What Perfect Timing When... [ Edited ]

[RicoLX]

What perfect, i mean EXCELLENT timing when AT&T has rolled out great updates to the network in my area. New  Towers as well as upgraded towers!  Where i used to have edge coverage at home, now i have HSDPA and 3g . And my work location has the 4g network.   What perfect timing when all this is rolled out....finally get to experience faster service without the aid of home Wi-FI...... and .......now they want to throttle usage on my unlimited plan......

feel like im advancing back to 14.4k modem days

[drumn_bass]

Well how much data are you actually using RicoLX?

[RicoLX]

beliieeeeve me,. not nearly the 2G/monthly. but unlimited means unlimited and I should use what i use , no penalties if i paid for a certain plan.

[JFizDaWiz]

unlimited is still unlimited, just slower if you use too much. honestly you could probably get away with 10GB without being throttled

[Ann154]

What speeds are you getting RicoLX?

[Wild Banchi ACE - Professor]

Excellent for the service upgrades! I think the service in and around my home is slowly getting better, too. Fortunately, I am now seeing 3G in more than one room.

I'd say you could even get over 10GB without being meddled with. It's the users who use more than 20+ GB monthly who will be the ones having the reigns pulled on them first. I'd assume that you use anywhere from 2GB-10GB, if even?

Overall, I don't think you should worry about it too much.

[JFizDaWiz]

and most people won't have to. and you get warned before they throttle you.
if you do get throttled, maybe its time to invest in wifi

[Wild Banchi ACE - Professor]

Speaking of 3G and other coverage improvements, I sometimes get intermittent 3G in my living room, now! Hooray! The living room is the second worst-covered room in my house. I'm glad to see that my phone can at least pick up 3G while I am in the room. It doesn't stay constant for very long, but it's still there!

[Ann154]

What is the signal strength you are seeing WB? Go to Settings > about phone and look for dBm level.

[Wild Banchi ACE - Professor]

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Ann154 wrote:
What is the signal strength you are seeing WB? Go to Settings > about phone and look for dBm level.

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It's alternating from -97 through -105 dBm and 4-8 asu. It seems to be staying pretty constant at -99 dBm and 8 asu.

[Ann154]

Yep, that is pretty weak signal. I'm not sure if I could even make a phone call with that from my phone.

Still it sounds like an improvement from past signal experiences.

[Wild Banchi ACE - Professor]

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Ann154 wrote:
Yep, that is pretty weak signal. I'm not sure if I could even make a phone call with that from my phone.

Still it sounds like an improvement from past signal experiences.

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It sure is an improvement. I have a question - is the higher the number, the stronger the signal strength? For example, is -105 better than -99? And the asu should also be higher, I assume?

[Ann154]

-105 is worse than -97 dBm

Anything above -90 dBm is decent. -60 dBm is excellent!

Not sure about the asu levels though. What is good and what is bad.

For example, my voice strength is shown as two bars on my phone and is listed as -85 dBm 2 asu. It also bounces to -84 dBm 3 asu which equals three bars on the phone.
The 3G ranges between -79 dBm to -89 dBm. I don't have access to the asu levels for the 3G on my phone.

[Wild Banchi ACE - Professor]

All right. I'll be on the lookout for lower numbers, then. The lowest I got was -95, but that's it that I've seen.

[Razr8]

Makes me kinda wish I had something on my phone to tell me my signal strength, other than the normal signal icon.

[Ann154]

It might be buried in the phone settings. I think I could see the dBm in my old Motorola flip phone.

[Razr8]

I'm pretty sure I have been through everything on my phone, but it's possible I may have missed something. Any ideas I could try?

[Ann154]

@Razr8
Try settings > phone status > other information.

http://www.motorola.com/Support/US-EN/Consumer-Support/Mobile-Phones/MOTORAZR2+V9x_GSR_Default+US_Lo...

[Razr8]

Thanks Ann but I've already tried that and there's nothing there. Isn't that check signal feature only on smartphones?

[Ann154]

I checked my old flip phone. I couldn't find it either so you might be right and the information can only be found in smartphones.