Mobile data tests

[darlicious]

I have noticed the performance of various data tests by members (mostly oracles and techies) done at the end of their plan cycles when they have data to spare. My renewal happens tonight and I have 2.5 gb left....any suggestions for tests that would be helpful to yourselves, the community or myself? Just nothing to complicated for me to wrap my non tech savvy mind around? Will be on home WiFi and out and about on mobile data (not really on it...as you can see...) If there's anything useful for me to burn data other than listening to YouTube.

[Nezgar]

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@darlicious wrote:

If there's anything useful for me to burn data other than listening to YouTube.

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I've been doing a few speed tests with fast.com (also be sure to check the "Show more info" option to test upstream as well. It's interesting to see that LTE is definitely throttled to a max 3mbps both down and up, HSPA/WCDMA can go much faster depending on best effort/available capacity, and in a few tests I've seen up to 11mbps down, and 2.5mbps up. I'm curious to see speed test results others are seeing in HSPA/WCDMA mode! Screenshots are always nice too.

Testing location: Regina, SK (Where Telus piggybacks off of the SaskTel network)

[will13am]

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@darlicious wrote:

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@will13am wrote:

@darlicious , stop buying so much data or don't be so frugal with it.  Problem solved!  Anyway speed tests are practically useless even to the person doing the test.  Your results don't correlate that much if at all to my user experience unless we are side by side.  

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@will13am   Yes the data. I'm stuck in that no man's land between the $25 and the $40 plan. I don't need 5gb of data but since I'm on the RBCREWARDS promo for another few months at $28 so there's no point in downgrading. Even when it's finished  I have the dilemma of losing my 5gb of add on bonus data to drop to the $25 and be frugal on 1 gb a month or stay at the $40 plan with too much data and no hope of using the bonus data. Not that it would solve my data add on problem but repeated attempts at trying to get pm to address the lack of 2/3gb plans in the $30+ range seems to fall on deaf ears ( @Alan_K  ). The $35/1.5gb Really?!! Unless of course that it's a revenue stream....but I believe enough customers would upgrade from the $25 that would downgrade from the $40 to make it revenue neutral and make a whole lot of customers happy to have their data needs met in a price range they can afford. I suppose I can fool around with some more speed tests but I have found previously that my mobile data has stayed consistently at 3gb mbps ( when I was comparing it to my wildly inconsistent home WiFi.) Which btw was fixed with a booster and 2 bandwidths. Now it stays between  50-60mbps even with every device in use in the house. Aha...my double pm texts reminding me to pay my bill. Right on time.10 hours til renewal how shall I waste my data?

Edit: From almost 4 hours ago...but found it!

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@darlicious, it is self evident that Public Mobile and their peer fully appreciate the lack of an offering in the 3GB space.  It is intentional to push people into paying at least $40 per month.  The marketing wisdom is that you will struggle with only 1GB and then that will force you to spend $40 per month even if it is too much data for your needs.  The alternate thinking is that some people will just not pay the extra money and tough it out.  It is a question of whether there is more money to be made by the current plan structure or by filling the 3GB gap.  Maybe I am biased by my needs/wants, I predict that offering a 3GB plan will result in upwards of 50% of the customers moving to that plan from the 1GB plan.  The net effect would be higher revenue per customer.  What do I know, I am just a dumb customer. 

[darlicious]

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@will13am wrote:

@darlicious , stop buying so much data or don't be so frugal with it.  Problem solved!  Anyway speed tests are practically useless even to the person doing the test.  Your results don't correlate that much if at all to my user experience unless we are side by side.  

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@will13am   Yes the data. I'm stuck in that no man's land between the $25 and the $40 plan. I don't need 5gb of data but since I'm on the RBCREWARDS promo for another few months at $28 so there's no point in downgrading. Even when it's finished  I have the dilemma of losing my 5gb of add on bonus data to drop to the $25 and be frugal on 1 gb a month or stay at the $40 plan with too much data and no hope of using the bonus data. Not that it would solve my data add on problem but repeated attempts at trying to get pm to address the lack of 2/3gb plans in the $30+ range seems to fall on deaf ears ( @Alan_K  ). The $35/1.5gb Really?!! Unless of course that it's a revenue stream....but I believe enough customers would upgrade from the $25 that would downgrade from the $40 to make it revenue neutral and make a whole lot of customers happy to have their data needs met in a price range they can afford. I suppose I can fool around with some more speed tests but I have found previously that my mobile data has stayed consistently at 3gb mbps ( when I was comparing it to my wildly inconsistent home WiFi.) Which btw was fixed with a booster and 2 bandwidths. Now it stays between  50-60mbps even with every device in use in the house. Aha...my double pm texts reminding me to pay my bill. Right on time.10 hours til renewal how shall I waste my data?

Edit: From almost 4 hours ago...but found it!

[darlicious]

I only just noticed that my response to my excess of data has been googled up by *poof*the magic disappearing posts dragon. Hardly a week goes by without this guy rearing his ugly head. Let me search out the magic link supplied to me few weeks ago and repost.

[hairbag1]

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@darlicious wrote:

I have noticed the performance of various data tests by members (mostly oracles and techies) done at the end of their plan cycles when they have data to spare. My renewal happens tonight and I have 2.5 gb left....any suggestions for tests that would be helpful to yourselves, the community or myself? Just nothing to complicated for me to wrap my non tech savvy mind around? Will be on home WiFi and out and about on mobile data (not really on it...as you can see...) If there's anything useful for me to burn data other than listening to YouTube.

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You asked so here's my thought...If you have a data balance chronically...just do a re-think on your data requirements. Why pay for data, only to waste it doing needlessly just to get rid of it ? $ave even more money with a plan that actually suits you neeeds. S'up to you o'course !

[Ed404]

Go run speed tests with the speedtest app at a variety of different areas and record the results including latency, download speed, upload speed and cell reception (bars). Having more recent data is always better and more accurate.

Thanks

[computergeek541]

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@will13am wrote:

@darlicious , stop buying so much data or don't be so frugal with it.  Problem solved!  Anyway speed tests are practically useless even to the person doing the test.  Your results don't correlate that much if at all to my user experience unless we are side by side.  

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Aren't people doing these tests just for fun? These tests are a waste of data and when peoppe get used to them, it ends up being a bad habbit. How many new customers habe wasted all of their data with threse tests?

I belive that these tests are better suited for more stable home internet connections for troubleshooting. With mobile data, there is a lot of variation in speeds.

[sheytoon]

I guess the most common one techies do is download the Speedtest app, then disable WiFi and run a few tests. See how high a number you can achieve for download speeds. This is just for bragging rights though, no real impact to coverage or service.

[tehowennathe]

It you always have left over data maybe you would be better off with a lower data plan. I have 8GB but don't use it all. Yes I could go lower plan but I got the Canada US plan when it was available. I travel to US a often. So that was the only plan available with Canada US useage.

[will13am]

@darlicious , stop buying so much data or don't be so frugal with it.  Problem solved!  Anyway speed tests are practically useless even to the person doing the test.  Your results don't correlate that much if at all to my user experience unless we are side by side.