June 2019
Have you ever stood in a stadium with full LTE signal, but been completely unable to use the internet on your phone? It’s a situation one might think would be nearly impossible, given the widespread deployment of LTE-Advanced networks across the US. As networks deploy their 5G services, we are even seeing reports of speeds in the gigabit range. Of course, these speeds only happen under “ideal” network conditions, and most of us are still using a 4G connection - but all things considered, you’d think that the “LTE” symbol plus full bars of signal would mean you’d get at least the average download speed for each operator, upwards of 10 Mbps.
The problem, as many of us can attest, is that this isn’t always the case. By analyzing the results from over 15 million speed tests taken when devices were showing full bars of signal, Tutela can show where, and how often, the problem of full signal but slow download occurs
Key Findings
- AT&T users saw full LTE signal but a slow download speed the least often, 1.1% of the time on average. That's nearly three times less than T-Mobile, whose users experienced a slow download speed with full bars 3.1% of the time.
- For three of the four operators (AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint) the Southwestern United States was the worst-performing region.
- Overwhelmingly, tests with slow download speed but full signal were taken during peak hours, indicating that network congestion may be the underlying cause for the problem.
Results
According to Tutela’s findings, users with full bars of signal get a speed less than 1.5 Mbps between about 1-5% of the time, depending on the carrier, device and location. Why did we select 1.5 Mbps download speed as our threshold? For one reason, this is the speed Netflix gives as its recommended broadband connection speed, while Skype recommends it for making a HD video call. It’s a good proxy for a slightly demanding, but not unreasonable use case for the standard consumer going about their day-to-day life.
Our results show that, on a national level, AT&T consumers with full signal were most likely to have speeds at least in excess of 1.5Mbps -- with only 1.1% of tests falling below this threshold. In comparison, T-Mobile had nearly triple the percentage of tests (3.1%) fall below this threshold.
On a region-by-region level, the results were similar. The worst-performing region for any operator was the West for T-Mobile, which had an average of 4.39% of tests with full signal strength miss the threshold. The best-performing regions were the North East and Mid West for AT&T, which were tied on 0.65%.
Now as any smartphone aficionado will know, the different chipsets in devices can have a measurable impact on how users experience network performance. We tested the most prominent Android device manufacturers in the US to see how they compared:
Across all operators, Google devices gave the best showing -- with 99.3% of tests on AT&T faster than 1.5 Mbps, through to 97.9% of tests meeting the same criteria on Verizon. LG and Motorola offered slightly worse results overall. For T-Mobile and AT&T users, Motorola devices had the highest rates of tests under the 1.5 Mbps threshold -- 4.1% of T-Mobile users with a Motorola device and full bars of LTE experienced speeds slower than 1.5 Mbps, and the same was true for 1.7% of AT&T users. Meanwhile, for Sprint customers, LG devices tested below the threshold most often at 3.3% of tests slower than 1.5 Mbps.
Why would a particular manufacturer’s device be slower on one network than another? There could be a few different reasons.
In theory, if operators had a lot of legacy devices from a manufacturer running on the network, this could lead to slower performance. In our testing, we limited our investigation to just devices running Android 7.1 onwards, meaning only relatively recent devices were considered. So what is going on?
One potential cause of a slow download speed whilst having good signal is deprioritization. Operators “deprioritize” some users at busy times to help deal with network congestion, but that deprioritization can happen differently for users on different rate plans. The distribution of device manufacturers across the rate plans is unlikely to be consistent, which could account for some of the differences.
We also considered whether device generation had a significant impact on results. Our results suggested that the percentage of tests below the threshold was not significantly affected by the generation of the phone, for example when comparing the Samsung Galaxy S7, S8 and S9 families. While there was some differences in results between the different models, this was not consistent by operator enough to say that the S9, for instance, offered categorically faster speeds than the S7. We also looked at whether mid-range vs premium handsets made a difference, but again, the change in results suggested there was minimal benefit to one over the other. The upshot? If you consistently have great signal strength but poor download speeds, it’s probably not enough to go out and buy the latest or a more premium phone. It all comes down to your network provider.
Why it matters?
As users move to more data-centric use cases -- like video streaming, VOIP calls and mobile gaming -- it’s becoming ever more important that it’s clear when these use cases will be possible and when they won’t. As it stands, full signal bars (that is, relying on RSRP signal strength measurement) may not be the most effective way to measure this.
