Just under two years ago Jill and I got a couple of 'fancy' touchscreen mobile phones - Nokia 5800's. We got these from Tesco's and as the contract/upgrade renewal date was imminent I started hunting around just before Christmas. Tesco's again seemed to have a pretty reasonable deal, this time for the Samsung Galaxy S2. Contacting T-Mobile and speaking to the upgrades dept they advised I wait until the new year as 'they always go down in price' in the new year. I took his advise and waited - a couple of days! I was twitchy that Tesco's would not have the same deal in the new year and T-Mobile may not be able to get anywhere near that price so rang them back and spoke in depth with someone else. When I gave full details, he said he doubted T-Mob' would be able to better the Tesco deal, so we got two new S2's from Tesco and have been very pleased with them so far. The only thing I've not been happy with is slow internet when not connected via wi-fi. Connecting via the network was painfully slow.
I had to ring T-Mobile a few days ago to give notice that the contract due to end was not to be renewed and have the numbers converted to PAYG. During the conversation he asked why we hadn't waited for a renewal/upgrade with T-Mob instead of going with Tesco again as.......... 'the internet connection with the Tesco/T-mobile is about 10 times slower'. WTF I thought, and asked him to explain. He didn't give any substantial info only that 'yes it'll be a lot slower than if you came with us direct - they don't tell you that do they?'
Anyway to cut a long story short, I downloaded an APP to check my internet speeds on the phone:
Wi-Fi (Plusnet via BT line, miles from the exchange) Download: approx 1500 kbps, Upload: approx 390kbps
Via T-Mobile Network Download: approx 23 - 35 kbps, Upload: approx 30-50kbps
As you can see, the Wi-Fi is not the best, but the network is dire! I had a look through the manual and ensured my settings where as they should be. I also found different forums with other phone S2 users asking how to improve their connection speeds with solutions as to what settings to use. The speeds I achieved were with these recommended settings.
Off for a google search to see what info I could fine about the 10x speed difference third party contract supplier vs T-mobile direct. I couldn't find anything, however, I did come across some google hits referring to 'tweakker' which I had never heard of:
The website is here.About Tweakker
Tweakker believes it should be as simple as possible to get your phone connected to mobile data services
Tweakker takes the complexity and frustration out of Internet setup and offers a compelling mobile settings service that helps users to enjoy the full potential of their mobile phones. Traditionally, connecting a mobile phone to the Internet not only involves the use of GPRS technology but also the correct connectivity settings from the mobile operator. This can be very complicated. We make it simple and we believe mobile phone owners should get help at anytime, anywhere.
Tweakker wants to help you help yourself
With our service, Tweakker invites mobile users to immediately enjoy the sheer power of the internet by being able to download applications, communicate with friends, share photos, surf the Internet, stream videos and TV, listen to music, play games and much more. Overall, Tweakker’s configuration service now supports far more than 2,500 mobile from 150 brands and is available in over 120 countries worldwide.
From what I could find out, the 'tweakker' app, optimises your phone settings depending on phone model/country/network. Anyway, I decided to go for it. It looks like you can start the process from the website but I opted to download the free app from the android market. It was very quick to instal, and running the app even quicker. It announced that I was ready to surf the net. Internet pages definately open significantly quicker. New speedtests were:
Download: 1900+ kbps, Upload: approx 400.
As you can see, it's now quicker than my house broadband!
Curious if anyone else has used this app before? It is available for android and iphones.
Regards
John
