My shiny new Galaxy A34 spends most of its time connecting my other devices to the Internet. Hotspot is turned on and connection to, for example, my PC is established. Running an Ookla Speed Test shows my tada transfer rates to be 3.98 Mbps Down and 32.81 Up. This compares unfavourably with 41.74 Down and 24.35 Up I was getting with the phone I replaced.
What would be causing the slow Data Rates? Is there some setting I have missed?
Some carriers have data throttling set in place order to preserve bandwidth, but it could also be a number of other things. Have you tried using USB tethering in settings to see what connection speeds you get when wired directly to your phone? If throttling is in place then the USB tethering and wireless tethering should be relatively similar, and if its a wireless connection problem between the phone and PC the USB tethering should produce faster results. I hope this helps!
Tethering resulted in data speeds of 39.23 Down and 27.09 Up - similar to the retired phone. I gather that this indicates a wireless connection problem. Please bear in mind that this septuagenarian is not exactly a Geek when I ask, "What do I do now?"
In Wireless mode my PC connects via a tp-link TL-WN722N USB adaptor which, supposedly can handle 150Mbps.
If this is the same adapter you used with the phone you replaced then there is most likely no problem with it, but as always make sure your drivers for it are up to date. It sounds like you have some sort of wireless interference which means something is disrupting the signals sent from your computer to your phone. It could also be that a module on your phone is damaged. Try running the diagnostics in the Device Care app (which if i remember correctly is hidden by default so you'll need to search it in the finder bar on the apps screen). As a workaround, most computers have wifi tethering as an option so you can share your computer's connection. If you have your computer wired to your phone then this should work.
I ran the diagnostics in Device Care as you suggested @alphadev and, as I expected the phone passed with flying colours. So it should, it's only a few days old. What did you mean that a 'module' on the phone might be damaged? There is no physical damage to the phone (give me time š).
I did try tethering, as described above, but tethering negates the idea of having a Mobile phone š.
BTW: An Ookla test of data speeds right now to the phone give 57 Down and 31 Up. At my PC I have 4.11 Down and 30.49 Up. I uploaded a file to OneDrive this afternoon and it was steady at about 7.5Mbps (which isn't great). That was the speed showing on my PC Taskbar but it is about right when I work from files size and time elapsed.
Well then I'm stumped. I'm sorry to say hotspot issues are not my strong suite. When I refered to a module I was refering to whatever internal part of the phone handles hotspot, since sometimes manufacturing defects happen. My only other idea is to maybe try changing the band in tethering settings between 5 ghz and 2.4 ghz. Older devices tend to support 2.4 ghz more, and some older devices don't even support 5 ghz. The only difference between the two is while 2.4 ghz can go through walls easier, it is slower and more susceptible to interference, but as I said earlier some devices support it better, while 5 ghz offers faster connections at the cost of being unable to travel through most obstructions.
