Data throttling Hack: Myth or Real?

[thexxoffspring]

As most of you know there has been a release that supposedly made it so the big red couldn't throttle your network. After flashing the zip and tethering up my Droid I could see a phenomenal difference in my 3g drop rate. Downloaded a 2 gig file easy with no stops and then watched a movie. But after reading a thread I read that someone says it doesn't work and it is merely a "placebo" effect. What are your opinions or facts on this.

 

[UNC]

As most of you know there has been a release that supposedly made it so the big red couldn't throttle your network. After flashing the zip and tethering up my Droid I could see a phenomenal difference in my 3g drop rate. Downloaded a 2 gig file easy with no stops and then watched a movie. But after reading a thread I read that someone says it doesn't work and it is merely a "placebo" effect. What are your opinions or facts on this.

I've never lost speed because of my usage... but then again I've never gone over 5gigs. I don't think they throttle you down until 5gigs.

I have lost speed substantially since launch though, many less smartphone users taking bandwidth in 11/09.


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[KZIWarrior]

It seams to vary widely as many people are getting good results and other are seeing nothing. Here in Nashville it hasn't made a difference for me but then pre-hack I was seeing what other's are reporting after applying the update as their 'new, incredible' speeds. It seems to depend largely on the dynamics of your local coverage area (i.e. tower/network load, signal strength ect.) likewise when I leave the Nashville network and head out into the country it makes a slight difference but I'm still not at the full speed I get on the 'better' towers in the 'Nashville area' (which is a HUGE area including area well outside the city/county limits, all now covered with 4G!!!!!!).

 

[jbrock98]

Well from what I read the throttle hack only comes n2 play when u reach a "cap", that verizon throttles u down once u reach so much data even tho u have unlimited, I did a before & after speed test & I had pretty good increase, before I had .94 download .30 upload after flashing the hack 1.96 download .68 upload, but who knows if it was the hack or not, I connect 2 wifi @ home & never had a problem w/ 3g outside my house

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[czerdrill]

i think it's placebo...completely. first the hack is supposed to allegedly take a throttle off if you consume a certain amount of data per month. however, there are people reporting that their speeds are doubled anything they've ever seen after using this hack...clearly that makes zero sense.

second no one seems to answer the question of what this exactly does, or offer any proof that verizon is throttling their data. of course verizon has the right to throttle their data if they want to, but no one can provide proof that they're being throttled.

i think what it comes down to is people wanting so hard to believe that it works that they think they see an increase in speed (which by the very description is not supposed to double your speed, but rather get you back to your original speed).

it's a good attempt at a "hack", but i think it's completely useless

 

[jbrock98]

HY

It seams to vary widely as many people are getting good results and other are seeing nothing. Here in Nashville it hasn't made a difference for me but then pre-hack I was seeing what other's are reporting after applying the update as their 'new, incredible' speeds. It seems to depend largely on the dynamics of your local coverage area (i.e. tower/network load, signal strength ect.) likewise when I leave the Nashville network and head out into the country it makes a slight difference but I'm still not at the full speed I get on the 'better' towers in the 'Nashville area' (which is a HUGE area including area well outside the city/county limits, all now covered with 4G!!!!!!).

I'm in nashville also, the hermitage area off stewarts ferry.....i can't wait for my 4g phone nashville got that coverage!

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[KZIWarrior]

i think it's placebo...completely. first the hack is supposed to allegedly take a throttle off if you consume a certain amount of data per month. however, there are people reporting that their speeds are doubled anything they've ever seen after using this hack...clearly that makes zero sense.

second no one seems to answer the question of what this exactly does, or offer any proof that verizon is throttling their data. of course verizon has the right to throttle their data if they want to, but no one can provide proof that they're being throttled.

i think what it comes down to is people wanting so hard to believe that it works that they think they see an increase in speed (which by the very description is not supposed to double your speed, but rather get you back to your original speed).

it's a good attempt at a "hack", but i think it's completely useless

Yes and no, people have shown what it does (it edit's several values in one of the core files, can't remember the details). This makes the values appear to mimic the values of MobileNet cards and therefore, supposedly 'tricks' the network into thinking your device is a MobileNet card (or whatever VZW calls them) instead of a cell. In larger (i.e. heavy traffic or poor service) markets
these devices are given precedent over cell phones therefore in such areas you would see a difference in other areas (areas with good coverage or light traffic) you wouldn't notice a difference. Seems reasonable enough.

