Is 3G to 4G worth the extra money

[Tsawwassen]

My phone is still on the $15 3G Plan. 
The lowest priced PM $40 4G plan would cost $ 541.45 / year . 
My wife does have a BELL  4G plan and we conducted the following test. 
Both BELL and PM/TELUS share the same tower in our area.

On a 1 2 3 go basis we both logged in to several sites but the speed difference was negligible- 

[Ahannahford]

Honestly, I don't notice a big difference between the 2 in day to day tasks however, if I'm downloading a big app or watching HD videos. its not worth paying more for in my opinion but its a great bonus to have 

[hTideGnow]

H @Tsawwassen  

for normal browsing, NO.  With normal browser, 3G speed at 3Mpbs is good 

But, if you are on $35 plan, with the latest $20 off for 15 months on $55 plans , why not, it is the same price

even $40 for 15 GB is good price if you are already paying $35, then the $5 worth it for the extra data

[PapaKilo]

What it boils down to is what you use your phone for while using the 3G. If streaming and heavy data usage, then upgrading to 4G makes sense. If just using for basic data, maps email, then saving the money per month would make sense.

[Logan2021]

It depends on your needs, like mentioned above, and where you're located. For me I am connected to wifi for the majority of the day so I only rely on data for emails, notifications and sometimes searching for content (products in a mall where there is no wifi). In my case, I don't really need 4G or higher speeds. 

However, if I planned to watch youtube, stream content etc or rely on data for my work, then I would no doubt go for 4G or faster. So it really depends on your needs.

[Tsawwassen]

After years of having to have the latest electronics I’m starting to get a bit cynical regarding hyper claims advertising. 
For example - Bell kept on spamming me with deals for higher speed internet- well I fell for it and upgraded from 500 mbps to 1.5 Gb speed - absolutely no difference noticed for streaming movies and music etc. —- Also a couple of years ago we purchased two MacBooks - I bought the basic MacBook Air with 8 go Ram and small storage drive - At a substantial  higher price my wife opted for the MacBook Pro upgraded to 16 go ram and much higher storage. — doubling the ram doesn’t give you double the speed - etc 

[Tsawwassen]

Yes — in your case it does make sense mainly because of the extra data.  And yes if one wanted to stream movies - that was not part of our test - I imagine it would be worth it. However the discounts that you enjoy could also be applied to any lower or higher cost plan . 

[SweeneyRG · Accepted solution]

Youll notice the speed difference mostly with streaming content on the go, or downloading large files. Run of the mill websites probably will be similar speeds.

But Larger files will download faster on 4G than on 3G. Odds are you will download large files over your WIFI anyways - so its really moot.

[SweeneyRG]

I know for me, it wasn't so much the speed, as I'm coming from 3G to 4G.

Currently im paying just over $36.00 taxes in for 3G speeds @ 2.5GB of monthly data. For an extra $6.50 I get 4G speeds AND 15GB of Monthly data (Thats my new plan starting Dec 4). So for me, it was worth the upgrade as I need data for my work, and the small amount extra money monthly was worth it. Keep in mind, if you sign up for Auto pay, you knock $2 off your bill, and then there is loyalty bonuses depending on how long you have been with PM. PLUS if you can get family members on board, you can get $1 discount monthly for each person you sign up. 

So, from this perspective, yes, it is worth the upgrade especially with the deals on right now, BUT ONLY if you really need extra data and want to stream music/video without buffering. Otherwise, just stick with your current plan. You'll be happier that way.