AT&T (s T), the primary wireless carrier for Apple’s (s AAPL) iPhone recently came under fire for the changes it made to its wireless data plans and pricing. These changes came despite complaints about the quality of Ma Bell’s network, which is known to behave much like a starlet with an addictive personality. Apparently this isn’t the end of woes for some of our readers who are complaining that their data upload speeds (on an iPhone) have taken a nosedive in recent days. One individual lamented that his upload speeds were down to a crawl as he tried to upload photos. “I saw upload speeds drop from over 1 Mbps to under 100 kbps,” he wrote. Are you experiencing similar problems? Are non iPhone users having the same problem with AT&T’s network.
(PS: We have been in touch with AT&T and are waiting for the official response.)
Just tested here in Washington DC, and noted upload speed of 93kbps.
Thanks Joseph.
I agree in the Philly area I get 1101kb down 43kb up
that is a major issue in using properly the device which we pay $30 /month, while I get 9MB/ 9MB over wifi showing that my iphone is working ok, and I had full bards on both WIFI and 3G
Haven’t seen any problems in Dallas. In fact, once I got my new iPhone 4 (upgrade from 3GS) my upload speeds have drastically increased. I get at least 1MB all the time now.
I just ran a speed test here in CT, and I’m at 1,278 Kbps for upload. Maybe it’s a regional issue with AT&T’s network or something.
Well, I have found that speeds here in the bay area are CRZY fast. I’m getting up to 4537kps up and 1270kps down. Never more than 1270 down, but the 4537 is pretty darn crazy fast if you ask me.
Upload in Miami just tested 1270kbps.
No slowdown here (Midland, TX – rural West Texas). 963 this morning, on par with the last week’s averages between 501-1265 (one random test of 280; most often over 1mb).
Typically slow here in the Cambridge, MA outskirts… Today’s numbers range from 765-1784kbps down / 14-250kbps up. (yes, that is 14) grrrrrr
I’m using a Nexus One and I was seeing upload speeds slightly south of 1MBS. As of last Friday (or so) ulpload speeds dropped to 100 – 200kbs.
I’m in Philadelphia
Just tested two phones on AT&T 3G in Denver, CO.
HTC HD2 – 134kbps upload
Dell Streak – 159kbps upload
Only getting 50kbps north of Philly. Both my brother and coworker are getting the same uploads.
Just checked in Reno – only 233kbps upload.
Just tested it here in the Dallas/Ft Worth area, and I’m still getting 256kbps up. (1500kbps down)
Have y’all tried using another server?
Using the recently released FCC netspeed checking app available for the iPhone, I’m reliably seeing upload speeds of 1.2Mbps in San Francisco.
1522k down / 224k up in Sacramento. Noticeably slower since the iOS4 upgrade.
Not sure if this is network related, but mobile-originated Facebook posts, comments, et al have also slowed to an embarrassing crawl, sometimes taking upwards of two minutes to post one line of text. WTH?
Pittsburgh
ATT
iphone 4: 3742 down 1511 up
Sprint (3G)
EVO: 1391 down 524 up
signal strength same for both, same speedtest.net app
FCC test app results 11:25am
Palo Alto CA 5 blocks from Univ ave
Iphone 4 on 3G
1.70 mbps up
0.75 mbps down
Latency 258ms
Server : SF
Ran several tests over a 15 minute period with speedtest.net app on an iPhone 4. In Madison, WI I am getting 1.8-2.8 Mb/s down and 1.1-1.2 up. The up speed is much faster than AT&T gives me for my DSL.
Is there ANY chance that the free wifi at Sbux is overwhelming the AT&T backhaul in some locations. I know it is basically supplied by wayport, but AT&T must own connectivity in some places.
Just ran a few tests in downtown St Louis: 806-1057kbps down, 62-93kbps up. Yuck.
All good in Chicago, averaging around 3mbps down, 1mbps up.
In all likelihood it’s network congestion which would only be noticed with large uploads. Online speed tests with small payloads aren’t sufficient.
As far as I know AT&T only once actively tried to reduce wireless data speeds and that was shortly after the original iPhone roll-out. Code was included in an OTA update that reduced the phone’s transceiver power effectively reducing maximum data rates. The purpose of the update was to reduced the number of dropped calls on overloaded cell towers.
I can’t get over 100kbps upload at all. My phone is a turtle right now.
Here in the SF Bay Area, it’s not just upload, it’s also download speeds. I’ve done dozens of speed tests, some of my download speeds have been below 0.050 Mbps. YES! Unbelievable!
Yet another reason to avoid the iPhone hype – sorry OM! Premium price, slow speeds, substandard user experience. True, there are folks out there having no trouble with their iPhones, and those are the lucky ones IMO.
You cannot expect a world to revolve around constant wireless access, as Steve Jobs envisions, when carriers place caps on broadband use. The US is a long way away from providing uncapped high-speed wireless – there simply isn’t the infrastructure in place, nor can carriers provide it at an affordable cost. Such a shame compared to Europe where 14GB 3G data plans have been selling for around $35/month for years.
It will be interesting to see how the US LTE roll-out improves the situation.
Any “official” response yet? Don’t be like HBO and make us wait until July 11! 🙂
I am having the same problems with iPhone through AT&T and have noticed this major lag time [both WiFi and 3G] since Thursday or Friday of last week.
I am curious why my WiFi has changed all of a sudden. I used to get full WiFi bars, but now, it looks like it is down to two [out of a possible of 4].
It’s crawling here in PDX. 203.2KB/sec down and 7.6KB/sec up. I was getting like 200-300KB/sec like last week.
Mac Rumors is reporting it’s an AT&T bug:
http://www.macrumors.com/2010/07/06/iphone-4-users-on-atandt-experiencing-widespread-drops-in-upload-speed/
It’s definitely PHL area. I just checked and I am
getting a whopping 20k down. What is this, 1985?
AT&T engineers acknowledged overload problems while
on phone with them this week.