Slow data speeds --WAP Settings: isp.cingular vs wap.cingular

[Argelius]

I am new to Cingular and have an HP hw6915. Thus far I've been very disappointed with my internet/download speeds on this EDGE-capable phone. (My previous experience was with Sprint and a Treo 650 which is not high-speed network capable -- internet surfing was much faster).

I've been reading and reading the Cingular.com forums but remain confused about some of the possible settings

My current WAP info is:
NAME: WAP.CINGULAR
USERNAME: WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM
PW: CINGULAR1
(Advanced settings are set to use server-assigned IP and no software/header compression)

Based on my forum searches for increasing my speed, I tried:
NAME: ISP.CINGULAR
USERNAME: ISP@CINGULARGPRS.COM
PW: CINGULAR1
(Advanced settings are set to use server-assigned IP and no software/header compression)

Initially I thought the second one was working (either it was and now it isn't, or I had inadvertantly selected WAP.CINGULAR when I thought it was connecting).

My questions:
[1] does ISP.CINGULAR need to be "activated" for my phone by Cingular?
[2] For speed purposes, is this worth pursuing?
[3] changing/setting "proxy settings" -- should I manually change them, and if so, to what. (The board posts were filled with lots of comments, but coudln't figure out the story).
[4] what is software and header compression, and should I use those?

Anything else to improve data speeds?

[charrog]

Unless you have the data connect plan do not use the ISP.CINGULAR or you will incur extra charges ....at least that is my experience with the Media Works plan

[GldRush98]

Wirelessly posted (Cingular 8125 (2.25 Rom): Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320))

You'll want to use the wap.cingulr apn.
Also, you might need to specify some custom DNS settings and change them to the Open DNS servers because in some parts of the country the Cingular DNS servers are malfuntioning and running extremely slow. That could be the cause of your slow down.
As for the proxy setting, just leave it off. The onle thing you need it for is MEdia Net's home page, so unless you use that, you don't need it.

[beholder95]

I had this problem with my 8125, after an hour on the phone with Cingular tech support they said it wasn't an issue with them it was my new 8125, so i brought it back. Since i had had it a week and discovered it wasn't gonna be the phone for me anyway i took my 30 day return option and got a 2125 (couldn't wait any longer for the 3125 which i really want).
Now my 2125 is doing the same thing. I tried those optn dns servers, as well as some dns servers that I knwo of, and nothing seems to speed up the locate on my device.

Also what' sfuny is before i even jumped on here and was on the phone with tech support i told them it sounds liek a dns issue as if i type in the ip directly its fine, but i'm not sure if that's how these work. THe tech says well these dont' work liek regular computers with dns. (which after later research that's BS).

ANyway my ? is with this proxy if i wanna use media net do i have to change my connection to WAP, and if i want regular web i have to change it to the internet?

THanks!
ANdy

[GldRush98]

Wirelessly posted (Cingular 8125 (2.25 Rom): Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320))

huh? Leave the proxy off.
The wap apn works for any wap site or any regular web site.

[pianoman41]

Also remember the data speed is in direct correlation to the signal strength you have. If you have full strength (and *only* if you have a full strength signal) will you ever achieve close to maximum EDGE speeds. As the bars drop off so does the data rate. If you have one bar, it may be fine for a voice call but you will see a dramatic slowdown in the data rate.

[mobilehavoc]

I've had my Cingular 8125 since Jan 06 and a data-device with Cingular for over 3 years. ISP.cingular is by far the better way to go for data transfer (USUALLY)...however recently it's been rather unreliable lately with PIE getting stuck on "locating..." but other apps like PocketWeather and email working!! WTF?

I've been using isp.cingular since Jan 06 with this device so there's something definitely going on Cingular's side.

I switched to wap.cingular and it's peppy again...I'll try isp.cingular in a couple of days and see if it's any better.

FYI...NEVER trust Cingular tech support 99% of the time they're full of BS.

[RF9]

I guess it doesn't need stating again since it has been said. But just to 2nd what GldRsh said. isp.cingular is only for the data connect (pda plan) or laptop connect plans. Media net (aka Media Max/works) doesn't get to use isp.cingular.
If you want to use it, you'll have to change your plan to the $40 data connect (pda) plan which gets to use both APNs.
Also, don't use the proxy setting. Only use it to access the media net page, that's the only time it's necessary and it will otherwise cause you more lag.

wap.cingular is behind NAT routers. isp.cingular is not. The point is that for laptop users that want to use VPN, they'll have greater compatibility with VPN on isp.cingular because wap.cingular doesn't support the PPTP type VPN (IPSec works.)

Also I see data speeds of max 1.35 Mbps/avg 700kbps on a 3G data card on wap.cingular. So I think it's safe to say it has the ability to be fast.

I don't think it's worth pursuing for speed alone. I don't think you'll see much if any speed gain.

Software compression...
There are two logins for isp.cingular
USERNAME: ISP@CINGULARGPRS.COM
PW: CINGULAR1
and
USERNAME: ISPDA@CINGULARGPRS.COM
PW: CINGULAR1

The 2nd (ISPDA) does compression. From what I can tell it'll degrade the quality of your images a little in order to reduce the download size (thus speeding up web page loading.) The Cingular connect software (for tethering and data cards) allows you to adjust how much compression is done. So ISDPA@ is for compression, ISP@ does not do compression.
I don't know how well the compression works, I haven't ever paid attention.

