BlackBerry speed tests

i find performance very erratic, sometimes fine, mostly slow, especially during work hours.
Like Vlad says, the real world experience of browsing on 3g is pretty poor, most of the time.
 
My daily (working days only) speedtests for the last week and a bit.

Sep 30 19:59:07
Avg. Download Speed: 1.21Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 1.21Kbits/s

Oct 01 09:08:04
Avg. Download Speed: 4.92Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 25.09Kbits/s

Oct 01 14:27:11
Avg. Download Speed: 4.44Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 4.44Kbits/s

Oct 02 13:27:36
Avg. Download Speed: 13.91Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 13.91Kbits/s

Oct 05 13:39:54
Avg. Download Speed: 10.19Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 10.19Kbits/s

Oct 06 16:49:36
Avg. Download Speed: 3.91Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 3.91Kbits/s

Oct 07 14:19:40
Avg. Download Speed: 5.66Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 5.66Kbits/s

Oct 08 07:07:30
Avg. Download Speed: 15.86Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 115.02Kbits/s
 
I've been trying to download an app off Blackberry's own servers and it keeps bombing out.

Pathetic really.
 
I think it is immoral from Vodacom to sell a single Blackberry contract (at least at the current subscription rate) until they have restored the browsing/download services to acceptable levels. They should also reduce current BB contract rates.

Has anyone complained to ICASA yet?
 
Best way to document the speed issues is to post your speed tests here.

Performance seems to be hit and miss as can be seen by other BB users on the 8520 Tips & Tricks thread.

One of the comments compares phone to phone comparisons between the VC and MTN networks by loading the same pages simultaneously and MTN pips VC everytime :eek:

Email seems to be fine though :confused:

Here is my latest speed test:

Oct 08 12:41:50

Here are the Speedtest results for my Blackberry:

Connection Type: Carrier
Avg. Download Speed: 8.05Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 8.05Kbits/s

Avg. Upload Speed: 2.9Kbits/s
Max. Upload Speed: 27.24Kbits/s

Visit Xtreme Labs website at:
http://www.xtremelabs.com/apps
Sent via my BlackBerry
 
I agree that the VC/Blackberry e-mail service works well.

Oct 09 09:00:31

Here are the Speedtest results for my Blackberry:

Connection Type: Carrier
Avg. Download Speed: 9.1Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 9.1Kbits/s

Avg. Upload Speed: 4.91Kbits/s
Max. Upload Speed: 26.24Kbits/s

So this is slower than old 9 600 bps dialup. Real Third World (make that Fourth World) stuff.
 
This is actually one of my fastest speeds. Usually I get about 5Kbit/s. Any word from VD when they might sort this out?

Oct 09 18:25:53

Here are the Speedtest results for my Blackberry:

Connection Type: Carrier
Avg. Download Speed: 15.69Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 113875.0Kbits/s

Avg. Upload Speed: 6.18Kbits/s
Max. Upload Speed: 39.09Kbits/s

Visit Xtreme Labs website at:
http://www.xtremelabs.com/apps
Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!
 
Oct 09 18:22:53

Here are the Speed test results for my Blackberry:

Connection Type: Carrier
Ave. Download Speed: 9.11Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 30.83Kbits/s

Ave. Upload Speed: 6.65Kbits/s
Max. Upload Speed: 39.96Kbits/s

Not exactly shunting along... works well for email though and fortunately I have wifi lurking if I really need to grab something.
 
There is no Blackberry Speed test thread under the MTN forum.

It appears that there is no need for such a thread to exist as nearly every comment on MTN BIS seems to be positive especially since MTN doubled capacity to RIM on Wednesday, according to comments there.

So what is the excuse for the really poor performance we have been receiving from the VC BIS?

I must admit that emails comes through quite quickly but on device browsing can be likened to watching paint dry.

I have posted numerous speed tests which indicate fluctuations in performance, mostly poor and many others concurr with their speed tests posted.

How long is this going to take to resolve?

More importantly, what are the options available to us who have subscribed to this service in good faith, only to get this, now becoming notoriously poor service from VC?

Surely this cannot continue, even if the BIS service is reasonably priced for what is purports to provide.

Payment is exacted for the service with _good_ money, we are not crumpling the notes, or throwing in monopoly money or subsituting gutter bolt washers for coins.

So what have we as consumers done to deserve such poor service from VC BIS?

Do we really deserve this?

Oh, this is not isolated incident by any means, disenchantment of new Blackberry 8520 users on VC BIS is unprecendented :mad:

The _only_ people who are positive about the BB 8520 are MTN subscribers :eek:

This seems to rule out the BB 8520 as a bad device even if it is only GPRS/EDGE capable.

