3's 4g advertising

Edited by deleted (Mon 18-Feb-13 15:51:53)

Only thing is I don't believe 3 yet have any 4G running...

And you can edit up to 12 hours later AFAIK

In reply to a post by ian72:

Only thing is I don't believe 3 yet have any 4G running...

They won't until 12months after EE started - as I believe that was in the negotiation for the transfer of 1800mhz channels from EE to Three. Three are also in the bidding for 800mhz and 2600mhz slots.

I would guess a few months after the bidding closes is the earliest, but all networks are advertising "future 4G" now as they don't want customers running to EE I guess.

Still questions over which handsets will support the three UK / EU freq's for LTE.

In reply to a post by pcoventry76:

Well the Iphone 5 will I hope!

And the Ipad Mini!

The current variant of Iphone 5 only supports 1800Mhz.

All the other LTE phones (Galaxy S3 LTE, Note 2 LTE, Lumia 920, Experia Z, etc) all support the 3 bands (800Mhz, 1800Mhz & 2.6Ghz).

I tweeted a picture from the newspaper advert that reveals it is the half way house, if memory s working DC-HSDPA is an up to 42 Mbps technology, so clearly superfast NOT ultrafast

But often gets similar performance to LTE in real world applications (at least, downstream & latency). There's no definition of 'ultrafast' or 'superfast' anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

I tweeted a picture from the newspaper advert that reveals it is the half way house, if memory s working DC-HSDPA is an up to 42 Mbps technology, so clearly superfast NOT ultrafast

In the US my friends, family and work colleagues on Verizon's 4G LTE get speeds between 6 and 12 megabit. Given Verizon's CDMA 3G was limited at a usable max of 1megabit, they're quite impressed. Some people on AT&T LTE have seen 30megabit+ but I'm wondering if they were the only people in the area.

(The CDMA networks in the US had to roll out 4G LTE, as the CDMA 3G had hit the buffers on performance, and its likely they are carefully managing traffic/budgets and will increase speeds over time).

Contrast with Three's HSPA+ service giving 7 to 10megabit generally, and their claimed DC-HSPA when it launches potentially getting upto 20meg. Three's 4G LTE will need to get 30meg+ to be worth switching.

EE's LTE is as shown by the BBC videos running at peaks of 30meg but average around 10meg - I can get 18megabit on my EE (T-mobile tarrif) 3G connection *today* (with 3megabit upload).

Vodafone manages 7meg on a good day in the town centre - but generally struggles to hit 1meg everywhere else. O2 is pretty much capped at 1meg on phone tarrifs. (I've seen 4meg on an iPad). These guys could just hit 10meg on 4G LTE and amaze their customers who haven't seen.

It will all depend on the backhaul capacity per mast and number of simultaneous users - rather like comparing TalkTalk at peak times to Sky or BT. Lots to wait and see.

It will in the frequency that 3 purchased from EE.

In reply to a post by pcoventry76:

phew! - thanks for clearing that up

Yes, existing iPhone 5's only support LTE in the UK at 1800mhz, which means EE today and Three in future.

The EU "standard" frequencies for European LTE are 800mhz and 2600mhz - so I'm guessing a future iPhone 5S will support these.

For apple all these LTE frequencies are a pain as they can no longer have one worldwide model as they had with the 4S - but two models for USA, and at least 2 models for the rest of the world. Roaming LTE will be quite hard.

(I read there are more then 42 bands of LTE rolling out worldwide, compared to 5 bands for 3G/UMTS).

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Yes, existing iPhone 5's only support LTE in the UK at 1800mhz, which means EE today and Three in future.

The EU "standard" frequencies for European LTE are 800mhz and 2600mhz - so I'm guessing a future iPhone 5S will support these.

For apple all these LTE frequencies are a pain as they can no longer have one worldwide model as they had with the 4S - but two models for USA, and at least 2 models for the rest of the world. Roaming LTE will be quite hard.

(I read there are more then 42 bands of LTE rolling out worldwide, compared to 5 bands for 3G/UMTS).

