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.


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 985 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 Nowell Nowell says:

    I even got more than 3MB on my Receive Rate reading. My torrent download even went to 300+kbps using my smartbro. I live in Marikina.

  2. Avatar for Abe Olandres Abe Olandres says:

    @jason – I wasn’t doing any math there. The 2336kb is the one in the screenshot provided while the 215KB/s is the one I’m getting from the actual downloads. The discrepancy might be attributed to the fact that the monitor on the dialer is only getting burst readings while my downloads are averaged.

  3. Avatar for Jason Jason says:

    Your math is off. You’d be closer to 300KB total if you were getting 2336kb. 110+45+45+15=215. Rounding up or down, your numbers aren’t close. That being said. I’d take reliability over speed any day. A sometimes 3MB line that dips below 1MB all the time is worthless for anything but a backup downloading pipe. Gimme pldt always 2MB any day. And digitel can go to hell for all the stress! I get a perfectly capped 256kbit line for 1,500 a month. Just leave downloads running on it 24/7

  4. Avatar for Abe Olandres Abe Olandres says:

    @jay – I actually have a Smart Prepaid Buddy and I am doing multi-testing with both on several locations. Watch out for that one.

  5. Avatar for Jay Jay says:

    –“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.”

    –“Must be a smart sim tagged as VIP. They usually give those to VIPs or let people test it. Similar thing happened to me when another network gave me a test unit/sim/connection for 2 months.

    Similar to how Postpaid and Prepaid broadband internet subscriptions that doesn’t have the same speed, this is the higher kind.”

    I agree with Cheftonio.. why not try it with a regular sim? Bias kasi binigay ng SMART for you to “try” it out.

  6. Avatar for Leo Leo says:

    sun 3g usb sucks big time here in zapote las pinas. i opt for 3-month lock-in period and yet maybe i just use it less than 2 days in total use. ipapa-disconnect ko na. so if you’re in this area, forget sun 3g.

    globe wi-max have a decent connection here though. never tried smart bro yet.

  7. Avatar for dongkidoodles dongkidoodles says:

    I usually download several files at the same time and speed varies from 10kbps to 400 kbps a file. There was one time I downloaded a 1.5gb file in 4 to 5 minutes. Download speed for the others did not change while that file was also being downloaded. After that one file, everything returned to the usual download rate. I guess download speed depends on the source as well.

  8. Avatar for IC DeaDPiPoL IC DeaDPiPoL says:

    found this while checking my GMANews.TV rss

    http://www.gmanews.tv/story/201946/house-probe-on-substandard-broadband-internet-services-sought

    A lawmaker representing the youth sector has filed a resolution urging the House of Representatives to look into standards that are supposed to be followed by broadband Internet service providers in the country.

    Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino filed last week House Resolution 407 asking the House Committee on Information and Communications Technology to conduct an inquiry “on the quality of broadband internet services delivered by commercial telecommunications companies” in the country.

    Palatino, who used to be a blogger before his youth-based group won a seat in Congress, said consumers continue to complain of problems related to broadband Internet access, including limited area coverage and slow connection speeds.

    “Most of the promos, packages and features being advertised by broadband providers are deceptive. Thousands of Filipino internet users complain of substandard services, slow internet speed, limited coverage, unfair fees and hidden charges,” he said in a statement.

    He added that the House body should call on the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), telecommunication firms and various consumer groups in its hearing to help Congress draft appropriate laws to address Internet access problems.

    “Communications and access to information is a public good… The government should be stricter in monitoring whether services are complying [with] standards,” he said.

    The Philippines currently has an estimated 30 million Internet users. A recent study by a global media agency said that the Philippines has the highest percentage of Internet users that watch videos online, even though the country has relatively low number of households connected to the web. (See: Filipinos are world’s top Internet video viewers)—JV, GMANews.TV

  9. Avatar for Jon Jon says:

    Generally, Smart’s connection is really fast. However, congestion is a really huge factor/problem. Next is signal strength. I used to get consistent and stable speeds even faster than yours sir Abe. I’d be getting up to 3mbps speeds. I am aware that people who even have a HSPA/HSPA+ capable modem get even up to 7mbps or more.

    However, now I would only get around 1mbps on peak hours. I guess a lot more people are using Smart in my area.

  10. Avatar for Jhay Jhay says:

    Globe Tattoo works well at our location in Silang, Cavite. Though signal strength fluctuates, the connection remains consistent 80% of the time.

  11. Avatar for Teknisyan Teknisyan says:

    wow! Now that’s why I call optimum speed!! Heheh…

  12. Avatar for IC DeaDPiPoL IC DeaDPiPoL says:

    why not test that sim side by side against a postpaid and prepaid smartbro?

  13. Avatar for Andre Marcelo-Tanner Andre Marcelo-Tanner says:

    its fixed duh

  14. Avatar for tantra2gadget tantra2gadget says:

    ok naman sa akin ang globe here in bulacan
    i did not try pa other network inet connection nila
    may downtime lang tlaga
    i think its normal lang pag minsan mabagal

  15. Avatar for Jiro Yan Jiro Yan says:

    Im downloading using hotfile premium… Both Globe Tattoo and SUN Broadband umaabot ng 2.5Mbps. Wala naman ako problem for both network sa speed ng internet nila. Ayaw ko lang sa Globe is the image compression nila. Kaya SUN Broadband lagi ko ginagamit. I try SMART Bro, naubos na load ko hindi man lang ako makapag surf sa net. So, di ko nalang try ulet.

  16. Avatar for Cheftonio Cheftonio says:

    Must be a smart sim tagged as VIP. They usually give those to VIPs or let people test it. Similar thing happened to me when another network gave me a test unit/sim/connection for 2 months.

    Similar to how Postpaid and Prepaid broadband internet subscriptions that doesn’t have the same speed, this is the higher kind.

  17. Avatar for Richard Benedict Richard Benedict says:

    it happen to me once or twice when buffering a video or downloading

  18. Avatar for techny techny says:

    NEVER…still it depends on user’s location…here in bulacan i use SUN BROADBAND.so far ok naman ang SPEED stable except on P2P…SMART and GLOBE are slow here…

  19. Avatar for Marvin Marvin says:

    The peak speed i experience is about 1.5mbps. And it’s not even stable; fluctuates from .6mbps and up to peak.

  20. Avatar for Kvn Kvn says:

    Doesn’t work for Globe Broadband though. Any fix us Globe users?

Leave a Reply
JOIN OUR TELEGRAM DISCUSSION

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