Black Friday $34 5G or $34 4G

[PercyQ]

Which is a better deal, the $34 5G with 20 GB and unlimited at lower speeds or the $34 4G 30 GB.  

[will13am]

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@Handy1 wrote:

@will13am  Wow wee yes sir thank you for that only issues is I’m having trouble logging in to change plan 

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I got all my black Friday shopping done.  Must be the gigabit home internet that gave me the advantage.   🤣

[Handy1]

@will13am  Wow wee yes sir thank you for that only issues is I’m having trouble logging in to change plan 

[will13am]

The $34/40GB/5G speed plan is best. 

[will13am · Accepted solution]

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@dwh1 wrote:

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@will13am wrote:

@Handy1 , new resolution to our debate.  Get this instead.  

https://subscribe.publicmobile.ca/en/on/activation/plans/40GB-5Gspeed7

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Yup, this entire debate is now moot. The new $34 5G 40GB plan is the way to go for everyone. There is no down side.

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Unless a 4G speed offering comes along with even more usage...  

[dwh1]

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@will13am wrote:

@Handy1 , new resolution to our debate.  Get this instead.  

https://subscribe.publicmobile.ca/en/on/activation/plans/40GB-5Gspeed7

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Yup, this entire debate is now moot. The new $34 5G 40GB plan is the way to go for everyone. There is no down side.

[will13am]

@Handy1 , new resolution to our debate.  Get this instead.  

https://subscribe.publicmobile.ca/en/on/activation/plans/40GB-5Gspeed7

[Kristowhy]

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@will13am wrote:

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#3 is exactly how I rationalize that 30GB is >> 20GB plus unlimited but likely very unusable data.  The unlimited data is not meant to be used as a supplement to the 20GB.  It is there for emergency use only and hopefully renewal is tomorrow.  It is more a marketing schtick than a practical solution.  A lot of customers are swayed by marketing which is why companies spend so much on marketing.  

On your question about 5G latency vs 4G, I would think there is not much to choose from at this point because the 5G is NSA.  When we see 5G SA everywhere, then we can revisit this topic.   

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Bingo! Yes, it's all marketing spin.  The use of "5G", speeds and monthly data allotments are the only aspects carriers have now to grow and upsell their customer base.    I don't think most people realize how slow 512 kbit/sec really is.  Until 5G SA is widespread, I personally could care less about "5G".

[sheytoon]

I also agree the 30 GB plan at 4G speeds is a better option. It's not realistic to use an extra 10+ GB while throttled.

Also keep in mind the 4G speed plan lets you use the 5G network, so latency is identical.

[dwh1]

And now to argue against my own post - I can see one case where the "unlimited data" would be helpful.  For someone who struggles to manage data use - who downloads a lot of apps over cellular or streams a lot of video and is always in danger of running out of data by the end of the month, having a pool of unlimited "slow" data guarantees that they would always be able to do basic things like instant messaging, emailing, and so forth.  For people like that, the unlimited plan would provide an insurance policy - particularly if they're on a budget and can't afford the risk of needing to buy extra data to get through the month.

That's not me, since I monitor my data usage and don't tend to do high-bandwidth activities over cellular data, so that's not going to drive my decision, but I can see it being true for some.

[will13am]

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@dwh1 wrote:

Some thoughts of my own, driven by my own going back and forth on this question.

1) Agreed with others here, 100 mbit/sec is fast enough for anything you are going to be doing on your phone, and many might not have speeds like that at home (if you are on DSL, you definitely don't).  If you are using your phone to tether a computer, faster speed would be nice, but you will go through 20 or 30 GB pretty fast if you are doing large downloads.  One video game download might kill your entire monthly amount.  So in practice, you really can't take advantage of the extra speed to any real degree,

2) Agreed that latency on the faster speeds might help, but latency isn't directly tied to speed - it's about how fast it takes to initiate a connection. I'd love to see some hard data on latency for different service speeds and actual 5g versus 4g networks.  I doubt i would matter much for most phone-based usages, though.

3) One way to look at 20 GB + unlimited versus 30 GB + no unlimited is to look at how long it would take to make up that extra 10 GB using the 512 kbit/sec "unlimited" speed of the 20GB plan.  I did the math - it turns out you would need to be consistently consuming 512 kbit/sec for 2 entire days straight without stopping in order to use 10 GB at that speed.  How likely is that, in real world usage?   The extra 10 GB of the 30 GB plan is more than enough to compensate for not having the "unlimited" data, for almost any use I can imagine on a phone.

YMMV, of course.

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#3 is exactly how I rationalize that 30GB is >> 20GB plus unlimited but likely very unusable data.  The unlimited data is not meant to be used as a supplement to the 20GB.  It is there for emergency use only and hopefully renewal is tomorrow.  It is more a marketing schtick than a practical solution.  A lot of customers are swayed by marketing which is why companies spend so much on marketing.  

On your question about 5G latency vs 4G, I would think there is not much to choose from at this point because the 5G is NSA.  When we see 5G SA everywhere, then we can revisit this topic.   

[Handy1]

@dwh1  Well said 

[dwh1]

Some thoughts of my own, driven by my own going back and forth on this question.

1) Agreed with others here, 100 mbit/sec is fast enough for anything you are going to be doing on your phone, and many might not have speeds like that at home (if you are on DSL, you definitely don't).  If you are using your phone to tether a computer, faster speed would be nice, but you will go through 20 or 30 GB pretty fast if you are doing large downloads.  One video game download might kill your entire monthly amount.  So in practice, you really can't take advantage of the extra speed to any real degree.