They will if they use the newly announced Qualcomm chip

In reply to a post by pcoventry76:

Just seen on the train their ad about giving more g force without the extra expensive. That's got to annoy EE! I couldn't get a pic the windows on the train are reflective so camera couldn't focus

Edit

Sorry I was on the train so couldnt spell things right!

Hang on, I was allowed to edit a post an hour later? handy to know!

bit late to the convo but is this the sorta add you saw

Ash

So when the EU says 50% to get ultrafast broadband, and the Government is running Ultrafast broadband projects for cities this can be delivered via HSDPA ?

While it is not a technical definition, when governments use it for projects that sets an acceptable definition

In reply to a post by Spasch:

They will if they use the newly announced Qualcomm chip

Sadly its not that simple, as its the same Qualcomm chip in the two models of iPhone 5 but the supporting antennas and power amplifiers are different for different frequencies (thus two models).

This latest chip means costs of assembly will be a lot less, and I wouldn't be surprised for Apple to be first customer, they have the money to commit to huge order quantities and so get preferential treatment.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

While it is not a technical definition, when governments use it for projects that sets an acceptable definition

I would guess you are likely right, unless it goes to court, nobody (even Govt) can tell a privacy company (e.g. Hutchison 3G UK Ltd) to stop using an English word in their advertising.

In reply to a post by pcoventry76:

Thanks for putting my mind at rest. I am with 3 and always will be so happy to wait for them.

I think the agreement with EE for the transfer of spectrum last year sounds 3 can start using in Sept 2013. They might use their new spectrum earlier - but yours (and my) iPhone 5's can't use that.

Edited by deleted (Fri 22-Feb-13 18:42:19)

But it is within ASA power to ask them to stop, particularly if they consider it misleading.

Advert talks of HSDPA as Ultrafast and they then advertise a Samsung Galaxy SIII Ultrafast model, which turns out to be the LTE model.

Does not the normal SIII do HSDPA?

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

But it is within ASA power to ask them to stop, particularly if they consider it misleading.

Agreed - but I don't think its misleading.

I actually think the government are silly for using terms such as "superfast" and "ultrafast" and should stick to real facts, such as "speeds faster than 40megabit/sec" or similar. That would solve the whole problem.

Advert talks of HSDPA as Ultrafast and they then advertise a Samsung Galaxy SIII Ultrafast model, which turns out to be the LTE model.

Three's entire website says Ultrafast and then has rings around DC-HSPA and LTE, the HSPA+ is shown as current speeds that are NOT ultrafast.

See here, direct link to the picture:
http://www.three.co.uk/ThreePortal/Satellite?blobcol...

Which is on this page:
http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Built_for_internetting

The HSPA+ speeds are upto 14megabit (ie, iPhone 4s) and upto 21megabit (everything else). The DC-HSPA speeds are upto 42megabit, and the LTE speeds are anything above this upto 100megabit.
(HSDPA as you write is the old 1.8meg spec, long since superseded).

Does not the normal SIII do HSDPA?

I believe the LTE S3 is the model I9305 and the non LTE version is the I9300.

The I9305 does do DC-HSPA 42megabit spec. The standard I9300 does NOT do DC-HSPA 42megabit, it stops at the 21megabit speed of HSPA+. So in this case Three are being consistent.

To be fair to Three they've been selling the 21megabit spec HSPA+ for 2 years, on over 90% of their coverage, when the competition (esp O2 and Vodafone) have been living with the 7meg spec.

Android phones can download a useful app with a desktop widget that shows you the protocol in use over the connection, I have a Nexus 4 purely for this and WiFi scanning as I prefer my iPhone 5 for everyday use.

Data from GSM Arena's comparison tool:
http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=5001&i...

NB: I'm NOT a three customer, I have a T-Mobile SIM only contract on an unlocked iPhone 5, and my office gives me a Vodafone service which I have in my old iPhone 4.

(Edit - added links to Three's site)

Edited by jchamier (Fri 22-Feb-13 19:45:43)

Acronym overload from my side.

