Is a .05Mbps download speed slow???

[crimsondiva]

1st generation Droid with 49 apps installed, including Advanced Task Killer. The 49 is down from 63, with no change in speed. I am not rooted. My phone seems REALLY slow at times, so I ran several speed tests from various locations. They all report low results compared to others. 0.43 (download) and 0.34(upload) are typical results. A)Is this typical? and B)How can I get better download speeds.

[Stelv]

That seems slow. Get rid of task killer. Task killers work against your system in android 2.2. Uninstall it. You could also just be in a low coverage area. Regardless get rid of task killer and any anti virus apps you may have. They are no good and absolutely useless in android 2.2.

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[Stelv]

I am at 1.47mps down and .4mps up in western ny. Something is cutting your speed.

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[crimsondiva]

Thanks, Stelv. Yea. I had Antivirus running, so I've uninstalled that. I also have 48 other apps loaded, but I'm not sure which of those is causing the lag. I am hesitant to get rid of Advanced Task Killer just yet, but here are the others:

1password
adobe flash player
advanced task killer
amazon mp3
astro
barcode scanner
bible
bistro cook
bluetooth file transfer
dolphin browser hd
doubletwist
droidlight
dropbox
Facebook
gdocs
gmail unread count
gmail
google map address book
google search
handcent sms
justpictures
amazon kindle
launcherpro
maps
market
meebo IM
my verizon mobile
speed test
ourgroceries
pandora
places directory
planningcenter
pocketcloud
pure calendar widget
remember the milk
screen suite
shopper
silent time lite
sms unread count
car home
swiftkey
twitter
urbanspoon
voice recorder
wells fargo
youtube

[CJM]

Heres more on what Stelv was saying: Task Killers... The Answer from Google & Developers.

Saw this on twitter today: Verizon Handing Out FREE Network Extenders? (Updated) - Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog

[crimsondiva]

Thanks, CJM! OK, so I disabled ATK from automatically starting and I promise (holding up my right hand) only to use it to disable a hung app.

Also, I hope I get one of those network extender texts from Verizon. Maybe they already sent one and it's taking forever to receive it.

[Stelv]

I would get rid of atk and use an app called mini task manager by mini guy and only use it if an app is frozen. Some apps communicate with servers and eat up your connection, like some grocery list apps and barcode scanner. I would use chrome to phone instead of barcode scanner and gtasks for grocery and todo list.

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[Stelv]

Lets us know if any of these things help out.

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[crimsondiva]

Lets us know if any of these things help out.

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Thanks for the suggestions. I'm down to 44 apps now and I've removed atk. I took my phone into a Verizon store to see if they could help any. The store is about 3 miles from my office, but when the rep ran the speed test, the numbers were 2237kbps down and 811kbps up. That's the fastest I've seen since I started testing.

That, she said, proves that there is nothing wrong with the phone. I still find it odd that I get poor results both at home and at work, but I'm going to try other locations as well.

She also pointed out that of the 256MB of RAM, I only had 76MB available which was also slowing my phone down. So, I've begun the tedious process of deleting the call log and text messages (had messages from March 2010 still saved!).

[takeshi]

1st generation Droid with 49 apps installed, including Advanced Task Killer. The 49 is down from 63, with no change in speed.

Number of apps has nothing to do with speed (of the device or download/upload).

I took my phone into a Verizon store to see if they could help any. The store is about 3 miles from my office, but when the rep ran the speed test, the numbers were 2237kbps down and 811kbps up. That's the fastest I've seen since I started testing.

That, she said, proves that there is nothing wrong with the phone. I still find it odd that I get poor results both at home and at work, but I'm going to try other locations as well.

Coverage, however, directly affects download/upload speed. It's entirely possible that you have poor coverage both at home and at work but you haven't mentioned anything along those lines. If you're attaining those speeds at the VZW store then it probably is coverage related.

If the device itself or the apps were affecting download speed then they wouldn't suddenly stop affecting download/upload speeds at any given location.

She also pointed out that of the 256MB of RAM, I only had 76MB available which was also slowing my phone down.

76MB of RAM or storage? Again, storage (affected by apps installed, their cache & data) has no effect on speed. It's just storage. Lack of RAM can impact performance but 76MB isn't all that low. Don't overlook CPU usage.