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3G vs LTE

_parth23
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Hello, I had a question on my mind, I was wondering which one loads webpages faster 3G or LTE and also I wanted to know which one of the data types uses more data. 

18 REPLIES 18

NuYearNuMobile
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@computergeek541 wrote:

@NuYearNuMobile wrote:

IN THEORY:-

Typical download speeds expected:-

3G (DC-HSPA+) = 8Mbit/s

4G+ (LTE-Advanced Cat9) = 60Mbit/s

Typical Latency expected:-

3G = 100ms

4G = 50ms

 

If you stream 4K Ultra HD quality content then you need 4G+.

Again 4G+ will load webpages and download apps etc faster.

Regarding more data, think of data as equal to distance between point A to B.

So 4G+ is just a faster car compared to 3G but the distance (data) remains same.


I would say that those expected speeds and ping times are extremely conservative.Rarely have I experienced worse than those speeds and latencies on either network.


Thats why I said IN THEORY. But the funny thing is the speeds mentioned above are typical download speeds expected. The Maximum download speeds are much higher :-

IN THEORY:-

Maximum download speeds :-

3G (DC-HSPA+) = 42Mbit/s

4G+ (LTE-Advanced Cat9) = 450Mbit/s

 

So yes those numbers are extremely extremely conservative.

it varies alot on 3G speed plan, it depnds on your signal and other factors etc.


@NuYearNuMobile wrote:

IN THEORY:-

Typical download speeds expected:-

3G (DC-HSPA+) = 8Mbit/s

4G+ (LTE-Advanced Cat9) = 60Mbit/s

Typical Latency expected:-

3G = 100ms

4G = 50ms

 

If you stream 4K Ultra HD quality content then you need 4G+.

Again 4G+ will load webpages and download apps etc faster.

Regarding more data, think of data as equal to distance between point A to B.

So 4G+ is just a faster car compared to 3G but the distance (data) remains same.


I would say that those expected speeds and ping times are extremely conservative.Rarely have I experienced worse than those speeds and latencies on either network. 

NuYearNuMobile
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

IN THEORY:-

Typical download speeds expected:-

3G (DC-HSPA+) = 8Mbit/s

4G+ (LTE-Advanced Cat9) = 60Mbit/s

Typical Latency expected:-

3G = 100ms

4G = 50ms

 

If you stream 4K Ultra HD quality content then you need 4G+.

Again 4G+ will load webpages and download apps etc faster.

Regarding more data, think of data as equal to distance between point A to B.

So 4G+ is just a faster car compared to 3G but the distance (data) remains same.

@sislam, please note 3G performance will only beat throttled LTE when the signal is very good.

 

Otherwise, LTE is a much better technology at cell edge. From your speed test results, you're getting close to 3 Mbps with LTE, which is close to the target speed.

 

If you're getting well below 1 Mbps with LTE in Toronto, then 3G is going to be unusable. You will likely be at cell edge. There's nothing PM or Telus can do about this. Only Bell controls the coverage in GTA.

sislam
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

That may be because you are using different servers to test your speeds. 

I just arrrived in Toronto to visit  family and I on LTE (3G plan but LTE network) I’m getting <1Mbps down and can’t even connect to the Speedtest.net server for testing (only Telus). 

When on 3G network fully, the ping spikes to >1,000ms!!! 

I spend $150 every 90 days for this service. I have been a loyal PM Customer for nearly 3-4 years now. I would like better service and support. Imaginable frustration when even VOIP calls, let alone Instagram and Snapchat are poor on the network. Some webpages won’t even load and it isn very slow. @CS_Agent I would like some assistance please. Thank you. 

hzmy
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

I got different results though.

LTE speedLTE speed3G network speed3G network speed

sislam
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

@CS_Agent

 

I have noticed unusally slow 3G speeds ever since upgrading to the 3G-Only plan down to unacceptable slow speeds. Before on LTE-plan was just. I understand that even if I am connected to LTE I will be throttled to '3G-like speeds' with my plan, but this is too slow.

With the 3G-plan, these tests were completed to the Telus Toronto server, and it is abysmally slow! I would excpect better 3G speeds!!