This is actually coming across now as being a rip-off, promising unlimited Internet etc (have you seen the adverts?) but not delivering on the promises :erm:

Quite annoying :(
 
Ooops, forgot to post my Speed test result:

Oct 09 22:33:08

Here are the Speedtest results for my Blackberry:

Connection Type: Carrier
Avg. Download Speed: 13.16Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 65.97Kbits/s

Avg. Upload Speed: 5.97Kbits/s
Max. Upload Speed: 32.61Kbits/s

Visit Xtreme Labs website at:
http://www.xtremelabs.com/apps
Sent via my BlackBerry
 
... and more of the same:

Oct 09 23:01:23

Here are the Speedtest results for my Blackberry:

Connection Type: Carrier
Avg. Download Speed: 7.24Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 7.95Kbits/s

Avg. Upload Speed: 9.54Kbits/s
Max. Upload Speed: 17.48Kbits/s

Visit Xtreme Labs website at:
http://www.xtremelabs.com/apps
Sent via my BlackBerry
 
Change to MTN dude

MTN BISBES

Speedtest results this morning

Download speed is: 382.48 kbit/s
Max Speed is:16347.5 kbits/s

Upload speed is: 26.34 kbit/s
Max Speed is:51.09 kbit/s
 
Change to MTN dude

MTN BISBES

Speedtest results this morning

Download speed is: 382.48 kbit/s
Max Speed is:16347.5 kbits/s

Upload speed is: 26.34 kbit/s
Max Speed is:51.09 kbit/s

Thanks for posting your speed test results from MTN in the VC Speed tests forum, (3G, EDGE or GPRS?) as it really affords us VC victims an opportunity to compare apples with apples and exposes the poor service we are receiving for our good Cash.

Unfortunately, it is not as easy as just moving to MTN, I have a contract in place with VC for 24 months which will attract cancellation fees etc should I wish to terminate it early.

My question would be a simple one, surely the contract is a two way street?

If VC is delivering such a poor service are they not guilty of breach of contract?

I do understand that no network provider will/can ever provide 100% uptime/throughput but one can safely say that the _poor_ VC BIS service is the norm rather than the exception, borne out by many forum speed test posts.

I also understand that VodacomData does do a stirling job in addressing individual forumites queries.

However, I am find this poor service wherever I travel within the City of Cape Town, ie. Northern Suburbs to Atlantic seaboard daily and Southern Suburbs over week-ends as well.

My colleagues using MTN BIS initially had some issues but not anything like what I am experiencing now.

Granted, emails are pumped through quite quickly, but online browsing is really pathetic.

Please indicate whether your speed tests are via 3G, EDGE, or GPRS as this will certainly clarify speed performance differences experienced.

I have at times, few and far between experienced quite snappy performances and have posted those results here as well, but sadly these are now becoming consistently worse.
 
Speed test are via 3G, on a Blackberry Bold. Even on EDGE you should be expecting a decent service (ie download > 200 kbps)

The bottleneck is with the international links to RIM. You will experience a poor download speeds, irrespective of where you are in the country.
 
Speed test are via 3G, on a Blackberry Bold. Even on EDGE you should be expecting a decent service (ie download > 200 kbps)

The bottleneck is with the international links to RIM. You will experience a poor download speeds, irrespective of where you are in the country.

I understand that _everything_ comes via RIM, compression is applied etc.

However, it seems that MTN are not currently affected by these anomolies, just using your speed tests and other MTN BIS commentary as examples.

Sub 200kbps seems reasonable for EDGE/GPRS but we are experiencing between 7kbps -13kbps downloads, really sub 20kbps :mad:

While that may be fine for text based emails that is the "watching paint dry" syndrome when attempting to browse :rolleyes:
 
Latest speed test, which explains why I am getting _unlimited_ viewing of a whitescreen, with a blue progress bar at the bottom, showing very little to no progress.

Note that web pages take at least five minutes to load.

Oct 10 21:57:46

Here are the Speedtest results for my Blackberry:

Connection Type: Carrier
Avg. Download Speed: 12.56Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 44.77Kbits/s
Avg. Upload Speed: 5.78Kbits/s
Max. Upload Speed: 36.74Kbits/s

Visit Xtreme Labs website at:
http://www.xtremelabs.com/apps
Sent via my BlackBerry

This is via GPRS on a Blackberry 8520 on Vodacom Blackberry Internet Service
 
2.2kbs/s down
3.4kbs/s up.

as usual, useless rubbish. thank goodness my BB has wifi....
 
Oct 11 18:53:23

Here are the Speedtest results for my Blackberry:

Connection Type: Carrier
Avg. Download Speed: 104.28Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 272.42Kbits/s

Avg. Upload Speed: 22.24Kbits/s
Max. Upload Speed: 74.18Kbits/s

My speedtest results over the weekend.

I'll post tomorrow to compare during the week.
 
Compared with a friend on mtn using the same 8520
And man it was catastrophic!

Seems to be around ten times faster! Likelihood of anything being done to solve this?
 
Oct 11 18:53:23

Here are the Speedtest results for my Blackberry:

Connection Type: Carrier
Avg. Download Speed: 104.28Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 272.42Kbits/s

Avg. Upload Speed: 22.24Kbits/s
Max. Upload Speed: 74.18Kbits/s

My speedtest results over the weekend.

I'll post tomorrow to compare during the week.

^ That looks pretty decent, is this on 3G or EDGE/GPRS, MTN or VC, which province?

Here is my very latest, GPRS on VC in WC:
Oct 11 19:51:51

Here are the Speedtest results for my Blackberry:

Connection Type: Carrier
Avg. Download Speed: 8.95Kbits/s
Max. Download Speed: 43.76Kbits/s

Avg. Upload Speed: 7.78Kbits/s
Max. Upload Speed: 25.41Kbits/s

Visit Xtreme Labs website at:
http://www.xtremelabs.com/apps
Sent via my BlackBerry
 
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