Beware if using OpenSignal for a LTE speed test!

[Tigerheron]

It used up 37.6 Mb of data to run the test. If you're on a low data plan, don't run it often!

Well, at least I know I'm getting around 21.5 MB/s for a download speed in Windsor. About six times faster than Wind.

[pratchak]

Good to know. Thanks

[zhadj030]

Speed tests are the tools to burn up your data left and quickly. In fact with PM I burn around 60 mb on every test that is done. But I only do that when there is 3 days left on my plan and a lot of data left

[mtfolks]

There are people that might not realize just how much data speed tests use. Thanks for sharing, @Tigerheron!

[Acekiller]

Knowing what the speed you get is cool, but doesn't really do anything to help to gain speed.  I have never done one even with all the extra data i have.

[pakmode]

Some useful information in this thread.  Thanks @Tigerheron

[jpar]

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@Tigerheron wrote:

I've only used 3G when I've been in a fringe area for receiving LTE.  As an example, the tip area of Point Pelee gets only 3G service, with the LTE signal dropping to -120 dB on my phone.  A signal that weak is basically useless. When I switched to 3G only, the signal strength went up to around -100 dB.  That allowed me to keep receiving data.   I didn't put much demand on the phone when I was there, but I did receive emails, texts and tweets, and replied to one of the tweets.  Everything worked ok, but this isn't exactly at the level of data demand of downloading a video. 

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Yeah, makes sense. The only time I've seen a drop to HSPA is on the highway (in NL).

[Tigerheron]

I've only used 3G when I've been in a fringe area for receiving LTE.  As an example, the tip area of Point Pelee gets only 3G service, with the LTE signal dropping to -120 dB on my phone.  A signal that weak is basically useless. When I switched to 3G only, the signal strength went up to around -100 dB.  That allowed me to keep receiving data.   I didn't put much demand on the phone when I was there, but I did receive emails, texts and tweets, and replied to one of the tweets.  Everything worked ok, but this isn't exactly at the level of data demand of downloading a video. 

[jpar]

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@MoreYummy wrote:

That;s the point of diong speed test anyway.  In other word, it is a test to see how fast you can waste the data at your location with the specific connection. 

I rarely do LTE speed test, a good 3G connection is good for most of the stuff anyway.

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Do you find hspa/3g more congested on pm?

[MoreYummy]

That;s the point of diong speed test anyway.  In other word, it is a test to see how fast you can waste the data at your location with the specific connection. 

I rarely do LTE speed test, a good 3G connection is good for most of the stuff anyway.

[computergeek541]

37.6MB isn't that much at all, relatively speaking compared to other speed testing applications.   Using Speedtest.net, I routinely use up between 100 to 180MB per test run.    In the case of Speedtest.net, it uses up more data the faster the connection is. 

We all need to realize how easy it is to use up our entire data allocations in a very short period of time if the speeds are good.

[Samianauman]

I have only run a speed test once since I am on public mobile. It's took around 89mb but i was getting 60 to 65 mb per seconds. Pretty sure won't check again unless if my renewal date comes up and have extra data left then probably. 🙂

[will13am]

The amount of data used in a speed test has nothing to do with which speed test site is used.  Is has everything to do with the speed of the connection.  All speed test sites will calibrate the amount of data to transfer in order to have the test run a minimum duration.  Otherwise if a fixed quantity of data is used in the test, fast connections will complete the test in a split second which is hardly a good way to produce a representative result.  For good LTE connections, it is not unusual to burn 100 Mbytes in a single test.  My home internet is gigabit speed.  I can burn a gig on single speed test.

The lesson here is don't waste time and data doing speed tests.  There's too many network variables for a few tests to produce any meaningful conclusion.

[NDesai · Accepted solution]

That's normal usage to do speed test. If you are on LTE band, speed will be much higher and will use more data.