Selecting Preferred Network Types - Finding 3G

[PilotCass]

Hello everyone!

So after reading that data actually gets throttled to 3G speeds on an LTE network, and being connected to a 3G network might actually result in faster speeds; I was wondering what I needed to select on my phone in order to make this happen??

I was able to find the Preferred Network settings on my android. Running Android 10, LineageOS, OnePlus 3. But it has a whole list of different network types...

NR/LTE/TDSCMA/CDMA/EvDo/GSM/WCDMA...

Can someone smarter than me tell me what order I should have these in to prioritize 3G? And if that is not available it can revert back to LTE?

Thanks for the help in advance!

- Sorry if this was already posted somewhere else, couldn't find any information on this topic.

[gpixel]

@Naepalm wow! if that's what you normally get that's really good. hmmm makes me wanna test my connection today, but I know it'll still be 3mb

[Naepalm]

@gpixel I was getting 7mb/s today in LTE.

 

[gpixel]

@computergeek541 @sheytoon I agree with both of you guys. 

[computergeek541]

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@gpixel wrote:

It used to be that is was sometimes suggested that these data speeds only be talked about in private because no one wanted a speed adjustment to be made. This is such common knowledge among customers that Public Mobile must already know about this.

As for speeds on the 3g network, I've been as high as 35Mbps.

@computergeek541 Im wondering if the reason for not throttling the 3g data is cause they advertise 3g data speeds and 3mb isn't true 3g? idk... I remember before LTE was the norm, hspa+ was considered 3.5/4g

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@gpixel  I think that we're digging deeper into the the reasons for the HSPA data speeds not being throttled than needs to be. It may very well be as simple as that it was forgotten about. 

Unless there unlimited data, there's very little reason to throttle speeds.  Public Mobile wants customers to more easily and more quickly use data. This results in more data add-ons being purchased and more early renewals.

The reduction of speed on the LTE network may very well be a technique being use so that the parent brand can advertise faster speeds.

I do also agree that Telus may not wish to spend money on implementing further throttling.

[gpixel]

@sheytoon no it's not

jk 🤗

[sheytoon]

@gpixel It's mainly because they don't want to spend development budget on an obsolete technology.

[gpixel]

It used to be that is was sometimes suggested that these data speeds only be talked about in private because no one wanted a speed adjustment to be made. This is such common knowledge among customers that Public Mobile must already know about this.

As for speeds on the 3g network, I've been as high as 35Mbps.

@computergeek541 Im wondering if the reason for not throttling the 3g data is cause they advertise 3g data speeds and 3mb isn't true 3g? idk... I remember before LTE was the norm, hspa+ was considered 3.5/4g

one thing I've noticed when streaming is, there's a burst of full LTE every now and then, giving the progress bar the ability to stay ahead of the video playing. 

[sheytoon]

@srlawren it's good enough 🙂

I would say LTE latency is consistently low in all signal conditions, whereas 3G latency varies with signal.

[srlawren]

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@PilotCass wrote:

Oh no.. Hopefully I didn't wreck it for everyone posting it on here......

35Mbps would be amazing! Definitely have to change the preferred network on my phone.

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@PilotCass the cat was out of the bag long ago, and it's been discussed many times.  We can only guess that PM has no appetite for spending the money to change things to apply the throttle to the HSPA network.  However, as this is an unofficial thing, just know that at any time in the future, PM could change to include the throttle.

Note also that there are trade-offs between the two networks.  The HSPA is not throttled and can often give you better throughput but does feature slower ping times meaning that new connections take longer to connect.  Depending on the type of things you're doing, the slower ping could actually give you longer to wait even with quicker throughput, and vice-versa.  Also, there may be coverage differences, as apparently PM is slowly "refarming" some of it's 3G network to make more LTE coverage available.  @sheytoon please correct me on any of this if I've gotten details wrong.  I know I've oversimplified but hopefully mostly correct 🙂

[sheytoon]

Just curious, why does it matter for real world applications? Do you guys ever have to wait for data to load because of the 3 Mbps limit?

[PilotCass]

Oh no.. Hopefully I didn't wreck it for everyone posting it on here......

35Mbps would be amazing! Definitely have to change the preferred network on my phone.

[computergeek541]

@PilotCass The fact that one can get well above 3Mbps on 3g plan while using the HSPA instead of the LTE network has been talked about quite a bit on the Community.

