Titan and AT&T Micro Cell: Still no dice

[krayziehustler]

Backstory: I work in Midtown NYC and was getting horrible service on my new Titan. I couldn't make or receive any texts or phone calls during the day. Though my iPhone carrying coworkers could.


So I ended up getting an ATT MicroCell installed in my office and am now able to make receive phone calls and texts..

However, even with a cell tower right in my office I am unable to get more than 2mbps on my Titan. I allowed an iPhone 4S coworker to share my MicroCell and he got close to 11mbps

So there is proof that even when you take away ATT towers away from the equation, the Titan still seems to be throttled or limited by something that the iPhone obviously doesnt have.

Moral of the story is that the Titan is broken and it's not ATT's fault.

 

[Reflexx]

Sounds like a firmware issue. Not really a hardware one. Since the chip in the Titan is more than capable of faster speeds.

I remember on my Focus, there was a tweak through the diagnostic tools where you could pretty much change some settings and suddenly you had faster internet.

I'm guessing that there are some settings that have been set on the Titan to limit its speed. But I also do think that these limits were put on by AT&T. They're the ones what choose the settings.

With the iPhone, they probably have some sort of contract agreement with Apple that limits what they can do to the phone.

 

[jeremyshaw]

Bit more info on the microcell, it's limitations, benefits, etc. A good read, reguardless if you have one (for those that do, however, it does mention speed limitations supposedly implemented).
AnandTech - AT&T 3G MicroCell: A Comprehensive Exploration

 

[krayziehustler]

Bit more info on the microcell, it's limitations, benefits, etc. A good read, reguardless if you have one (for those that do, however, it does mention speed limitations supposedly implemented).
AnandTech - AT&T 3G MicroCell: A Comprehensive Exploration

I don't get anywhere near those speeds. The manual that came with it also says that it is compatible with 4G.

At least now I can make and receive phone calls with my MicroCell. Data is still on/off at random intervals during the day at this point. All while my iphone 4s co workers laugh lol.

 

[naplesbill]

The MicroCell is not capable of HSDPA. It can only do UMTS. So, your friend with the iPhone was not using your MicroCell when he achieved those speeds. I have an iPhone4 as my work phone and a Titan as my personal phone. Neither device gets anything better than 3G speeds on my MicroCell at home.

The iPhone probably still had a WiFi connection.

 

[krayziehustler]

The MicroCell is not capable of HSDPA. It can only do UMTS. So, your friend with the iPhone was not using your MicroCell when he achieved those speeds. I have an iPhone4 as my work phone and a Titan as my personal phone. Neither device gets anything better than 3G speeds on my MicroCell at home.

The iPhone probably still had a WiFi connection.

I didn't know you were in the room when we tried this??? lol

Nope. Wifi was off and his phone said " ATT&T microcell" as did mine. Since you are connected to the Micro Cell and not ATT Tower.

Saw it with my own eyes.

We used the Speed Test official App on his iPhone and Bandwidth on my Titan. We ran it 3 times each, the highest he got was 10.7mbps and the lowest being 8mbps. I never got more than 2mbps

 

[krayziehustler]

The MicroCell is not capable of HSDPA. It can only do UMTS. So, your friend with the iPhone was not using your MicroCell when he achieved those speeds. I have an iPhone4 as my work phone and a Titan as my personal phone. Neither device gets anything better than 3G speeds on my MicroCell at home.

The iPhone probably still had a WiFi connection.

Also, key word here is "at home". I have it "At Work" plugged into a router that gets over 100mbps down.

 

[jeremyshaw]

The MicroCell is not capable of HSDPA. It can only do UMTS. So, your friend with the iPhone was not using your MicroCell when he achieved those speeds. I have an iPhone4 as my work phone and a Titan as my personal phone. Neither device gets anything better than 3G speeds on my MicroCell at home.

The iPhone probably still had a WiFi connection.

The Anandtech review linked above explicitly states the AT&T Microcell supports HSDPA 3.6mbps. While I'd normally gloss over "review website specs," Anandtech is rather reliable, and in depth, in this area (cell phone connectivity).

 

[krayziehustler]

The Anandtech review linked above explicitly states the AT&T Microcell supports HSDPA 3.6mbps. While I'd normally gloss over "review website specs," Anandtech is rather reliable, and in depth, in this area (cell phone connectivity).

Agreed, however that article is about 4 months away from being 2 years old. The made on date for my Micro Cell is 8/11. Also, you cannot argue with what I saw. Especially considering it is connected to a massively fast internet connection.

 

[jeremyshaw]

Yeah, it could just be the Microcell was software limited at the time, for whatever reason (probably as logical as why AT&T is limiting the Titan - my Inspire 4G and Atrix 4G were also both limited till several months after launch, where AT&T issued a software update that enabled the "4G speeds").

 

[naplesbill]

Sorry, I meant hsdpa is supported but not hsdpa+, which is what AT&T considers 4G. It is possible the latest MicroCell has been updated. I won't believe it until I see it in person, or in a well documented video.

Sent from my PI39100 using Board Express

I just looked up the specs on the MicroCell again. Please note the following:

SUPPORTED DEVICES
Supports voice and 3G data
3G and 4G wireless phones

It only supports 3G for voice and data. It supports 3G and 4G phones only because 4G phones are also capable of connecting to 3G networks. This means I seriously doubt the speeds that you observed were obtained via the MicroCell. Also notice it is called the 3G MicroCell. If it were capable of 4G, there is no doubt AT&T would promote it as such. So, show proof or it didn't happen.