A bit of advice please.

I'm currently on the 3 network and experience pretty slow data speeds in Nottingham. I pretty much always have full signal in and outdoors.

I currently have an LG Optimus Black smartphone which has HSDPA 7.2mbps

My question is; if I get a more modern phone with 14.4 or 21mbps HSDPA will my speeds go up?

I've been reading about DC-HSDPA. does anyone know what phones have it? So far I've seen only the Nokia 900/920 and the HTC One x, neither of which I'm interested in as they are too large.

Thanks

What does "pretty slow" mean?

7.2mbps is a theoretical limit, and you're not likely to hit even close to that in reality.

What sort of speeds do you get?

Average is well under 1 mbps and the latency is pretty high

That does sound low.

Are you testing these in multiple places (a variety - like home, work, a park etc.)?

What about the time of day? Does it get better in the evening or during the day?

can be slow at any time. I wouldn't mind so much if it slowed down in the evening a bit - that's normal, but it can be deadly slow even at 1-2am.

tested it all over the city with the same results. It can be very quick (2-3mbps) just not very often.

Three claim to be the best data network and I've read that they've upgraded their network. Maybe my phone is too old to take advantage of the faster speeds/newer technology on the network?

I'm getting a new phone in a couple of months and really just want to know if the (theoretical) HSDPA speed of the phone makes any difference.

If you call them they might be able to tell you about new cells or upgrades in your area if its suffering from capacity issues.

I have an old dongle, one of the 7.2mbps ones. I get around 3mbps on average. In the same location on my phone which is hspa+ 21mbps capable I get around 5-7mbps. At my house I can get around 10mbps on my phone with around 5mbps on the dongle. So it does make a difference for me. But you'd have to try it out in a mates phone first. As like people above said the speed could be normal because of your local mast

thanks,

I'll try to find a friend with a 'faster' phone.

ironically I used to get faster speeds when I was on o2 who are supposed to be the worst network for data, with the same phone.

All depends on the area you're in to be honest. All networks have their dead/weak spots. But yes, in general o2 do not have the best 3g coverage in the uk when compared to the other networks

Usually average 2.5 to 10mbits depending on the time of day on Three with full 4 bars of signal.

I get 7.8mb to 8.9mb from Orange/T-Mobile on my iPhone 4S and iPad 3 out and about around Northampton.