4G

Hello everybody, I have an iPhone 4s telephone and have heard that "4G" is the latest form of Internet connection for the telephone. Is it worth upgrading to "4G"? Does anybody have any experience of it? If so, what do you think? I would mostly be using the telephone in the south-east of England. Thank you

BEP

I've had a 4G phone for few months now. Regularly done speedtests with it. The main area it will help you is if you use your iphone to tether / connect other devices to it. As it is 4G this will be quicker. Also better for streaming sky sports and the like.

Biggest down fall is the contracts are restrictive on amount of bandwidth - ie it is faster so i started using it more and more - last week uploaded 8gig without thinking and then got note telling me I had breached the common sense use policy or something - but it did it quickly.

Sort of typical speeds I get are:

slowest 4G 3.41Mbps down load

fastest 4G 24.08 Mbps Download - typical is about 15MBps

slowest upload 0.44 MBPS

fatest upload 12 Mbps - typical is 5Mbps

Of course if you are only using it for voice then there's no point really as there is no extra voice capability its all about mobile data/broadband

DC

Personally i don't see much reason to pay an extra for it. As detoilet consultant said if you're a somewhat heavy user who does a decent amount of streaming then by all means go ahead. Most people i have however seen bolting the 4G pack on just want to be able to say "i have 4G on my phone".

I have a 4G capable phone but decided to remain on 3G firstly and obviously because i don't have to pay extra for it...secondly because my streaming demands are easily met with 3G/HSPA/HSPA+ (the odd you tube every now and then).

I mean look at this scenario: Monday to friday between hours of 9 to 5 atleast i'm at work; need to do any streaming or run any bandwidth hungry apps are very slim. By the time i get home i latch unto my broadband which is quicker. To pay an extra £10/£15 for such to me doesn't make much sense.

Whats more? its only a matter of time before 4G loses its premium tag and becomes free as well. If 3G was really sh** then perhaps it would be worth embarking on that migration to 4G but let's be sincere 3G is quite decent enough for most of our on-the-go needs and as i mentioned earlier...the broadband router is always waiting when we get home :)

have heard that "4G" is the latest form of Internet connection for the telephone.

LOL - BEP - you must surely have been sucking on a Werthers Original, plucked from the pocket of your favourite cardigan, when you wrote that line.

LOL!

Cool, I was about to say..........

Let's look at this from a "strategic consulting" PoV - lol.

Firstly, 4G is rather old now. 5G will be in a city near you soon.

Some questions:

-Are you a heavy mobile broadband user? As in download and upload a lot?

-You you need high uplink and downlink connections speeds?

-How cost sensitive are you?

-Where (locations) do you predominantly consume?

You may be a heavy user, want high predominantly download speeds. In this case, getting 4G makes sense. But..... you are cost sensitive. So, given that it's not unlimited (if I recall right, 4G plans are something like 5GB or so) and you tend to go over this 5BG limit easily, then this might not be a good idea.

Just an example.

I still stick with my 3UK one Plan. Unlimited data. I understand 3's network well (so I know exactly what I am getting). Plus, I tend to use WiFi when at home.

DC,

Is it fair usage policy?

Thank you everybody, I think I will stick with my 3G for now. I do occasionally use the Internet from my telephone, mostly to get directions using the "satellite navigation" feature, but I don't watch TV on it or anything like that.

Isn't it amazing what modern technology can do though... to think that we now have miniature devices from which we can watch television on trains and so on. Incredible. Just imagine what it will be like in another 100 years time.

I was on a 3g package with O2...been with them for yonks and they upgraded me to 4g for nothing, which I thought kind! BEP, if you're on O2 give them a call and ask about it.

Agree with DC on this....as it is faster you suddenly find it more useful = more data used = more cost incurred.

Effectively, I am being 'groomed' by O2 to use more data, which appears to be working

"satellite navigation" lol !

Hehe, well it's true, I do use my telephone for that, it's very useful!

I am 4G.

Yes probably 'fair use' - just didn't think hence 'common sense policy' was more appropriate in my case.

So where are you now ? UK or some international totty heaven !

DC