What do you think of O2 4G so far

[darrengf]

I know that there are lots of Topics of when I will be getting 4G etc, but I thought It would be interesting to see if people do like 4G?

So where i live, I can get 3G, if I walk 200 yards outside up the street I get 4G (From a Mast a couple of Miles away), but even though I cant get 4G in my house, I have however noticed that since 4G is some what in the area, other people must be using it as my 3G speeds have increased, not by much, but they have got better.

However my overall impression on O2 4G is very good. I have noticed more and more places getting 4G and some places now have 3G when they only had gprs.

The speed of the roll out is impressive too I have to say. 3G took for ever, infact I gave up on it, but 4G is rolling out much faster.

However I have come to notice that its very sporidic in areas, so for instance. one mast may get updated in the town and then the others are a couple months down the line.

Not sure how some places get it before others, I can only think that the backhaul to the mast is their and ready.

4G is patchy as well, its like a patchwork quilt lol. But it can only improve.

So some of my views,

Whats yours? Good or Bad

[cyrillicguy]

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@jonsie wrote:

Well I have 4G but it's hardly been life-changing....

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Agree here. If I would be able to move around the UK (bus, train, whatever...) and mantain a constant, say, Skype conversation whilst on the go (more important), or listen to my favourite online radio station (not so important but still nice), without any connection drops, I'd then take my hat off to the network provider which made it possible.

[jonsie]

These are the results from sitting in my armchair watching sky sports on the phone and laptop. Not brilliant but consistent at least. Interesting that upload is far better than wifi.

4G on phone

Wifi on laptop

[viridis]

That's virgins upload throttling for you,
At a ratio of around 10:1 it's below most other providers but is necessary to ease congestion just that little bit.
General reasoning being, more people want to download more stuff than they want to upload.
People will wait for a video to upload to YouTube, but have more desire to receive something quicker.

I have noticed with my 4g I often get higher upload than download,
When you think about it, the need to upload is higher on mobile platforms, with social uploading and constant pics of lunch on instagram. This could be why mobile networks have a much higher split of bandwidth

[Anonymous]

4g in this area is patchy. In some places 4g can be picked up but then you can't send or receive calls/texts. At my home address I get 25 to 30mbs upstairs with 4g but no calls or texts and o2 tell me I can't get 4g!

Where it works it is good but it is just faster that's all. It was never really going to be life changing for most, even die hard internet users. Its strength is in steaming and tv use our large files. Day to day not much difference except quicker.

[jonsie]

Streaming is the big plus but to be honest a phone will only work as fast as the processor allows or is capable of in many cases.

[Anonymous]

Very true @jonsie but with our Notes we should be fine.

[darrengf]

It's good to see that 4G where Ava has been received positively. I wonder say in 6 months we have the same opinion? Only time will tell.

But so far so good.

😉 now where's my Easter egg gone lol

[Anonymous]

4G has only recently arrived in Cardiff, but for my own post code it still doesn't offer a reliable connection for mobile broadband (at least that's what the coverage checker tells me). To be honest though, as a light user on PAYG, it's not really worth spending an extra £5 for 4G, particularly as I'd be paying for an increased inclusive allowance that I don't really need. I think Three have got the right approach, in not charging extra for 4G. 

It may be a coincidence though, but I've noticed that my download speeds on 3G have improved in the last week or two. I'm sure I've read somewhere that they're investing millions of pounds on improving the network, so perhaps we're finally starting to see the benefit of that work.

[Anonymous]

I live in Keighley, West Yorkshire and I did a speed test using my nexus 5 on 3g and got 0.83mb download speed. I then did another test on 4G and achieved 13.4mb download speed. My home broadband runs at 8mb download, so the 4G is awesome.
It's tonnes faster, but for everyday browsing, I honestly can't tell much difference. But for watching videos etc... it's pretty instant

[jonsie]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I live in Keighley, West Yorkshire and I did a speed test using my nexus 5 on 3g and got 0.83mb download speed. I then did another test on 4G and achieved 13.4mb download speed. My home broadband runs at 8mb download, so the 4G is awesome.
It's tonnes faster, but for everyday browsing, I honestly can't tell much difference. But for watching videos etc... it's pretty instant

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Significant difference and improvement for you