3G...LTE?

[pubmob101]

Hey, so my understanding is that the Public Mobile network runs on 3G, but sometimes I read people talking about 3G LTE, does anyone have a little more knowledge about that?  My phone is older, (Galaxy S7), so it doesn't support LTE, does this mean that I can't use the network?  Or will I get worse download speeds, because my phone doesn't use LTE?

[Korth]

@Tazz1989

You could get the Unlimited Talk/Text plan with 5GB of 3G for $38 now, assuming AutoPay for bonus data and discount.

A $24 difference for the 4G vs 3G speed difference. Worth it if you download and upload tons of data or just gotta have some speedtest brag, not worth it (in my opinion) if you just use it for internet and social media sorts of stuff where in practice the performance is 99% identical.

So-called "3G" (3Mbps over LTE)... sustained 5GB trickle couldn't possibly be consumed in less than 4 hours.

4G at Telus-promised maximum (1350Mbps over LTE) ... could burn through 5GB in about 30 seconds.

These maxima realistically wouldn't happen. But they strongly suggest that LTE throughput isn't very valuable (worth buying at high cost) when dealing with meager rations of just a few GB.

[Tazz1989]

Ive been with public mobile now for almost 3 years. I am on a monthly 5gb 4G LTE plan. Unfortunately public mobile doesnt offer 4G LTE as a plan anymore. I continue to remain on my LTE plan because it's granfathered in. But my understanding is users now operate on the network at 3G speeds. Its very unfortunate they don't offer the LTE anymore. I love my service with public mobile and this was the reason I came over. LTE speed and reasonable amount of data for $62 a month. Very fair. (I will just leave my plan untouched to keep my LTE until Public Mobile starts offering it again) 

[Korth]

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@XionBunny wrote:

They really do need to fix the confusing branding they use here

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I agree. But the entire idea is a Telus invention and PM inherits this "branding" from Telus.

Some people call it "3G Lite" or "3G Redux", I call it "Pseudo-3G" or "Retro 3G". All bad terminology but not worse than the official terminology.

It's a flat upper-capped lower-sustained 3Mbps, consistent and close to the upper end of "true 3G" throughput. And it has 4G/LTE latencies, much faster than 3G latencies. So network requests are snappy and responsive - webpages and small files/objects (like page scripts, images, and streaming frames) load just as quick, huge contiguous downloads do not load just as quick (not even close) - in practice this fake 3G and true 4G are interchangeable for most real-world users doing most real-world things.

I don't think 4G/LTE performance is really necessary these days. But I'm not a heavy mobile data user, others will strongly disagree. I do think 4G/LTE performance will be necessary in coming years as online content becomes more pervasive, as cloud-side services gain more digital mass to push against client-side hardware limits.

[XionBunny]

They really do need to fix the confusing branding they use here.

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[cellphoneuser1]

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@martinjacob01 wrote:

PM has both 3g and 4g. They are providing 3g speed via 4g LTE. 

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And provding faster speeds on the 3g network

[martinjacob01]

PM has both 3g and 4g. They are providing 3g speed via 4g LTE. 

[scorpio17]

Why do you think Galaxy S7 doesn't support LTE?

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@pubmob101 wrote:

Hey, so my understanding is that the Public Mobile network runs on 3G, but sometimes I read people talking about 3G LTE, does anyone have a little more knowledge about that?  My phone is older, (Galaxy S7), so it doesn't support LTE, does this mean that I can't use the network?  Or will I get worse download speeds, because my phone doesn't use LTE?

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[Staliger]

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@pubmob101 wrote:

Hey, so my understanding is that the Public Mobile network runs on 3G, but sometimes I read people talking about 3G LTE, does anyone have a little more knowledge about that?  My phone is older, (Galaxy S7), so it doesn't support LTE, does this mean that I can't use the network?  Or will I get worse download speeds, because my phone doesn't use LTE?

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It will work fine with PM either in 3G or LTE, because even my ancient J1 works great with PM.

[kselmak]

If Canadian s7 should be totally ok with both 3g and LTE

Check that you have 3g 850 and 1900 as you'll need it for talk

[CannonFodder · Accepted solution]

@pubmob101  Public Mobile uses LTE throttled to 3G speeds. As for your phone, of course it supports LTE.... I'm using a S3, and it supports LTE. That, and assuming your phone is the Canadian variant ( SM-G930W ), you're set, because it'll work on PM just fine.