So because its mobile they can advertise alongside superfast Infinity at up to 76 Mbps, with their ultrafast at 14 Mbps. I assume that is what 14 MB per second.

No scope for confusion at all I guess then.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Acronym overload from my side.

Sadly the mobile industry has more acronyms than the wired industry

But the networks don't invent these, their either ETSI or the 3GPP organisations. As always with technical terms they are quite similar in naming and quite different in how they work.

So because its mobile they can advertise alongside superfast Infinity at up to 76 Mbps, with their ultrafast at 14 Mbps. I assume that is what 14 MB per second. No scope for confusion at all I guess then.

Of course no confusion, one is using wires and one using wireless. The courts in this country assume people have a modicum of common sense and can distinguish between. I wouldn't compare mobile services that I can walk down the road using with my FTTC that is physically installed in my flat, or my mate's Virgin Media coax.

No different to N wireless saying "300 megabit" on the box and running slower than 100megabit ethernet - no?

Yes, they're using the "marketing department" lazyness in MB meaning megabit/sec - or Mbps as you write. (I try to always write megabit/sec in full to solve this in my posts, but I suspect I forget a lot).

Not really. Looking at the EU site and searching for "ultrafast" sees some mention of 100mbit/sec speeds, some of 50mbit/sec speeds and some of 24mbit/sec speeds.

There's no such thing as an 'acceptable definition', and I'll be damned if some (supra)govermental organisations suddenly can dictate what it is.

In reply to a post by mr_mojo:

There's no such thing as an 'acceptable definition', and I'll be damned if some (supra)govermental organisations suddenly can dictate what it is.

I agree.

I note the word 'ultrafast' doesn't even appear in the online OED:
http://oxforddictionaries.com/spellcheck/english/?q=...

nor in Chambers online:
http://www.chambers.co.uk/search.php?query=ultrafast...

Perhaps because its a contraction of two words and should be spelt ULTRA and FAST separately.

OED says of Ultra = "an extremist"
OED says of Fast = "taking place at high speed; taking a short time"

So I don't think MrSaffron's attempt to define the word usage to meet some UK qango (BDUK) requirement is going to fly. At least not in this thread

Could you please tell me the name of that Android app?

In reply to a post by blueacid:

Could you please tell me the name of that Android app?

The one I like is "network signal info" on the Play store:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.and...

Just installed that on my phone, does just the job! Frustrating that outside my 3G connection is near enough equal to my Be* ADSL2+ line! (speeds near enough equal, 3G ping of 70, adsl ping of 20)

In reply to a post by blueacid:

Just installed that on my phone, does just the job! Frustrating that outside my 3G connection is near enough equal to my Be* ADSL2+ line! (speeds near enough equal, 3G ping of 70, adsl ping of 20)

Yes, this is the problem of 2100mhz used for all 3G services in the UK (until recently when O2 and Voda started using limited 900mhz in some city areas).

The 900mhz and 1800mhz frequencies used by Voda/O2 and Orange/T-Mobile managed to work in buildings a lot better.

So the hope is that 4G/LTE at 1800mhz (EE and Three) and the new 800mhz and 2600mhz sold by the Govt last week will work in buildings better. (The 2600 might not but could be used with external antennas for rural areas).

can't see getting up here for another 2 year or so.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

But it is within ASA power to ask them to stop, particularly if they consider it misleading.

Agreed - but I don't think its misleading.

I actually think the government are silly for using terms such as "superfast" and "ultrafast" and should stick to real facts, such as "speeds faster than 40megabit/sec" or similar. That would solve the whole problem.

Advert talks of HSDPA as Ultrafast and they then advertise a Samsung Galaxy SIII Ultrafast model, which turns out to be the LTE model.

Three's entire website says Ultrafast and then has rings around DC-HSPA and LTE, the HSPA+ is shown as current speeds that are NOT ultrafast.

See here, direct link to the picture:
http://www.three.co.uk/ThreePortal/Satellite?blobcol...

