Public mobile 3G vs 4G (Koodo) results

[superdebator]

For those people who are curious about Public Mobile 3G speed plan, I was with Koodo (owned by Telus) and I switched to Public Mobile (owned by Telus too). So before quitting, I did a speed test and I will explain my methodology. Result pictures will be at the end for speed test.

Metholodology

1. Same location

2. Two tests

3. Koodo test was done on their 4G LTE network, they don't have throttle option.

4. Public Mobile test was done with my 3G speed.

5. The word ''Speed test'' was written on google search bar and the first result where it says ''Run Speed Test''

6. Every application was closed down except Google chrome, only one tab was open in google chrome.

7. Wi-Fi was turned off for obvious reasons.

8. Device was same.

Conclusion : 3G speed is almost the same, no throtthling down. To be technically right, download speeds are almost the same, upload speeds are slower that could be explained by multiple variables (such as time and weather conditions which were both inconsistent between these tests).

[stonechucker]

Yes, @wetcoaster , thank you for correcting me.  It’s been a long day!

oops. Moops lol

[wetcoaster]

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@stonechucker wrote:

The small m is milli, which we really don’t see in the cellular world.  It’s a metric abbreviation for 1/1000 of a unit.  For example, 1000 mm = 1 km.

So no, we don’t all know what you mean with mbps. 😉

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Sorry, @stonechucker , but your example is wrong - you are jumping from 1/1000 to 1000.

1000 mm = 1m 

OR

1km = 1000m, so 1,000,000 mm = 1km

[dabr]

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@srlawren wrote:

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@dabr wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Not sayin' anybody's bein' pretentious!

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Hmm...are you sure you're not suggesting anything:)

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@dabr @Anonymous I've been called worse! 

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Impossible:)

[srlawren]

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@dabr wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Not sayin' anybody's bein' pretentious!

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Hmm...are you sure you're not suggesting anything:)

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@dabr @Anonymous I've been called worse! 

[Anonymous]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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@stonechucker wrote:

The small m is milli, which we really don’t see in the cellular world.  It’s a metric abbreviation for 1/1000 of a unit.  For example, 1000 mm = 1 km.

So no, we don’t all know what you mean with mbps. 😉

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I believe that z10user4 already knows this as I've pointed that out before.  I believe that's why he said slightly incorrect.  If someone wants to say that Public Mobile offers roughly 3000mbps throttled LTE speeds on 3g plans, I won't argue with that. The lower case m does get used when we're having our speed test fun in terms of ping time and ms.

Part of the issue with someone saying 3MBps has to do with in computing, that unit of measurement does get used in some software to describe file transfer rates.

Also, 3MBps could easily lead people to people that 24Mbps is the throttled speed on the LTE network when a customer is on a 3g plan, which it isn't.  Such a speed would be believable.

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Thanks. If we might accept not exactly accurate nomenclature then 3000mbps would really be 3Gbps. I don't think that's what you're after either. Now 3000Kbps ok. 🙂

I use mbps partly for typing laziness and partly to avoid confusion. For someone to go to the effort of typing the capital b after the capital m then they're seemingly intending to mean mega bytes...not bits. Then one needs to examine the context. Oh ok. Or...no no that's not right.

So I do all lower case. I remember when .0576 Mbps in todays terms was a big deal. I even did some old BBS'ing on .0003 Mbps. 🙂 Very briefly. Then it went up from there.

[computergeek541]

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@stonechucker wrote:

The small m is milli, which we really don’t see in the cellular world.  It’s a metric abbreviation for 1/1000 of a unit.  For example, 1000 mm = 1 km.

So no, we don’t all know what you mean with mbps. 😉

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I believe that z10user4 already knows this as I've pointed that out before.  I believe that's why he said slightly incorrect.  If someone wants to say that Public Mobile offers roughly 3000mbps throttled LTE speeds on 3g plans, I won't argue with that. The lower case m does get used when we're having our speed test fun in terms of ping time and ms.

