topic Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE in Get Support

Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

tomaskingsley — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 14:42:24 GMT

The staff at two separate Telus/Koodo/Public kiosks have tried to sell me on the fact that Public's 3G is really LTE, as they have no 3G network. They go on to say that it will display LTE on the phone as proof. And that it will not be throttled in any way. I have voice recordings of the employees at both shops, as I did not believe them and felt like they were duping me.

Is this accurate? They were so sure of themselves and pressuring me to sign up right at that moment.

@CS_Agent

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

Loki1025 — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 22:28:45 GMT

My understanding is that the speed is throttled to 3G, but stand to be corrected.

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

gblackma — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 00:59:33 GMT

@tomaskingsley Its 3g ~~throttled to~~ 9~~mbps~~ edit not throttled and 4g lte throttled to 3 mbps.

@tomaskingsley wrote:
The staff at two separate Telus/Koodo/Public kiosks have tried to sell me on the fact that Public's 3G is really LTE, as they have no 3G network. They go on to say that it will display LTE on the phone as proof. And that it will not be throttled in any way. I have voice recordings of the employees at both shops, as I did not believe them and felt like they were duping me.
Is this accurate? They were so sure of themselves and pressuring me to sign up right at that moment.

@CS_Agent

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

Staliger — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 22:29:37 GMT

@tomaskingsley wrote:
The staff at two separate Telus/Koodo/Public kiosks have tried to sell me on the fact that Public's 3G is really LTE, as they have no 3G network. They go on to say that it will display LTE on the phone as proof. And that it will not be throttled in any way. I have voice recordings of the employees at both shops, as I did not believe them and felt like they were duping me.
Is this accurate? They were so sure of themselves and pressuring me to sign up right at that moment.

@CS_Agent

@tomaskingsley That's interesting, mine was opposite - he warned me that it is 4G throttled to 3G speeds

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

Nezgar — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 22:33:41 GMT

@tomaskingsley wrote:
The staff at two separate Telus/Koodo/Public kiosks have tried to sell me on the fact that Public's 3G is really LTE, as they have no 3G network. They go on to say that it will display LTE on the phone as proof. And that it will not be throttled in any way. I have voice recordings of the employees at both shops, as I did not believe them and felt like they were duping me.
Is this accurate? They were so sure of themselves and pressuring me to sign up right at that moment.

Public Mobile runs on Telus' network, which technically operates both 3G (HSPA/WCDMA) and LTE protocols over the air.

Both networks will work for data. LTE is throttled to 3mbps, which is what they market as "3G speeds" - but if you force your phone to use real 3G (HSPA/WCDMA) it is not throttled, and you may find it's actually faster in a speed test, sometimes 10mbps+, but latency may be more variable.

In everyday use, I doubt you'll notice any practical difference between the two, and it's better to leave it autoselect between 3G and LTE so you have the best coverage. the 3mbps compared to flagship carriers unthrottled LTE is also not noticeable for everyday use, and is quite an acceptable compromise for the value.

There is no VoLTE (yet) so voice calls will always temporarily switch to 3G/HSPA/WCDMA mode.

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

hairbag1 — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 22:35:10 GMT

@tomaskingsley wrote:
The staff at two separate Telus/Koodo/Public kiosks have tried to sell me on the fact that Public's 3G is really LTE, as they have no 3G network. They go on to say that it will display LTE on the phone as proof. And that it will not be throttled in any way. I have voice recordings of the employees at both shops, as I did not believe them and felt like they were duping me.
Is this accurate? They were so sure of themselves and pressuring me to sign up right at that moment.

@CS_Agent

It'll show on your phone as LTE but as suggested by others...is throttled. I've used it for 2 yrs and am happy with the speeds, but I'm not listening to streaming music or movies either.

You can maybe give it a try to see if it fits your lifestyle. PM uses Telus backbone so you know it's stable.Plans and is much more affordable without any hidden fees later on.

I can vouch for PM.

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

Jb456 — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 22:36:51 GMT

It's LTE throttled to 3mbs but it does show LTE on phone like screenshot below.

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

Luddite — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 23:00:29 GMT

@tomaskingsley wrote:
The staff at two separate Telus/Koodo/Public kiosks have tried to sell me on the fact that Public's 3G is really LTE, as they have no 3G network. They go on to say that it will display LTE on the phone as proof. And that it will not be throttled in any way. I have voice recordings of the employees at both shops, as I did not believe them and felt like they were duping me.
Is this accurate? They were so sure of themselves and pressuring me to sign up right at that moment.

@CS_Agent

@tomaskingsley Both statements in red are false. On the other hand, those employees may believe what they said. Many people are unaware of the gaps in their knowledge, yet sound knowledgeable.

Here you are on a bicycle getting info from the Telus/Koodo birds.

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

YVR — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 23:14:41 GMT

@tomaskingsley

as others have said, public uses LTE bands and the speed is throlled down to 3g speeds.

Here is that in Public Mobiles words as conditions when describing plans

4 - Plans with 4G LTE data can access maximum LTE download speeds (manufacturer rated at up to 900 Mbps; expected average speeds 12-250 Mbps). Plans with 3G data may reach download speeds of up to 3 Mbps, with the coverage and reliability of the LTE network. Speed and signal strength may vary with your device, configuration, Internet traffic, environmental conditions, applicable network management and other factors. For a description of Public Mobile’s network management practices, please see https://www.publicmobile.ca/pdfs/WirelessVideoExperience_Optimization.pdf.

