4G Preferred Connection with 3G Plan

[korber710]

Hey All,

I am new to Public Mobile and I have a 3G plan. I was wondering if I should select my preferred mobile connection to be 3G or is it okay to prefer 4G? My thought was if I choose 3G then I might have less coverage based on the bands in my phone but have no way of knowing if my assumption is correct. The fear is that if I select 4G preferred then I will get charged for 4G data instead of using my 3G data included in the plan.

Either way let me know if I am paranoid or not.

Thanks,

Steve

[TheOldVR]

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@srlawren wrote:

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@TheOldVR wrote:

The idea of connecting LTE and being capped at 3G speeds is interesting.

I tested my parent's phone and the speed is much better than flipping to just a 3G connection and sticking with that.

I guess capping a really fast connection ends up being better.... yay!

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@TheOldVR how recently did they activate/switch to a 3G speed plan?  It can take up to 72 hours for the throttling to take effect.

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@srlawren They activated directly to the 3G speed plan....

Just to clarify, they are not getting LTE speeds, I just find the speed is usable for basic stuffs. If I take my Koodo phone and flip it to 3G Data it's pretty much useless, and the same applies for my parent's PM phones.

I guess it's all based on personal experience and "feel".... 

[srlawren]

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@TheOldVR wrote:

The idea of connecting LTE and being capped at 3G speeds is interesting.

I tested my parent's phone and the speed is much better than flipping to just a 3G connection and sticking with that.

I guess capping a really fast connection ends up being better.... yay!

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@TheOldVR how recently did they activate/switch to a 3G speed plan?  It can take up to 72 hours for the throttling to take effect.

[TheOldVR]

The idea of connecting LTE and being capped at 3G speeds is interesting.

I tested my parent's phone and the speed is much better than flipping to just a 3G connection and sticking with that.

I guess capping a really fast connection ends up being better.... yay!

[korber710]

Okay thanks!

[Tony8]

Hi. I set my Network Mode to GSM/WCDMA/LTE AUTO, then it should automatically use the best network in the area , 3G or LTE.

Like others have said, on Public Mobile you will never be charged extra, it pre-paid.

[will13am]

When on the lte network, the latency is better at the expense of speed throttling.  When on the 3G network, there's no speed throttling.  Under certain circumstances one can be better than the other.  Generally it's best to use LTE as latency is not important than raw speed.

[Alex888]

@korber710 Use whichever seems to work best for you (mine's on automatic), the 3G plans are actually just throttled LTE.

Don't work about fees/overage charges/ect, with Public Mobile everything is prepaid, if you haven't purchased something you just can't use it. There are no extra charges for anything you don't buy, the only thing that would cost you more than your regular plan is if you deliberately buy an addon.

[duffer900]

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@korber710 wrote:

Hey All,

I am new to Public Mobile and I have a 3G plan. I was wondering if I should select my preferred mobile connection to be 3G or is it okay to prefer 4G? My thought was if I choose 3G then I might have less coverage based on the bands in my phone but have no way of knowing if my assumption is correct. The fear is that if I select 4G preferred then I will get charged for 4G data instead of using my 3G data included in the plan.

Either way let me know if I am paranoid or not.

Thanks,

Steve

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You are safe to choose whatever you want. It's an LTE connection that they limit to 3g. It's on their end. Your phone setting won't change how you are billed. 🙂

[computergeek541 · Accepted solution]

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@korber710 wrote:

Hey All,

I am new to Public Mobile and I have a 3G plan. I was wondering if I should select my preferred mobile connection to be 3G or is it okay to prefer 4G? My thought was if I choose 3G then I might have less coverage based on the bands in my phone but have no way of knowing if my assumption is correct. The fear is that if I select 4G preferred then I will get charged for 4G data instead of using my 3G data included in the plan.

Either way let me know if I am paranoid or not.

Thanks,

Steve

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3g plan customers are not limited to only using the 3g network for data.  The speed is simply limited to roughly 3Mbps when connected to the LTE network.