I'm in nashville also, the hermitage area off stewarts ferry.....i can't wait for my 4g phone nashville got that coverage!

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Yeah, same here, I was surprised when I actually saw the 4G 'coverage area' the other day, it's HUGE, goes as far west as Dickson and as far South as Thomson Station, I was expecting it to just be 'downtown' and wasn't in a hurry for the phones but after seeing the coverage area they need to HURRY UPdancedroiddancedroid

 

[czerdrill]

i think it's placebo...completely. first the hack is supposed to allegedly take a throttle off if you consume a certain amount of data per month. however, there are people reporting that their speeds are doubled anything they've ever seen after using this hack...clearly that makes zero sense.

second no one seems to answer the question of what this exactly does, or offer any proof that verizon is throttling their data. of course verizon has the right to throttle their data if they want to, but no one can provide proof that they're being throttled.

i think what it comes down to is people wanting so hard to believe that it works that they think they see an increase in speed (which by the very description is not supposed to double your speed, but rather get you back to your original speed).

it's a good attempt at a "hack", but i think it's completely useless

Yes and no, people have shown what it does (it edit's several values in one of the core files, can't remember the details). This makes the values appear to mimic the values of MobileNet cards and therefore, supposedly 'tricks' the network into thinking your device is a MobileNet card (or whatever VZW calls them) instead of a cell. In larger (i.e. heavy traffic or poor service) markets
these devices are given precedent over cell phones therefore in such areas you would see a difference in other areas (areas with good coverage or light traffic) you wouldn't notice a difference. Seems reasonable enough.

I guess I'm speaking to the people who are reporting double speeds. I had asked this before and all that happened was someone spammed a link on xda that answered nothing.

Here's the question again, for someone who wants to try to answer. If this alleged hack removes the alleged throttle that VZW imposes after you reach a certain data consumption, how could you possibly notice an increase in speed from what you noticed earlier?

In other words if I started out getting 5 down, 1 up, then reached let's say a cap of 5GB, and VZW throttled me, how could I get 10 down 2 up when I apply this hack (these are example numbers btw, not actual)? Wouldn't I simply go back to 5 down, 1up? That's what doesn't make sense, when people say "OMG!! I'm seeing double speeds after applying this!??!?" Clearly that's placebo, and doesn't make any sense.

The only way it would make sense is if you are throttled from the beginning always...in other words that you're NEVER getting 3g speeds, and this hack gives your 3g speeds. Again...this is highly doubtful...3g is rated at around 1.5-2Mbps down which I get normally without this hack. So I doubt that VZW is throttling everyone but lying to them and telling them they're getting 3g...

I believe it's placebo, and no one has really proven otherwise.

 

[GT944]

I would tend to agree with you here... The benefit of making your device look like a wireless access card would be an increase in speed - which makes sense if WAC's are given priority over phones - BUT, you would still get throttled once you hit the data cap for WAC's. This being said, if your data transfer rates are higher at both levels after the hack, its a win, but the hack is mislabled/misunderstood and does not remove the throttle.

I would think there to be no way around this, unless you can find a way to force a reset of your data usage record, or by changing your specific device identity (like proxying)

Maybe I'm wrong here and just spinning my wheels, but that's my two cents.

Sent from my ADR6300

 

[KZIWarrior]

The 'throttling' has nothing to do with a 'usage cap.' We see more than enough people using huge numbers every month due to media and/or tethering so the idea of a cap is clearly not supported. There IS however 'throttling' based on other factors. VZW, and ALL network providers (cell, ISPs EVERYONE) 'throttle' everyone because contrary to major believe bandwidth is NOT infinite. Again this hack edits the device ID properties (for lack of a better term) so the network sees it as NetCard which is given priority. In addition highly congested networks are always adjusting so when someone is sitting on their couch at 1am (i.e. off-peak) applying said hack they are going to get a higher transfer than at 1pm in the middle of the day so these results have to be further scrutinized. As for being a 'placebo' effect it's kind of hard to call that when there are before/after screenshot of speeds only 10 min apart. There is, for certain people, clear advantages to the mod.

