Iphone Hotspot Download Speed ((INSTALL))
Daniel Mcmillen
I've been considering upgrading to the iPhone 13 Pro Max because of some great promotions and the fact that I use a Mac+iPad, but decided not to. One major reason was that I rely on my mobile hotspot a lot, and was hoping to get better speeds from the 13's way faster processor/efficiency. Testing my wife's new iPhone 13 vs my Pixel 5a, the opposite was true.
*conditions: I use T-mobile's highest tiered plan, which includes 5g and 40gb hotspot data. My location gets full bars "5g" (not the ultra fast variety), and my Pixel and iPhone speed test for around 60mbps. ***Bizarrely enough, this means that the Pixel 5a is providing mobile hotspot speeds HIGHER than the phone itself*** just tested multiple times to make sure this was the case.
The devices were tested directly after each other and the same server was used in SpeedTest. Lots of iPhone users here so it's probably impossible to do a more consistent test. I don't have my iPad with me right now so I can't test with that. I think the speed hit is going to be negligible if you only have one device tethered. Although if you have multiple devices (I believe you can connect up to 3), the overhead might be worse and you might take a bigger hit. Just a warning, though, tethering drains the battery like crazy. I usually have my iPhone plugged in to a power outlet when I tether, else, it'll be out of juice by end of day.
When you go through a device like , it'll have slower speeds on a 3rd device. I belive the max on the iPhone 4 and below is about 7mbps. However, on something like the 4S (with HPSA+) you should get about a theoretical 14mbps. Probaly better to just get a hotspot...
I have been experiencing about 0.68 Mbps download speed on my Personal Hotspot for over a week. I am on the Unlimited Data Plan with an Apple iPhone 6. I have only used 1.66 GB of Hotspot data. I connect via USB (with WiFi and Bluetooth off). I have reset the network settings. No improvement. Please help.
I'm in the same boat, this hotspot is so slow, used 7.7 GB out of 15 but for some reason my speeds are holding around 600kb. I feel im being cheated since I pay over $300 a month to Verizon. I expect my hotspot to work as advertised or my bill should be pro rated. I have done all the trouble shooting nothing increases my speeds and I have good signal. This is just about the last straw, Verizon needs to fix this or they will lose another customer. I jumped on the boat the day they offered "unlimited" at that point everything worked fast, then they went to go unlimited or beyond unlimited and I got beyond unlimited for the original unlimited price and all was good but since the first of the year my speeds have been garbage.
Hello,
I am running OpenWRT 22.03.05 on a Raspberry Pi 4b 4gb. It is a pretty fresh install, with drivers installed to support iPhone USB tethering.
When tethering to my laptop using a USB cable, I get speeds around 250/20.
When I connect my iPhone to my Pi as its WAN, and connect my computer using Cat6 to the Pi, I peak out at about 118/20.
On average, the pi provides me with the same upload speed, but my download speed is halved.
I am trying to find where the reduction in download speed is coming from, as I was expecting minimal overhead from the pi/openwrt. I am leaning towards a configuration issue or a setting, but I'm pretty lost on where I need to look.
The only additional packages I have installed are kmod-usb-net-ipheth, usbmuxd, libimobiledevice, usbutils
Tested by connecting the Pi's radio to my wireless hotspot, I experienced similar speeds.
I have another Rpi 4 that i use for my home network, and I just tried tethering the iphone to that pi with USB, and i had the same speeds.
So its doing it on wireless and wired, on both pis, but unsure how to fix it.
Search Providers near you Find Providers Improve your cell receptionHotspots receive their internet signal from cell towers, causing your cell reception to have a big impact on your hotspot speeds. For a decent connection, you want to have a 5G LTE or 4G LTE signal, indicated by a 5G or 4G label next to the signal meter on your phone. Use the signal bars on your device to determine how good your reception is, and try to keep it at three bars and above.
Your hotspot broadcasts Wi-Fi on two different frequency bands: the 2.4 GHz frequency band and the 5 GHz frequency band. The 5 GHz band is much faster, so try switching to it in your hotspot settings when your speeds need a little pick-me-up.
Mobile hotspots broadcast a wireless signal to your devices just like your home router; but the signal is much weaker, so you need to stay close. We recommend placing the hotspot within five feet of the connected device.
Certain materials can interfere with Wi-Fi signals. Do your best to keep your hotspot away from metal, tile, stone, and water, especially if these materials are blocking a direct line of sight between your device and your hotspot (e.g., a tiled bathroom between your hotspot and laptop).
You should also keep your device and hotspot away from certain electronics that can interfere with the Wi-Fi signal. These tend to be wave-emitting or broadcasting devices, such as microwaves, baby monitors, and garage door openers.
There's a big difference in both voice quality and speed between the CDMA and UMTS networks in the US. Again, that's one of those huge loaded statements that's subject to a ton of different factors. How loaded cells are, what frequency bands carriers are licensed to use in your market, signal strength, and other factors make it impossible to say definitively which is better.
