Strange but True !! 3G Data Speeds Depending on Tariffs.

[darrengf]

So On friday night i was at friends house in Rotherham where we were doing some testing on o2 3G and 4G speeds versus there own Fibre Broadband.

So I have an iPhone 6 and on 3G was getting 25.38Mbps down and 2.98Mbs Up which was amazing.

The Fibre Broadband was 14Mbs down and 2.4Mbs up, So as you can imagine we were impressed with o2 3G Speeds

But then the confusion came.

Both my friends have iphone 5, Both on o2 refresh Tariffs, with loads of Data and with 4G sims, so the tests they both did were no more than 3.5Mbps up and 2Mbbs down

Strange in deed.

Now before you say, well its the iPhone 5 doesnt do 4G, Please bare in mind that were on 3G (I had switched my 4G off on the iPhone 6) and the iPhone 5 and iPhone 6 are both capable at the same speed on 3G.

So we thought ok iPhone 5 may need a reboot, so both of the phones were rebooted, again we got the same speed on 3G 3.5Mbps down and 2Mbps up, So a clean of the 4G sim and again same.

However my friend was going to Apple on Sat to get an iPhone 6+ so needed his Tarrif changing to 4G. So we went on line and changed he Tariff last night. It went through without any issues. We noticed his Data Signal went of and came on 10 seconds later.

So what we found next was very strange indeed. We ran the same speedtest on the same iPhone 5 that had just had the Tariff changed.

3G speed was now 22Mbs down and 3.5Mbs up.

So appart from changing the Tariff, the 3G speed increased from 3.5Mbs down to 22Mbs up. Again remebering that it was on the O2 3G network. All we had done was swapped over from a O2 2013 Refresh Tariff, to a O2 4G 2014 Refresh Tariff

So it really does make a difference what Tariff you are on with o2, shouldnt but it does.

Oh and the one friend that wasnt bothered in changing his Tariff so is still on the O2 2013 one, was still only getting 3.5Mbps Down and 2Mpbs up.

Strange but true

[Anonymous]

A conundrum !

Lots of variables maybe , I'm not too sure. ☺️

[darrengf]

Yes it sure doesnt make sense. He clicked on changed Tariff, got a Sms saying 4G was now activated and the speeds on 3G went from 3.5Mbps to 20+Mbps.

Def Strange 

[viridis]

It probably just allowed access to the HSPA+ part of the 3G signal.
It might not have been allowed if the sims were activated before o2 rolled out the 3.5G

[MI5]

It must have been HSPA+ because the 3G max is 14.4mbps

[viridis]

Guessing original 3g adopters did not have access to the 3.5g when it came out So were limited to 3g
Then when 4g came along they got access to all the other network speeds even if not using a 4g phone.

[MI5]

It would make sense that old 3g sim cards weren't capable of receiving H+ signals.

[viridis]

Logical solution to this difference in speed.

[darrengf]

They havnt got 3G sims, They both have 4G sims on a 2013 O2 Refresh Tariff.

Also HSPA+ on O2 has been 42Mmbs for a while now, much earlier than 2013, so again it would make no sense for O2 to not allow them on to thie part of the network.

Its a strange one thats for sure, but it does show that o2 may do something to there Tariffs? Possible wanting you to upgrade?

I dont know, but its a good one/

[anticpated]

All current paym contracts should be 4G now. It also depends on the amount of asu In the receiving area. Hspa is advanced 3g and your handset has to support it.

Looking up your handset and what radio bandwidth it works with settle what should happen.