4G Performance on Exynos S21 Ultra is waaayyy slower than an S10+ or S20+

[SmallFish]

Hi

Has anybody else noticed that the S21 Ultra doesn't seem to deliver consistent and reliable 4G speeds, particularly in terms of 4G uploading. I've done a comparison between my S21 Ultra and a S10+ both on the same network (EE) and the results are shocking.

The S21 Ultra simply doesn't consistently reach the same levels and upload is extremely weak for me - seems to take the phone a number of second to "wake up" and send any data over 4G.

WiFi is fine but the 4G speeds are pushing me to return the phone. 

Have others noticed the same issue?

Interestingly, Samsung seem curious, which makes me think that there's been other similar reports. It would be strange if everything else works ok to believe this is a fault with the phone.

Thanks.

[SmallFish]

If you want to test this might be useful to see what latency you get. With ThinkBroadband S21 Ultra 161ms, S10+ 96ms! Explains the waiting for it to do anything experience - although why the large latency is a mystery. BTW, I've tried different services and in different locations. S21 Ultra experience is consistently notably poorer.

[adamlee]

could be software related. updated modem probably needed on s21 ultra

[SmallFish]

I 'hope' so but would be good to know if others are having the same problem as otherwise I'll be returning the phone just for this reason alone. S20 didn't have these issues when they came out. The camera issues are annoying x10 quality etc but data reliability is more important for me.

[adamlee]

my 4g is also slower and signal strength seems weaker. wait for next update to see if it improves.

[ironass]

Do you use the same SIM card in both phones to check, rather than 2 different EE SIMS as EE offer a number of plans... some of which have data throttling.

[SmallFish]

Sadly not applicable: I had the SIM in my S20+ before upgrading. It's definitely not the package I'm on. I can get over 130mbps very occassionally!

[ironass]

Like yourself, I too am on the EE network and I have a fastest speed plan with unlimited 5G/LTE data minutes and texts. Since 5G has yet to arrive here in the Cotswolds, I too use 4G/LTE. My download speeds do fluctuate throughout the day but are around 90-140Mbps. 

Here is my current test on my Galaxy S21 Ultra on EE, using Ookla Speedtest, free from the Play Store...

It might be worth contacting EE's customer services to receive an explanation or investigation .

[SmallFish]

Do you feel like there's a delay with sending messages or emails when using 4G?

I think it's more the consolistent poor latency of the connection from the phone that's a problem for me.

Transfer speeds are difficult to judge as EE can give neighbours very different experiences I suppose.

[adamlee]

there's a new update out now G998BXXU1AUB3. shouldn't take long for you to receive it.