To investigate the driving factors for times when signal strength was good but download speeds were below our threshold, we wanted to see if signal quality (as measured by RSRQ) impacted the results. For LTE networks, signal strength is measured by RSRP, and that’s what is used to show the bars of signal on a smartphone. RSRQ represents the amount of interference from neighbouring wireless channels, and as such, you might expect it to be a better predictor of a fast download speed than RSRP.
While we saw a slight improvement against the 1.5 Mbps threshold for tests with both a high signal strength (RSRP) and signal quality (RSRQ), the change was relatively small.
Instead, what we found was that it was during peak usage hours that networks were most likely to show full bars of signals but deliver slow speeds. The overwhelming majority of download tests with full signal but less than 1.5 Mbps download speed were taken during peak hours, and across all operators, the percentage of tests below the threshold was under 0.2%.
This suggests that what’s really at play here is network congestion -- when there’s just more traffic on the network than it can reliably support, users may see full bars of signal but experience poor download speeds.
There’s not a lot consumers can do to improve the situation themselves; often we can’t just decide to use our device at a different time of day. However, dealing with network congestion is a strategic priority for operators. In the short- to mid- term, operators can look to deploy more spectrum and more cell towers to help manage the load and reduce the impact on consumers. In the longer term, 5G could potentially offer relief for networks in some of the most congested parts of the US. However, we’re still several years away from having 5G as a mainstream technology.
Watching a slow progress bar work its way across the screen is about as fun as watching paint dry. While this can be expected from time to time, if you frequently experience data connection problems, you can try a few remedies at home. Get tips from the CPR Cell Phone Repair team on how to fix slow mobile data below.
5 Tips to Boost a Poor Data Connection
Whether you’re struggling to load web pages or waiting for a message to send, signal issues can be frustrating. After all, you pay for a data plan and expect connectivity. The good news is that these issues are often temporary. If your internet speed is still lagging after more than a few hours, try these steps to get things moving.
1. Restart Your Phone
An obvious but often overlooked remedy is that your phone may just need a quick refresh. Try restarting your device to see if that improves data speeds. Restarting your iPhone varies depending on what model of phone you have. You’ll need to press and hold the power button or power and volume down button on an Android phone until the onscreen menu appears.
2. Turn Airplane Mode On and Off
Toggling Airplane mode is a tried-and-true method of getting your cellular data up and moving. Once you enable Airplane mode, be sure to give your phone about a minute before turning it back off. This ensures your phone has time to disconnect from any Wi-Fi and cellular connections fully.
3. Check Your Data Usage
Background apps can eat up your internet connection speed. If you think that’s the culprit, you can disable the app’s access to mobile data. On an iPhone, you can manage this under Settings > Cellular. On Android devices, you’ll instead need to navigate to Settings > Network & internet > Mobile network > App data usage.
If you don’t have unlimited data, you may also want to check if you have low data or data saver settings enabled. While you’re inside your network settings, try disabling these and see if it increases your signal strength.
4. Check with Your Carrier
If you aren’t experiencing Wi-Fi connection problems, but your mobile data has a poor signal, your carrier may be to blame. Even if your carrier is a reliable provider, outages can happen. Before you call in, check to see if other users are experiencing issues as well. You can use a website like Downdetector to see if there are widespread issues.
5. Remove Your SIM Card
If those troubleshooting methods haven’t resolved your issue, it’s time to take a more involved approach. Using a SIM card tool or an unfolded paperclip, remove your SIM card. Check for any damage to the card itself, and then place it back inside your phone. If you’re worried about breaking the card or not sure how to access yours, the friendly technicians at CPR Cell Phone Repair can help.
Bonus iPhone Only Tip: Refresh Your Network Settings
Apple also recommends resetting your phone’s network settings. This does, however, mean that you will lose any saved Wi-Fi networks, VPN connections, and custom carrier settings, so it’s a bit of a last resort. If you decide to give it a shot, you’ll need to navigate to Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.
If you’re still experiencing slow mobile data speeds, it’s likely time to seek out a professional. Your local CPR Cell Phone Repair store can help you determine the cause of your issue. Get in touch today to start getting back up to speed!