Very Slow Data

[aubreygodman]

I am getting 0.37 mbps download.  My data is set to LTE.  I'm not sure which plan I have but it's over $40 a month.  

I knew my phone was slow but my friend said it should be way faster.  I have been over paying for slow data for years now, not happy at all.  Why is this so slow?

I have an iphone now but it was slow with my Samsung as well.  Any help would be appreciated.  I'm very close to cancelling this service, it's very frustrating.  

[DennyCrane]

@stratford There's a good chance it's the network, yes. But it could also be related to your device or the software on it. Either way you'll need to log a ticket with Public Mobile as those of us here on these forums are customers just like you.

[stratford]

If I am consistently experiencing the same issue—whether I'm near a tower, at home, or using a device with the latest software updates on compatible Public Mobile phones, and regardless of whether I'm connected to HSPA, 4G, LTE, LTE+, or 5G—then it is clear that the root cause lies within the network itself. Furthermore, it's worth noting that during my time with Lucky Mobile (a Bell network provider), I consistently received speeds of 60-70 Mbps, irrespective of my location, whether indoors or outdoors. This stark contrast further underscores the network-related nature of the issue.

[DennyCrane]

@stratford I implied no such thing. I was simply clarifying a comment you made to avoid confusion, of which is common thanks to the way 5G is marketed.

I believe you with what you're trying to say, and there could be an endless number of factors contributing towards those results. I do find it interesting that you experience similar results right near a tower though. It's not uncommon for me to get 20-30Mbps indoors at my home, but I can easily get 100-200+Mbps outdoors, close to a tower. It could be local network congestion, it could a device running outdated software, or an overseas device with not enough variety in North American frequency bands. It could be a fault with the Telus or Bell network in your local area. If you feel like you're not getting the product you've been sold, I'd recommend asking Public Mobile to open a ticket to have it looked into.

[stratford]

 Let me make this clear since you're implying that users on 4G are consistently getting solid speeds, while in reality, users barely reach a third of that, with many subscribers barely hitting single-digit speeds. This, quite frankly, is absurd. And, of course, you conveniently ignored this critical detail, preferring to argue semantics rather than address the core issue—the poor network performance affecting Public Mobile users.

[stratford]

Under normal circumstances, one would reasonably expect to achieve speeds of at least 50 Mbps on a 4G network and 100 Mbps on a 5G network. However, the issue I am encountering is that my speeds consistently range between a mere 6 Mbps and 29 Mbps, which is significantly below these expected standards. This problem persists regardless of the device I am using or the location, even when I am in close proximity to a Telus tower.

[DennyCrane]

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@stratford wrote:

The assertion that "the speed of my plan dictates which network I can connect to" is fundamentally flawed.

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You've misquoted me, and I stand by my statement. I said: "The speed of your plan does not dictate what network you can connect to". A 3G and a 4G plan can connect to the 5G network, and a 5G plan holder can use the 3G and 4G networks. Using the 4G network can get you speeds above 100Mbps if you're on a 5G plan.

As to your other comments, I won't disagree with you for the most part. Just keep in mind that speed is never guaranteed, as it's always marketed as "up to" X speed.

[hogdog44mag]

You nailed it  "suboptionall, systemic, inadequate infrastructure ," after all the telcos are only in it for the money

[stratford]

The assertion that "the speed of my plan dictates which network I can connect to" is fundamentally flawed. Network selection is influenced by a range of factors—signal availability, device compatibility, and network congestion—not merely the speed tier of your plan. While 5G theoretically supports up to 250 Mbps and 4G LTE around 100 Mbps, my actual speeds consistently fall well below 30 Mbps, which is entirely inadequate.

The persistent issues I've encountered across multiple regions, devices, and even 5G areas strongly suggest a deeper, systemic problem—likely related to inadequate infrastructure, suboptimal tower management, or signal interference. These are problems Public Mobile is responsible for addressing, not simply a matter of basic troubleshooting. I have already tested various bands, locations, and devices, and the factors at play—congestion and interference—are matters that Public Mobile must manage.