Which is on this page:
http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Built_for_internetting

The HSPA+ speeds are upto 14megabit (ie, iPhone 4s) and upto 21megabit (everything else). The DC-HSPA speeds are upto 42megabit, and the LTE speeds are anything above this upto 100megabit.
(HSDPA as you write is the old 1.8meg spec, long since superseded).

Does not the normal SIII do HSDPA?

I believe the LTE S3 is the model I9305 and the non LTE version is the I9300.

The I9305 does do DC-HSPA 42megabit spec. The standard I9300 does NOT do DC-HSPA 42megabit, it stops at the 21megabit speed of HSPA+. So in this case Three are being consistent.

To be fair to Three they've been selling the 21megabit spec HSPA+ for 2 years, on over 90% of their coverage, when the competition (esp O2 and Vodafone) have been living with the 7meg spec.

Android phones can download a useful app with a desktop widget that shows you the protocol in use over the connection, I have a Nexus 4 purely for this and WiFi scanning as I prefer my iPhone 5 for everyday use.

Data from GSM Arena's comparison tool:
http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=5001&i...

NB: I'm NOT a three customer, I have a T-Mobile SIM only contract on an unlocked iPhone 5, and my office gives me a Vodafone service which I have in my old iPhone 4.

(Edit - added links to Three's site)

good post i just assumed the samsung S3 supported DC-HSPA+ 42mb as its quite an new phone i am quite surprised really

but only the S3 LTE version does it at least i could get the phone for later LTE support and DC-HSPA+ support when o2 ever bother to upgrade to 42mb
i just noticed the S3 LTE has 2gb of ram as well, the S3 only has 1GB, that's good as should stop apps from randomly closing on me due to lack of ram

i think GSM arena is missing the 1900 band on the S3 i9300 as other sites are listing the i9300 as supporting the 1900 band (it would not work on networks that run on 1900 if it did not support it)

not planning on moving to three until they use more masts to fill in the black spots in there network

as long as the phone supports LTE 100mb it should always be faster then DC-HSPA+ (LTE running on 800-900 helps to get bit more range as well, to bad Voice will not run on that as well)

In reply to a post by leexgx:

not planning on moving to three until they use more masts to fill in the black spots in there network

I believe 3 have more masts than either O2 or Vodafone have for their 2G signal, but because of the 2100 band that 3G is currently at it has problems in buildings. This is where the 800 band will help dramatically for all networks.

as long as the phone supports LTE 100mb it should always be faster then DC-HSPA+ (LTE running on 800-900 helps to get bit more range as well, to bad Voice will not run on that as well)

This isn't LTE-Advanced, that's a few years away still, so nobody will be getting anywhere near 100meg.

LTE support DL 150mb 2 channel as long as the masts are setup for it but more likely 100mb as needs less Frequency space (quite sure most are as orange and O2 have had more then 50mb in there tests), most phones have 100mb DL LTE support (some Cheapo LTE phones "only" support single 50mb LTE link
i have only ever seen tablets have the DL 150mb LTE support (not even checked what the LTE dongles must support but i would guess it is the 150mb)

LTE can support up to 300mbs but that is unlikely to happen due to limited Frequency that we have got in the UK for each provider

LTE-ADV supports up to 1000mb but likely only really get 600-700mb (100mb when moving at high speed)

the network been deployed will be 100mb yes 150mb maybe, and yes no one is ever going to see that just that is what is available for all users connected to that mast can use, same goes for 3G Only supports the bandwidth of 7.2, 14, 21 or 42mb on avg its between 2-8 (2mb been the avg on three network due to the All You Can Eat or The One plan)

Edited by leexgx (Wed 06-Mar-13 02:08:15)

In reply to a post by leexgx:

Only supports the bandwidth of 7.2, 14, 21 or 42mb on avg its between 2-8 (2mb been the avg on three network due to the All You Can Eat or The One plan)

I wouldent call these results avarage of 2 meg

Test Date: Mar 5, 2013 3:30:55 PM
Connection Type: Cell
Server: Skipton
Download: 19.16 Mbps
Upload: 3.22 Mbps
Ping: 97 ms

External IP: 92.40.253.63
Internal IP: 10.10.126.147
Latitude: 53.58508
Longitude: -1.53152

