LTE-Is there a point?

[KentState]

LTE is nice, especially when you get results like I'm seeing recently:

 

[Eug]

The best part of that are the consistently decent pings. I also get those types of results on LTE, but on 3G it's always higher, but all over the map. Sometimes mildly higher and sometimes way higher. It makes a huge difference even just for browsing and definitely for tethering. It also makes a significant difference for video streaming in high traffic areas.

I don't stream video much on my phone, but when I do, I want it to work smoothly.

The upload is great too.

 

[Enigmoid]

Okay, so it seems to be fairly situation.

Regardless, many of you are in the states where mobile costs a good deal less.

 

[destrekor]

Okay, so it seems to be fairly situation.

Regardless, many of you are in the states where mobile costs a good deal less.

Huh?

Where are you? Canada?

I find it hard to believe mobile anywhere else is more expensive, on average, than the average US price.

Canada might make a little sense, because like the U.S., there are wide expanses of minimal population over a large geographical distance, with a few pockets here and there of high population density. It's expensive to support voice/data upgrades for our lands. Whereas places like most European countries (the size of our states and/or provinces) have massive population density, and then there's East Asia.

 

[Bateluer]

Verizon LTE in Phoenix AZ spans from ~10Mb down to ~30Mb down in a few areas. When my phone flips to CDMA 3G, its fdamn irritating. Apps download at a snails pace, pages take forever to load, Youtube has to buffer every other second, NetFlix is almost a nogo, etc. Not a chance in hell will I go back to a 3G phone.

TMO's HSPA+ is not much much slower than Verizon/ATT LTE most of the time, but its a dead end technology. LTE is not.

We should never be content with the status quo in technology for more than a year, we should always be moving forward, improving in some way.

 

[grkM3]

What is the most data-consuming activity for you and your brother? Not my business, I know, but out of curiosity. Are 17 GB for just two phones, or are there more devices?

That was just for him but I have been on wifi now at work so my data was down to 4GB this month.

If I were to guess I would say mostly pictures and music on his cell and 20-30% youtube/Netflix

here is his line

 

[magomago]

I get around 20/10 at home with T-Mobile hspa+ at work its 12/3 d/u. Still awesome.

Of course my friend has lte and lives about 100 yards from a Verizon tower... And gets like 45/25 haha


Anyone who says hspa is inadequate simply doesn't know. Of course If you are on Verizon I hope you got lte cause anything else is just unbearable

 

[Fire&Blood]

I just ran a HSPA test though I usually have good wifi coverage most of the time which is better than LTE if you want to leave the phone unplugged. LTE is great but it implies limited phone selection and very pricey contract terms to switch for. HSPA is more than good enough for me but it should be sufficient at the moment, especially considering the cst of switching to LTE right now. For the lifetime of my next phone, give me a low power draw consistent link of ~ 20/2 Mbps with double digit latency and I'm happy, don't really care if it's HSPA or LTE.

 

[lothar]

Huh?

Where are you? Canada?

I find it hard to believe mobile anywhere else is more expensive, on average, than the average US price.

Canada might make a little sense, because like the U.S., there are wide expanses of minimal population over a large geographical distance, with a few pockets here and there of high population density. It's expensive to support voice/data upgrades for our lands. Whereas places like most European countries (the size of our states and/or provinces) have massive population density, and then there's East Asia.

The Canucks put ours to shame.
You think our 2yr contracts are bad? They have 3yr contracts over there.

16GB iPhone 5 with 2yr contract on AT&T is $199.
The same iPhone with 3yr contract in Canada costs $179

Samsung Galaxy S III with 2yr contract on AT&T is $99.
The same Samsung Galaxy S III with 3yr contract in Canada costs $49.

HTC One with 2yr contract will cost $199
The same HTC One will cost $149 with a 3yr contract in Canada.

If a US carrier offers you a savings of $20-50 on buying your phone for signing a 3yr contract instead of a 2yr contract, will you take the bait?

Price comparison links to the Canadian carriers:
http://www.rogers.com/web/Rogers.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=WRLS_HOME
http://www.telusmobility.com/en/ON/phones/index.shtml
http://www.bell.ca/Mobility/Smartphones_and_mobile_internet_devices

Also, it pays to read this:
http://oti.newamerica.net/publicati...nal_comparison_of_cell_phone_plans_and_prices

 

[Enigmoid]

The Canucks put ours to shame.
You think our 2yr contracts are bad? They have 3yr contracts over there.

16GB iPhone 5 with 2yr contract on AT&T is $199.
The same iPhone with 3yr contract in Canada costs $179

Samsung Galaxy S III with 2yr contract on AT&T is $99.
The same Samsung Galaxy S III with 3yr contract in Canada costs $49.

HTC One with 2yr contract will cost $199
The same HTC One will cost $149 with a 3yr contract in Canada.

If a US carrier offers you a savings of $20-50 on buying your phone for signing a 3yr contract instead of a 2yr contract, will you take the bait?

Price comparison links to the Canadian carriers:
http://www.rogers.com/web/Rogers.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=WRLS_HOME
http://www.telusmobility.com/en/ON/phones/index.shtml
http://www.bell.ca/Mobility/Smartphones_and_mobile_internet_devices

Also, it pays to read this:
http://oti.newamerica.net/publicati...nal_comparison_of_cell_phone_plans_and_prices

No competition really sucks.