Finally, if Public Mobile’s 5G infrastructure is not fully optimized, it raises a pertinent question: why offer and market a service that underperforms compared to the previous 4G service? Marketing subpar 5G service is not only misleading but also disingenuous. These issues are beyond the capabilities of customers to resolve and must be tackled by Public Mobile itself.

[DennyCrane]

@stratford The speed of your plan does not dictate what network you can connect to. All plans can connect to all networks (3G, 4G, and 5G networks) with a compatible device. The plan just dictates max speed (throttled) on those networks.

I.e. if you think the network is the issue, then change your network settings to 4G/LTE preferred vs 5G. You can still stay on a 5G plan, and in fact will still benefit from higher speeds.

[stratford]

Tried that! It’s even slower the last 2 days since resetting network. So the problem is the actual network for 5G plans. 4G Public Mobile works better 

[stratford]

I have both iPhone 11 and Samsung S20 FE both are crap even in Toronto. Can’t even listen to music before it gets cut off. 

[MADUSER1]

I've been with them over 5yrs....yesterday my LTE registred 75mbps....today it's 1.4

I'm shopping 

[hogdog44mag]

I wish

[hTideGnow]

hi @hogdog44mag 

could be an incompatible phone without the proper 4G bands

what phone you have? is that an imported phone?

[dust2dust]

@hogdog44mag- What's the make and model of the phone? Maybe it isn't LTE-compatible with here.

[hogdog44mag]

I just changed to the 4g sub and when i go into settings it only allows 3g and lte the LTE has no signal and the 3 G is at 1 abs  just submitted a ticket the 3g I have before seemed faster ?????

[DennyCrane]

Something seems really off with that. I would definitely open a ticket and see if they can tweak some settings. There shouldn't be any throttle getting in your way.

I'm on the 15gb plan as well and this is my speed right now. 

 

[jeremyguay85]

I'm skeptical but I will give that a try, thanks for your help

[softech]

@jeremyguay85   open ticket with PM support first, they can refresh your account and would help

[jeremyguay85]

No I updated the plan a couple of months ago it's been slow ever since

[softech]

@jeremyguay85 if you just updated the plan, that is the reason.  It takes 48 hours for the new speed to come. Maybe wait the 2 full days and try again 

[jeremyguay85]

10 megs per second is on a very good day, normally I'm around 3 or 4, which is not acceptable for the 4G plan. But what pisses me off is that I was getting 100 megs per second and I switched plans and literally the next day my speeds dropped drastically even though I switched from a 4G plan to a 4G plan I just upgraded the amount of data.  I've tried speeds at different locations and stuff like that it doesn't change. But that's irrelevant because I did the test when I was at work before I change my plan and then after I change my plan while I was at work and I had lost all the speed. I can't even watch YouTube properly, I have to drop the resolution down to 144 p to be able to watch anything without buffering where before I can watch 4K no problem

[softech]

@jeremyguay85 While 10Mpbs is far from the best 100Mpbs, it's not bad, better than the regular 3Mbps for 3G speed plan

So, you have changed to 4G speed plan for long time?

What kind of phone do you have? brand and model?

you tried the speed test in different area and same speed of around 10Mpbs?

Before you decide to leave, I suggest you to open ticket with PM support first.  They can re-provision your account and you could see difference

[jeremyguay85]

I had a 4G plan before they stopped offering them for a while there and I was getting sometimes between 80 and 100 mb a second. When I saw they were offering them again I decided to upgrade to a 15 GB plan since I didn't want to before because I would have to go down to 3g speeds. As soon as I started my new plan I was getting speeds no faster than 10 mb per second. I'm on the exact same phone and the exact same location when I'm doing the test. The speed change was pretty much as soon as I started with the other plan. Unless there's some sort of drastic solution between that and their absolutely terrible new website that they have now, I'm going to be switching providers and I'm going to suggest to anyone possible that you do too!

