Paying of 3G getting LTE

[joesugarman27]

Im on 30 days plan, 40 dollars a month for 2GB of 3G Data! Im getting LTE speed though? Im not complaining or anything but just wondering!

[jp2]

Unfortunately I've convinced everyone at work with Bell to switch. The company phone is the only one still on Bell which has service sometimes depending where you are standing but I can't remove the sim because it's an emergency phone and the paper work to remove it from service is will never be approved to check it in my phone. I'll private message you

[sheytoon]

I don't have an explanation for you, unless Telus mistakenly turned off sharing with Bell on that one site. I've never heard of that happening. If you want to private message me the exact site location, I can check the configuration for you.

Is this problem still happening? Do you know anyone with a Bell SIM that can check again if needed?

[jp2]

Sony Xperia z5 premium with a Bell sim (I had been with Bell for years) started a new job didn't have service there but coworker did with PM so I unlocked my phone and switched. I've always had service since. Located outside of Edmonton Alberta 

[Dipole_Moment]

It shows LTE because, as the PM website says, you get the reliability and coverage of LTE with the 3g plan. Your friend's phone might be automatically switching to 3g for reception purposes.

[sheytoon]

@stonechucker, @srlawren, thanks guys! That's very kind of you 🙂

[sheytoon]

Hmmm, that doesn't make sense. Which phone did you use and where are you located? Was your Bell SIM active? i.e. did you have service with it at another location?

[jp2]

Ok that could explain the performance comparison. Do you know why I didn't have service with Bell but as soon as I switched my sim to PM I did have service and have always had service in the same area since? Everyone says Bell and Telus share the towers so I don't understand that. Thanks 

[srlawren]

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@stonechucker wrote:

@sheytoon, so glad you’re part of the community.  It’s nice to know someone who knows the tech much better than I do.  I’m always learn8ng.

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^^^^^^^^^ this!!!  🙂

[stonechucker]

@sheytoon, so glad you’re part of the community.  It’s nice to know someone who knows the tech much better than I do.  I’m always learn8ng.

[sheytoon]

@jp2

The same RAN is delivering the packets to your friend on Bell and you on Telus. If you use the same phone with the same app, and same CPU/memory usage, it will be the same performance for small files.

Bell (and regular Telus LTE) will beat the "3G" plan performance for large file sizes.

[jp2]

As everyone is saying when you do a speed test you will see you are limited. Although as many of you know I'm sure that my 3G plan is faster at loading pages the by previous LTE plan with Bell. Just yesterday I was showing a sceptical person how good 3G is. He was using an iPhone on the Bell network with LTE; we loaded the same page at the same time and I beat him by miles it wasn't even close. I'm so glad I left Bell!

[Dragonstongue]

if your phone can use LTE and you are on an LTE plan (and have it enabled) you should be seeing a good increase in speed (if actually need it as such) if your phone is (and most are) capable of dropping to 3g when reception is weak or too far away from reception area it would fall back to 3g speed instead of LTE (my phone is very much able to use LTE, I can set as LTE but my data is only 3g is funny to watch it argue with itself, I force mine off though to save a chunk on battery life.

[srlawren]

@joesugarman27 if you were to benchmark you would see you are capped. (But beware: speed tests can consume a considerable amount of your data bucket). Seeting LTE is normal, though it will revert back to actual 3G network (HSPA+) if your phone isn't LTE capable, or if you turn LTE off in your settings. This latter probably applies to your friend. 

Edit: @mimmo beat me to it. Sometimes a mobile keyboard can be super frustrating

[mimmo · Accepted solution]

The 3g plans will as @srlawren said show LTE.  Your friend might have the selected a 3g network setting or sometime the phones switch to 3g when there is not good LTE signsl

[joesugarman27]

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@srlawren wrote:

@joesugarman27 the "3G" is referring to a speed cap of 3Mbps. The service is still delivered over LTE 4G network like normal, it's just speed limited. 

Note that it can also take up to 72 hours after activating on a 3G plan or changing to a 3G plan for the cap to be applied. So if you are seeing speeds exceeding 3Mbps, it may be temporary. 

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I have had the plan for almost 2 weeks now! My phone displays it has LTE but I got my friend on the exact same plan and her phone (The exact same as mine , IPhone 6S) displays 3G! 

[srlawren]

@joesugarman27 the "3G" is referring to a speed cap of 3Mbps. The service is still delivered over LTE 4G network like normal, it's just speed limited. 

Note that it can also take up to 72 hours after activating on a 3G plan or changing to a 3G plan for the cap to be applied. So if you are seeing speeds exceeding 3Mbps, it may be temporary.