topic Re: 3g vs 4g in Get Support

3g vs 4g

Pawprints1986 — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 01:12:53 GMT

Just a techy nerd question ... Is 4g connecting to the exact same bands, just less throttled, but the same actual connection as 3g? Or are there more bands under 4g?

Anxiously awaiting either a smaller data bucket cheaper plan (say 2gb for $30 or something), or to be grandfathered to 4g lol

But yeah just curious on the tech if any behind it, or if it's literally just buying access to more speed from the exact same tower tech 🤔

Re: 3g vs 4g

dust2dust — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 01:17:12 GMT

Your last clause. Mo' speed.

Re: 3g vs 4g

softech — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 01:18:23 GMT

@Pawprints1986 the bands used on 3G and 4G used on PM are different

These are the bands used:

as in smaller data bucket, I am not sure if they will. I think PM is more focus on plan $40 and above. We will be lucky PM keeps the $15/$25/$35 plan without any price hike. 🙂

Re: 3g vs 4g

will13am — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 03:05:49 GMT

@Pawprints1986 , while bands are different between 3G and 4G, data is predominantly on 4G due to much better latency which can be a greater benefit than pure speed. The phone would only fall back to 3G if a 4G connection was not available locally which is extremely unlikely these days. The traffic shaping is applied only on the 4G network, with a lot more aggression on the so called 3G speed plans. So if you are on a 3G speed plan and are lucky to be located in an area where towers are very lightly loaded, you could force the phone to 3G and get unthrottled data. This little workaround has been talked about extensively in this forum.

As for wishing and hoping for a better deal on a 2GB plan in the $30 range, that ship has sailed long ago and is never coming back. I did have an account with this very plan but it have since updated to the $40/15GB plan. Deals for existing customers come once every second blue moon, must take advantage at every opportunity.

Re: 3g vs 4g

gpixel — Sun, 13 Nov 2022 00:16:49 GMT

Re: 3g vs 4g

Pawprints1986 — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 19:07:00 GMT

So, the 3mbps lte and 4g lte are using the same actual bands, correct? It is literally just buying speed when you upgrade?

I hope they start to over lower bucket plans. Without them any lower than now, there's not much perk between public and koodo I don't think, for a new customer anyway. They're becoming less competitive it seems

Re: 3g vs 4g

sheytoon — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 22:15:43 GMT

@Pawprints1986

Are you asking about "3G speed" plans vs "4G speed" plans, or are you asking about 3G technology vs 4G technology?

Re: 3g vs 4g

Pawprints1986 — Sun, 13 Nov 2022 03:32:59 GMT

I know, it's hard to describe, but I guess I was ultimately asking about the speeds. Like, my current 3g plan, I can turn on LTE and if in good reception use it at 3mbps and LTE does work for texts and whatnot... But I wanted to make sure the 4g lte plans use the same actual LTE, just faster speeds allowed, but same bands/towers regardless?

Re: 3g vs 4g

computergeek541 — Sun, 13 Nov 2022 04:28:19 GMT

@Pawprints1986 wrote:
I know, it's hard to describe, but I guess I was ultimately asking about the speeds. Like, my current 3g plan, I can turn on LTE and if in good reception use it at 3mbps and LTE does work for texts and whatnot... But I wanted to make sure the 4g lte plans use the same actual LTE, just faster speeds allowed, but same bands/towers regardless?

All of the 3g and 4g plans use the same towers.

Re: 3g vs 4g

sheytoon — Sun, 13 Nov 2022 18:29:56 GMT

@Pawprints1986 yes that's right, your understanding is correct.