 

[czerdrill]

The 'throttling' has nothing to do with a 'usage cap.' We see more than enough people using huge numbers every month due to media and/or tethering so the idea of a cap is clearly not supported. There IS however 'throttling' based on other factors. VZW, and ALL network providers (cell, ISPs EVERYONE) 'throttle' everyone because contrary to major believe bandwidth is NOT infinite. Again this hack edits the device ID properties (for lack of a better term) so the network sees it as NetCard which is given priority. In addition highly congested networks are always adjusting so when someone is sitting on their couch at 1am (i.e. off-peak) applying said hack they are going to get a higher transfer than at 1pm in the middle of the day so these results have to be further scrutinized. As for being a 'placebo' effect it's kind of hard to call that when there are before/after screenshot of speeds only 10 min apart. There is, for certain people, clear advantages to the mod.

aren't the netcards also 3g? as in they max out at 1-2Mbps? I honestly don't know that's why I'm asking. If they are 3g, double speeds still don't make sense...

and sure VZW throttles a little, but not enough that your max is cut in half. That's my point. Reporting that you see double speeds after applying this "hack" makes no sense, regardless of throttling or network congestion. If it actually does work, what you would see is a steady 1-2Mbps always, not a sudden doubling of your up/down speeds. It's a limitation of 3g that no amount of hacking is going to overcome...

(I havent done any research on this, so please feel free to correct me)

 

[patmw123]

I applied it to my Droid 2 and couldn't notice a difference whatsoever

 

[KZIWarrior]

aren't the netcards also 3g? as in they max out at 1-2Mbps? I honestly don't know that's why I'm asking. If they are 3g, double speeds still don't make sense...

and sure VZW throttles a little, but not enough that your max is cut in half. That's my point. Reporting that you see double speeds after applying this "hack" makes no sense, regardless of throttling or network congestion. If it actually does work, what you would see is a steady 1-2Mbps always, not a sudden doubling of your up/down speeds. It's a limitation of 3g that no amount of hacking is going to overcome...

(I havent done any research on this, so please feel free to correct me)

Yes they are 3G and that's exactly the speeds we're talking about. People are going from <1M to ~ 1.5-2M. So essentially they are getting full 3G speeds and double their speeds. You'd be surprised at how much throttling goes on in high-traffic areas. In downtown Nashville I average about 1.3M and can get 1.6M but if I go to certain areas (local area called 'Cool Springs' for example) my speeds dropped to ~.5M just because of the increased traffic per tower. In that area yes the hack made a difference (i.e. I now get about 1-1.5M after the hack). So if you are in an area getting 1-2M than no, you are not going to see a difference. If you are in a highly congested area you might but yes, you're still limited by the actual speeds of 3G.

 

[czerdrill]

aren't the netcards also 3g? as in they max out at 1-2Mbps? I honestly don't know that's why I'm asking. If they are 3g, double speeds still don't make sense...

and sure VZW throttles a little, but not enough that your max is cut in half. That's my point. Reporting that you see double speeds after applying this "hack" makes no sense, regardless of throttling or network congestion. If it actually does work, what you would see is a steady 1-2Mbps always, not a sudden doubling of your up/down speeds. It's a limitation of 3g that no amount of hacking is going to overcome...

(I havent done any research on this, so please feel free to correct me)

Yes they are 3G and that's exactly the speeds we're talking about. People are going from <1M to ~ 1.5-2M. So essentially they are getting full 3G speeds and double their speeds. You'd be surprised at how much throttling goes on in high-traffic areas. In downtown Nashville I average about 1.3M and can get 1.6M but if I go to certain areas (local area called 'Cool Springs' for example) my speeds dropped to ~.5M just because of the increased traffic per tower. In that area yes the hack made a difference (i.e. I now get about 1-1.5M after the hack). So if you are in an area getting 1-2M than no, you are not going to see a difference. If you are in a highly congested area might but yes, you're still limited by the actual speeds of 3G.

ah ok got it. But that still begs the question, wouldn't you see a consistent 1.5 - 2 with this hack applied. I mean yes, network congestion is a factor, but if your device is given "priority" by this hack, and any possible throttle is turned off, I can't imagine you dipping below 1 ever. Is that what you see? That you're consistently and always over 1? I still don't think the hack does anything, but going below 1 at any time would pretty much prove that, i would think.

 

[streetrod]

I live less than a half mile from a tower, I have gotten as high as 2.09M,but the norm is 1-1.5M.

BTW, I i am not using the hack.