3g vs lte data

[Pawprints1986]

I'm just curious if this is specific to me or if other customers have been noticing this too - especially those with only moderate reception most of the time

Are you finding that 3g data is all but nonexistent much of the time ? Even much lower than the advertised 3mbps, but then if you switch your device to lte it's okay again ?

This is new as of... I don't know, maybe a month or more ? Would they be starting to shut down 3g here too? I am in a border city, very close to it said border, but I can't see them shutting down 3g making a difference in Canadian service ? I doubt there were any towers providing service to both countries simultaneously, all the time until recently? 

Just curious if any others have noticed this. Reception itself is still better on 3g only, but lately I sacrifice data speed, or data at all, to keep it on 3g only whenever I'm home (being out is different). But for longer than it to be a one off anymore. I haven't moved

Anyone have any insight ?

[Pawprints1986]

I also feel like they should have some sort of their own reception helper (not 3rd party crap, or like $900) that we could buy but meant for people who live in apartments near lots of concrete, destroying stellar signal, but not designed for part of it to go on a roof which we don't own so we can't do. I have an s7 Samsung, but my family was here not long ago and she has an s20 I think, she was having the same issues (but her case lte was also very sluggish). Definitely not any particular device having issue

I doubt koodo or telus would perform any better signal strength wise. But they probably do well unthrottled under moderate signal. Maybe it's time to do that, so that way what we'll actually get is a more usable/reliable service speed that they advertise? 🤔

[JL9]

I really do hope they do the right thing and start to upgrade their infrastructure and at least get in place what is needed for a reliable service both voice/data...otherwise they may be on their way to extinction

[JL9]

Yes I have definitely noticed this and it is a little concerning. I guess it does the job for what I need it for the most part, but some things I can't do like I could when with Koodo. Unfortunate, I just hope it doesn't decrease even further going forward

[jor123]

Yeah the 3G network here is getting worse and worse, data is almost unusable with a phone call active and many new cell sites especially small cells are LTE only so coverage on the voice is worse in a lot of places with PM than the other VoLTE-enabled Telus/Bell brands. We really need voice over LTE on PM. 

[Pawprints1986]

@computergeek541 oh good so it's not just me at least! 

I wish there was a way to know for sure, like a historical vs current map of towers, or something. There may even be but I wouldn't have the first clue how to go about looking, lol

Sometimes, I'll use data just cuz I have it (I'm too nervous to downgrade as I'm grandfathered in, but want to use what I've paid for) but then I'll get so frustrated with it just hanging doing nothing or timing out and either turn on LTE temporarily, or just switch on WiFi. 

"Data stalls" that's the perfect way to describe it

It boggles my mind sometimes how worse reception LTE data can still function better than better reception 3g, quite often these days. 

I've noticed upload speed being near 0 alot lately too, when it is chugging and I get curious and test it. It used to be no issues to pull like 6 or even 7mbps download, and 1.8 or 1.9mbps upload. Even with iffy reception. But now upload of 0.03 or something isn't that unusual

[computergeek541]

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@Pawprints1986 wrote:

I'm just curious if this is specific to me or if other customers have been noticing this too - especially those with only moderate reception most of the time

Are you finding that 3g data is all but nonexistent much of the time ? Even much lower than the advertised 3mbps, but then if you switch your device to lte it's okay again ?

This is new as of... I don't know, maybe a month or more ? Would they be starting to shut down 3g here too? I am in a border city, very close to it said border, but I can't see them shutting down 3g making a difference in Canadian service ? I doubt there were any towers providing service to both countries simultaneously, all the time until recently? 

Just curious if any others have noticed this. Reception itself is still better on 3g only, but lately I sacrifice data speed, or data at all, to keep it on 3g only whenever I'm home (being out is different). But for longer than it to be a one off anymore. I haven't moved

Anyone have any insight ?

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The performance of the HSPA network has become much worse. It's not your imagination.  This trend will continue as bandwidth continues to be refarmed for other network technologies.  Most times, I find that data on the HSPA network is now much slower than before, but even worse, it's unreliable with constant data stalls and disconnections.

[hTideGnow]

HI @Pawprints1986   maybe it depends on the area

I have tried 3G Only couple times this week, my data speed was ok, still around 10Mbps

But I think some members mentioned that as they are upgrading to 5G, they have sacrificed some 3G towers in this process, not sure if this is true.