If i buy 3Gb Data on LTE speed will it work on my 3G phone until I get a LTE phone?

[ShawnC13]

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@jdd586wrote:

weLL, it just show how disorganized this bunch of amatuers you are. No respect to people. Your thougths just show what a bunch of loosers you are, all of you who respond to closed cases and mumble and mumble about whatever comes to their pot aspired little brains

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Totally uncalled for.  Just one tip for you maybe put your post in Word and use spell and grammar check before posting in here

[jdd586]

weLL, it just show how disorganized this bunch of amatuers you are. No respect to people. Your thougths just show what a bunch of loosers you are, all of you who respond to closed cases and mumble and mumble about whatever comes to their pot aspired little brains

[wetcoaster]

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@stonechuckerwrote:

@jdd586, keeping the discussion where it started is more important I think.   Whether a thread is marked resolved or not means nothing to almost everyone here.

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Plus, I consider the timeline hardly "days ago"...

Original post: 04-03-2018 07:09pm

Second post, marked as solution: 04-03/2018 07:14pm

"Please open another thread, this isue has been closed days ago!": 04-04-2018 07:46pm

You can always turn off notifications if you are not interested in subsequent input from other community members (that might or might not help in your further decision making).

[NDesai]

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@jdd586wrote:

Please open another thread, this isue has been closed days ago!

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Looks like you got some notification alerts . But since it was posted and marked yesterday, i don't think it needs to move to another topic. 

[stonechucker]

@jdd586, keeping the discussion where it started is more important I think.   Whether a thread is marked resolved or not means nothing to almost everyone here.

[jdd586]

Please open another thread, this isue has been closed days ago!

[ShawnC13]

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@sdt1wrote:

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@srlawrenwrote:

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@sdt1wrote:

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I had not intended to have a back and forth with the "Mayors". The original poster accepted my response as a solution, and I received bravos accordingly from that poster and others. In my opinion, it is not in community spirit to reply directly to another poster saying "you are incorrect". If you have your own information to add, then add it -- but don't call someone out.

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I don't think you were called out.  Despite having your post selected as a solution and receiving Bravos for it I do think it is in the community spirit to point out that it is incorrect and provide further information.  The OP asked the question if they select wrong information as the solution does that help them?  We are about helping out and that may include correcting other community members if they post incorrect information.  I do not have a lot of knowledge on this subject but if I posted something wrong I would want someone to correct me so I can post a correct answer the next time it is asked.  There are many people here that have a great amount of knowledge to share but if @sheytoon posts that is the one I am really paying attention to on this stuff as he knows his stuff!!

[sheytoon]

I've personally achieved 17 Mbps DL on HSPA+ (single carrier). It's definitely not limited to 2 Mbps.

[mimmo]

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@sdt1wrote:

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@srlawrenwrote:

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@sdt1wrote:

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@mimmo A phone capable of 3G only (and not 4G LTE) should only be able to attain max. data speeds of 2Mbps. My message to the OP was to say that a phone incapable of 4G LTE should not subscribe to a 4G LTE plan, because the phone cannot make use of the increased data speed to its full potential. 

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@sdt1 no that's not right at all.  HSPA+ has a theoretical max of around 42Mbps, not 2Mbps.  Even if your phone is only capable of HSPA+ it will still benefit from the LTE plan because the artificial 3Mbps cap is not in place on the LTE.  So the phone will get the max capable HSPA+ speed given the person's location, network's load, etc.  It should almost always be significantly faster than 3Mbps.

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I had not intended to have a back and forth with the "Mayors". The original poster accepted my response as a solution, and I received bravos accordingly from that poster and others. In my opinion, it is not in community spirit to reply directly to another poster saying "you are incorrect". If you have your own information to add, then add it -- but don't call someone out.

As a side note, I spent 10 years working in the wireless industry, for a very large corporation. I worked through the 2G - 3G revolution, and know quite a bit about the hardware and network technology. As I understood it, the original poster, asked a question about HARDWARE, not network. My answer was to explain that there is no reason to pay for a 4G plan, if you are using 3G HARDWARE. The speedtest posted by one of the "Mayors" showed an LTE+ connection in the upper right corner of his/her phone display, so despite setting the hardware to 3G only, the device is still capable of achieving greater than 2Mbps speeds, and therefore showed an 8+Mbps speed rating. Had that phone been truly 3G hardware, the same speedtest would have resulted in 2Mbps-3Mbps. 

