Cell Phones

Is there a huge difference between LTE and 3G?

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  • Jun 28th, 2015 8:54 am
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Deal Expert
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May 22, 2005
21222 posts
6989 upvotes
GTA
Originally I had a Rogers LG G3 which was LTE but had only PowerMat wireless charging, I sold it and bought a Korean LG G3 with 3G (on Telus bands) and Qi charging.

I definitely noticed the speed difference but it wasn't that much slower, 1080p YoutTube videos streamed pretty quickly, though 1440k is a bit slow.


Also I read somewhere that in congested city areas, LTE bands can be slower then 3G which isn't used as often. I don't know how true it is.
Deal Addict
Dec 16, 2001
1864 posts
838 upvotes
Oakville
As others have mentioned, LTE speed is not necessarily faster than HSPA+ ALL THE TIME. I've done side by side tests with the same phone and sometimes the Tbaytel HSPA on Rogers had faster speeds than Fido LTE in the downtown core. HSPA speed tests i top out at about 10 Mbps download and 1.5 Mbps upload.

I don't know if it's congestion, bad LTE connection or what.

HSPA also saves on battery life by turning off LTE.

Where LTE shines is lower latency (lower pings)
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Sr. Member
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Dec 20, 2012
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Vancouver, BC
If you in the main city area, LTE will be more noticeable.. if your out in the boonies then the difference will be minimal or nonexistent...
The only downside to LTE is that you will use up your data much faster.. haha... :cheesygri
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Deal Expert
Nov 7, 2009
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scarberia
yes its like SSD vs HD , once u get on LTE speeds u NEVER want 3g again well when i say LTE, i mean if i get like 30Mbps and 3g is like 10Mbps or less

and the faster pings on LTE , webpages load instantly, on 3g, u can say 1missispippi, 2 missi...3 etc lol and its still loading
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Deal Addict
Nov 21, 2008
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North Vancouver, BC
HSPA has plenty of bandwidth and low latency. Web pages load fast using it, and data transfers such as downloads are more than enough to eat up a data plan.
Deal Expert
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Dec 12, 2009
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Lol, hspa was the gold standard for a number of years. How soon people forget what it's like. If deployed properly, it is plenty capable for day to day mobile needs. The only time that patience may be tested a bit is when downloading a 500 meg file. That ain't gonna happen too often as a lot of plans include all of 500 megs of usage per month.
Temp. Banned
Sep 18, 2012
1355 posts
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ETOBICOKE
scension wrote: How does the battery drain compare with 3G vs. LTE? Considering how much faster LTE's transfer rates are, does that mean battery usage is exponential as well?
Logically that's likely wrong since you'll spend LESS time transmitting if a signal is faster. Really it comes down to signal strength though!

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