Data Speeds vs. Neo

[ply17410]

I'm seeing slow speeds on my Ray (ST18a) compared to my wife's Neo (MT15a).  Both were purchased un-locked for use on AT&T over the past couple weeks.  We are on identical data plans.  When using her phone I had a 'feeling' web browsing was snappier.  So this weekend I thought I'd dig into it.

Yesterday and today I spent quite a bit of time running speedtest.net comparisions.

Her Neo beat the Ray on average by 1,000 kbps to various speedtest servers that are high performers in my geographic area.

I'd frequently see numbers like 3,200 kbps on the Neo and maybe 1,600 kbps on the Ray.  The Ray hardly ever beat the Neo across probably 50-60 test cycles over the past two days.  I'd on occasion see peaks on the Neo in the 5,000 kbps range but never saw anything close to that on the Ray.  Note: I am in Minneapolis which is full hspa updated with enhanced backhaul.

The phones are both at Android 2.3.4 and running the same compliment of apps.

Has anyone else felt that their Ray is just not as 'snappy' as it should be for an HSDPA phone?

Bob H

[uliwooly-wooly]

repeat the test but swap SIM cards, your SIM card might be too old, or maybe as you said the Ray might be slower, due to it's compact size and water proof case

[ply17410]

I've found out why the speed difference.

The Neo supports HSDPA 10.2 vs. the Ray HSDPA 7.2

It appears HSDPA 10.2 is rather rare in phones, I've found a couple Nokia's that do it but that's it.  Looks like the trade-off is the upload speed is slower in these devices 2 mbps.

Up until now I thought HSDPA only did 7.2 mbps and then jumped to 14.0 mbps (iPhone 4S).

DARN!!  I absolutely love the Neo, but I really need the added speed for tetherning to my laptop.

Bob H

Minneapolis, MN

[uliwooly-wooly]

actually not quite

both have the same internal hardware for the most part

http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=3972&idPhone2=3734

[ply17410]

I know I have seen all those specs as part of my research before buying.

But look again ... there is a lot of inaccurate info out there on the Neo.  I had researched it up and down before getting my wife the phone and I too thought it was HSDPA 7.2.  But it is not.  You can see correct specs here.  Also my guess is Neo V will drop it back down to 7.2.

The ability to do HSDPA at 10.2 is a bit obscure but I found some tech articles that state it is part of the standard.  The trade off however is in upload speed (less).

This exactly matches what I'm seeing in tests between my Ray and my wife's Neo.  Neo beats Ray consistently on download but Ray will tie or beat on upload.  This of course is in AT&T HSPA w/enhanced backhaul coverage.  Outside such coverage they should be equal.

Bob

[uliwooly-wooly]

check this out

Neo

http://dl-www.sonyericsson.com/cws/download/1/922/664/1315210962/neo_WP_6.pdf

page 7

[uliwooly-wooly]

Ray

http://dl-www.sonyericsson.com/cws/download/1/997/193/1308295710/ray_WP_1.pdf

page 7

[ply17410 · Accepted solution]

I did some more careful testing last night and pulled the speedtest.net numbers into Excel and the phones are EQUAL and must be HSDPA 7.2 devices as all Sony published specs say they are.

The sites that have the Neo listed as HSDPA 10.2 are incorrect.

For what it's worth here are my results.

34 tests to 18 servers each for Neo and Ray (same servers).  Tests were performed one after the other (alternating Ray and Neo) in an AT&T HSPA+ w/enhanced backhaul coverage area between 8PM to 9PM.

PHONE	Download	Upload	Ping
Xperia Ray	1,735	868	402
Xperia Neo	1,722	875	420
USB TETHER
Xperia Ray	2,382	1,084	277
Xperia Neo	2,264	771	185

I also ran across another good mobile speedtest site:  geekaphone.com

Bob H

Minneapolis, MN

USA

[uliwooly-wooly]

Yeah the difference it's not that big, I wonder if it has to do with the waterproof housing the Ray has?