topic Re: 4G+ in Android

4G+

Anonymous — Mon, 16 May 2016 12:48:49 GMT

Hey guys, do you think that O2 will release or has in the pipe line for them to enable 4G+ (like EE has at the moment on there network?)

Would be great if they could, O2 network speeds on 4G are not the best - I average out around 20 to 30 mbps?

Re: 4G+

MI5 — Mon, 16 May 2016 12:51:11 GMT

It's already available in some areas but needs a supported handset to make use of it.

Re: 4G+

viridis — Mon, 16 May 2016 14:05:43 GMT

Had it for months...
Most current high end phones support it, but only a few show it as 4G+, others will just show 4G but the difference in speed is clear.

Re: 4G+

Bambino — Mon, 16 May 2016 15:12:12 GMT

An average of 20-30mbps isn't bad, considering some people are still only getting a 2G service. Individual speeds on 4G depend on many variables.

Re: 4G+

viridis — Mon, 16 May 2016 16:19:11 GMT

Near 60 on a good day round here, I believe jonsie or Adam picked it up before (can't remember who lol) and got near 60 too.

Re: 4G+

viridis — Mon, 16 May 2016 16:19:51 GMT

But yes 20-30 is more than adequate for any mobile device tbh

Re: 4G+

Anonymous — Mon, 16 May 2016 16:26:01 GMT

I had a look at this sometime last week and there was this article on pcadvisor

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/feature/mobile-phone/whats-difference-between-4g-lte-3605656/

My understanding is the 4G+ is the same as LTE-A (an article on the ee site pretty much says this) its a branding thing (correct me if Im wrong, honestly, I work in accounts and litigation, I am no mobile engineer).

Anyway looking at the article above 4G is meant to deliver minimum speeds of 100Mbits/s and 1Gbit/s when stationary, according to the blurb on EE you can get speeds of up to 90mbits/s which I assume means, you can get those speeds if your right next to a tower, and you are the only person in a forty mile radius using the phone.

(Bear with me I am going somewhere with this)

So reading between the lines rather than 4G+ this is just an improved implementation of the 4G protocol. Now I did read another article that I now cannot find relating to the technological impact of the O2/3 merger, claiming that the merger would naturally lead to an increase in the efficiency of the 4G network to these speed due to the increased bandwith, which is what currently limits O2.

Re: 4G+

adamtemp64 — Mon, 16 May 2016 16:39:47 GMT

@viridis wrote:
Near 60 on a good day round here, I believe jonsie or Adam picked it up before (can't remember who lol) and got near 60 too

Re: 4G+

viridis — Mon, 16 May 2016 18:58:03 GMT

Thanks Adam.

Re: 4G+

Anonymous — Mon, 16 May 2016 22:25:13 GMT

Wow that's some fast speed! I just did a speed test on my 2nd floor house (top bedroom) and am getting (25.85Mbps download) and (10.83Mbps upload) and that's with full 4G connection and my nearest mast is 1100 feet away lol is that good or should I get faster speed?

Re: 4G+

Anonymous — Mon, 16 May 2016 22:27:07 GMT

I do hope they do release it in more areas, I've got a Samsung Galaxy S6, I've never had to this date 4G+ on my mobile. I would presume it would be in major cities like London?

Re: 4G+

MI5 — Tue, 17 May 2016 05:51:17 GMT

There is no map for 4g+ as far as we are aware so wouldn't know.

Re: 4G+

Cleoriff — Tue, 17 May 2016 06:18:42 GMT

I know this thread is about 4G+ ...I have to say I was pleased to see 4G in Gt Yarmouth this weekend. When I was last there (3 years ago) I was lucky if I got a signal at all. Having said that...it was interesting to see the fluctuations in signal during the journey ....

Re: 4G+

Anonymous — Tue, 17 May 2016 09:16:50 GMT

As far as I can tell there is no roll out planned or at least no announcements I can trace on google, but as per the article I posted before 4g is meant to have a much higher speeds theoretically. I would assume some investment in infra structure is needed so maybe it will happen after all this take over stuff, maybe it is already happening and someone in the marketing department missed the boat.

Re: 4G+

viridis — Tue, 17 May 2016 09:19:22 GMT

You're not taking congestion into account.
Plus, theoretical speeds on anything seldom see the light of day

Re: 4G+

Anonymous — Tue, 17 May 2016 09:40:20 GMT

True enough I'm looking at it more from the perspective that 4G+ is not the next stage of 4G rather just the natural evolution of the product heading towards the standard as set out. However, the marketing does seem to posit it as the next step

It appears (from what I have read anyway) that most of the problem is infrastructure, the cell towers are not able to handle the amount of channels and the handsets that would actually be compatible (its something to do with aerials, but no one has put a number on it yet).

We have seen already that in some areas people can get 60mbs, and figures seem to be sparse on what the average a website (which I have never heard of before and so therefore I do doubt its accuracy, but its the only figures I have) claims average 4G+ speeds are 42 mbps. So the evidence would be that O2 already (in some areas) offer the equivalent, they are just not marketing it as 4G+.

So in a nutshell my opinion is that 4G+ is just marketing speak.

Its not a slow work week at all....

Re: 4G+

adamtemp64 — Tue, 17 May 2016 16:41:59 GMT

I was in the same area today as the above and got 55mb the area is near a uk military base in south somerset the mast is approx 1.5 in from where I did the test and another mast is approx 3km away both were in Line of sight.

Re: 4G+

gmarkj — Wed, 18 May 2016 07:16:37 GMT

While out and about in "town" (Rushden, NN10 area) yesterday I noticed that I had a 4G+ signal, so quickly ran a speedtest...

Not a bad speed really!

Re: 4G+

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 17:11:40 GMT

Just got 64meg in Leeds

Re: 4G+

MI5 — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 17:13:47 GMT

Well done