Verizon droid speed test vs actual speeds

[applesauce]

I have a new verizon moto droid running 2.0.1 and I have the speedtest.net app which rates my download speed at 800-1200 kbps download speed and 800-900 kbps upload speed. I am seeing a big difference between that and the actual speed im seeing.

I know real world results will vary but I am maxing consisitantly at 100-120 kbps download speed sometimes up to 160. I have not seen over 200 kbps I know that. This is all in reference to large file downloads, I cant be sure how fast small files are going. I tried downloading an ubuntu live disc 600 mb from their webpage, and I downloaded some files and videos from my home ftp server. All over 3G with full or almost full bars. I am still seeing only 100-160 kbps for a download speed.

I am wondering if anyone has actually seen speeds higher then that and what they were doing?

[iPirate]

the source could be limiting your speed...

[roflcopters]

You said it yourself...real world results vary. You will almost never see the full speed rating for anything except bandwidth tests. My home DSL gets 3.0 Mbps on Speedtest, but averages around 380 Kbps on downloads.

[applesauce]

I know, I am just eager to see what other people are seeing for download speeds (actual results)

Since real world results vary, and we agree on that it seems some people must have an opinion on it. If my file is going 100 kbps I am not going to feel that much better about it just because speedtest tells me a higher number.


I am eager to have flash support on the phone so (maybe) sites like hulu and abc nbc and so on will be able to play episodes to the phone. Its also up to the sites to allow it. Until I can watch tv shows on the phone in this way I am limited to pulling video files off of my ftp server or other sites. I am only getting 100-160 kbps for these video downloads and that takes a while to get a 500mb movie or 200 mb tv episode.

I have only tried a couple sources but they all seem to be around this speed. My hope is just to find out if other people are actually seeing better speeds, if so I will try and improve or change my sources for download.

I also find it hard to believe everyone is getting the speeds I am, because I dont see many people complaining about it. Maybe I am expecting too much from the phone

[rjax]

You can already watch some NBC shows on your phone through the NBC mobile website. Give it a try at http://m.nbc.com/fullepisodes.shtml

[Jeremy556]

Cross Post: I haven't actually tested it myself, but... are you comparing the same measurements? As in, speedtest.net and most any bandwidth advertisement or spec is going to use Kbps (Kilo Bits Per Second), where file transfers are usually measured in KBps (Kilo Bytes Per Second). 1KBps = 8Kbps, so 160 KBps on a file transfer would be about 1.28 Mbps as measured in speedtest.net.

[applesauce]

I agree with that now that I see it. My results are based on KBps, thats my mistake for not taking care to pay attention to the terms.

I am still on the bandwagon that one of those just needs to go away, just make it easy for at least speed comparisons.



I still feel its a little slow for the price of mobile internet. The droid is a computer and this is high cost internet, and its slow. I am very happy connection isnt cut after a certain amount of data like ATT's does from what I hear.

[Jeremy556]

They have measured connection speeds in this way forever - all the way back to several bits per second on modems that you velcrod onto a rotary dialed phone handset to connect to a BBS in the 80s.

Maybe I am getting old, but it seems cheap as hell to me. Even just a few years ago, I was paying $1500+ per month for T1 lines at 1.54 Mbps, which I can usually beat with my Droid for $30 /mo. Hell, I (my company, not me) was paying 5 figures monthly for a fractional OC-3 from Level3 that had a lower CDR than what you can get on a residential FIOS connection for <$200 a month.

[srt4mn]

I always see, at least, above 1000kbps download using the speedtest app on my Droid and usually around 500kbps upload.