When it comes to data, I've found that EVDO downstream speeds average between 600 and 800 kilobits/s, peaking with the occasional burst up to 2 megabits/s depending on signal quality and load. Upstream speeds sit around 600 kilobits/s with occasional bursts up to around 1 megabits/s. I ran over 230 speedtests using the speedtest.net app on the Verizon iPhone throughout my market all over town. The Verizon iPhone averaged 685 kilobits/s down, 583 kilobits/s up. I saw a maximum downstream rate of 2.24 megabits/s and maximum upstream rate of 1.03 megabits/s. Keep in mind that Verizon's EVDO Rev.A network supports 3.1 megabits/s down and 1.8 megabits/s up per 1.25 MHz channel in theory.
I ran the same number of speedtests at the same time and place using the AT&T iPhone 4. In my market, AT&T is allegedly HSDPA 14.4, though I still don't have any devices of the appropriate UMTS class to test and find out. Remember that the iPhone 4 is still a HSPDA 7.2/HSUPA 2.9 device, so it wouldn't make a substantial difference anyhow. I saw an average downstream throughput of 2.02 megabits/s down, 1.08 megabits/s up. Maximum throughput was 4.89 megabits/s down, 1.72 megabits/s up.
I'd say that when it comes to average speed, results like these are pretty typical for comparing Verizon's EVDO Rev.A data to AT&T HSPA data. In pretty average locations (I tested throughout a mall, driving around, in residential, e.t.c.) AT&T is simply faster - there is a tradeoff however. The other consideration is how Verizon's 1xRTT data compares to GSM's GPRS and EDGE. 1xRTT links are 154 kilobits/s up and down, EDGE can be around 200 kilobits/s down, and GPRS is abysmally slow.
Subjectively, the tradeoff between AT&T and Verizon data is one between speed and coverage. While AT&T is much faster close to the cell center, at the edges throughput can suffer substantially. Anecdotally Verizon EVDO throughput seems to be much more uniform throughout the cell, even out at cell edge. Some of my fastest 2 Mbps results on the Verizon iPhone were below -80 dBm.
A huge difference between the two iPhones is the presence of WiFi hotspot functionality. Get the appropriate $20/month add-on, and you can turn the iPhone into a wireless router without having to jailbreak and use something like MyWi.
The hotspot puts you behind a NAT, on 172.20.10.x subnet. Configuration is easy - just toggle it from under network or on the first page of settings, and it'll prompt you that it's about to enable Bluetooth or WiFi appropriately. Configuration options are scant. Encryption always is WPA-PSK, there's no WPA2 or WEP option. The hotspot SSID is also always your phone name, so expect to see lots of "Brad's iPhone" and the cliché "Titanic" AP names pop up at cafes and conferences very soon. Also, the hotspot connects clients at the standard 802.11n rate for 1 spatial stream - 72 Mbps.
When the hotspot is on, you're not actually shown anything. Only when users connect does a blue strip appear just like the green call-in-progress one. Tapping on that brings you immediately into the hotspot settings page. That actually is a bit frustrating if you've got the hotspot going for a friend but want to browse on the phone and use the scroll-to-top gesture.
I've been hammering on the hotspot for a while and have yet to encounter any instability or crashing. Implementation here seems spot-on and stable. Of course, you're still subject to the same simultaneous text/voice and data constraints, but the pause is handled elegantly on clients.
One other notable thing - I'm running iOS 4.3 beta 3 on one of my AT&T iPhone 4s, and noticed that the hotspot logo appears in the place of the WiFi symbol when connected to the Verizon iPhone 4 hotspot. It's the same weird chain-looking symbol. It's very strange that the device can tell it's connected to another iPhone - perhaps a future feature?
Our live Advisors are best equipped to test and resolved any concerns with slow Wi-Fi. Multiple devices, location, and and overhead obstacles are all factors that can effect download speeds. While you have already spoken with your live Advisors, we recommend doing so once more by pushing your blue OnStar button.
Ya, I feel like a real sucker paying for WiFi hotspot. It's fine for keeping up with email in the back ground, but if I want to visit any site that has video embedded, I have to turn off wifi and use my phone's cell service. Makes no sense since my phone uses the same provider as OnStar. I have called several times from my vehicle and they have never been able to get any improvement in in my hotspot. I'll get over 40Mb with my phone connected to cell network, but when I connect to my Cadillac hotspot it is less than 1Mb. I think someone should hold OnStar accountable for false advertising. They suggest better service with the hotspot because bigger antenna and better power (car battery/engine). It's a joke. I'm really sick and tired of them using "Multiple devices, location, and and overhead obstacles are all factors that can effect download speeds" as an excuse since the cell phone, shielded by the car roof, on its own blows the doors off the hotspot.
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