[aubreygodman]

The speed I am getting now is WELL below 3G speeds.  It's true that I can upgrade service but that doesn't answer why it is so slow now. And what if I have the same problem with 4G?

[DennyCrane]

How much are you paying per month now? You may not need to pay anything more, and still get better service. 

[aubreygodman]

So they slow it down so I upgrade my service, seems pretty manipulative.  

[wetcoaster]

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@DennyCrane wrote:

Sounds like you're on a 3G plan. You're paying $40 anyway, so you may as well switch to the promo $40/15GB of 4G data. It'll take a couple days after you switch plans for the increased speed to kick in, but it'll be worth it once it does. 

I agree that changing to 3G signal is not a good long term solution. 

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I might miss something here (and I admit that I have not tracked all the available plans for at least 3 years), but $40/10.5GB plan does not ring a bell.

There was, however, a $50/10.5GB - IIRC it also included calls to the US.

It would be really great if we had more information so that we're not just guessing around here... The reason I brought up the above:

If the later is the plan the OP is on (and rewards are bringing it down to $40?) there might be the additional question on how much they use the US calling feature.

If it's only the occasional call to the US (if my math works out, less than 660 minutes / 11 hours per month?) it's a no-brainer to change to the $40/15GB and supplement it with the not expiring add-on ($15/1000minutes to US). (the holiday give aways also include calls to the US, if you don't use them for calling international destinations that'd a way to use those)

If those US calls are very frequent one has to decide what one considers the higher priority - data speed or US calls.

[computergeek541]

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@will13am wrote:

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@aubreygodman wrote:

I have done tests all over the city.

I have had slow service for years.  

I never really had data before so I didn't understand the speeds until a friend told me how slow my phone was.

I'd say for at least 2 years my data has been this slow, through 3 different phones.  Since I just changed it now, this is the fastest I've ever seen it.  

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Sticking to the 3G network is not a solution.  The size of the 3G network is ever shrinking as it heads toward planned shutdown in 2025.  The 4G speed plans have a speed cap at 100 mbps.  You will get more data and a much better overall experience.  @computergeek541 can give you experience on why forcing the phone to 3G is bad idea.  One last thing, this service is on the verge of receiving VoLTE functionality.  Forcing the phone to 3G means missing out on the most exciting change to this service in a long while.  

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I know that trying different settings is done for temporary troubleshooting, but blocking out possible network types is currently a terrible idea. The 3G network has become such a poor performer that it can't be relied upon for anyting.  Things never used to be this way, but with technology, things are always changing.  It used to be that the 3G network was very good and gave pretty consistent speeds in the places that I tested. A couple of years ago, I started seeing greatly decreased network speeds, but the main problem was not with the speeds but have rather how data wouldn't work at all in some places.  In those problem places, LTE would work fine. That wasn't a signal issue. It was a capacity one (signal would be fine but just not enough bandwidth or too many people using the 3G network).  . 

Even for voice, 3G has become extremely problematic.  The concept of disabling LTE connections used to be to ensure that there wasn't a failure in LTE to HSPA fall back for phone calls.  However, becuase of the way that so much of the 3G/HSPA network has been removed, current issues may very well just as easily be caused by lack of network capacity.   The HSPA netowrk is grandually being dismantled the spectrum reassigned to other network types. it will only get worse.

Wil13am's ponts about locking into the 3G network is imporatant as it means that custoemer won't notice whenever Public Mobile is ready to do full sclae launch of VoLTE services.

[DennyCrane]

Sounds like you're on a 3G plan. You're paying $40 anyway, so you may as well switch to the promo $40/15GB of 4G data. It'll take a couple days after you switch plans for the increased speed to kick in, but it'll be worth it once it does. 

I agree that changing to 3G signal is not a good long term solution.