2) Agreed that latency on the faster speeds might help, but latency isn't directly tied to speed - it's about how fast it takes to initiate a connection. I'd love to see some hard data on latency for different service speeds and actual 5g versus 4g networks.  I doubt i would matter much for most phone-based usages, though.

3) One way to look at 20 GB + unlimited versus 30 GB + no unlimited is to look at how long it would take to make up that extra 10 GB using the 512 kbit/sec "unlimited" speed of the 20GB plan.  I did the math - it turns out you would need to be consistently consuming 512 kbit/sec for 2 entire days straight without stopping in order to use 10 GB at that speed.  How likely is that, in real world usage?   The extra 10 GB of the 30 GB plan is more than enough to compensate for not having the "unlimited" data, for almost any use I can imagine on a phone.

YMMV, of course.

[Handy1]

@will13am  LOL just  had to google mifi router that’s interesting thanks for opening up my world some more 🙂

[will13am]

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@Handy1 wrote:

@will13am  I do realize it up the the said speed and no I don’t go around doing speed tests , and for home internet is 100mbs . But I never use wifi any more because I find it slow since having Telus 2GBps days that averages around 1GBps so only have the advertised speed so I just use the cell data because I have so much of it . If it wasn’t for gaming on my  Xbox I wouldn’t even have home internet 

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For gaming, latency is the key parameter not so much sheer speed.  I could never use mobile data to replace home internet, not unless it is unlimited usage.  Get yourself a MiFi router and cut the cord.  

[will13am]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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@will13am wrote:

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@Handy1 wrote:

@will13am  That’s a good point , that said thou if one was to choose more data  the 30GB for $34 would. It be best to get it from Fido or virgin even at least then your minimum speed is up to 150mbs rather then 100mbs from PM or Koodo 

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@Handy1 , this is exactly what I mean as the p***sing match with data speed.  You do realize that the advertised speed is not a guaranteed number, it is up to that speed.  Do you really go around town testing the network congestion which changes like wind direction.  BTW, what is the speed of your home internet plan?  

I think I posted this in the past.  

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I don't agree with that.  No data is much worse than slow data.  With no data, you can't use the internet connection at all.With slow data, the customer has to wait a few seconds.

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Did you see the fine print?  Are you sure about wait a few seconds?  More like wait 10s of seconds?  Can you watch a video with 10 frames every 10 seconds or a podcast with 10 second pauses in between?  So how fast is your home internet?  Is it at least 250 mbits/s?  

[Handy1]

@will13am  I do realize it up to the the said speed and no I don’t go around doing speed tests , and for home internet is 100mbs . But I never use wifi any more because I find it slow since having Telus 2GBps data  that averages around 1GBps so only half  the advertised speed so I just use the cell data because I have so much of it . If it wasn’t for gaming on my  Xbox I wouldn’t even have home internet 

[computergeek541]

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@will13am wrote:

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@Handy1 wrote:

@will13am  That’s a good point , that said thou if one was to choose more data  the 30GB for $34 would. It be best to get it from Fido or virgin even at least then your minimum speed is up to 150mbs rather then 100mbs from PM or Koodo 

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@Handy1 , this is exactly what I mean as the p***sing match with data speed.  You do realize that the advertised speed is not a guaranteed number, it is up to that speed.  Do you really go around town testing the network congestion which changes like wind direction.  BTW, what is the speed of your home internet plan?  

I think I posted this in the past.  

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I don't agree with that.  No data is much worse than slow data.  With no data, you can't use the internet connection at all.With slow data, the customer has to wait a few seconds.

[will13am]

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@Handy1 wrote:

@will13am  That’s a good point , that said thou if one was to choose more data  the 30GB for $34 would. It be best to get it from Fido or virgin even at least then your minimum speed is up to 150mbs rather then 100mbs from PM or Koodo 

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@Handy1 , this is exactly what I mean as the p***sing match with data speed.  You do realize that the advertised speed is not a guaranteed number, it is up to that speed.  Do you really go around town testing the network congestion which changes like wind direction.  BTW, what is the speed of your home internet plan?  

I think I posted this in the past.  

[Handy1]

@will13am  That’s a good point , that said thou if one was to choose more data  the 30GB for $34 would. It be best to get it from Fido or virgin even at least then your minimum speed is up to 150mbs rather then 100mbs from PM or Koodo 

[will13am]

@PercyQ , it is unequivocal that more usable data is better than unlimited but pretty much unusable data.  As for p***ing match with data speed, I don't pay attention to max speed so long as the data is usable.  In other words, it is more important to be mindful of minimum speed.  

[Andy85]

@PercyQ I would say it comes down to personal preference. Do you use lots of data on a month to month basis? If so, go for the 30gb at 4G. Do you use lower amounts of data but value higher speeds? If so, go with the 20gb at 5G.

I would also say that considering the average individual simply uses their phone for basic social media usage, YouTube, email and other streaming, 4G speeds are more than fine 🙂

[Handy1]

@PercyQ !personally I think the 20GB 5G unlimited data better then the 30GB 4G plan that ends once you use up the data and I prefer faster internet 🛜 

[dust2dust]

Some say go for more data. Some say go for faster data. The thing with the 5G plan and all your freebie add-ons over the years is that the data will become "incompatible" which means you can't use them. They'll stay around, just not usable.