 

Please fix (attached image).

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Effort
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

Depends. To make the initial "Hello" with the server there is a delay between communications.

 

Assuming you're talking about a 3G plan on Public Mobile:

 

LTE will be able to reply much sooner thus making the load quicker if the webpage is mostly text and some images.

 

However, if the web page is large with many images and videos, it's possible 3G will be quicker even though the initial communication might take longer, the uncapped 3G speeds will be faster at loading the actual content on the site.

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@cletus90255 wrote:

 

 

I dont know for sure but I think Public Mobile allows LTE for 3G users when the LTE network isn't busy.

 


@cletus90255 nothing to do with network load.  If your phone can find an LTE signal and you have LTE enabled in your network settings, it will connect to LTE, and otherwise fallback to 3G.  This is regardless of data plan type.


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cletus90255
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Welcome to the community.

First off 3G and LTE will not use more data than the other.

The difference is speed and consistant speed. 

3G would be compared to cable high speed internet where LTE is compared to fibre op high speed internet.

Overall just LTE depending on the use may load pages quicker or download quicker resulting in yourself doing more data. The effect is not usually more than 1 gb if any.

 

As for Public Mobile I have noticed even with 3G chossen I find 70 percent of the time my device is still connected to LTE.

 

I dont know for sure but I think Public Mobile allows LTE for 3G users when the LTE network isn't busy.

 

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

Okay so let's get one thing out of the way here....

 

As noted, PM's "3G" speed data plans are actually LTE (4G) throttled down to 3Mbps.

 

So when we talk about comparing "3G" to LTE, consider:

 

  • "LTE"/full speed data plan, phone set to allow LTE/auto
    • Fastest possible speeds today
      • Speeds will vary a LOT depending on your phone, network strength, network congestion, how fast the other end of the pipe is, but can easily get above 100Mbps and on some phones up over 400.  FAST.
    • Will use data fastest on anything variable bitrate such as "auto" setting streaming, or running speed tests
  • "LTE"/full speed data plan, phone set to HSPA+ (3G)
    • This setting is a bit silly as you're paying for the full LTE speed but limiting yourself to HSPA+ (real 3G) speeds, which are typically around 5-20Mbps depending on your phone, location, network load, interference, etc
  • "3G"-speed data plan, phone set to HSPA+ (3G)
    • This setting is a bit of a workaround with "3G" plans, since the speed throttling is NOT applied (so far) when your phone is only connected via HSPA+.  So while paying for the "3G" throttled 3Mbps speeds, you're actually getting around 5-20Mbps, again as noted aboved dependent upon many factors
  • "3G"-speed data plan, phone set to LTE/auto:
    • Your phone will connect with the 4G LTE network but be limited by the network to 3Mbps.  Your speed will be fairly constant, since LTE can handle much higher than 3Mbps.  Slowest possible combination, will use least data in variable bitrate applications like "auto" setting streaming or running speed tests.

 

 


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austinhuang
Town Hero / Héro de la Ville

@_parth23 wrote:

Hello, I had a question on my mind, I was wondering which one loads webpages faster 3G or LTE and also I wanted to know which one of the data types uses more data. 


3G has a speed around 3mbps (I speedtested it once).

You probably know your home internet speed, so you can sort of estimate the page loading speed.

Where you see the 'more data on LTE' is when you do a speed test.  The speed test is designed to pull down and upload as much data as fast as possible in a set time frame, thus, the full speed LTE can cram more data in a set time, than the real 3G speeds can.

 

It is suggested that you DO NOT perform speed tests on LTE plans, as it will suck the data down, and use all your plan data quickly.

debbiestalkmorr
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

@RobertQc wrote:

@_parth23 wrote:

Hello, I had a question on my mind, I was wondering which one loads webpages faster 3G or LTE and also I wanted to know which one of the data types uses more data. 


@_parth23If you use a 3G data plan, it is actually LTE and has all the advantages like better quality network and very fast ping / latency (but throttled to 3mb)

 

If you use the 4G/LTE plan it will be much faster, however most of the time you will not notice a difference, unless you are downloading large files / streaming HD / updating. In my opinion not worth the extra cost which is why I choose to be on the LTE Throttled (3g) plan.

