Skinny vs Telecom XT 3G Speed Test Results

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Skinny vs Telecom XT 3G Speed Test Results

thinkingtrex8848

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#105750 10-Jul-2012 09:56

This is not complaining/whining. Skinny is targetted at cheap teenagers. XT is premium network. Just for information process.

Reason I joined skinny they uses same XT network and I could quote the CSR would said I'll get same speeds as XT. I do understand XT is getting promoted as a premium network which is fine, but misleading advertisement of Skinny is not very nice.

Also aware that speeds vary with network due to distance between towers, but considering XT and Skinny uses same network, that uncertainty is ruled out.

Speed test.net results
Location for all test phones: Same building, same floor, same room.

> My phone: Galaxy s3 with Skinny microsim

After over 7 tests, results are ranging between 1900kbps and 5500kbps, averaging somewhere in the middle.

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> Mate's phone 1: Galaxy s3 with Skinny microsim

After over 7 tests, results are ranging between 1700kbps and 4800kbps, averaging somewhere in the middle.

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> Mate's phone 2: Galaxy s3 with XT microsim

After over 7 tests, results are ranging between 8200kbps and 9000kbps, averaging around 8500kbps and much more consistent.

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> Mate's phone 3: Iphone 4s with XT microsim

After over 7 tests, results are ranging between 8000kbps and 8500kbps, averaging around 8200kbps and appears to be consistent.

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> Mate's phone 4: Galaxy S2 with XT microsim

After over 7 tests, results are ranging between 8300kbps and 8600kbps, averaging around 8200kbps and appears to be consistent.

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#653358 10-Jul-2012 10:04

Same network - no doubt
Same speeds - no way

ubergeeknz

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#653359 10-Jul-2012 10:05

Very interesting. Have you reported this to Skinny tech support? It may well be a fault in their network setup, not a deliberate thing. If it is, however, ie. lower priority, then they are misleading consumers saying the performance is the same as XT.

thinkingtrex8848

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#653365 10-Jul-2012 10:22

Haven't informed them. Last time i talked to them in fb it wasn't the best experience.

I wouldn't be surprised if they tell me something in terms of you get what you pay for. Trust me i supported skinny right from start and was very stoked to join but things just haven't worked out as good as i expected. Not referring to yesterday's network outage either.

ubergeeknz

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#653388 10-Jul-2012 10:33

you get what you pay for.

Unfortunately it's true... however deliberately misleading consumers about the service you're providing is simply against the law.

Having said that it's far more likely that whoever you spoke to was not lying but simply misinformed, and like most of us, making the assumption that same network = same performance.

NonprayingMantis

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#653389 10-Jul-2012 10:34

did you alternate the test XT-Skinny-XT-Skinny-XT-Skinny etc in the same device, or did you go Skinny-Skinny-Skinny-Skinny-Skinny-Skinny-XT-XT-XT-XT-XT-XT-XT-XT?

If you didn't alternate, then it is possible that when you did all your Skinny tests there was some congestion on the network giving you lower speeds, then when switched out for XT the congestion had reduced giving you better speeds on XT (or vie-versa)

Can you confirm that you weren't running background processes such as syncing email or updating apps at the same time that could affect speedtests?

Sounds obvious, but you definitely weren't using wifi were you?

Looking through my speedtest results I've never gotten better than 6Mbps on my S3 over XT and the range is between 1.5Mbps and 6Mbps.

thinkingtrex8848

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#653405 10-Jul-2012 10:50

Yes it was mobile data.

Text conditions were kept consistent to allow for least uncertainty.

I don't think we should be worried about network congestion because TWO phones are doing their silly small speed test!

I work at a corporate part of suburb with bunch of offices so guessing there might be a tower nearby hence getting good service, explains why the speeds are a little higher for telecom?

thinkingtrex8848

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#653407 10-Jul-2012 10:53

But yes i did the test myself on my s3 and mates s3 and it was alternated.
Rest of the phones were tested around a period of one hour. Not sure to what extent they alternated the tests.

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NonprayingMantis

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#653410 10-Jul-2012 10:59

everybodylovesfebs: Yes it was mobile data.

Text conditions were kept consistent to allow for least uncertainty.

I don't think we should be worried about network congestion because TWO phones are doing their silly small speed test!

I work at a corporate part of suburb with bunch of offices so guessing there might be a tower nearby hence getting good service, explains why the speeds are a little higher for telecom?

I'm not saying the congestion was caused by the phones doing the tes, but it's possible (I have no idea how likely) that if you did all the skinny tests separate from the XT tests, then at the time you did the skinny tests there was network congestion, then when you did the XT tests there wasn't (for whatever reason - maybe some people in another building decided to download some stuff, who knows)

Alternating the tests XT-Skinny-XT-Skinny etc would remove the likelyhood of that being the explanation behind the different speeds.

What do you mean by 'text conditions'? ('test conditions'?)

heavenlywild

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#653432 10-Jul-2012 11:19

Thanks for taking the time to do this.

I would have thought the two would produce similar results. Obviously not!

I guess you do get what you pay for.

tritex

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#653523 10-Jul-2012 14:14

It's like the difference in 2D's speeds when roaming on VF by the sounds of it.

johnr

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#653527 10-Jul-2012 14:18

Maybe skinny connectections have a different QoS profile on the MSISDN in the HLR profile or in the GGSN on the IMSI profile

ubergeeknz

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#653546 10-Jul-2012 14:50

johnr: Maybe skinny connectections have a different QoS profile on the MSISDN in the HLR profile or in the GGSN on the IMSI profile

Yeah!

johnr

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#653550 10-Jul-2012 14:52

ubergeeknz:
johnr: Maybe skinny connectections have a different QoS profile on the MSISDN in the HLR profile or in the GGSN on the IMSI profile

Yeah!

I am not answering for Skinny mobile it was more of a FYI what can be done in the mobile world

thinkingtrex8848

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#653614 10-Jul-2012 16:10

Yes test conditions. Not "text". Swype auto correct!

You are welcome mate I care about good service and value for money, just at my work there are people who cares and looking for an affordable yet fast mobile data plans. I was hoping skinny will be agood competition to two degrees but from what i gathered from skinny CSRs they are n not looking to. accommodate corporate/business users who requires both calling minutes and mobile data.

I do agree that skinny has better speeds than two degrees but only if they had plans similar to two degrees.

I'm using speed test.net app from market and app store.

LivingSkinny

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#653705 10-Jul-2012 19:03

everybodylovesfebs: Haven't informed them.

Hi

Consider us informed :-)

Firstly, under no circumstances are we trying to deceive anyone and there is no network setting in place to reduce the speed for Skinny (or enhance for XT!)

Did you all select the same test server? When I set some tests up on speedtest.net two devices chose a server in NZ and another choose one overseas so I had to manually change.

I ran some tests in the office today using three identical phones which were all factory reset (LG L3 running Android 2.3.6) and side by side. Not scientific but a good indicator. One was on Skinny, one XT prepaid and one XT Postpaid. Over a series of tests I got similar results on all three, with no clear standout.

I recorded one - http://youtu.be/zWkwYdo9oBc - which had download speeds of Skinny 1700kbps, XT Pre 832kbps and XT Post 1095kbps. Whilst Skinny was fastest in this test, this was not consistent. All came in fastest in different tests.

Cheers

Paul

(edit: had originally posted that all the batteries were charged, but just realised the XT Postpaid was added later and so wasn't fully charged).

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