General : STM always enforced?

[Kushan]

I've got unlimited data on Three and a Cat-4 LTE capable phone. When LTE eventually rolls out here, there's a very dangerous chance that it might actually perform better than my Virgin connection under STM.

Lucky for Virgin, they've likely got a couple of years to sort it out first.

[Firmsky]

Originally Posted by Kushan

I've got unlimited data on Three and a Cat-4 LTE capable phone. When LTE eventually rolls out here, there's a very dangerous chance that it might actually perform better than my Virgin connection under STM.

Lucky for Virgin, they've likely got a couple of years to sort it out first.

I too am on Three with their One Plan, last night when my congestion issues got so bad I started tethering from my HTC One and was getting speeds of 17Mbps compared with the barely 10Mbps my 120Mbps VM line was delivering! If I wasn't such a big gamer I would ditch VM.

Same here, One plan for me with a Galaxy S4 so here's hoping I get some 4G yummyness in the next few years!

And I might do that after my contract is up. I used to have an Iphone but I didn't like tethering it cause it messed up the battery but if the battery is removable well..

I did 170GB once when I was in hospital (lots of netflix and stuff) and 3 never cared. Brill value for £31 a month is the one plan.

Originally Posted by Kushan

I've got unlimited data on Three and a Cat-4 LTE capable phone. When LTE eventually rolls out here, there's a very dangerous chance that it might actually perform better than my Virgin connection under STM.

Lucky for Virgin, they've likely got a couple of years to sort it out first.

Well from what I have read cat 4 maxes out at 150mbps. It's cat 8 you want with it's 3gbps of yummyness!

I am unlikely to see cat 3 LTE max out at 100 anytime before my next upgrade, well I have 2 phones ones due in 10 months so who knows.

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by Kushan

I've got unlimited data on Three and a Cat-4 LTE capable phone. When LTE eventually rolls out here, there's a very dangerous chance that it might actually perform better than my Virgin connection under STM.

Lucky for Virgin, they've likely got a couple of years to sort it out first.

Only around one year if networks' plans are to be believed. Still, the upload will be miles better from the outset - **** poor upload was one of the main reasons for me leaving VM a while back, and as I keep repeating, there's only been 0.5 years out of the last 10 during which I've *not* had a faster upload speed on my phone than the fastest available VM "fibre optic"

When I tried 4G I got about 23 up so was good.

Just naff allowances. if 3 can hold that up we will be flying and i will dump cable. maybe as Kush says depends what they are doing at the time.

[Kushan]

Originally Posted by everyday

Well from what I have read cat 4 maxes out at 150mbps. It's cat 8 you want with it's 3gbps of yummyness!

I am unlikely to see cat 3 LTE max out at 100 anytime before my next upgrade, well I have 2 phones ones due in 10 months so who knows.

It'll probably take 3 at least 10 months to properly roll out their LTE. Fingers crossed it's CAT-4 or better, I did ask on twitter and they said CAT-4 will be "supported" - whatever that means.

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Only around one year if networks' plans are to be believed. Still, the upload will be miles better from the outset - **** poor upload was one of the main reasons for me leaving VM a while back, and as I keep repeating, there's only been 0.5 years out of the last 10 during which I've *not* had a faster upload speed on my phone than the fastest available VM "fibre optic"

It's that part about believing the networks that I struggle with. Everyone seems to be aiming for 98% by 2015 - I'm not sure anyone has 98% on 2G/3G so we'll have to see, but that 800Mhz spectrum should go far.

[qasdfdsaq]

Everyone has had over 99% on 2G for a decade or more, and that was pre-mergers. EE currently claims 99.8% And again EE are planning to upgrade "all" 2G sites to 4G by the end of 2014. EE and 3 also claim 98% on 3G, not sure about the others.

3 will not take long at all to do their rollout. Not only are they're sharing infrastructure with EE, but in fact, most EE 4G signals actually come from 3's 3G transmitters. Since most EE 4G transmitters actually belong to 3 (well, originally belonged to 3 but are now shared under the MBNL agreement) and are existing 3G sites with upgraded radios bolted on the side, most of the work has already been done.

Since 3 and EE are largely sharing the same physical infrastructure and equipment, it'll be Cat 4 and above from the outset, EE intend to introduce LTE-Advanced in short order, AFAIK all the shared sites are running multimode, multiband software defined radios anyway. EE have the spectrum to introduce (and will be trialling) up to 450Mbps by the end of the year, 3 won't, even on the same spectrum. The problem with 3 is they have the least capacity of everyone but O2, and as I've said before, cheap tariffs, unlimited usage, and low capacity are not a good combination.


And we all know that all turned out on VM... At least VM has some control of node sizes...

[Qtx]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

And we all know that all turned out on VM... At least VM has some control of node sizes...

Crossing my fingers we don't get that problem on Three. Didn't go for the 4G version of the phone as the 3G on Three is good enough but worried that could change.

A speedtest on my non-4g phone, it's piddling down with rain and I am inside a newly built building:



Peaked at 20Mbs download and 15Mbps upload, more than enough for a mobile phone. Who needs 4G? Those wanting to get rid of their home broadband connection, which are going to be the ones putting the strain on the network. If it's an option, why not use it though.

What people need to remember is there will be traffic management on mobile networks. P2P slowed down based on time of day or how busy the network is and things like that.

[qasdfdsaq]

I get a bit suspicious about the results from the new speedtest app, especially given maximum theoretical upload speed is 5.76Mbps.

Though I have seen "Up to 42Mbps" DC-HSDPA go up to 36Mbps just yesterday, anything over 20 is rare IMO.

[kwikbreaks]

Originally Posted by Qtx

What people need to remember is there will be traffic management on mobile networks. P2P slowed down based on time of day or how busy the network is and things like that.

.. and of course as we all know our VM connection is unlimited

[qasdfdsaq]

Unlimited frustration...

Originally Posted by Kushan

It'll probably take 3 at least 10 months to properly roll out their LTE. Fingers crossed it's CAT-4 or better, I did ask on twitter and they said CAT-4 will be "supported" - whatever that means.

It means upto 150mbps down - There are 8 cat's from what I can see and cat 3 is LTE and 4-8 are LTE advanced.

I hope they don't go to cat 4 and leave out cat 3! or my S4 will be useless! My phone can do 100 down and 50 up but thats all I would ever need from a mobile!

Going back to STM I do wonder how many, if any people have gone from VM to FTTC and if this has freed up the network enough to get rid of it.

[Kushan]

Originally Posted by everyday

It means upto 150mbps down - There are 8 cat's from what I can see and cat 3 is LTE and 4-8 are LTE advanced.

Yeah sorry, I know what the different Categories are, what I meant by that was that Three said CAT-4 would be "supported", but that doesn't necessarily mean that you'll get 150Mbit speeds (even potentially). What they COULD mean is that they'll roll out Cat-3 but cat-4 devices will still work on it.

[craigj2k12]

Using the old speedtest app in the trafford centre a few weeks ago...