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Data idea re 4g vs 3g

Pawprints1986
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

Just a thought I'm having, for those like me who deal with iffy reception, but are curious how their situation would handle 4g data/connection, it would be neat if there were an add-on possible to pay a small fee to unlock/remove the throttle for say 5 days or something, allowing people to try it out without having to switch plans and risk losing access to grandfathered 3g plans, or wait until 3g sunset to find out

 

Probably won't happen but just an idea

 

I have no idea if I have issues sometimes due to throttle, or if it's just my reception and it doesn't matter

 

🤔

 

I know you can buy data addons, but that seems silly to pay that much when you have data available and you just want to play with speed, for a little bit, not gigs worth

7 REPLIES 7

Pawprints1986
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@computergeek541 

 

" I stopped doing the 3g-only thing when I started noticing how in places, data just didn't work at all in multiple places.   3Mbps download speeds on 3g plans is much better on the LTE network than 0Mbps on the same plan locked onto the 3g network.  As DC-HSPA is phased out, and as band 2 is eliminated for HSPA, things are going to continue to get worse if customers continue to disable the LTE network from the device side.   I understand trying different network types for quick troubleshoot check, but turning off one of the networks is no longer really feasible.  I urge everyone not to disable LTE as they'll be missing out on any future LTE network improvements."

 

I used to do the same, and was finding the same was happening. I used to say in my case wcdma only, I'd get better reception, faster data, texts sent a bit slower by about half a second but that was an acceptable tradeoff for me (which I still don't understand the techy reason behind that difference lol)

 

But the past... 6 months anyway, I've found I have to keep it on all bands, or else I'll just get nothing data wise, which also means certain messaging apps also can't update messages

 

I still find that happens even now on LTE though, the data thing. It's like my phone "sees" it but there's no blinky arrows showing actual transfer, takes a minute sometimes

 

I don't know, can't really win I guess

cbenny13
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I feel like that would be pretty cool - but Public also offers incentives every once in a while that make 4G even cheaper than 3g! Just a thought...


@will13am wrote:

@computergeek541 has been a long time advocate of running on 3G network to bypass the data throttle.  That tune has changed now because 3G performance is worse than 4G with data throttle.  He used to record speed tests in the 30+ Mbit/s range, but now he cannot even match the speed of throttled 4G.

I used to always locked my phone into the 3g network.  The days of the 30Mbps download speeds on the HSPA network are gone, at least in my area.  The performance is certainly worse than before, but worse performance isn't the main issue, but rather no performance.  I stopped doing the 3g-only thing when I started noticing how in places, data just didn't work at all in multiple places.   3Mbps download speeds on 3g plans is much better on the LTE network than 0Mbps on the same plan locked onto the 3g network.  As DC-HSPA is phased out, and as band 2 is eliminated for HSPA, things are going to continue to get worse if customers continue to disable the LTE network from the device side.   I understand trying different network types for quick troubleshoot check, but turning off one of the networks is no longer really feasible.  I urge everyone not to disable LTE as they'll be missing out on any future LTE network improvements.

will13am
Oracle
Oracle

@Pawprints1986 , your data connection should be on 4G even if you have a 3G speed plan.  I see suggestions here and there to run the phone on 3G only.  That is a huge misconception.  While the 3G network does not throttle data speed to 3 Mbits/s, the latency probably damages the user experience more than the benefits of more data speed.  You need to understand that as time marches on, the 3G network is shrinking in terms of the bandwidth assignment.  The spectrum that used to operate on 3G is being reallocated to 4G and 5G.  As 3G sunsets at the end of 2025, you can expect the network to shrink to near zero towards that date.  No carrier is going to waste precious spectrum resource right to the bitter end.  

 

@computergeek541 has been a long time advocate of running on 3G network to bypass the data throttle.  That tune has changed now because 3G performance is worse than 4G with data throttle.  He used to record speed tests in the 30+ Mbit/s range, but now he cannot even match the speed of throttled 4G.

 

I don't know what plan you have, all the 3G plans are all lower data usage.  That being the case, I don't see how data speed even matters that much.  Apart from the old $10 plan which is now $13 and has no included data, there are no legacy low usage plans that are no longer available.  If the curiosity is burning, get a 4G plan for a month and try it.  You can always future date a plan change back to a 3G speed plan right away during the test period.  The risk of not being able to go back is zero.

sheytoon
Mayor / Maire

The throttle shouldn't affect coverage. I doubt this would help.

softech
Oracle
Oracle

@Pawprints1986 nice idea, but as you said, likely won't happen  😞

 

i think for everyday browsing, 3Mbps is not bad.   Of course, gaming and video download or people hotspot for laptop or so is a story

esjliv
Mayor / Maire

@Pawprints1986 - interesting concept, and I'd be curious to see speed differences too with 3G and 4G.. even though I don't really have issues with it currently. 

 

Do you have any other plans that are not on grandfathered plans that you can switch to for 30 days and play with? You could swap the SIM card into your phone and check it out.

 

Note, any data addons would just be the same speed as your plan anyhow.

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