I swear, sometimes the search function of these forums is so useless.
I've wasted way too much time looking for that guide I mentioned I had seen, I should have just taken the time to write my own
But now its almost 2:30 am here, and I was tired before I got started...
Here is one pertinent post I found however, which you can probably get by with until I can write a more comprehensive guide.
Something
very important to understand: the Rx signals are measured in decibel drop where the closer to zero, the better. -100dbm is
bad!
Typically, with EVDO, you want to have less than -80dbm for decent throughput, with top end being reached somewhere below -70dbm and anything below that giving lower latency, and higher stability. In real world usage, -50dbm is about good as you are ever going to get, and in most cases, not bloody likely, lol. Although, I have actually been able to achieve -46 to -47 by standing at about a 30° angle from a tower, about 60 yrds away (because of the physical characteristics of typical radio towers, you will actually get *lower* signal strength directly underneath (or above, lol) due to the conical umbrella they broadcast, I got around -65-67 standing at the base of this particular tower, for example)
Also remember, even if you were to get say, -55dbm, which is pretty much
incredible signal strength, (might as well plug your phone directly into the tower,
) your throughput can be limited by many other factors, such as the backhaul of the tower, and network load. So, while your phone might be able to communicate with the *tower* at 3.1mbit your network might not be able to provide that. Of course, if it doesn't, there is nothing really wrong with complaining to your provider about it, to give them a little prod to induce them to improve their infrastructure