A detailed image for this result can be found here:

http://www.speedtest.net/android/386309387.png

Also TBB Test

Ash

again depends where you live in the UK and how many are abusing Three network on the cell your connected to(in your case not that many)

where I am its rubbish 1-3mb seemed about the best i could get on Three and i had lots of issues with Phantom network, its an 3G issue (affects all networks at some point) if the phone switches to fast between masts when on 3g, the Phone so it gets Stuck in limbo with full signal (or last locked signal detected) but No voice, text or data services for about 1-2 mins aka Phantom network, the phone i think forces an radio reset after 2 mins (as you see the signal bars drop to 0 then back to normal) my Blackberry does it on Orange as well when i have it switched to 3G so i norm leave that phone on 2G as it does not have the issue and battery lasts 4 days vs 1-2 days as well (i only need it for calendar and calls data is only used for email and Sync to google)

o2 around here have been Dropping Pole masts every where (keeps the radiation cults happy if they do not know what that pole is) so there are norm no black spots for O2 where i am (when they was allowed to use 3G900 i guess most of them masts are them type)

cell placements are quite poor where i am, as well so most places i go 3 does not work indoors due to it, even thought three site says otherwise, i used to use t-mobile signal checker as most of the masts where i am are an 50/50 share with them where i am and it correctly listed the signal and the dead spots, now EE have taken over i cant see the t-mobile masts any more. so cant check for Three coverage any more

Edited by leexgx (Wed 06-Mar-13 02:51:05)

In reply to a post by leexgx:

again depends where you live in the UK and how many are abusing Three network on the cell your connected to(in your case not that many)

where I am its rubbish 1-3mb seemed about the best i could get on Three and i had lots of issues with Phantom network, its an 3G issue (affects all networks at some point) if the phone switches to fast between masts when on 3g, the Phone so it gets Stuck in limbo with full signal (or last locked signal detected) but No voice, text or data services for about 1-2 mins aka Phantom network, the phone i think forces an radio reset after 2 mins (as you see the signal bars drop to 0 then back to normal) my Blackberry does it on Orange as well when i have it switched to 3G so i norm leave that phone on 2G as it does not have the issue and battery lasts 4 days vs 1-2 days as well (i only need it for calendar and calls data is only used for email and Sync to google)

o2 around here have been Dropping Pole masts every where (keeps the radiation cults happy if they do not know what that pole is) so there are norm no black spots for O2 where i am (when they was allowed to use 3G900 i guess most of them masts are them type)

cell placements are quite poor where i am, as well so most places i go 3 does not work indoors due to it, even thought three site says otherwise, i used to use t-mobile signal checker as most of the masts where i am are an 50/50 share with them where i am and it correctly listed the signal and the dead spots, now EE have taken over i cant see the t-mobile masts any more. so cant check for Three coverage any more

Yea i see what you mean im lucky were ever i go with three is good signal/speed O2 is pants though lol signals good but its slow the mast is at the bottom of my street and also uses the 900 but still very slow lol, hopefully 4G will solve things for all networks on both speed and coverage as we know 4g can go longer than 3G but obviously till they do coice over 4G calls will still be subject to the 3G limitation

Ash

Edited by acpsd775 (Wed 06-Mar-13 03:46:31)

yes you are lucky your getting half of what the 42mb spec can do so the load on that mast must be very light, try that test at 6pm see if its the same (or around 5pm-8pm randomly) as you was testing it before peak time, you should get Very different results

what i do not like is that most phones are not setting the 4g option as an Switch, as idlely when your on 4g your better having the phone on 2g for calls but most phones i have seen seem to have it all 3 options in the network mode page (2g/3g and 3g Only and 2g/3g/4g) problem is some phones stay on 3g when there is really no signal some phones Lack even the option to use 2g only completely (Three network phones must have it removed as they Lack an 2g network, so 2g should only be used when there is no 3 Network coverage so it use orange if its around)

also battery life can be bad if 2g cant be used, as 3G can pull a lot of power (unless you have the RAZR maxx phone then it does not matter as that Phone was Built to last days, it would work Very well as an LTE phone as it would likely last an day with 4G switched on all day)

