Do all T-mobile USA 3.5G towers support 7Mb/s? If not, is there a web site that lists which T-mobile towers support 7Mb/s? I read on the net of people who get 2.5Mb/s download or better but I have never experienced anything better than 1.1Mb/s download in any place that I have tried (West Lafayette IN, Chicago IL, and Washington DC) even though all places show 3.5G with 5 bars on my N900.

While sometimes I get 1.1Mb/s download, most of the time I get far less (<200Kb/s), even when it shows 3.5G with 5 bars. I wonder if it is lack of availability of 7Mb/s towers, high traffic, throttling, or that I have my device misconfigured. I have even more plus and the "unlimited" data plan.

All 3.5 3G is 7mbps by definition, so all 3.5G towers do. Not all T-Mobile 3G is 7mbps. But some 3.5G has been upgraded to 21mbps. That translates to a max of about 10mbps speed in real-world usage. 10mbps is the max that the N900 (or any other presently available phone) is rated for.

No.

Possibly. Probably.

Possibly, though T-Mobile has far less congestion problems than AT&T.

Depends on your plan and how you use it. Since you have a real smartphone plan, if you use less than 5GB in a given month (or maybe even 10GB, not sure what the limit actually is) definitely not. If you use more, probably yes.

Unlikely if you called 611 and had T-Mobile do the setup.

So is there a map (on the web) that deliniates which T-mobile towers are just 3G and which are 3.5G? What plans, if any, does T-mobile have to upgrade non-3.5G 3G towers to 3.5G (and ultimately to 21Mb/s)?

I heard that the N900 shows 3G when dormant and only shows 3.5G when data is flowing. Mine appears to switch back and forth between 3G and 3.5G. It is difficult to determine whether this is because data flow starts/stops or because I'm switching towers.

If usage gets high enough on a given month and T-mobile starts throttling, but then my usage drops down again, do I have to do anything to get throttling removed? Or does it happen automatically? Is there a way that I can find out if I am being throttled?

The kiosk where I bought the SIM card and registered for the plan did the setup. Is there a way that I can check that it is OK? It was initially configured to use internet2.voicestream.com. I changed that to epc.t-mobile.com but performance was the same before and after.

I'm pretty sure your "definition" is wrong here. AFAICT, in the context of N900 connection icon, 2.5G refers to EDGE (up to 236kb/s), 3G refers to plain UMTS (up to 384kb/s), and 3.5G refers to HSDPA. HSDPA includes speeds from 0.9Mb/s up, including the most common deployments at 3.6 and 7.2.

I'm not aware of any usage of 3.5G to mean "HSDPA, but only at rates above $x"; people usually split the various generations up by technology, not bitrate.

According to PC World, all T-mobile sites are rolled out with 7.2Mb/s or higher.

No. See the coverage map on www.t-mobile.com

So my main question is this: on this forum a small number of T-Mobile N900 users have reported download speeds around 2-3Mb/s while a larger number of users (myself included) have reported download speeds (significantly) under 1Mb/s. What is the cause and if possible what is the fix?

I get 2.7Mb/s in Chicago (Irving / Kedzie area)

while if you see 3.5 on your handset (HSPA) it does not mean that you will get the max speed. very few places have the "high" speeds of what thier network is able to do. and they are mostly the very populated areas (with exception to the san jose area, as i max at about .9mb/s no matter where i go)

here is the chart of data speeds:



while vzn/att CUT-OFF at 5gb, the tmo network is free-flowing until you hit the 10gb and then throtles your speed.

even using my booklet 3g, connected with joiku spot on my n900, the most i have gone is a little over 2.5 gb.

your best bet to see "where" the ::ossibility::: of having the faster speeds would be to check the maps on the t-mobile site and where ever it is dark green is your best chance.

also, while the sites may be 7.2 ready, doesnt mean they have the bandwidth to those sites, and may also have some challenges, depeding on the density o f the area with their frequency reuse, which could limit where and how that is used.

there is nothing you can do to change your settings on the handset.

your internet is going to be either:

epc.tmobile.com

or

wap.internet2.voicestream.com


both will have the same effect with the same speed. the only way you would notice a difference is if you have a grandfathered t-zones plan, where you would need to change the web access address in your settings to the epc.tmobile.com in order to stream the 3g service without paying the total internet price.


i currently do that on 3 of my 4 handsets btw....works fine.

Well, you got me on a technicality I guess. Or poor choice of words. All I really meant with 'by definition' was that all 3.5G towers should be capable of 7.2Mb/s.

Hmmm...I wasn't aware that the upgrade to 7.2 service was supposed to be complete. All I knew was he speed I'm getting in some areas doesn't seem to be up to snuff for 7.2Mb/s service so I assumed it was still on ongoing thing.

@SD69: The maps never have been real up-to-date or accurate. I don' think any carrier's are.

Yes, T-Mobile's maps are a month or so out of date. But the PC World article was wrong. For more up-to-date information, you can track the 3G launches here: http://www.tmonews.com/category/3g/

The following large cities are still not upgraded to 3G:

Lincoln, NE
Mobile, AL
Jackson, MS
Tallahassee, FL
Springfield, MO
Evansville, IN
Midland, TX
Erie, PA
Murfreesboro, TN