Sprint looking into how to fix slow 3G speeds for iPhone

Sprint, Apple's newest iPhone 4S partner, has been seeing an increasing amount of criticism for the extremely slow speeds of its 3G network when using the device.

A leaked internal email shows that Sprint is aware of the "nationwide issue" relating to the slow data and is looking into ways to fix it.

Reviewers and critics says the 3G speed, thanks to the new influx of iPhone owners, was down to an average of just 400 kbps, well below the over 1 Mbps seen on rival carriers.

Despite the internal email, the company's public statement paints a very different picture:

Overall, iPhone performance on the Sprint network is consistent with our expectations and the rest of our high-end portfolio. Sprint also did benchmarking of Sprint's iPhone against competitor's iPhones and the testing showed little to no performance difference.

Sprint allegedly broke the bank for the iPhone, paying Apple $20 billion over the next 4 years for iPhone devices.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 26 Oct 2011 14:38

snowlock

sprint has the slowest 3G network, and that's just how it is. it has been that way for quite some time; not an iphone issue. i honestly doubt it's a "expansion" issue, like AT&T claimed for the first few iphone years.

my cousin got the 4s on sprint and i was devastated by the speeds. he had an evo before, but since no there was no wimax around he had the same slow connection with it. same deal with people i know on sprint where i live, and we are 80 miles away in the next state.

26.10.2011 15:12 #1

Hyasuma

no, it need to speed up the 3g network for all not just craphones

26.10.2011 19:04 #2

KillerBug

Anyone who would buy a 3G phone these days doesn't care about speed at all. They might as well sell them without data plans.

27.10.2011 00:41 #3

ZeusAV

Originally posted by snowlock: sprint has the slowest 3G network, and that's just how it is. it has been that way for quite some time; not an iphone issue. i honestly doubt it's a "expansion" issue, like AT&T claimed for the first few iphone years.

my cousin got the 4s on sprint and i was devastated by the speeds. he had an evo before, but since no there was no wimax around he had the same slow connection with it. same deal with people i know on sprint where i live, and we are 80 miles away in the next state. Agree. Sprint has pretty much always had a crappy 3G network. It's one of the reasons they were so quick to launch Wimax "4G". If you look at their 3G maps, they haven't even expanded it for almost 2 years. The large number of iPhones that they sold only affected more users and brought more attention to those speeds. Overall they have the worst 3G network of all 4 carriers.

It's also funny that they claim their iPhone has equal speed performance to other carriers. I've done several tests with the Sprint iPhone here and only got 1mbps a few times. With the AT&T one I have seen 6-8mbps most of the time.

27.10.2011 01:03 #4

Monkeypox69 (unverified)

I have a 3G Android phone on T-Mobile and I get DL speeds of 2 Mbps+.

What a joke Sprint is.

28.10.2011 05:47 #5

Hyasuma

Originally posted by Monkeypox69: I have a 3G Android phone on T-Mobile and I get DL speeds of 2 Mbps+.

What a joke Sprint is. except t mobile data speed slows down after 100mb, what a joke T mobile is

28.10.2011 07:37 #6

Hyasuma

double post

28.10.2011 07:37 #7

Necrosaro

Sprint tested their own equipment and said there is little to no difference between their speeds and rivals? I call BS. I just switched to Sprint, and my 3g, in 4 larger cities I have visited over the last 2 weeks, ranges from speeds on speedtest.net app of 0.01 to 0.44. Its almost unuseable.

28.10.2011 15:43 #8

Hyasuma

Originally posted by Necrosaro: Sprint tested their own equipment and said there is little to no difference between their speeds and rivals? I call BS. I just switched to Sprint, and my 3g, in 4 larger cities I have visited over the last 2 weeks, ranges from speeds on speedtest.net app of 0.01 to 0.44. Its almost unuseable. i have to agree with you. i live in a area where the coverage is ranged from .10 to .45mbps in my area. when i go downtown i get abotu .85mbps and when I went to chicago for the past summer my speed was up to 1.41mbps (downtown) Is shitty, but the cheapest if you want unlimited data.

29.10.2011 01:16 #9

KillerBug

Originally posted by Hyasuma: Originally posted by Monkeypox69: I have a 3G Android phone on T-Mobile and I get DL speeds of 2 Mbps+.

What a joke Sprint is. except t mobile data speed slows down after 100mb, what a joke T mobile is That's funny...the 4G gives you full speed for the first 2GB, then drops the speed to 3G speeds...even though it is unlimited, they call it a 2GB plan because it starts throttling after 2GB...while everyone else charges extra after 2GB, and those who still have unlimited plans still throttle after 2GB in spite of claiming to be unlimited.

T-Mobile is the most honest company out there. If they are a joke, it is an inside joke between the other carriers about how they don't treat their customers like garbage.

29.10.2011 01:32 #10

Hyasuma

29.10.2011 07:23 #11

Ssaaaa (unverified)

A friend let me take over his sprint line, and gave me his samsung galaxy s 4g phone. I was pretty interested to see what it could do. Speed test app is averaging around 200kbs per second for me . I thought maybe it was poorer singnal, tower, the fact that I was inside, ect. Ruled all those out as I tested it in multiple spots around town. Even with solid full signal, the same issue. At home, once in a blue ill get what must be full download speed wich reaches 1.3 mbps for me. Wish it would stay that way. This network makes using data unbearable! Is it allways like this or is this because of the new load on the network? I may have to give this line back to my friend and say, sorry, sprint sucks dude.

4.11.2011 01:15 #12

Artstaandrew (unverified)

Originally posted by KillerBug: Originally posted by Hyasuma: Originally posted by Monkeypox69: I have a 3G Android phone on T-Mobile and I get DL speeds of 2 Mbps+.

What a joke Sprint is. except t mobile data speed slows down after 100mb, what a joke T mobile is That's funny...the 4G gives you full speed for the first 2GB, then drops the speed to 3G speeds...even though it is unlimited, they call it a 2GB plan because it starts throttling after 2GB...while everyone else charges extra after 2GB, and those who still have unlimited plans still throttle after 2GB in spite of claiming to be unlimited.

T-Mobile is the most honest company out there. If they are a joke, it is an inside joke between the other carriers about how they don't treat their customers like garbage.
Sorry but that's a lie my friend I just switched to sprint from tmobile yes it's slow but I don't have a problem I did a speed test side my side in Greensboro nc right next to the host and on my iPhone 4s I got 2.5 mbs and on a tmobile comet that is 3G also I got .34 mbs so I don't know what tmobile is smoking over there where it at and also when I called to cancel my service they said it was slow because of a sim update and I said then why the freak did you not mail that thing to me 5 months ago??? And they said well if u aren't happy just shut the hell up so I just called them back cussed them out and was done!! I'm on sprint 3G right now even though I get .43 mbs I'm still browsing fine so don't talk stuff u can't prove buddy

16.5.2012 22:39 #13

AfterDawn: News