Edited by leexgx (Wed 06-Mar-13 03:29:18)

In reply to a post by leexgx:

yes you are lucky your getting half of what the 42mb spec can do so the load on that mast must be very light, try that test at 6pm see if its the same (or around 5pm-8pm randomly) as you was testing it before peak time, you should get Very different results

what i do not like is that most phones are not setting the 4g option as an Switch, as idlely when your on 4g your better having the phone on 2g for calls but most phones i have seen seem to have it all 3 options in the network mode page (2g/3g and 3g Only and 2g/3g/4g) problem is some phones stay on 3g when there is really no signal some phones Lack even the option to use 2g only completely (Three network phones must have it removed as they Lack an 2g network, so 2g should only be used when there is no 3 Network coverage so it use orange if its around)

also battery life can be bad if 2g cant be used, as 3G can pull a lot of power (unless you have the RAZR maxx phone then it does not matter as that Phone was Built to last days, it would work Very well as an LTE phone as it would likely last an day with 4G switched on all day)

Test Date: Feb 13, 2013 5:13:21 PM
Connection Type: Cell
Server: Leeds
Download: 17.58 Mbps
Upload: 2.35 Mbps
Ping: 166 ms

External IP: 92.40.254.87
Internal IP: 10.158.50.12
Latitude: 53.58880
Longitude: -1.50961

A detailed image for this result can be found here:

http://www.speedtest.net/android/368911886.png

that was done at 5.15pm will try one tonight at about 7pm as that was a few week ago

Ash

still not bad, even around here best i can get out of o2 and orange is 7mb/s

but normally i do not need that so as long as it does 4mb i am fine

In reply to a post by leexgx:

still not bad, even around here best i can get out of o2 and orange is 7mb/s

Most masts here on T-Mobile and Orange (EE logo) are maxing out at 7mb - but there is one mast near me that manages 15mb, which I assume must have the "new backhaul", maybe its a trial. According to my Nexus 4 its only operating in HSPA+ 21mbps mode, same as the others.

Three manages 10mb in the same location (probably sharing the mast) but around 6mb everywhere T-Mobile (EE) gets 7mb. That's with a T-Mobile SIM, but a friend with an Orange SIM in the same locations gets half the speed.

Lots of price plans are speed throttled, I think Three doesn't throttle on the price plan but on load on the cell site.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html...

Did this on Monday when in a good 3G area but the connection in actual use felt like the tbb one. The graphs to help understand the actual connection are very important.

Was run on an Asus Transformer Prime (fortunately one browser still supports Flash).

But still a lot better than the WiFi hotspot at the location.

In reply to a post by leexgx:

still not bad, even around here best i can get out of o2 and orange is 7mb/s

but normally i do not need that so as long as it does 4mb i am fine

Test Date: Mar 6, 2013 6:32:43 PM
Connection Type: Cell
Server: Leeds
Download: 12.69 Mbps
Upload: 1.25 Mbps
Ping: 98 ms

External IP: 94.197.127.238
Internal IP: 10.89.162.235
Latitude: 53.58474
Longitude: -1.53127

A detailed image for this result can be found here:

http://www.speedtest.net/android/388278868.png

not quite 20 but still better than 2meg lol

Ash

still not bad even the ping is below 100ms as well (at an push you could game on that)

In reply to a post by leexgx:

still not bad even the ping is below 100ms as well (at an push you could game on that)

in the past ive played WOW with 2 of us sharing the connection at about 95ms and was fine lol but i supose it depends what game you play.

