Can someone on Voda use speedtest.net app?

100gSoma

Just wondering if anyone on Voda with a new handset Galaxy S2 or Nexus etc can do a speedtest on 3G using the Speedtest.net app.

I'm possibly switching networks next week so would love to know what sort of HSDPA down speed you get in a good signal area (Dublin etc).

Much appreciated.

BTW, according to the speedtest.net android app, I get about 5mb down using O2 in a good area at the moment.

srsly78

Vodafone are the fastest mobile broadband, based on average of over 100+ speedtest test. Just can't remember the link to the survey. Have seen 10mbit+ down myself.

Results can vary ofc, depending on how many people are sharing the tower. Results at 4am will be faster if you got it all to yourself etc.

100gSoma

srsly78 wrote: »

Vodafone are the fastest mobile broadband, based on average of over 100+ speedtest test. Just can't remember the link to the survey. Have seen 10mbit+ down myself.

Results can vary ofc, depending on how many people are sharing the tower. Results at 4am will be faster if you got it all to yourself etc.

Thanks for your reply srsly78! Thats exactly the sort of information I wanted to know. I have never seen double figures on my currrently package.
Looks like I will be going ahead with the switch anyway.

cheers

srsly78

They are also most expensive remember, and having 10mbit speed isn't really that useful. I would be perfectly happy with 5.

Only problems I've had with vodafone are with billing and roaming.

100gSoma

Thanks for the advice. Maybe you have an opinion on the reason I'm switching:

I'm currently using an O2 unlimited data plan. However, the access point restricts access to certain HTTPS connections. webtext apps etc are blocked, and you cannot even login to www.o2.ie using the phone. I regularly get connection refused errors on various web apps or sites. This is annoying.
If I buy a "tethering" add on from O2 the access point is different and I would then have unrestricted data access for all apps and sites.

Do Vodafone use multiple access points like this. One for 3G users and one for tethering users. I know they restrict Skype and VOIP on 3G but that would not affect me.

I appreciate that the mobile companies are clamping down on data, using phone to tether or as a wifi point etc, but restricting how I use my data is just really annoying. So my options are change to Voda for a faster unrestricted(hopefully) experience, or else enter a new contract with O2 with a tethering pack.

srsly78

Yeah O2 are notorious for blocking stuff. I have heard vodafone throttle VoiP etc but skype has always worked fine for me.

One thing to note is that there is a proxy setup by default on vodafone live APN, this downsizes all images and puts an annoying vodafone banner at the top of webpages. Can easily be disabled on android phone tho.

Pretty sure I'm not actually supposed to tether using vodafone's normal apn, but I do it anyway and they can't detect it or stop me (not using official vodafone rom).

100gSoma

Thanks again for this info. I have no use for tethering or using phone as wifi hotspot or any big downloading that might be subject to throttling. I just want a clean unrestricted experience. downsized images and banners provided by the proxy would seriously put me off!
Is it as simple as removing(blanking) the proxy in the network settings on the phone to circumvent that? I'd be buying a 10gig data pack so not worried about resizing pictures while surfing and I'm sure they would not lead to slow surfing either (they don't on o2 anyway, my surfing speed is fine, just many apps and sites give a connection refused error as they are restricted on the 'interent' APN for unlimited users)

PS: I would not be going near a Vodafone ROM! I would just get the sim. I always use vanilla android on my own devices and don't buy subsidized one with custom roms. (urghhh)

srsly78

Yup just blank the proxy in the apn.

100gSoma

srsly78 wrote: »

Yup just blank the proxy in the apn.

Cool. It also appears that Voda only use one APN for all customers? i.e. All customers are just charged based on the data allowance. It doesn't seem to restrict phone users versus tethering customers etc. i.e. unrestricted use of apps and web use for all?

cheers for the clarifications on this Srsly. a big help.

srsly78

You're welcome. I'm just speaking from my experience ofc... Vodafone are a bunch of sneaky gits tho so you gotta be careful. Their sales reps completely lied to me about roaming charges, had to get comreg involved (ended up getting 6 months free). As I said, only problems I've had were with billing and roaming. Technically coverage and data speed have always been 99.99% for the last year and a half (3g went down in dublin one day).

ED E

Three have low contention and pretty nice speeds, just for perspective.

srsly78

3 have the worst speeds according to speedtest averages, and loads of people complaining about contention. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1367 The stuff you just displayed there is pretty poor, but still a lot better than many 3 customers report.

Also their network is plagued with problems that they refuse to acknowledge let alone fix (2g/3g switching). The only thing they have going for them is they are cheap.

Yes I am a disgruntled ex-3 customer.

ED E

They're farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr better than my o2 speeds. .9 down was a good day :rolleyes:

srsly78

You actually said 3 had low contention with a straight face :P

ED E

srsly78 wrote: »

You actually said 3 had low contention with a straight face :P

They do. ~400k users over the whole country.

srsly78

And feck all towers to service them. This is why many 3 users are stuck on 2g (provided by vodafone hilariously).

Kensington

ED E wrote: »

They do. ~400k users over the whole country.

Vodafone have a LOT more masts than Three. A LOT more.

100gSoma

Guys, I had heard Voda faster than O2 and am actually planning to move. I usually get speeds in the range of 4-7mb down with O2 though in urban areas. A bad speed might be 1.5mb when in rural area or somewhere with very high contention. A previous poster said he has seen 10mb+ on Voda though. Would you guys on Voda see 5mb+ download speeds typically?
I am mainly concerned about the data speed because I use my data heavily during the day, so its the thing I'm most interested in. Here are some recent results on O2 (screen shot from galaxy nexus)

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

ED E

Kensington wrote: »

Vodafone have a LOT more masts than Three. A LOT more.

Which three buy wherever needed.

Not trying to argue that they're better, but moving from prepay o2 to prepay three I saw a minimum of 200% increase, sometimes 500%.


Also, one has to question just how much speed you need on mobile? 2Mbps is plenty for YT and gMusic. Also, All you can eat is nice