How do 4G SPEEDS COMPARE WITH COMPETITORS?

[Pvkom26]

Hello everyone,

I see that Chatr has $34/50 Gb 4G plan, which is almost the same as what Public Mobile had on Boxing Day last year (except that was also 5G). One thing I noticed - Chatr promises 4G LTE speeds of up to 150 Mb/s, whereas Public Mobile’s website states that 4G LTE on their network doesn’t go beyond 100 Mb/s (250 Mb/s on 5G).

Now, why do I bother? Well, the thing is that while I was happy to get the plan I have, I don’t own a 5G-capable phone. And sometimes speeds are slightly disappointing. Not to the degree where it’s inconvenient, but you look at the loading bar in your browser and think “man, this is 2024 and I live in Greater Vancouver area… why isn’t LTE faster than it is?”

Does that make sense? I don’t know if I would move to Chatr even if the speeds are faster, but I am curious to hear your experience or maybe some resources about this. I found some old article that claims that 3G speeds on Public Mobile were actually the slowest.

[DennyCrane]

Lack of a 5G phone is irrelevant. Even a 4G phone can achieve close to 250Mbps, which is Public Mobile's 5G speed. Public Mobile throttles 4G plans at 100Mbps and 5G plans at 250Mbps, but both are capable of much higher speeds if they didn't slow it down.

Having said that, in many places you're not going to get anywhere near max speed anyway. And as others have said, the practical difference between 100 and 150Mpbs will not be noticeable on a mobile phone. Go with who has the best plan for your needs, and consider who has a stronger network in your area overall (Chatr = Rogers / Public Mobile= Telus).

I'm on a Telus 5G+ plan at up to 2Gpbs, but at home right now I'm getting far less than even 100Mbps:

5G network 

4G Network

Of notable concern is the abysmal upload speed at the moment.

For fun here is my Rogers phone in the same location. Not great results tonight for some reason.

 

[Pvkom26]

Thanks a lot for your replies! Really appreciate it. Glad to hear that up to 100Mb/s is the norm for 4G LTE

[hTideGnow · Accepted solution]

and @Pvkom26 

Even Fido 4G speed is up to 100Mbps, so I am not sure how often Chatr can provide 150Mpbs

and I check around, not just Fido,  Koodo, Freedom speed all up to 100Mbps.  So, 100Mbps is the usual speed for at least half the carriers and your question could apply to those carrires too

[NDesai]

@Pvkom26 Honestly, you will not see a difference between 100 and 150 mbps speed. It really depends on the phone and area you are in. You will not have strong signal all the time to achieve the full 100Mbps speed. The issue you experienced in Vancouver area was because Telus really had something going on. Lots of people on Telus/Koodo/PM had issues all over Lower Mainland for that week. It is much better now. 

[Handy1]

@Pvkom26  PM is up to 100mbs 4G plan while others are up to 150mbs 4G plan which wouldn’t be that noticeable a difference even PM 5G is up to 250mbs and it’s not even that noticeable maybe 1-2 seconds longer to load web page on PM 4G plan 

[hTideGnow]

HI @Pvkom26 

honest, 100 and 150 won't make a big difference.   they all say "Up to"

you think the speed is slow?  what is your speed test speed result? show us some test result.  Try in different area and different time