In a nutshell, a 4G enabled smartphone can support 4G and lesser networks (i.e., they can get the speed of the either 4G/3G/2G based on the service provider network (4G/3G/2G), but the 3G smartphone can support 3G and lesser (i.e., 3G/2G). HSPA+ or Evolved High Speed Packet Access, is a souped-up version of HSUPA and HSDPA 3G standards with speeds comparable to the newer LTE networks. Theoretical speeds are said to feature download speeds up to 168Mbps and uplink of 22Mbps.

I really don't know what kind of phone the original poster has, but I highly doubt that it's worth paying for a 4G plan if only "3G/2G" is listed in its network settings. That is all I intended to convey with my original reply.

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@sdt1  several points i would like to make 

1) i never stated you were incorrect i said i believe your information was incorrect and i provided examples for experience from the forums

2) if someone says the "earth is flat"  why should someone not say hey i think the earth is round.  Why can we not have a discussion?

3) my speed test for the 3g was showing 3g on the network mode not LTE ( but since it has lte bands that means it might do better than a pure 2g/3g phone )

SO  I pulled out my old moto G (gen 1)

Technology	GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO
2G bands	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
	CDMA 800 / 1900 - CDMA version
3G bands	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
	HSDPA 850 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 - for T-Mobile, AT&T
Speed	HSPA 21.1/5.76 Mbps

Popped my sim into it and ran a couple speed tests . 

I had  download speeds ranging from 1.45 - 6.21 mbps.    so the orriginal poster would likley get more speed from getting the full lte plan than the capped one, is it worth it its hard to say depending on when they plan on upgrading and what their current needs are in the end we are talking about $5 a month between 3g and 4g plans. 

[will13am]

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@sdt1wrote:

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@srlawrenwrote:

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@sdt1wrote:

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@mimmo A phone capable of 3G only (and not 4G LTE) should only be able to attain max. data speeds of 2Mbps. My message to the OP was to say that a phone incapable of 4G LTE should not subscribe to a 4G LTE plan, because the phone cannot make use of the increased data speed to its full potential. 

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@sdt1 no that's not right at all.  HSPA+ has a theoretical max of around 42Mbps, not 2Mbps.  Even if your phone is only capable of HSPA+ it will still benefit from the LTE plan because the artificial 3Mbps cap is not in place on the LTE.  So the phone will get the max capable HSPA+ speed given the person's location, network's load, etc.  It should almost always be significantly faster than 3Mbps.

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I had not intended to have a back and forth with the "Mayors". The original poster accepted my response as a solution, and I received bravos accordingly from that poster and others. In my opinion, it is not in community spirit to reply directly to another poster saying "you are incorrect". If you have your own information to add, then add it -- but don't call someone out.

As a side note, I spent 10 years working in the wireless industry, for a very large corporation. I worked through the 2G - 3G revolution, and know quite a bit about the hardware and network technology. As I understood it, the original poster, asked a question about HARDWARE, not network. My answer was to explain that there is no reason to pay for a 4G plan, if you are using 3G HARDWARE. The speedtest posted by one of the "Mayors" showed an LTE+ connection in the upper right corner of his/her phone display, so despite setting the hardware to 3G only, the device is still capable of achieving greater than 2Mbps speeds, and therefore showed an 8+Mbps speed rating. Had that phone been truly 3G hardware, the same speedtest would have resulted in 2Mbps-3Mbps. 

In a nutshell, a 4G enabled smartphone can support 4G and lesser networks (i.e., they can get the speed of the either 4G/3G/2G based on the service provider network (4G/3G/2G), but the 3G smartphone can support 3G and lesser (i.e., 3G/2G). HSPA+ or Evolved High Speed Packet Access, is a souped-up version of HSUPA and HSDPA 3G standards with speeds comparable to the newer LTE networks. Theoretical speeds are said to feature download speeds up to 168Mbps and uplink of 22Mbps.

I really don't know what kind of phone the original poster has, but I highly doubt that it's worth paying for a 4G plan if only "3G/2G" is listed in its network settings. That is all I intended to convey with my original reply.

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For someone with such claimed industry knowledge you sure have your facts mixed up.  Even UMTS can do better than 2 Mbps.  3G, else known as UMTS is good to 7.2 Mbps theoretically.  In real life, performance is closer to about half that.  HSPA and HSPA+ (DC HSPA) is a further enhancement of UMTS with a theoretical speed of 21 Mbps and 42 Mbps respectively.  Some have labeled HSPA and HSPA+ as 4G or faux G, a play on LTE. 

Regardless of all this, Public Mobile does not restrict their data to the 3G network only.  Those with a LTE compatible phone will be able to connect to the LTE network where available.  Whether the phone is connected to the 3G or LTE, the speed is throttled.  The benefit of being on LTE and throttled is the reduced latency.  For most mobile applications, latency is worth a lot more than a bit of raw speed.