Part of the issue with someone saying 3MBps has to do with in computing, that unit of measurement does get used in some software to describe file transfer rates.

Also, 3MBps could easily lead people to people that 24Mbps is the throttled speed on the LTE network when a customer is on a 3g plan, which it isn't.  Such a speed would be believable.

[Anonymous]

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@stonechucker wrote:

The small m is milli, which we really don’t see in the cellular world.  It’s a metric abbreviation for 1/1000 of a unit.  For example, 1000 mm = 1 km.

So no, we don’t all know what you mean with mbps. 😉

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Oh for craps! No one says milli bits per second. I come from many years in the computing world. To communicate with people, you don't always talk straight up tech. You just lose the listener. So you try to make things understandable.

I know the difference between MB, GB, Gb, Mb etc. I also know multiples of 2 for binary. ie 2^10 which is the technical definition of 1024 which is what all these numbers are really truly based on. Except when they're not. That then goes into the realm of colloquial common use.like 1000.

🙂

Context.

[stonechucker]

The small m is milli, which we really don’t see in the cellular world.  It’s a metric abbreviation for 1/1000 of a unit.  For example, 1000 mm = 1 km.

So no, we don’t all know what you mean with mbps. 😉

[Anonymous]

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@dabr wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@dabr wrote:

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@srlawren wrote:

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@dennise3388 wrote:

The data speed will be reduced to 3MB after 3 days. 

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@dennise3388 "3MB" is misleading in two key ways:  1) the upper-case B indicates Megabytes rather than Megabits (lower-case b), and 2) 3MB is an amount of data but not a rate of transfer.  The correct reduced speed is actually 3 Mbps, or three megabits per second.

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@srlawren  thanks for that explanation, it helped to refresh the differentiation which I'd forgotten:)

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That's why I write the slightly incorrect variation of mbps. We all know the m is mega. The rest is proper. Just to avoid confusion and maybe the look of pretentiousness. 🙂 Not sayin' anybody's bein' pretentious!

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Hmm...are you sure you're not suggesting anything:)

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No. srlawren is being correct. (as always) I'm just saying what I do. Mostly I get peoples meaning. If someone is saying something where the main object is ambiguous then I'll ask for clarification.

[dabr]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@dabr wrote:

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@srlawren wrote:

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@dennise3388 wrote:

The data speed will be reduced to 3MB after 3 days. 

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@dennise3388 "3MB" is misleading in two key ways:  1) the upper-case B indicates Megabytes rather than Megabits (lower-case b), and 2) 3MB is an amount of data but not a rate of transfer.  The correct reduced speed is actually 3 Mbps, or three megabits per second.

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@srlawren  thanks for that explanation, it helped to refresh the differentiation which I'd forgotten:)

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That's why I write the slightly incorrect variation of mbps. We all know the m is mega. The rest is proper. Just to avoid confusion and maybe the look of pretentiousness. 🙂 Not sayin' anybody's bein' pretentious!

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Hmm...are you sure you're not suggesting anything:)

[Anonymous]

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@dabr wrote:

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@srlawren wrote:

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@dennise3388 wrote:

The data speed will be reduced to 3MB after 3 days. 

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@dennise3388 "3MB" is misleading in two key ways:  1) the upper-case B indicates Megabytes rather than Megabits (lower-case b), and 2) 3MB is an amount of data but not a rate of transfer.  The correct reduced speed is actually 3 Mbps, or three megabits per second.

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@srlawren  thanks for that explanation, it helped to refresh the differentiation which I'd forgotten:)

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That's why I write the slightly incorrect variation of mbps. We all know the m is mega. The rest is proper. Just to avoid confusion and maybe the look of pretentiousness. 🙂 Not sayin' anybody's bein' pretentious!

[dabr]

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@srlawren wrote:

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@dennise3388 wrote:

The data speed will be reduced to 3MB after 3 days. 