 

Both use the exact same amount of data. If you request content from a website / app, one may load it faster however the same content is delivered resulting in the same amount of data used. Unless you are watching or listening to a audio / video stream, and the stream detects a slow internet connection then the quality of the video / audio bitrate could be degraded to compensate for a slow connection.

 

Because of the price, I suggest going with the much cheaper (or same price with significantly more data) and if you find it to be slow, then upgrade to the 4G/LTE plan, but most users find the 3G plan to be more than sufficient.

 

 

 

@debbiestalkmorr wrote:

LTE is faster data so it will use more data.

 @debbiestalkmorr Not in almost every case. (Unless its a stream with variable bitrate content as stated above) If I download a 300kb file, the speed at which I download the file makes no difference to the file size. If its on a 56k modem or a 1000Mbit Fiber line, the file at the end will still be 300kb.


That's true 

debbiestalkmorr
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

@RobertQc wrote:

@_parth23 wrote:

Hello, I had a question on my mind, I was wondering which one loads webpages faster 3G or LTE and also I wanted to know which one of the data types uses more data. 


@_parth23If you use a 3G data plan, it is actually LTE and has all the advantages like better quality network and very fast ping / latency (but throttled to 3mb)

 

If you use the 4G/LTE plan it will be much faster, however most of the time you will not notice a difference, unless you are downloading large files / streaming HD / updating. In my opinion not worth the extra cost which is why I choose to be on the LTE Throttled (3g) plan.

 

Both use the exact same amount of data. If you request content from a website / app, one may load it faster however the same content is delivered resulting in the same amount of data used. Unless you are watching or listening to a audio / video stream, and the stream detects a slow internet connection then the quality of the video / audio bitrate could be degraded to compensate for a slow connection.

 

Because of the price, I suggest going with the much cheaper (or same price with significantly more data) and if you find it to be slow, then upgrade to the 4G/LTE plan, but most users find the 3G plan to be more than sufficient.


I agree 3G is fast enough for most people. Why pay more for fast data when 3G does the job

RobertQc
Mayor / Maire

@_parth23 wrote:

Hello, I had a question on my mind, I was wondering which one loads webpages faster 3G or LTE and also I wanted to know which one of the data types uses more data. 


@_parth23If you use a 3G data plan, it is actually LTE and has all the advantages like better quality network and very fast ping / latency (but throttled to 3mb)

 

If you use the 4G/LTE plan it will be much faster, however most of the time you will not notice a difference, unless you are downloading large files / streaming HD / updating. In my opinion not worth the extra cost which is why I choose to be on the LTE Throttled (3g) plan.

 

Both use the exact same amount of data. If you request content from a website / app, one may load it faster however the same content is delivered resulting in the same amount of data used. Unless you are watching or listening to a audio / video stream, and the stream detects a slow internet connection then the quality of the video / audio bitrate could be degraded to compensate for a slow connection. Edit- Or on a speedtest, because it will attempt to use the maximum speed for a certain amount of time. But this is not the regular and doing a speed test on a faster connection just wastes more data.

 

Because of the price, I suggest going with the much cheaper (or same price with significantly more data) and if you find it to be slow, then upgrade to the 4G/LTE plan, but most users find the 3G plan to be more than sufficient.

 

 

 

@debbiestalkmorr wrote:

LTE is faster data so it will use more data.

 @debbiestalkmorr Not in almost every case. (Unless its a stream with variable bitrate content as stated above) If I download a 300kb file, the speed at which I download the file makes no difference to the file size. If its on a 56k modem or a 1000Mbit Fiber line, the file at the end will still be 300kb.

debbiestalkmorr
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

LTE is faster data so it will use more data. 3G is a bit slower and will use less . Depending on your needs it will depend what speeds you need. If you video or audio stream LTE is the better choice . If you just check email or use the occasional social network app 3G is perfect.  For someone who doesn't require fast speeds 3G is best and cheaper. 

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