[computergeek541]

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@sdt1wrote:

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@mimmowrote:

@sdt1 yes, you need LTE bands to get full LTE speeds but PM's "3G" speed is still LTE but slowed down to 3mbs.   

When users were testing the 3g speeds many switched their phones to 3g networks and received speeds higher than 3mbs (this loophole has been since fixed) that is why i said the poster would get faster speed using the full LTE plans even on a 3g phone vs getting a capped LTE speed a 3mbs.

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@mimmo A phone capable of 3G only (and not 4G LTE) should only be able to attain max. data speeds of 2Mbps. My message to the OP was to say that a phone incapable of 4G LTE should not subscribe to a 4G LTE plan, because the phone cannot make use of the increased data speed to its full potential. 

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@sdt1wrote:

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@mimmowrote:

@sdt1 yes, you need LTE bands to get full LTE speeds but PM's "3G" speed is still LTE but slowed down to 3mbs.   

When users were testing the 3g speeds many switched their phones to 3g networks and received speeds higher than 3mbs (this loophole has been since fixed) that is why i said the poster would get faster speed using the full LTE plans even on a 3g phone vs getting a capped LTE speed a 3mbs.

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@mimmo A phone capable of 3G only (and not 4G LTE) should only be able to attain max. data speeds of 2Mbps. My message to the OP was to say that a phone incapable of 4G LTE should not subscribe to a 4G LTE plan, because the phone cannot make use of the increased data speed to its full potential. 

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Depending on the fastest supported technology supported on a UMTS/3G/HSPA type device, phones without LTE can do much faster than 2Mbps.

The maximum theoretical speed for a 3g-type phone is 42Mbps, although you'll lkely max out at around only 15 to 20Mbps.  So there's plenty of reason to sign up to a Public Mobile "LTE" plan even if you're using a phone that doesn't connect to LTE.

[sdt1]

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@srlawrenwrote:

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@sdt1wrote:

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@mimmo A phone capable of 3G only (and not 4G LTE) should only be able to attain max. data speeds of 2Mbps. My message to the OP was to say that a phone incapable of 4G LTE should not subscribe to a 4G LTE plan, because the phone cannot make use of the increased data speed to its full potential. 

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@sdt1 no that's not right at all.  HSPA+ has a theoretical max of around 42Mbps, not 2Mbps.  Even if your phone is only capable of HSPA+ it will still benefit from the LTE plan because the artificial 3Mbps cap is not in place on the LTE.  So the phone will get the max capable HSPA+ speed given the person's location, network's load, etc.  It should almost always be significantly faster than 3Mbps.

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I had not intended to have a back and forth with the "Mayors". The original poster accepted my response as a solution, and I received bravos accordingly from that poster and others. In my opinion, it is not in community spirit to reply directly to another poster saying "you are incorrect". If you have your own information to add, then add it -- but don't call someone out.

As a side note, I spent 10 years working in the wireless industry, for a very large corporation. I worked through the 2G - 3G revolution, and know quite a bit about the hardware and network technology. As I understood it, the original poster, asked a question about HARDWARE, not network. My answer was to explain that there is no reason to pay for a 4G plan, if you are using 3G HARDWARE. The speedtest posted by one of the "Mayors" showed an LTE+ connection in the upper right corner of his/her phone display, so despite setting the hardware to 3G only, the device is still capable of achieving greater than 2Mbps speeds, and therefore showed an 8+Mbps speed rating. Had that phone been truly 3G hardware, the same speedtest would have resulted in 2Mbps-3Mbps. 

In a nutshell, a 4G enabled smartphone can support 4G and lesser networks (i.e., they can get the speed of the either 4G/3G/2G based on the service provider network (4G/3G/2G), but the 3G smartphone can support 3G and lesser (i.e., 3G/2G). HSPA+ or Evolved High Speed Packet Access, is a souped-up version of HSUPA and HSDPA 3G standards with speeds comparable to the newer LTE networks. Theoretical speeds are said to feature download speeds up to 168Mbps and uplink of 22Mbps.

I really don't know what kind of phone the original poster has, but I highly doubt that it's worth paying for a 4G plan if only "3G/2G" is listed in its network settings. That is all I intended to convey with my original reply.

[srlawren]

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@sdt1wrote:

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@mimmo A phone capable of 3G only (and not 4G LTE) should only be able to attain max. data speeds of 2Mbps. My message to the OP was to say that a phone incapable of 4G LTE should not subscribe to a 4G LTE plan, because the phone cannot make use of the increased data speed to its full potential. 