My suggestion is to save your money and stick with wap.cingular if you're on a Media Net plan. If you're on a data connect plan, then I believe you're entitled to isp.cingular.
Here's a little something I've started puting together that talks about cingular data plans. It's not done, which is why there's no link to it. But it's informative (and likely controversial.)
http://www.gadgetech.info/wireless/cingular/data/

[Argelius]

Hey Taylorh --

Thanks -- that post and the linked article were excellent. My head is still spinning a bit, but I think I'm understanding things a bit more now.

Since I have PDA phone (hp iPaq 6515), "should" I use their PDA Connect Plan (instead of the MEDIA net, which I currently have)? The guy in the Cingular store signed me up for the $20 plan and I didn't think anything of it. So, does Cingular "know" I'm surfing the internet from a PDA phone rather than a regular phone? Your explanation was so detailed and precise, it should have cleared everything up, but I remain confused...

One more question to anyone who is still listening:

Since I'm still in my 30-day trial period with Cingular (or I assume so, anyway), I was thinking I might switch to T-Mobile if my data speed issues remain troublesome. Can you tell me:

[1] If I take a SIM card from a friend who uses T-Mobile with their unlimited data plan (which I believe is $20) and stick it in my phone, I assume this will give me a quick and dirty way to see if there is a noticable difference in speed?

[2] Am I correct in my assumption that T-Mobile's data plan structure is simplier -- $20 no ifs, ands or buts?

[RF9]

Quick answers are yes, they (can) 'know' but don't seem to care. At times in the past they even sold media net with pdas, so it's pretty hard to enforce. I don't think they'll ever enforce this, I think it's a matter of just getting $20 more out of corporate business customers that don't know better. I've used it with a Treo for 2 1/2 years since they started offering media net. Back then they allowed pdas initially. Countless other people do as well.
The worst that should happen is that they'd one day make you switch to data onnect.
The guy in the store signed you up and that happens all of the time. Despite what the leagalees says, I wouldn't worry about it.
Cingular knows we do it and seems happy to take our money.
Puting your friend's sim would work, but your pda is locked to the cingular SIM only. They won't give up the unlock code for 3 months. Otherwise that would have worked if you used his sim and changed the data settings to work with tmobile.
And correct. Tmbile doesn't have any usage rules. They have the 1 data plan ($20 or $30 I think) that you can use as much as you like in a phone, pc card, or tethering
You could evem get an EDGE PC card (unlocked) from ebay and use it all day long.
TMobile also has a cheap cel phone data plan called T-Zones or T-Mobe web for $8. Many people get/use that with a pda (like the MDA or Treo). The catch is that they block the web port 80, so you must use their proxy server for web surfing. Email programs that access pop, imap, smtp can do so without the proxy because they aren't on port 80. It's not for me, but many people find it's perfectly good enough for their use. This might be one reason cingular allows pdas on media net (competetive pricing)

[HotSuace]

Hey... i also have been getting the same problem but is only getting worse, i use to get about 200k and for the past 3 weeks i have been getting around 130. just now with full service, i ran the same speed test and i am getting 97k.

i have a 2125 with all the stock settings (cingular.wap), and this is really just getting bad and i know if i call them they will give me some bs and i wont get and speeds back...

[iJITSU]

it's been like this since the end of July (the DNS issue). Takes forever to get past "Connecting" and then loads slow. They said they were aware of the issue, were working on it, but had no idea when it would be corrected. I will be demanding a refund for my data package each month until resolved.

[Argelius]

Interesting -- cuz it's that "connecting" issue that I'm having with email. Once it get past that, it's fine.

When browsing the internet, it takes forever while "locating" the web page -- once it gets past that, it's fine. Wonder if that's the same issue...

I'm seriously considering bagging Cingular and checking out T-Mobile.

[yourbeliefs]

Exactly what sort of speeds should I be expecting with the Edge network? I mean I typically have 4-5(?) bars when I connect to the internet, but it feels more like 56K speeds as opposed to a broadband connection. This was before the network starting crapping out on a regular basis. Should I be expecting DSL-like performance on my 2125? Is the bottleneck I seem to be experiencing on the internet side or is it my phone? After all it is just a 200 mhz processor.

[RF9]

My experience is that speeds vary from about 60kbps to 160kbs. I think typical is roughly like 100kbps average. I just don't know about the 2125, but if what you're seeing is that it seems to take a long time to download web pages, you could be seeing the result of the web browser on the phone chewing on the web page to render it (scrunching images down and re-formatting it.) I know when I use the browser on a Treo that's why it seems so slow.
Also on my Treo it typically only downloads like 1 image at a time, and there's a lag on EDGE where it'll take about 2 seconds for each request to start downloading.
So a page of like 10 images takes at least 20 seconds of just lag intermixed with the actual downloading.
I'm not saying that's the case with your 2125, but it's something to consider.
Did you try http://www.dslreports.com/mspeed ?
I get about 85kbps when I run that test because I'll see bursts of fast download with occasional pauses (so the average is lower.)

Also check, if you're using the proxy setting wireless.cingular.com, then remove that and don't use the proxy, it has been slowing things down a lot lately. Only use the proxy setting to access the media net site (because it's necessary to.)

I hope this helps.