It used to be that is was sometimes suggested that these data speeds only be talked about in private because no one wanted a speed adjustment to be made. This is such common knowledge among customers that Public Mobile must already know about this.

As for speeds on the 3g network, I've been as high as 35Mbps.

[PilotCass]

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@superjohn140 wrote:

I have done some tests over the past month and i find the best thing to do is NOT have 4G LTE in my phone's preferred network types settings.

I notice a significant difference when I test this at different times. 

3G performances better when 4G is not in the preferred network

3G preferred on average 5 Mbps consistently up to 9 Mbps sometimes (i don’t get this when 4G is involved)

With 4G preferred on average 2-3 Mbps consistently 

I have tested with both google speed test and fast.com (powered by Netflix)

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@superjohn140 thank you for posting this!

I was hoping someone had done some testing for this. Great information to know. 👍

[superjohn140]

I have done some tests over the past month and i find the best thing to do is NOT have 4G LTE in my phone's preferred network types settings.

I notice a significant difference when I test this at different times. 

3G performances better when 4G is not in the preferred network

3G preferred on average 5 Mbps consistently up to 9 Mbps sometimes (i don’t get this when 4G is involved)

With 4G preferred on average 2-3 Mbps consistently 

I have tested with both google speed test and fast.com (powered by Netflix)

[srlawren]

@PilotCass here's roughly how it breaks down:

3G network:  you will not get any throttling* using this network, so the throughput will often be faster than using throttled LTE network.  However, it takes longer to establish new connections.  Your apps are doing this for you behind the scenes at various times.  

4G network: quicker connection speeds, but throughput is artificially limited to 3Mbps.

Which is better for you?  As always: "it depends".

If you're transferring or downloading large files, or streaming media, being on the 3G network is probably advantageous.  These workloads need fewer new connections, and will benefit from the quicker throughput.  If you're browsing the web and moving around pages frequently, the quicker connection times on the throttled LTE network may outweigh the potentially slower throughput.  

You may need to experiment a little and see what works best for your needs.  That said, the discussion so far assumes equivalent signal strength.  Various factors might make one network more or less available than the other in areas you frequent.  This is a longer discussion with a ton of variables.  Again, experiment and see what gives you better experience.

* note that the non-throttling of the 3G W-CDMA/HSDPA/HSPA+ network is a long-standing (since "3G" speed plans were introduced a few years ago) loophole that has been discussed quite a bit publicly in the community.  Public Mobile does not appear to be in any rush to close this loophole, so it could remain in place indefinitely; however, as it has never been publicly stated that the throttling only applies to the LTE network, it's possible PM could "fix" this "problem" at any time.

[PilotCass]

@gpixel4 thanks for sharing! Do you happen to know how the speed on 3G compares to that of LTE?

I was under the impression that throttled LTE would be slower than that of 3G? Maybe this would help with the buffering on videos?

[gpixel]

@PilotCass if you have a decent connection, LTE throttled is actually just barely fast enough to run 1080p YouTube without buffering. I don't recommend streaming videos in HD quality for data consumption purposes. 480p is good enough on a tiny screen and negates any buffering issues

[computergeek541]

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@PilotCass wrote:

Oh, really??

And here I was thinking I could outsmart the system.. Thank you for posting this. Good information to know! Maybe I should just leave it on the automatic settings after all... 😅

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It's your choice whether you want to use the LTE network. You don't have to. Data works on LTE and on 3g. 

[PilotCass]

Oh, really??

And here I was thinking I could outsmart the system.. Thank you for posting this. Good information to know! Maybe I should just leave it on the automatic settings after all... 😅

[kselmak]

Hi @PilotCass 

I wouldn't do that unless you have to download a larger file

Then I would flip back to LTE

You will notice that it takes foreeeeeeeeever to start anything

I got struck in 3g only area and though bars seemed ok it felt like I have to shake the phone to start it going

[gpixel]

@PilotCass choose wcdma that should be 3g

[sheytoon · Accepted solution]

For Public Mobile:

WCDMA is 3G

LTE is 4G

NR will be 5G

[cellphoneuser1]

Set it to automatic LTE/WCDMA/GSM.  The phone will choose the network it thinks is best. It will automatically switch, although there's no GSM 2g at Public Mobile. All calls are on 3g.