topic Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds? in Get Support

Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

BasesLoadedWalk — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 06:42:27 GMT

Hey Everyone,

I was just wondering if anyone else thinks that at some point in the future if Public Mobile will transition their speeds from 3G to LTE once the main carriers have mostly moved onto 5G speeds and that becomes the mainstream. I am aware that the 3G speeds now technically are LTE connections with a 3Mbps speed cap. Basically, will Public Mobile just have their speeds 1 generation/tier below the top speed/network tier? When LTE was the top network connection, 3G was just once level below, but now with 5G making it's way to be the norm, the 3G connection is falling to 2 levels below the top.

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

softech — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 20:54:20 GMT

i would think so when 5G is finally the standard, then PM will "move up" the ladder. but that would mean.. another 2 or 3 years, i think

I think Telus try to make it a solid difference between Koodo and PM.. that would mean Koodo in full 5G before PM will ever "upgrade"

However, I also think.. in 2 or 3 years.. maybe Telus (as well as Rogers and Bell) might re-design its 3 tiers game .. they will probably see if PM makes enough money to exist by itself.. maybe the telecom price comes down a bit (CRTC has been trying to make them cut the price a bit as we all know Canadian phone plans are one of the more $$$) and it makes no more sense to keep this 3 tiers game ??

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

BasesLoadedWalk — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 20:55:14 GMT

@softech wrote:
I think Telus try to make it a solid difference between Koodo and PM.. that would mean Koodo in full 5G before PM will ever "upgrade"

Or maybe Telus will have the 5G, Koodo the LTE, and Public the 3G. Each has their own network connection level.

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

softech — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 20:59:06 GMT

@BasesLoadedWalk wrote:
Or maybe Telus will have the 5G, Koodo the LTE, and Public the 3G. Each has their own network connection level.

Given PM is now actually using LTE with capped speed.. i anticipate if an "upgrade" ever comes to Public .. it will be on a 5G capped speed as well (haha.. just hope not 5G capped at 3G speed.. LoL) .. it's easier to maintain and most importantly.. it's Cheaper to maintain..

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 20:59:36 GMT

How is there a solution to a speculating discussion? No one other than the company knows.

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

popping — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 21:50:04 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
How is there a solution to a speculating discussion? No one other than the company knows.

Agree. There is no solution for this thread until a few years down the road after Telus and Bell decided to turn off the 3G transmitters and repurpose the 3G frequency band(s) for 5G or LTE. Even then, we may be still on the LTE capped to 3Mbps service.

But if Lucky and/or Chatr offer a better data service, PM will match what ever offered by tier 3 competitors. We know that PM may not always match all other providers' offer. No unlimited data at very very slooooow data speed is an example. YMMV.

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

gpixel — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 08:59:54 GMT

I don't think we'll see full LTE speeds, they need to keep costs down... we would probably see a higher throttle + volte.

this 3mb throttle is starting to show it's age. webpage content has increased and is slowing down load times. the inconsistency is becoming quite cumbersome.

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

Asher2 — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 20:27:07 GMT

Yea. I agree, the 3mbps throttle is very bad. Until Public Mobile finds a way to un-throttle the speeds (if they ever do) , I will stay on the 3G network, where I average 20mbps speeds, I probably average 20mbps because I live in the GTA.

The latency is still a problem but its still better then the LTE.

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

MarcGSR — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 05:04:35 GMT

@Asher2 why do you prefer the 3G network over LTE? You mention latency.

Is 3mbps, that PM offers, not enough while on the go? Light web browsing/reading, podcasts/music streaming, push notifications/email. Reserve your heavy downloading like app updates and HD video viewing for when you're on WiFI at home/work.

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

computergeek541 — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 05:13:08 GMT

@MarcGSR wrote:
@Asher2 why do you prefer the 3G network over LTE? You mention latency.

The LTE network usually has less of a delay/latency. It also tends to be more consistent.

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

MarcGSR — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 05:49:06 GMT

@computergeek541 Speeds aside, from your experience, does LTE or 3G offer a more stable network? Or does it depend more on the carrier than the actual network technology?

