4G LTE

N

ng4ever

2[H]4U
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Feb 18, 2016
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I noticed wireless internet 4G LTE is not that reliable except for maybe surfing. Otherwise downloading apps updates or any kind of downloading is unbearable slow at times. The speed seems to go up then down repeatedly.

Is this normal?

It is with the top 3 carriers. This is mainly when moving in a car.
 
There is limited total bandwidth that goes to each cell tower. If there are a lot of users on a single tower, then your individual bandwidth will suffer. Think about it much like if you go to a convention or a major sporting event. The speeds at those can drop to where even web browsing is painful.

So yes this is completely normal.

In a car you're jumping from tower to tower. The connection "meshes" between towers but you can get a stutter in between then which slows things down.
 
This is normal for a handheld device over LTE while moving rapidly. Long story short it’s because the antennas in handheld devices suck.

The issue is caused by the device having signal from one tower & being too far to broadcast back to the old tower while joining the new tower tower. Normally the handoff takes a few seconds, while this happens you are actually connected to both towers. If one tower drops before you are handed off to the new tower data and voice traffic will be paused momentarily.

If you find yourself in need of uninterrupted connection then you can look into some in-car amplifiers that have external antennas. By external I mean they mount to the outside of the vehicle. The good ones are expensive and can be difficult to install unobtrusively but they work.

I’ve used the Wilson ones with good success. Still not 100% perfect but they help a lot.
 
Phones are also not created equal with regard to this. Not just the antennas but also the hardware/firmware.
 
While moving in a car - perfectly normal. While having a proper fixed antenna - not normal.

I have moved 100% wireless in my house. I have two LTE modems load balanced to my lan and it has worked much better than the old adsl did. I get 100-160 Mb/s download speeds and a ping of 16-20ms to a site 120km away. Adsl gave 4-6 Mbit/s and a ping of 30ms+

My son is gaming fps etc. without problems.
 
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My isp throttles to 600kbps after 15gb bandwidth use. Unlimited data, very limited speed. Got to read that fine print but they all do it, throttle speed after so many gb of use. I have a mobile broadband router and their legal jargon refers to it as a hotspot and they claim this restriction on their unlimited plans for any "hotspot" activity. And anything other than a phone registers as a hotspot to them.
 
Wild1 said:
My isp throttles to 600kbps after 15gb bandwidth use. Unlimited data, very limited speed. Got to read that fine print but they all do it, throttle speed after so many gb of use. I have a mobile broadband router and their legal jargon refers to it as a hotspot and they claim this restriction on their unlimited plans for any "hotspot" activity. And anything other than a phone registers as a hotspot to them.
Click to expand...

That does not apply to my country and our ISPs. I can download at full speed all month without throttling.
 
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