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@sdt1 no that's not right at all.  HSPA+ has a theoretical max of around 42Mbps, not 2Mbps.  Even if your phone is only capable of HSPA+ it will still benefit from the LTE plan because the artificial 3Mbps cap is not in place on the LTE.  So the phone will get the max capable HSPA+ speed given the person's location, network's load, etc.  It should almost always be significantly faster than 3Mbps.

[sheytoon]

Sounds like LTE is speed limited on "3G" plans, but 3G is not speed limited! So it's actually faster to lock the phone to 3G only.

[mimmo]

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@sdt1wrote:

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@

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@mimmo A phone capable of 3G only (and not 4G LTE) should only be able to attain max. data speeds of 2Mbps. My message to the OP was to say that a phone incapable of 4G LTE should not subscribe to a 4G LTE plan, because the phone cannot make use of the increased data speed to its full potential. 

This article explains all the "G"s in more detail if helpful:

https://whatsag.com/

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 I was just going by observations found by community members during the roll out of the capped LTE (3g) plans. I just did a 3g (selected 3g network only) test on my phone and got 8mbps. Which is higher than the max 2mbps you mentioned.  Not sure if there are different versions of 3g which account for the 2 Mbps max speed.

[Korth]

4G has been in use for nearly a decade, your phone would literally have to be 10 years old to lack 4G capability.

4G is (supposedly) fully backwards-compatible.  So it's supposed to work on 3G-only devices.

And what PM calls "3G" is not in fact 3G, it is 4G with an upper performance cap (set at 2.5~3Mbps).

[sdt1]

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@mimmowrote:

@sdt1 yes, you need LTE bands to get full LTE speeds but PM's "3G" speed is still LTE but slowed down to 3mbs.   

When users were testing the 3g speeds many switched their phones to 3g networks and received speeds higher than 3mbs (this loophole has been since fixed) that is why i said the poster would get faster speed using the full LTE plans even on a 3g phone vs getting a capped LTE speed a 3mbs.

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@mimmo A phone capable of 3G only (and not 4G LTE) should only be able to attain max. data speeds of 2Mbps. My message to the OP was to say that a phone incapable of 4G LTE should not subscribe to a 4G LTE plan, because the phone cannot make use of the increased data speed to its full potential. 

[mimmo]

@sdt1 yes, you need LTE bands to get full LTE speeds but PM's "3G" speed is still LTE but slowed down to 3mbs.   

When users were testing the 3g speeds many switched their phones to 3g networks and received speeds higher than 3mbs (this loophole has been since fixed) that is why i said the poster would get faster speed using the full LTE plans even on a 3g phone vs getting a capped LTE speed a 3mbs.

[computergeek541]

The so-called 3g and LTE data plans only dictate maximum possible speeds with the service.  It doesn't have anything do with network connection type (3g vs. LTE).  So, yes, as long as your phone is compatible, it will work with a data plan.

[sdt1]

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@mimmowrote:

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@sdt1wrote:

If you already have a 3G phone (not LTE), then you should only subscribe to a 3G plan until you get a 4G LTE capable phone. Hope that helps.

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I believe this info is incorrect. Even if your phone only supports 3g bands you will get faster data speeds going the full lte than getting the capped 3mps lte.   

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Please refer to a more lengthy PM article on this subject; specifically:

How do I check my phone’s network compatibility?

Check your device’s network compatibility here. Note that your device must be compatible with our LTE network in order to receive 4G LTE speeds.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Knowledge-Base/3G-vs-4G-LTE-What-speed-is-right-for-y...

[mimmo]

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@sdt1wrote:

If you already have a 3G phone (not LTE), then you should only subscribe to a 3G plan until you get a 4G LTE capable phone. Hope that helps.

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I believe this info is incorrect. Even if your phone only supports 3g bands you will get faster data speeds going the full lte than getting the capped 3mps lte.   

[wetcoaster]

@jdd586

As long as the 3G frequencies are compatible with the Telus / Public Mobile network, your LTE plan will work on the phone. However, you will only get full LTE speeds on a phone with the appropriate LTE bands. It's your call if you want to spend the extra money for potential speeds you are not reaching.

BTW, Public Mobile's "3G plans" is a misnomer. I'd still prefer more suitable name like "LTE light", but I'm not on their marketing team. 😉

PM's "3G plans" have LTE latency were LTE network is available but the upload and download speed is throttled to 3Mbps. This is still adequate for most uses, exept for regular HD movie streaming and gaming.

[sdt1 · Accepted solution]

4G LTE phones are backwards compatible, meaning they will work at 3G data speeds, if that is what you are asking. If you already have a 3G phone (not LTE), then you should only subscribe to a 3G plan until you get a 4G LTE capable phone. Hope that helps.