EE have this thing on their site you can try 4GEE mifi for 30 days no quibbles so i decided to get it just to try it out and TBF im not that impressed TBF yea the uploads good the pings ok but threes is not that bad but download wise its only slightly better than my nexus 4 on DC-HSPA

[img]http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/button/13625...[/img]

Ash

4G is more about lower latency as 3g can be up to 300ms on ping (with 4G your get an More consistent speed then you would with 3G 42MB or lower as it does not take that many users to lower the speed of an 3G (more so if there are Loads of 7.2 or 14mb users on the cell 21mb and 42 total normal speed is lowered a lot)

as 3g is more of an bolt on with speed the more 7.2mb and 14mb users that are on the cell lowers the performance of 21mb and 42mb users
if the mast your on has heavy amount of 7.2 or 14mb users on the mast, 21mb and 42mb does suffer an bit (as basic 3g 0.3mb all the way to 42mb use the same frequency, where as LTE 4g does not its all new frequency's)

i may consider Three again when 4g Comes around here but as the VOice calls are still on 3g that is Unlikely to happen (as i need the phone to work as an backup if my main phone is not ring, as it stands right now three 95%? Coverage But that is Outdoor coverage, indoor is more like 80% coverage, but giffgaff is fine for my needs as it works every where, just need to root my phone so i can use the hotspot as my RAZR MAXX will not enable the hotspot all the way)

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Did this on Monday when in a good 3G area but the connection in actual use felt like the tbb one. The graphs to help understand the actual connection are very important.

Yes, I see similar using a Vodafone 3G dongle in my area. I get *significantly* faster using Three on my android, or T-Mobile on my iPhone 5. All in the same town, 25miles from LHR. (vodafone say 'no network issues here').

My Android with my Vodafone SIM inserted tells my the base station is doing the 21megabit spec (HSPA+) and it says the Three mast, and the T-Mobile (it separates out T and Orange still) mast here are all still 21megabit spec. However Voda obviously need to use their acquisition of C&W and increase the base station throughput, the newer brands are showing how it should be done.

(Maybe Voda are pinning all their hopes on LTE/4G - but that needs new hardware!!)

But still a lot better than the WiFi hotspot at the location.

Says a lot for overloaded WiFi :-/

I generally prefer 3G to WiFi as its much less likely to be "sniffed" (e.g. FireSheep).

Edited by jchamier (Wed 06-Mar-13 23:06:50)

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Did this on Monday when in a good 3G area but the connection in actual use felt like the tbb one. The graphs to help understand the actual connection are very important.

Just now (ie, 11:10pm) with my iPhone 5 connected to the PC using the USB cable and "Personal Hotspot" enabled. No WiFi in this desktop and I unplugged the Ethernet cable to my router first.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/button/13626...

The graphs bounce as I'd expect from an RF based connection, but these speeds are not abnormal.

i get like 2Mbps max speed but i live right in town so i guess high load on the masts all the time.

In reply to a post by epyon:

i get like 2Mbps max speed but i live right in town so i guess high load on the masts all the time.

Some phones max out at the slower speeds, depends on the radio chip and CPU in the phone, my "work phone" is an unlocked iPhone 4 and it maxes out at 6megabit when I use my T-Mobile chip that gives 15+megabit in my iPhone 5.

Could also be an overloaded tower. Or I've seen T-Mobile customers getting slow speeds when using the former Orange network - its almost impossible to tell now they both show up as EE. Some older phones still show the two network names.

I have a GSII

so the phone shouldn't be an issue

when i move out a bit i get better speeds

when im right in the town like shopping ect

the net doesn't even work, though theres lots of wifi hotspots to use >.>

Edited by epyon (Sat 09-Mar-13 11:01:20)

In reply to a post by epyon:

I have a GSII

so the phone shouldn't be an issue

Galaxy S II is generally quite in terms of 3G radios now, assuming you have the I9100 this is actually the same as the standard S3 which is capable of HSPA+ 21megabit/sec download, and 5 megabit/sec upload in perfect conditions with no other users.

Summary - to get DC-HSPA support (the 42megabit spec) you need an iPhone 5 or an S3 LTE, or anything newer. The standard S2, S3 and iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S don't support it.

I'm not sure what Three are like in the rest of the country, but my experience of them down here has been that they tend to blow EE 4G out of the water on everything but upload.

I generally get 50-60ms latencies, 8-23mbps down and 3-5mbps up.

The few places I've seen EE in operation, the best I saw was 12 both ways.