3G or 4G

[Donderick23]

Hello all,

Just wanted some feed back in regards to the usage of 3G and 4G speeds on public mobile.

- what your experience between both?

- price difference and is it worth it? 

- what do you prefer and why?

Cheers,

Donderick23

[wetcoaster]

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@saje_ward wrote:

Is the new 30 day 4.5g plan better than the grandfathered fall 2016 $120/12g 9 day plans? I just renewed and didn't realize that this new promotion was being offered

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@saje_ward

You just got a great answer to your other post from @srlawren.

You can do a future dated plan change now if you think you prefer this promo over the 2016 fall promo. The system then will change to this plan at your next renewal and your not loosing any funds / remaining credit. In case something better comes along or you decide to keep the fall promo you can change / cancel your future dated plan change up to a couple of days before your next renewal. (Once you do make the change you will not get the 2016 fall promo back.)

[saje_ward]

Is the new 30 day 4.5g plan better than the grandfathered fall 2016 $120/12g 9 day plans? I just renewed and didn't realize that this new promotion was being offered

[Donderick23]

This might be a little late but I did my testing with Spotify and my daily routines with the 3G network.

- Spotify works perfectly fine (confirming with everyone that agrees with this)

- emails come in and out fairly quickly no problems.

- website loading is quite the same as well maybe a 1 second loading time difference. That’s it. 

- downloading pictures and videos do tend to take a few minutes which I’m used to. 

To be honest I really didn’t feel the difference and it seems like a very consistent connection.

[pakmode]

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@youbme wrote:

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@Donderick23 wrote:

Dang significant amount of download change there! Why does it do that? 

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As @stonechucker mentioned, the "3G" plans are actually throttled LTE plans. So, you get the benefits of low latency (quick response) with slower download/upload speeds. Generally, the results in a better online experience, especially for loading websites, email, etc. However, if you are downloading a large file, a faster download rate will "win". On a 3G network, they do not throttle the speed, so when telling your phone to only use 3G, you get the higher download rates, but sacrifice latency. It's an interesting "loophole" in the system...

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That is awesome. I had no idea about this. 

[Effort]

Spotify Extreme works fine with 3Mbit down.

[stonechucker]

I don't get great LTE reception in my apartment, nor my workplace - so Full LTE is wasted on me at this time.  I'm still thinking of switching to the throttled speed plan.  It's currently scheduled for Sept 8.

I have been streaming Spotify at 'normal' on my device, and it's been fine (full LTE network).  I also make regular use of downloaded 'offline' Spotify playlists - and I've got those set to max quality so the data isn't used, and the quality is higher.

With approx 4 GB of data available per month, I'm still not reaching my data cap.

[youbme]

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@Donderick23 wrote:

Dang significant amount of download change there! Why does it do that? 

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As @stonechucker mentioned, the "3G" plans are actually throttled LTE plans. So, you get the benefits of low latency (quick response) with slower download/upload speeds. Generally, the results in a better online experience, especially for loading websites, email, etc. However, if you are downloading a large file, a faster download rate will "win". On a 3G network, they do not throttle the speed, so when telling your phone to only use 3G, you get the higher download rates, but sacrifice latency. It's an interesting "loophole" in the system...

[Donderick23]

Dang significant amount of download change there! Why does it do that? 

[stonechucker]

@Scotty2, please remember these 3G Speed plans are still provided by the 4G/LTE network.  It's still a LTE, but capped at a speed of 3Mbps.

It is only a 3G network if you set your phone to NOT USE the LTE.

Public Mobile continues to confuse it's customers by calling the plans 3G speed.  It should be called 'Throttled LTE'.

[youbme]

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@Donderick23 wrote:

Awesome! Thanks for that link! Will definitely help me more on the decision.

And thank you everyone for the quick responses! 

Really great first impression with the whole public mobile community thing!

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You're welcome and welcome to the community!

[Donderick23]

So I'm assuming I was having **bleep**ty connection when I was on freedom mobile! I was always having a few songs get cut off in the middle and then start again. It happens randomly. Frustrating lol. I'm sure public mobile won't disappoint as it's with Telus right?

[youbme]

Just saw your post @Donderick23 that you are already on the 3G plan. One more "trick" that you may not have encountered yet is that you can achieve higher download speeds in some locations when switching your phone to 3G-only, but usually higher latency (resulting in a slower experience for many online activities). See some of the Speedtest results attached below:

Network on LTE preferred (auto)Network on 3g-only

[Effort]

Spotify works on even the slowest and most awful data so it isn't a great test.

If someone was on Mobilicity before they were bought out by Rogers, they can understand this post. Majority of the time, my data wouldn't even load webpages or email. Yet Spotify would continue playing music like nothing was wrong. I was using a free account at the time so songs weren't downloaded.

[Donderick23]

Awesome! Thanks for that link! Will definitely help me more on the decision.

And thank you everyone for the quick responses! 

Really great first impression with the whole public mobile community thing!

[youbme · Accepted solution]

Hello @Donderick23,

I agree with most of what has already been said, but in case you are looking for more threads illustrating real world examples, check out this thread and the links within it for some videos demonstrating the difference:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Getting-Started/3G-vs-LTE/m-p/248442#M43796

One last point from my own experience switching from an older LTE plan to a 3G plan (currently), I've noticed very little differences except when streaming video it is only a minor difference (and I rarely do that anyway without WiFi). I regularly stream music and never found any issues. Give it a try and if it's too slow, you're only committing to 30 days...

[Scotty2]

Hi @mimmo - I'm just really picky.  LOL!!  If I experience any buffering, my frustration level goes from 1 to 10 in a heartbeat.  But you're right.  3G is good, but you will experience the odd lag or buffering.  Most people are good with it, because they have some patience.  Unlike me. 🙂

Thanks!

[Donderick23]

I also just signed up for the 6GB on 3G for 50$ and going to test it out now. Gonna ahead over to the gym and turn on Spotify and see how it goes!

I myself use. My phone more for answering emails on the go checking a few socials and Kijiji. Of course the text and calls every now and then.

I hope I don't go over my 6GB haha!

[mimmo]

@Scotty2 you are the first  person reporting such bad performance on the 3g.  Most people only reported issues with high def videos from what I recall.

 Good to have other real world experience.

[Scotty2]

Hi @Donderick23 - As others have mentioned, it really depends on what you do with your data.  If you stream videos (Youtube) or download or even stream music, you will notice a massive difference between 3G and LTE.  Even loading web pages will take noticeably longer on 3G.  If you use Whatsapp or Facetime for video calling, that will also be much better on LTE.  If you just use your phone mostly for calling, texting and general internet stuff, you should be fine with 3G.  Expect buffering and frustration if you are trying to stream with 3G vs. LTE.  I personally have a 3G plan and restrict my streaming to when I an connected to WiFi, due to the significant lags I get.

Good luck and I hope this helps! 

[mimmo]

First they are both LTE. The 3g one is just capped at 3mbs.

I am now on the 4.5 GB promo and really find no real difference in general usage. I do not watch videos just general browsing etc.  

For price it is great.  Plus it seems koodo is targeting these plans regularly if you want to upgrade to koodo in future.

You can also get the 3g plan try it out for 30 days then upgrade to full LTE by futuredateing your plan on renewal if you find the 3g to bee too slow.

[ShawnC13]

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@Donderick23 wrote:

Hello all,

Just wanted some feed back in regards to the usage of 3G and 4G speeds on public mobile.

- what your experience between both?

- price difference and is it worth it? 

- what do you prefer and why?

Cheers,

Donderick23

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The key thing to note is that the 3G is actually still a 4G connection with the benefit of that 4G Latency just at a throttled speed.  I ran a test sim for a month and had no issues doing my normal internet requiremes.  If you are streaming Hi-def video you will be pushing it.  For streaming music, and my regular interent browsing and emailing I had no issues.