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

Asher2 — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 06:19:06 GMT

I just prefer it because 3mbps is showing its age. And even if the 3mbps is enough for browsing and stuff like that, switching to 3G isn’t a problem right? It’s still the same but with faster speeds, even if its the same, I would still rather have a faster network rather then a throttled network.

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

computergeek541 — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 07:04:14 GMT

@MarcGSR wrote:
@computergeek541 Speeds aside, from your experience, does LTE or 3G offer a more stable network? Or does it depend more on the carrier than the actual network technology?

Stable network: LTE, whether that's because of better handling of customer capacity or because of potential 700MHz frequencies

Unfortunatley, for phone calls, the HSPA network must be used, so there's no choice about network when it comes to voice.

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

darlicious — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 08:36:22 GMT

@BasesLoadedWalk

5G is the big three's sucker network no one really needs those speeds ( industry maybe) its just another keeping up with the jones' or maybe the kardashians marketing tactic. Its their way to justify keeping mobile and internet prices high and the shareholders happy. Telus customers get 5G, koodo gets 4G and pubilc mobile gets what they have....they may offer the choice of 4G LTE throttled and full 4G LTE as some of its customers still have in their grandfathered plans and to keep a larger portion of their customer base. Theres no point in offering bigger and better and more expensive to pm customers when an attractive migration offer does that trick with no additional investment in "infastructure".

How about speculating on when they will fix the autopay bug or the lost/stolen rewards glitch?

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

gpixel — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 13:02:07 GMT

@MarcGSR I was having issues with losing my LTE connection in and around the house. it would show a good signal 3-4 bars, but have no connection. I've since factory reset my device and it's been better. I've even been seeing LTE+ more often again. I would have to say at pm, HSPA/3g is the more consistent and stable network.

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

BasesLoadedWalk — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 20:54:58 GMT

@MarcGSR wrote:
@Asher2 why do you prefer the 3G network over LTE? You mention latency.

Is 3mbps, that PM offers, not enough while on the go? Light web browsing/reading, podcasts/music streaming, push notifications/email. Reserve your heavy downloading like app updates and HD video viewing for when you're on WiFI at home/work.

As someone already mentioned, even Websites are getting more and more data intensive, so 3Mpbs is starting to show it's age and becoming a bit clunky. I'd be fine if that could be upped to even 10Mbps. There are also times where I'm trying to show people photos from my cloud storage and that takes a while with Public compared to a full LTE connection.

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

BasesLoadedWalk — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 20:57:24 GMT

@darlicious wrote:
@BasesLoadedWalk
5G is the big three's sucker network no one really needs those speeds

In 1999 when I got cable internet, I remember people saying the same thing about "who needs 1 Mbps when 128 kpbs ADSL loads websites just fine". (Keep in mind, in the late 90's websites were primarily mostly text based).

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

darlicious — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 01:20:36 GMT

@BasesLoadedWalk

Yes but how much faster do you need to download a movie? To your phone? There will always be people that want bigger, faster, shinier and that is their choice to the glee of the bean counters who answer to the shareholders and need to justify to the federal government the high fees.

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

BasesLoadedWalk — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 01:24:09 GMT

@darlicious wrote:
@BasesLoadedWalk
Yes but how much faster do you need to download a movie? To your phone? There will always be people that want bigger, faster, shinier and that is their choice to the glee of the bean counters who answer to the shareholders and need to justify to the federal government the high fees.

I don't know many people who will use up their data bucket to download a movie. I'm even cautious about using any video streaming services on mobile data.

However, the point is that in day to day, regular use, 3Mbps is starting to show it's age...even on just standard websites. A lot of business on today's internet is cloud based, so downloading pdf's, document files, pictures, etc chug along at 3 Mbps.

Re: Do you think Public Mobile will ever transition from 3G speeds to LTE speeds?

darlicious — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 01:35:51 GMT

@BasesLoadedWalk

Luckily if i have that issue i just use my other $10 50/50 account and its full 4G LTE* speed to handle that kind of task. 😉

*I did say eventually I see pm offering this option again.