I received a call from TMob/EE yesterday 02/03/13 offering me that standard double Data 4GEE upgrade offer as I've have recently upgraded on TMob to the HTC One.

4G isn't in my part of the north Wales coast yet but the upgrade kept my current price and loyalty discounts as we have 3 lines on the account. So I went ahead with the upgrade/switch as the price stays the same 2GB of Data is plenty for me as I live next to the Adsl exchange and as I'm a Sky employee I get unlimited wifi at work and out and about anyway.

I've haven't received the new 4G micro sim yet and and as I said 4G isn't here yet but due very soon as its active further up the coast. But my 2GB allowance is active as of now.

But my speeds have gone through the roof, was get 3Mbps before and since I've agreed to the change my speeds have altered to a minimum of 10Mbps up to 20Mbps I received while doing a lunch time sipped check. (A table of results can be posted).

What does anyone think is behind the sudden speed increase....? Not that I'm complaining.

Cheers in advance.

Sounds like the mast has been upgraded from HSPA+ to DC HSPA+ which is twice the speed. My local Three mast Got done a couple of weeks ago so I have now ditched my home broadband

Your T-Mobile speeds were most likely throttled and now that your account has transferred to the EE system the throttling has been withdrawn and you are getting the speeds that your local mast is capable of offering. I imagine that is DC-HSPA but I wait to be corrected on all matters so don't take this as gospel...

That's a good shout on the mast upgrade, however if that was the case surely I would of been getting those speeds before the agreed switch, unless my plan was speed limited like someone else has just suggested.

I have just looked at the table of results, some of them said speedtest.net
Some of them said "cell" while some of them said "hsdpa" no mention of DC HSDPA....

Were you on T-Mobile's Full Monty plan before? If so, your data speed would be limited to 4Mb/s down and 1Mb/s up.

I wasn't aware of the name of the plan but its possible, the price I pay for my line is less than £26 with a free HTC one so I could have a £10 discount on my line.

It would make sense with those download/upload numbers you suggested.

Maybe the speed restrictions but i do not think the handsets display whether the are DC or not. Just HSPA.

If you have a Samsung type in *#0011# in the dialer and the service page will tell you if you are DC connected

It's a HTC One....

Amy ideas how to check on that...?

I know I get H+ in the corner which I would guess is DC HSDPA vs just H for normal HSDPA.

But I don't remember what was showing on the screen when I ran the speed tests.

You got 500 minutes and unlimited data before, correct?

You were being throttled to 4Mbps. T-Mobile do that to stop people tethering and to stop congestion and also as a small incentive to get people to sign up to EE4G.

Basically they were always limiting you. Now that you've switched over you're seeing exactly what the 3G network is capable of.

Before I was on 2000mins unlimited texts and data... As i said with 3 lines each line has a good discount on it as I always call there bluff about taking them elsewhere.

I know "unlimited" down too 2 GB is a big drop, but as I said earlier on my work and home are both covered by 24Mbps ADSL2+.. So masses of Data isn't needed in my case. If I'm ever in a hotel with no wifi I will buy an add on of 4G Data which will be cheaper than paying over the odds every month so to speak.

I don't get why companies limit/restrict speeds. My ADSL is truly unlimited with no fair usage/speed restrictions and mobile data should be that way, if the network isn't up to it then it shouldn't be advertised as it is.

So 3.5G is obviously capable of great speeds, I can't wait to see how good the 4G is when I have it.

If you were on unlimited data before then it was being throttled and now you have access the the local masts full capabilities.

I said similar to this shortly after you posted but it appears to have been ignored...

Sorry Dude, didnt mean to come across as ignoring you...

As you can see I've not posted much before, and I got lots of replys very quickly and must of missed replying to yourself.

But by the general consensus and the speeds I'm now getting you are correct...

Is your background in the industry?

Doesn't matter. It's a well known fact written in T-Mobiles terms and conditions. A quick google search will bring up a number of articles/threads about the speed caps.

Not at all mate, not even close. I don't have anywhere near the knowledge that some of the guys on here have and indeed I have actually gained most of my knowledge from reading on here daily for years and reading more than I post.

T-Mobile's unlimited tariffs are speed capped at about 4Mbps which is why you were only getting that speed. The mast that you are connected to has probably been upgraded and capable of much faster speeds for quite some time, but your tariff prevented you from getting these speeds. Now that you are on an EE tariff (albeit waiting on the sim), you will not be subject to these restrictions any longer and therefore will experience the speeds that the mast is capable of.

Other than novelty value why would you want it?. With 2GB of data a month you aren't going to be streaming hours of catch up TV or Netflix - in other words, partaking in the type of usage where 4G is supposed to have its strengths.

I watched some catch up TV for an hour or so the other night using Three DC-HSDPA, it streamed glitch free all of the way through - would it have played any more perfectly on 4G?. No

I live in a rural area, with around 1mbs of BT landline speed, and with less than 100 households on the exchange the chances of Sky / Virgin / Plusnet etc bringing its own broadband or fibre to this area are going to be about the same as the chances of me dating a supermodel, so anything above 1mbs would be a bonus.

Having recently got 10mbs - 12mbs from Three in place of ADSL is amazing, but even as a customer who uses 3G in place of ADSL 7 days a week, I still wouldn't consider 4G as there really is nothing I could do on it, which I couldn't do with DC-HSDPA. Plus Three is totally unlimited and all for £15 a month.

4G really doesn't justify its current price premium on its "usable" (higher gb) data packages nor does it offer unlimited, and its only a good deal if it serves a purpose, and can potentially be used consistently for what the higher speeds are marketed for - i.e large file uploads / downloads and daily media streaming, which are ludicrous considerations on the single digit 'GB' data allowances.

Another bonus over using DC-HSDPA as your main internet connection - I don't upload a lot, but occasionally I do FTP some files to a server. Previously I used my Mothers' Sky ADSL which gives her around 13mb down / 0.7mb up. Getting very similar download speeds via a Mobile connection is impressive enough, but the more interesting thing is that I get upto 3mbs upload speeds from 3, far more than her fixed landline ADSL.

There is nothing I "want" out of it really... It's not a price premium for me so there's no risk involved. And having signed into my TMob online account the most amount of Data I have used on my line in 12months is 500Mb... So I wasn't using all the unlimited Data anyways.

ADSL is fine for me at home as I live next to the exchange and I'm always covered by WiFi at work, so the main use of 4G for me will be when I'm away with work and WiFi isn't freely avaliable... And when I'm in that situation I would like my Data to run as fast as possible...

Of consuming Media on the go I have iPad /HTC One both of which have 32GB of storeage, plus as work perk I get SkyGo Extra for free. So no real need to stream on the move. So for me it's purely a data speed issue on web browsing/using as a back up.

In your situation HSDPA sounds like its working fine as your ADSL is poor of for which I sympathise. The one thing I've noticed with HSDPA in the last few days since I've had the full speed is that it's hardly consistent, anything from 8Mbps - 20Mbps which is a nice range. However I don't think 8Mbps is quick enough for HD Streaming and having enough bandwidth left for other users.

I completely agree on this one the speeds of DC-HSDPA really does depend on the area and amount of traffic going through the mast it does vary a lot. I would say 8MB is quick enough for HD streaming though.

It's quick enough for streaming HD but if you are using it for your main connection there won't be enough bandwidth left for other users that's all I was suggesting...

Oh I see what you mean now I misunderstood before. Yeah you really need maybe a solid 10-15mb for a main connection to be sure.