’s nothing i can do but to settle with Sun Broadband. It’s like globe minus the image compression.

    3G sucks! all networks! it’s just my opinion :D…
    but that came from experience :D

  11. Avatar for lupita lupita says:

    i do on mondays hehe minsan nag 3MBPS pa ung receive rate. i use the first gen smart bro prepaid (what a rip off at 4500!) then for downloading i also use IDM (internet download manager) which speeds up my downloads compared pag normal download manager ng IE at FF. satisfied naman ako dahil heavy downloader ako TV shows at movies and i work at nights kaya monday morning lang talaga un time para mag DL hehe

    usually 30min to 1hr ang download ko ng isang 700MB movie, dalawang 350MB tv show (all direct links nd torrent) pag torrent sobrang bagal kaya laging direct links hinahanap ko hehe

    PS. i’m located in rizal, though pag asa kabilang bahay kami sa tuktok ng bundok alang signal halos kaya definitely based sa location din talaga.

    *sorry nobela :P

  12. Avatar for Abe Olandres Abe Olandres says:

    Hi Guys!

    Those who missed my previous posts about 3G speeds, can check these out:

    http://www.yugatech.com/blog/telecoms/smart-wants-you-to-stress-test-their-3g-network/

    http://www.yugatech.com/blog/telecoms/bayan-broadband-512-speed-test/

    http://www.yugatech.com/blog/telecoms/how-to-effectively-measure-broadband-speeds/

    http://www.yugatech.com/blog/telecoms/red-mobile-3g-speed-test/

    http://www.yugatech.com/blog/telecoms/up-to-broadband-speeds-are-bogus/

    http://www.yugatech.com/blog/telecoms/road-speeds-hsdpa-edge-gprs/

  13. Avatar for sherwin sherwin says:

    I am wondering why the results from the Smart sponsored SIM came first with outstanding results wherein a prepaid test would come out later. Well, let’s wait for that one.

  14. Avatar for bruns bruns says:

    oh, also include source and site. so we could compare our experience to yours.

    yes, im planning to get a either usb smartbro or globe or sun. or maybe at least two. yes, i am a future buyer of this product (or the other competing product;-)

    your blog fan base is growing in leaps and bounds everyday. Its impact/influence cannot be denied.

    ” Uncle Ben of spiderman: “Remember, with great power, comes great responsibility.” ;-)

  15. Avatar for bruns bruns says:

    @abe, im a big fan of your blog and even put it into my RSS.

    suggestion lang/ 1 opinyon lamang: to make this particular post more meaningful and helpful to our fellow (and future) mobile dsl subscribers.

    1) please state what time it was done, and please include your location (so people could relate well, and other readers especially those within your area could probably share their own experience in comparison to yours.

    2) for better comparative analysis (and better appreciation of the speed/value of off-peak hours), its also good (for consumers sake) that you also post results during peak hours like 10am, 5pm, 9pm and 10pm.

    if you can get that. it would be more meaningful and helpful to us all.

    since this post has commercial value in nature (smart’s interest et al), you might as well help consumers too by giving them more data so they can have better overall idea of what to expect from such product (a highlighted info (but insufficient data can be misleading to others, esp. newbies and non-techies)

    who doesnt like pro-consumer blogs? probably none

    @dongkidoodles, you downloaded a 1.5gb file in 4 to 5 minutes? > 1.5gb in 5mins = average of actual 5mb per second! its like having 40mbps plan! anong source ( site po ito?

    (if 40mbps plan / 8 = 5mb/sec maxed out).

    i have a bayanDSL,

    for my plan 1mbps (i usually get a normal 125kb/sec. (if maxed out,fully utilized)

    5mb file will normally take 40seconds to compete.

    offpeak would turn SOD 1.5mbps = i get actual ave. of 185kb/sec (if maxed out,fully utilized).

    5mb file will normally take 27seconds.

  16. Avatar for borgy borgy says:

    w850M – that’s forcing it to switch to the 850mhz HSPA frequency. 850mhz has better building penetration and generally faster speed than 2100mhz 3G/HSPA.

Leave a Reply
JOIN OUR TELEGRAM DISCUSSION

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *