3G?

[stiffler404]

Can anyone pls tell me if public mobile uses the older tech 3G and that's y the service is so cheap? If so, is 3G a lot slower than 4G LTE. Thx. 

[frank4]

I notice a 1 or 2 bar difference in signal strength between 3G (3-4 bars) and LTE (2-3 bars).  I'm less than 1 km from the nearest Telus tower that's probably my connection point.  Not sure why the strength difference occurs, maybe there are different antennas on the tower for 3G and LTE, and they have slightly different power and direction patterns?

I have my iPhone 8 set for 3G as I've read it could reduce battery consumption compared to LTE, and this phone has a too-small battery.  I use very little cellular data and battery life is more important to me, considering the current things I do with this phone.

[Obice]

Hah! I notice a difference.

[powerg21]

As many have said, voice is on 3G and data is on LTE throttled to 3.0MBits. You won't notice any speed difference if you only use it for Youtube or emails. If you download files from the APP store then you will see the difference but most of us probably do this with a wifi connection anyways. 

[Obice]

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@stiffler404 wrote:

Can anyone pls tell me if public mobile uses the older tech 3G and that's y the service is so cheap? If so, is 3G a lot slower than 4G LTE. Thx. 

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As I understand it, the service runs on LTE but capped at 3G speeds.

[DOA]

If you've only got a few gigs of data to burn through each month, you're probably not going to notice the difference between LTE and LTE throttled to 3Mbps.

[geopublic]

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@stiffler404 wrote:

Can anyone pls tell me if public mobile uses the older tech 3G and that's y the service is so cheap? If so, is 3G a lot slower than 4G LTE. Thx. 

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@stiffler404  PM uses 3G in addition to LTE. LTE is used for data and texting but is capped to speeds of 3Mbps which is fine for most uses. In fac when your phone connects to the PM network it shows LTE unless you manually set it to 3G.

[totalUser]

Hi @stiffler404 

For voice calls it uses exclusively 3g.

Data will be on LTE, just slowed down, so there would be no sluggishness of 3g, I don't see the difference. 

It is cheaper because of different model off customer service, there is no call/chat on demand. 

Also there are no expensive stores, support for the stores, no expensive inventory and all kinds of tech and other support for phones, no bookkeeping and oversight for all that above.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

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@stiffler404 wrote:

Can anyone pls tell me if public mobile uses the older tech 3G and that's y the service is so cheap? If so, is 3G a lot slower than 4G LTE. Thx. 

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PM uses UMTS (3G) for voice. They use HSDPA (3G) and LTE (4G) for data. They don't offer voice over LTE (VoLTE).

Using HSDPA for data is fine. Using LTE would be faster and less latency yes but then PM throttles it down to 3Mbps speed. (unless you're on some older plans and a current data-only plan)

[Loonya]

Yes it is run on 3G.

I swapped from 4G LTE to PM's 3G and the difference I'd say is noticable but not to the point that it's not worth the savings.

[Triguy]

PM uses 4G LTE towers by Telus & Bell but throttles the speed to 3G.

[gblackma]

@stiffler404 all but one of their service are 3g.  Your phone will switch between 3g and throttled 4g. 3g is slower than 4g LTE.

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@stiffler404 wrote:

Can anyone pls tell me if public mobile uses the older tech 3G and that's y the service is so cheap? If so, is 3G a lot slower than 4G LTE. Thx. 

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[hycm53]

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@stiffler404 wrote:

Can anyone pls tell me if public mobile uses the older tech 3G and that's y the service is so cheap? If so, is 3G a lot slower than 4G LTE. Thx. 

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Yes, PM still uses 3G.