Forget about the down payment. The plans in the states are miles better than in canada.

 

[s44]

The three off-brand labels up there have decent $60/m deals (currently with 2gb) if you can deal with restricted device selection, and WIND seems to be their T-Mobile. But the main carriers are pretty horrid.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Yes its absolutely worth it as you need to do worthless/BS things on the internet MUCH quicker!!!

:biggrin:

No its not. Personally I don't ever search the web on my phone...unless I have to. If it wasn't for my job paying for my Samsung G3, I would NEVER EVER buy it/pay monthly payments.

MAYBE if I traveled a lot....

 

[AkumaX]

fastest i've seen with my own eyes was 64mbit/s down and 40mb/s up, on Verizon

 

[Eug]

The three off-brand labels up there have decent $60/m deals (currently with 2gb) if you can deal with restricted device selection, and WIND seems to be their T-Mobile. But the main carriers are pretty horrid.

These are our current two Canadian plans:

$46: $56 Smart Plan (2012-12) 2 GB + unlimited voice Canada-wide and SMS/MMS, VVM Plus - $10 credit
$34: $39 Smart Plan (2013-04) 400 MB + 450 anytime Canada-wide, unlim eve/we, SMS, MMS - $5 credit

Both of these plans qualify for full smartphone subsidies on 2-year contracts. I got my RAZR HD for $50 on the 1st plan. (Actually I was supposed to lose the $10 credit, but they forgot to remove it when I signed the contract. For the $34 plan, the $5 credit is because we already had the phone. It'd be $39 with a phone subsidy.) The only phones that are completely excluded are the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5. They require 3-year contracts. The Samsung GS3 is available on a 2-year contract, but the up-front pricing is $250. The Nexus 4 is $100 on a 2-year contract.

These plans are with Fido, which is owned by Rogers, one of the big three. Consequently, LTE coverage is very good. However, both the above plans are promotional plans. Most of the rest of the time, the plans suck.

The off-brand carriers like WIND or Mobilicity have very cheap plan pricing, but that's because their coverage is not national, and even for their local coverage it's often very spotty. Furthermore, their data is heavily throttled. Not worth the hassle.

So, the big three:

Rogers + Fido + Chatr
Bell + Virgin + Solo
Telus + Koodo

The crap three:

Mobilicity
Wind
Public Mobile

 

[Midwayman]

HSPA+ is fast enough considering the battery penalty for using LTE.

 

[bearxor]

HSPA+ is fast enough considering the battery penalty for using LTE.

It's possible for LTE to conserve battery life by transferring the data you're asking for faster, thus leaving the cellular data modem idle quicker and longer than a slower connection.

 

[KentState]

HSPA+ is fast enough considering the battery penalty for using LTE.

LTE is getting much better concerning power consumption. Look at how well the iPhone 5 does on LTE, downloading the same amount of content as HPSA/CDMA. The biggest reason why the early LTE phones sucked was due to multiple radios which had to play together.

 

[Oyeve]

LTE is getting much better concerning power consumption. Look at how well the iPhone 5 does on LTE, downloading the same amount of content as HPSA/CDMA. The biggest reason why the early LTE phones sucked was due to multiple radios which had to play together.

Not for me. My TM sgs3 i at 50% from 6am ths morning and my vzw ip5 is at 24% from 6am. I use the S3 all day to play tunes. The ip5 I just check emails. Battery on lte ip5 since the last update is shit. All my users are bitching about it. Dont even get me stared on the no data access during a phone call.

 

[Fire&Blood]

It's possible for LTE to conserve battery life by transferring the data you're asking for faster, thus leaving the cellular data modem idle quicker and longer than a slower connection.

It's possible but unlikely because typical usage patterns with current LTE characteristics fall outside that small efficiency pocket. Future LTE radios and networks will fully seal the deal over HSPA, guessing 2014. Once power draw is improved LTE will beat out even wifi under optimal conditions at which point it becomes the ultimate wireless link. Right now LTE is great for existing user base but not worth switching for, especially if the consumer has good wifi access in 2 locations a typical user spends 90% of his time. My wifi link is slightly slower than most LTE visitors but I don't have to charge before bed time.

 

[bearxor]

Not for me. My TM sgs3 i at 50% from 6am ths morning and my vzw ip5 is at 24% from 6am. I use the S3 all day to play tunes. The ip5 I just check emails. Battery on lte ip5 since the last update is shit. All my users are bitching about it. Dont even get me stared on the no data access during a phone call.

That was just a poor decision on Apple's part. They should have left one of the three antennas open for data while on a phone call instead of reserving all three. I imagine the next release won't make the same choice.

It's possible but unlikely because typical usage patterns with current LTE characteristics fall outside that small efficiency pocket. Future LTE radios and networks will fully seal the deal over HSPA, guessing 2014. Once power draw is improved LTE will beat out even wifi under optimal conditions at which point it becomes the ultimate wireless link. Right now LTE is great for existing user base but not worth switching for, especially if the consumer has good wifi access in 2 locations a typical user spends 90% of his time. My wifi link is slightly slower than most LTE visitors but I don't have to charge before bed time.

I would agree that it's only going to benefit heavier users. I just noted it was "possible".