Connection Speed only 62kb/s on EDGE tower

[johandutoit2000]

I am connecting to the Stellenbosch tower. It says Y'ELLOW BROADBAND on my phone (Nokia 6220 - EDGE capable). The highest (not even the average) download speed I get is 62kb/s. What is wrong? I tested 2005-09-23 11:34 AM.

I am using USB to IrDA device. Throughput of Nokia IrDA - IrDA - USB is 115kb/s if anyone thought that could be the limiting factor.

 

[sgs]

Same here, just a different area.

There are two EDGE cells in range at home, with almost full signal most of the time. (Need to lock onto them using Netmon though, as there are a few stronger non-EDGE cells in the area.)

Still, I have also never seen anything higher than standard GPRS speeds of around 60kb/s. (The towers are OAK GLEN and STELLENBERG.) At work in Newlands though, it flies...

Have given up trying at home, assuming I'm too far from the cells to get the higher speeds or something. Seems to me that this EDGE thing is quite fragile and you need to be right beneath the tower to get it...

 

[linuxguy]

I used EDGE in various places around PE in Summerstrand and at PE tech...and also 3G at the airport, and got great results -- Telkom speed test reporting 150-220Kbps. I'm now in Kloof, on an EDGE tower, but the signal is poor and fades a lot, and get speeds from 27-48Kbps.

 

[ScrnScrm]

Some BTS's (Base Transmitting Stations) only have 2 time slots provisioned on EDGE... In that case you wont get above 118Kbps. A lot also depends on cell congestion. Remember, its an aggregated service! Also, to get MCS9 you need a pretty good signal - if you are in range of an EGPRS BTS, it doesnt mean that you will get the fastest coding scheme!

 

[sgs]

Even 118Kbps would have been stunning! (Actually, if someone at MTN's listening - some 3G coverage anywhere outside of the Cape Town CBD would also be extremely nice )

ScrnScrm, the coding scheme you are referring to - do you know if this is the one shown under DL CS / UP CS on page 6.1 of Netmonitor?

Will compare these between the slow/fast areas along with signal strength / timeslots and see if there is a pattern...

 

[ScrnScrm]

thats the very one

 

[sgs]

Ag, so much for that. Confused myself today and then read your earlier post about Netmon not show the CS for EDGE.

Whichever way, I get 2 timeslots up and 2 down - at home AND at work. Only diff I can see is the signal strength and speed : -51 / 120Kbps at work and -62 / 60Kbps at home.

Bad luck - guess I'll have to buy a Vodacom simcard or move...

 

[ajax]

EDGE speed tests in Stellenbosch

I am connecting to the Stellenbosch tower. It says Y'ELLOW BROADBAND on my phone (Nokia 6220 - EDGE capable). The highest (not even the average) download speed I get is 62kb/s. What is wrong? I tested 2005-09-23 11:34 AM.

I am using USB to IrDA device. Throughput of Nokia IrDA - IrDA - USB is 115kb/s if anyone thought that could be the limiting factor.

AFAIK there are only 2 EDGE towers in Stellenbosch, this is according to MTNBB in April. He said they are BJ Vorster and Helshoogte koshuis. I tested EDGE speeds tonight on the Helshoogte tower (channel 108) using a 6680. EDGE speeds are as "advertised" , at least where I am. My results are as follows for the Telkom http speed test.
-75 dBm (10x stronger than full bar of -85dBm) -> 165 kbps
-95 dBm (about 3 out of 7 bar) -> 110 kbps.
-100 dBm (2 out of 7 bar) -> 97 kbps
-104 dBm (1 out of 7 bar) -> 45 kbps

So it would seem that with even 2 bars, EDGE outperforms GPRS and GPRS+ speeds. Those guys not getting the speed, its either a congested tower/time, or you are not getting 4 timeslots for download, or your handset does not support 4 timeslots for download. The Nokia series 60 handsets are great for monitoring data throughput.

I'd be interested to see other forumites do the same test, especially those who get signal strengths stronger than the best I can manage (without going through a lot of hassles getting an external antenna).
Best to test with a Symbian phone with the field test menus and lock the phone to the EDGE tower using menu 1.12 of field test. Then monitor the timeslots and signal strength on menu 6.1.
To make the signal weaker, move the phone around, or best, put it in between your legs