4G speeds overseas.

Forums › Off topic › 4G speeds overseas.

dickytim

2514 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#173856 9-Jun-2015 07:45

Well I have just got back from Aussie, and a couple of years ago was in the USA,

I have to say that we are VERY lucky to live in NZ.

I ran some speed tests both in the USA and in Aussie.

In the USA I was lucky to see 5mbps download and 1mbps upload.

In Aussie going through the middle of town in Melbourne I was seeing <5 down and < 0.5 up with 260ms ping.

A little further out I was seeing 11 down and 6 up ping 96ms

Back home and I was seeing 128 down and 36 up ping 36ms

We really have nothing to complain about!

In some cases we even have cheaper data!

Andib

1080 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1319835 9-Jun-2015 07:46

You can thank not having unlimited data plans for that.

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1319843 9-Jun-2015 07:50

Roaming or using local SIM?

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
67149 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#1319856 9-Jun-2015 08:02

If you are using r9aming all the data comes back to New Zealand first even if you are next to the server. This slow things down.

In the USA they started naming 4G for HSDPA as a marketing ploy. They call LTE just LTE (and 4G as well to complicate). 4G speeds in NZ are a lot better than the speed you generally find in the USA.

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1319863 9-Jun-2015 08:09

In Japan on Thursday will be using 4G roaming will be interesting to see difference

dickytim

2514 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1319923 9-Jun-2015 08:24

johnr: Roaming or using local SIM?

Roaming in Aussie.

Local sim in USA.

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1319925 9-Jun-2015 08:28

dickytim:
johnr: Roaming or using local SIM?

Roaming in Aussie.

Local sim in USA.

VodafoneNZ SIM in OZ?

Geektastic

14490 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1320128 9-Jun-2015 11:03

freitasm: If you are using r9aming all the data comes back to New Zealand first even if you are next to the server. This slow things down.

In the USA they started naming 4G for HSDPA as a marketing ploy. They call LTE just LTE (and 4G as well to complicate). 4G speeds in NZ are a lot better than the speed you generally find in the USA.

As a non-telecoms geek, I have to agree this is confusing to the man on the Clapham omnibus.

To the average user, 3G is 'a standard thing' and 4G is "a faster standard thing". Normal people expect 4G to be the same thing everywhere. It would be useful if some organisation could impose actual standards defining them, rather than apparently leaving it to the companies concerned.

It's a little like faults. I have heard it said that "there are many reasons x may happen - not all of them are faults" when talking about telecoms. However, to 99% of users "phone stopped working as expected = fault"!

eXDee

4025 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1320135 9-Jun-2015 11:14

johnr: In Japan on Thursday will be using 4G roaming will be interesting to see difference

3-20Mbps on NTT DoCoMo is what i saw, with a local MVNO, depending on the area.

nathan

5305 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Microsoft

#1320171 9-Jun-2015 11:25

Geektastic:
freitasm: If you are using r9aming all the data comes back to New Zealand first even if you are next to the server. This slow things down.

In the USA they started naming 4G for HSDPA as a marketing ploy. They call LTE just LTE (and 4G as well to complicate). 4G speeds in NZ are a lot better than the speed you generally find in the USA.

As a non-telecoms geek, I have to agree this is confusing to the man on the Clapham omnibus.

To the average user, 3G is 'a standard thing' and 4G is "a faster standard thing". Normal people expect 4G to be the same thing everywhere. It would be useful if some organisation could impose actual standards defining them, rather than apparently leaving it to the companies concerned.

It's a little like faults. I have heard it said that "there are many reasons x may happen - not all of them are faults" when talking about telecoms. However, to 99% of users "phone stopped working as expected = fault"!

what is it that a famous telco exec said?

confusion is a great marketing tool, or words to that effect

3G, 4G are all standards. Its just that US telco's called 3.5G 4G

garvani

1874 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1320181 9-Jun-2015 11:35

Have a somewhat relevant question. Im wondering if anyone has tested 4g speeds on optus in Melbourne? Im moving there next month and see some great deals through TPG which is a optus mnvo. 6gb data, unlimited calls and txts for $45 a month! Of course YMMV but if im getting 1Mbps down it will be less attractive.

BTR

1522 posts

Uber Geek

#1320182 9-Jun-2015 11:38

The problem with speeds in the US as the massive population and in areas like LA the council rules are so difficult and land prices are expensive that its a massive cost to install a tower thats just going to become saturated with users.

On a wireless training course I attended a few years ago the trainer mentioned that most telcos in the US are rolling out wifi on their towers in an attempt to reduce the amount of data traffic on their towers.

They also said our cellular speeds were much better and that was before we had 4G!

dickytim

2514 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1320224 9-Jun-2015 12:39

johnr:
dickytim:
johnr: Roaming or using local SIM?

Roaming in Aussie.

Local sim in USA.

VodafoneNZ SIM in OZ?

Yep VodafoneNZ sim, in OZ roaming on the Vodafone AU network

dickytim

2514 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1320239 9-Jun-2015 12:45

garvani: Have a somewhat relevant question. Im wondering if anyone has tested 4g speeds on optus in Melbourne? Im moving there next month and see some great deals through TPG which is a optus mnvo. 6gb data, unlimited calls and txts for $45 a month! Of course YMMV but if im getting 1Mbps down it will be less attractive.

You get what you pay for here, I was previously on Optus, Vodafone and Telstra in Aussie (pre-mobile broadband) and the coverage on Telstra was worth the price.

Do yourself a favour and maybe get a prepaid Optus sim if that is the way you want to go and see how it is, if it is still the poor cousin to Telstra switch!