---

@dennise3388 "3MB" is misleading in two key ways:  1) the upper-case B indicates Megabytes rather than Megabits (lower-case b), and 2) 3MB is an amount of data but not a rate of transfer.  The correct reduced speed is actually 3 Mbps, or three megabits per second.

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@srlawren  thanks for that explanation, it helped to refresh the differentiation which I'd forgotten:)

[srlawren]

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@dennise3388 wrote:

The data speed will be reduced to 3MB after 3 days. 

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@dennise3388 "3MB" is misleading in two key ways:  1) the upper-case B indicates Megabytes rather than Megabits (lower-case b), and 2) 3MB is an amount of data but not a rate of transfer.  The correct reduced speed is actually 3 Mbps, or three megabits per second.

[dennise3388]

The data speed will be reduced to 3MB after 3 days. 

[superdebator]

I actually wanted to see the throttle speed. What I read was that it will to throttle down automatically. So we'll benefit from 4G LTE network reliability but with 3G speed. One contributor said that it will take 72 hours for the throttle take effet so I will redo the same test this Friday and post my results.

No worries for data, I have 5gb, I use at most 2-3gb.

[superdebator]

Thank you so much for the explanation, I will redo the test this Friday. And post my results.

[computergeek541]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@superdebator wrote:

For those people who are curious about Public Mobile 3G speed plan, I was with Koodo (owned by Telus) and I switched to Public Mobile (owned by Telus too). So before quitting, I did a speed test and I will explain my methodology. Result pictures will be at the end for speed test.

Metholodology

1. Same location

2. Two tests

3. Koodo test was done on their 4G LTE network, they don't have throttle option.

4. Public Mobile test was done with my 3G speed.

5. The word ''Speed test'' was written on google search bar and the first result where it says ''Run Speed Test''

6. Every application was closed down except Google chrome, only one tab was open in google chrome.

7. Wi-Fi was turned off for obvious reasons.

8. Device was same.

Conclusion : 3G speed is almost the same, no throtthling down. To be technically right, download speeds are almost the same, upload speeds are slower that could be explained by multiple variables (such as time and weather conditions which were both inconsistent between these tests).

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Now try setting the phone to actual 3G data like HSDPA and not connecting to LTE. The indicator should change to something like H or H+.

Beware of all this data you're "wasting" though 🙂 But wayta take it for the team.

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Those speeds shown above aren't that great for LTE service. Now, if the person had an LTE+ capable phone and the network conditions were better, it would use much more data if an app such as speedtest.net was used.  At least the person used a different testing site than that extreme-data app that I mentioned.

[Anonymous]

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@superdebator wrote:

For those people who are curious about Public Mobile 3G speed plan, I was with Koodo (owned by Telus) and I switched to Public Mobile (owned by Telus too). So before quitting, I did a speed test and I will explain my methodology. Result pictures will be at the end for speed test.

Metholodology

1. Same location

2. Two tests

3. Koodo test was done on their 4G LTE network, they don't have throttle option.

4. Public Mobile test was done with my 3G speed.

5. The word ''Speed test'' was written on google search bar and the first result where it says ''Run Speed Test''

6. Every application was closed down except Google chrome, only one tab was open in google chrome.

7. Wi-Fi was turned off for obvious reasons.

8. Device was same.

Conclusion : 3G speed is almost the same, no throtthling down. To be technically right, download speeds are almost the same, upload speeds are slower that could be explained by multiple variables (such as time and weather conditions which were both inconsistent between these tests).

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Now try setting the phone to actual 3G data like HSDPA and not connecting to LTE. The indicator should change to something like H or H+.

Beware of all this data you're "wasting" though 🙂 But wayta take it for the team.

[NDesai]

@superdebator What you showed here is completely wrong. The test you did on PM, it shows that you are connected to the LTE network which is throttled at 3 mbps on 3G plans. You will not get any higher speed while you are on the LTE network with a 3G plan. The reason you are seeing 20mbps is that it has not been 72 hours yet, so the throttled speed has not kicked in yet.