Compatible device required. Data usage is rounded up each session to the nearest 10KB. Data service on BlackBerry smartphones requires the BlackBerry 10 operating system.

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

Nezgar — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 23:18:07 GMT

Here's screenshots of speed tests... Both H+ and LTE as you can see in the header bars, and upload/download both visible:

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

iPhoneUser — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 23:22:47 GMT

I don’t profess to know diddly about 3G, Data, LTE, 4G, 5G or the dangers of Huawei equipment providing 5G. Although I am suspect of the latter as not being a good idea.

But I do like the 250mb that I rarely use and appreciate the convenience of it.

Never the less here is what my iPhone SE says and how it tested speed for my data.

It appears the info told to the OP is bogus??

Or is it location dependent?

Or do I have to change settings?

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

kselmak — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 23:30:40 GMT

I've never heard anything like that

Most of the time complaints are the opposite, people being told that it's too slow or no customer service and look at virgin/chatr/lucky/... everybody is much happier there.

Well those statements are not correct ( both your case and the opposite)

But it makes me think

It's there something we didn't know?

I'm still heartbroken that Dave left, I'm genuinely sad the whole day. I like new people on board too, but change like this is anyways hard

I wander if they will change something with all this 5g and now mvno hearings...

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

popping — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 23:41:12 GMT

Why are we still using 3G to described what PM plan use?

3G and LTE are 2 different cellular signals.

What PM is offering is

1. Full 3G speed without speed throttling

and

2. LTE throttled ti max 3Mbps.

Please note that 3G is not the same as LTE capped to 3Mbps.

3G is not the same as 3Mbps as 3G is a cellular signal and 3Mbps is data speed.

PM plans are using 3G signal.for voice call. Data are provided by 3G and LTE.

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

computergeek541 — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 23:44:52 GMT

@gblackma wrote:
@tomaskingsley Its 3g throttled to 9 mbps

You are correct about the LTE being throttled to 3Mbps on 3g plans.

However, you are not correct about connections to the 3g network being throttled to 9Mbps. There is absolutely no throttle on the HSPA+(3g) network, and it's capable (in theory) of up to either 21Mbps or 42Mbps, depending on the area. Much higher than 9Mbps is possible, and it doesn't matter which plan you're on.

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

srlawren — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 23:45:43 GMT

@computergeek541 wrote:
@gblackma wrote:
@tomaskingsley Its 3g throttled to 9 mbps
You are correct about the LTE being throttled to 3Mbps on 3g plans.

However, you are not correct about connections to the 3g network being throttled to 9Mbps. There is absolutely no throttle on the HSPA+(3g) network, and it's capable (in theory) of up to either 21Mbps or 42Mbps, depending on the area. Much higher than 9Mbps is possible, and it doesn't matter which plan you're on.

@gblackma please stop making things up and speaking authoritatively with incorrect information.

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

ShawnC13 — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 23:48:47 GMT

@gblackma wrote:
@tomaskingsley Its 3g throttled to 9 mbps and 4g lte throttled to 3 mbps.
@tomaskingsley wrote:
The staff at two separate Telus/Koodo/Public kiosks have tried to sell me on the fact that Public's 3G is really LTE, as they have no 3G network. They go on to say that it will display LTE on the phone as proof. And that it will not be throttled in any way. I have voice recordings of the employees at both shops, as I did not believe them and felt like they were duping me.
Is this accurate? They were so sure of themselves and pressuring me to sign up right at that moment.

@CS_Agent

@gblackma say what?!?!?! Where is this stated anywhere on this site from someone that is a PM employee? Or even people that have been using the service for a long time. I have tested the 3G and it is not capped at 9mbs

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

iPhoneUser — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 23:59:03 GMT

@ShawnC13 wrote:
@gblackma wrote:
@tomaskingsley
@gblackma say what?!?!?! Where is this stated anywhere on this site from someone that is a PM employee? Or even people that have been using the service for a long time. I have tested the 3G and it is not capped at 9mbs

I think I am off topic here, but not sure.
I don’t think the OP really meant PM staff (not employees) but may have meant third party representatives for Telus and Koodo thus PM. I assume there are a very few manned PM kiosks by either PM or contracted out.

I dislike when some tells ME what I am thinking but this “may” be what the OP meant??

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

CMATT78 — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 00:09:07 GMT

Amazing how much you can learn about 3G/4G/LTE Etc.etc. just by reading the comments on this issue I didn't know how any of this worked beforehand

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

Nezgar — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 00:37:52 GMT

@iPhoneUser wrote:
Never the less here is what my iPhone SE says and how it tested speed for my data.

It appears the info told to the OP is bogus??
Or is it location dependent?
Or do I have to change settings?

In your case, your 3G connection is slower than throttled 4G LTE. You would probably benefit from enabling LTE if your phone is capable. You may be in an area with more users sharing the 3G tower compared to my tests.

Re: Employees Pitching 3G as LTE

gblackma — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 00:42:10 GMT

So capped is wrong @ShawnC13 and @computergeek541 . Are you saying that on average Canada wide you are getting 21 to 42 mbps ? If not, whats the average Canada wide 3g speed,on the Telus network? Is it even close to 9 mbps?