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I'm on a totally unlimited phone plan (talk, text, data & hotspot) and been using this for almost a year now. But up until sometime last week my internet speeds have plummeted. I get anywhere from 100kbps to 35kbps download speeds, yet my upload speeds will often be 1mbps or more.

I've done the run around several times with customer service. Restart phone, factory reset, removing sim card etc. The company said "we've checked the networks and everything is fine, it must be your phone." Ok well there were plenty of things I didn't like about my old phone anyways so I bought a new one.

Phone came in today, put in my SIM and boom, still slow speeds. fucking hell. So I get back in touch with the company and explain, and now they tell me "well it must be your SIM card then, you'll need to get a new one sent out and we'll have to suspend your current SIM card until then." So I told them to hold off on the SIM card at the moment while I dig around.

I'm not really huge on phones so I don't know much about them, but from what I've been reading it seems a SIM card doesn't really affect your internet speeds, and if they go bad they just stop working.

BUT the interesting thing is- if I turn off my phone, remove the SIM card, wait 30 seconds or so and reinsert and reboot the phone, my internet speeds will then jump up to 1-3mbps download. My faster speeds stick around for maybe 10 minutes or so then out of the blue they slow back down to 100kbps.

So my question to the tech savvy (and tldr) is:

1) Can an old SIM card cause an issue with data speeds?

and

2) Why does removing the SIM card and rebooting my phone temporarily boosts my speeds back to normal?

My gut tells me my 50gb+ monthly data usage has thrown a red flag and now they're throttling the fuck out of my unlimited data speed, and rebooting the SIM card temporarily bypasses the throttling. But of course their reps told me they don't throttle speeds. Maybe my SIM card really does have an issue and I'm just being cynical. Interested in hearing the opinions of those more educated in this department

I'm on a totally unlimited phone plan (talk, text, data & hotspot) and been using this for almost a year now. But up until sometime last week my internet speeds have plummeted. I get anywhere from 100kbps to 35kbps download speeds, yet my upload speeds will often be 1mbps or more. I've done the run around several times with customer service. Restart phone, factory reset, removing sim card etc. The company said "we've checked the networks and everything is fine, it must be your phone." Ok well there were plenty of things I didn't like about my old phone anyways so I bought a new one. Phone came in today, put in my SIM and boom, still slow speeds. fucking hell. So I get back in touch with the company and explain, and now they tell me "well it must be your SIM card then, you'll need to get a new one sent out and we'll have to suspend your current SIM card until then." So I told them to hold off on the SIM card at the moment while I dig around. I'm not really huge on phones so I don't know much about them, but from what I've been reading it seems a SIM card doesn't really affect your internet speeds, and if they go bad they just stop working. BUT the interesting thing is- if I turn off my phone, remove the SIM card, wait 30 seconds or so and reinsert and reboot the phone, my internet speeds will then jump up to 1-3mbps download. My faster speeds stick around for maybe 10 minutes or so then out of the blue they slow back down to 100kbps. ----------------- So my question to the tech savvy (and tldr) is: 1) Can an old SIM card cause an issue with data speeds? and 2) Why does removing the SIM card and rebooting my phone temporarily boosts my speeds back to normal? My gut tells me my 50gb+ monthly data usage has thrown a red flag and now they're throttling the fuck out of my unlimited data speed, and rebooting the SIM card temporarily bypasses the throttling. But of course their reps told me they don't throttle speeds. Maybe my SIM card really does have an issue and I'm just being cynical. Interested in hearing the opinions of those more educated in this department

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[–] • 1 pt

Does that happen with a different phone and the same sim card? Have you done a factory reset for troubleshooting sake, yet? Have you manually configured your APN?

If not that, they might just be throttling you. Who's your provider? How much data do you use per month? How much do you pay?

I've been paying $15/month with mint.

[–] • 1 pt

who's mint?

[–] • 1 pt

mint mobile

[–] • 0 pt

thanks - i don't yak a lot on the phone so i think i'll stick with Ting

[–] • 0 pt

Yes I factory reset my old phone and still have the problem.

I bought a brand new phone, put in the old SIM and still slow speeds.

I have not manually configured the APN (I don't even know what that is)

I go through Visible which uses Verizon towers. $40/month for unlimited everything.

[–] [deleted] • 1 pt

Oh, Visible...y, I'd put money on you getting hit with the deprio hammer.

[–] • 0 pt

The weird thing is that I've been using anywhere from 50 up to 100GB's of data per month for the last 9-10 months at this point, so to hit me out of the blue is odd. Basically use my phone as a modem for my computer via hotspot.

Also what is Mint? I'm probably going to try the new SIM card and if that doesn't do it I'm throwing these guys in the gas chamber and moving on to a different company.

[–] • 1 pt

you can give the new sim card a shot, I know I had that solve a t-mobile issue some years ago for me. Also as a reseller direct verizon customers will get priority over visible. Beside that, I suggest a new carrier.

[–] • 0 pt

What was the t-mobile issue you were experiencing that the new SIM card fixed?