Mobile speed test: how fast is your mobile network?

beecart · 19-11-2012, 17:37

The Guardian have done a test and results are in...

Download rates on Three averaged 2.73 Mbps, and Vodafone was in second place at 2.72 Mbps. O2 came in almost bang on average, at 2.64 Mbps. Orange and T-Mobile, which have been merged and now share a network, brought up the rear, reporting a combined average of 2.59 Mbps.

So all those O2 bashers out there... It seems O2 is slightly better than nothing nowhere

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...n-speed-survey

MGS4SnakeRulez · 19-11-2012, 17:43

Funny how you call people' O2 bashers' then go and bash EE.

Hypocrite.

artnada · 19-11-2012, 17:54

Taken 1 minute ago on Three. Tiny bit more than the small amount the Guardian posted. Three have recently been upgrading their network, and is very comparable to average 4G speeds.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1rkl4ng4v5...2017.52.06.png

picture recently on EE 4G

Daveoc64 · 19-11-2012, 17:57

I would completely ignore these results.

The problem with this sort of test is that it's grossly unscientific. You're not comparing the networks like for like.

To do an accurate comparison, you need to test each network in the exact same location using the exact same hardware.

It's not really a fair test to compare results from a phone that can hit speeds of ~20mbps with one that can only manage ~5mbps. It drags down the results.

BT@home · 19-11-2012, 18:00

How fast? Fast enough for me, don't see the point in having faster.

danielmeah · 19-11-2012, 18:05

You gotta remember people who do speed tests on o2 with the speedtest.net app, its always invalid. Due to that compression proxy (Which cannot be disabled on o2)

One sign is you notice how quick the download test finishes.

mogzyboy · 19-11-2012, 18:54

Too many variables with this sort of thing for me to take it seriously.

I'm guessing they were stood right under the mast to get that speed on O2?

hongkongandy · 19-11-2012, 19:29

I am getting 11.84 down and 2.63 up. Three mobile and my area is not yet upgraded to Ultrafast....

Why pay EE prices?

mogzyboy · 19-11-2012, 19:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by hongkongandy

I am getting 11.84 down and 2.63 up. Three mobile and my area is not yet upgraded to Ultrafast....

Why pay EE prices?

Isn't EE's Full Monty around the same price? That's probably why...

hongkongandy · 19-11-2012, 19:39

Three sim only £6.90 monthly.

Thine Wonk · 19-11-2012, 19:42

Time and time again 3 comes out top in these things though, whilst this one isn't that scientific the one carried out by Root Metrics certainly was, all using the same equipment in the same locations, tests were both indoors (at 102 locations), outdoors (conducted in the scouter’s parked vehicle during indoor testing), and during drive tests (covering 2,292 miles) throughout London.

The result was that 3 provided the best overall performance including in building, the best SMS speed to delivery and the best overall data speeds. No wonder over a million people switched this year.

interactiv-uk · 19-11-2012, 19:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielmeah

You gotta remember people who do speed tests on o2 with the speedtest.net app, its always invalid. Due to that compression proxy (Which cannot be disabled on o2)

One sign is you notice how quick the download test finishes.

Change your APN username to bypass. That should get you round the proxy issue.. It will screw up tethering etc so use at your own risk!

danielmeah · 19-11-2012, 20:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by interactiv-uk

Change your APN username to bypass. That should get you round the proxy issue.. It will screw up tethering etc so use at your own risk!

Dont think that works on giffgaff or other mvno's

Minardi · 19-11-2012, 21:54

I always got good speeds where I had O2 3G. That just wans't that often. T-Mob via Virgin Mobile runs at about 3Meg here, though I topped 6Meg the other afternoon. Orange (again via Virgin) is a woeful 400-600k all the time. 3, via modem, is about 3Meg.

jabbamk1 · 19-11-2012, 22:07

With three and o2. Usually get around 6-12mbps on a good day at home and work. Usually above 3mbps in most places in my area. Have seen really good dc-hspa+ speeds though on mates ipad. Around 15-20mbps.

O2 is slower but on a good day I can get around 4mbps at home.

kevin619 · 21-11-2012, 04:46

To give an idea of the speeds to expect, the top laboratory-tested download rate on EE's network is around 50 megabits per second (Mbps) – equal to superfast home broadband. In real life conditions, the company is forecasting speeds of between 8 and 12Mbps.

eypon · 21-11-2012, 05:00

Get about 5-8Mbps outdoors

about 1mb indoors with vodafone but tbh indoors i'm usually on wifi.

bowland37 · 21-11-2012, 05:20

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2321668136.png

Using a standard 3 ZTE112 dongle plugged into a TP-Link 3G router sat on my window ledge..

lovedoctor1978 · 21-11-2012, 06:57

What site do people use to do a speed test from thier phones?

wavejockglw · 21-11-2012, 07:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by lovedoctor1978

What site do people use to do a speed test from thier phones?

www.speedtest.net is popular. There is a Speedtest app available for iPhone and Android.

lovedoctor1978 · 21-11-2012, 07:39

Speedtest.net wont run on my phone, Samsung Monte (not android). Oh well.

Thine Wonk · 21-11-2012, 19:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by lovedoctor1978

Speedtest.net wont run on my phone, Samsung Monte (not android). Oh well.

Yeah it's a feature phone, rather than a smartphone really with it's own OS. I don't think you'll get much in the way of speed test aps etc.

Gormond · 21-11-2012, 19:50

On Virgin Mobile, in my house I get:

Down: 3.51 Mbps
Up: 2.23 Mbps
Ping: 73 ms

Test done on an iPhone 4 with 3/5 bars so only 7.2 Mbps max.

DevonBloke · 21-11-2012, 23:42

EE. iPhone 5. MBNL 3G mast in my home town of Totnes.
http://www.speedtest.net/iphone/373578018.png
This isn't a one off. Gives same results all the time.

The Lord Lucan · 22-11-2012, 02:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by beecart

The Guardian have done a test and results are in...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...n-speed-survey

The tester they use on this is crap. Where i'd see 15mb+ on any speediest.net server the guardian page only shows 2-4mb. it just doesn't test for long enough!

I did a test this morning on EE LTE. Speedtest.net app registered 39mbps.. this silly test only could manage 5!!

Also NONE of my tests have shown up on the map! it also thinks a 3G iPad is a desktop....

19-11-2012, 17:37	#1
beecart Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 383	Mobile speed test: how fast is your mobile network? The Guardian have done a test and results are in... Download rates on Three averaged 2.73 Mbps, and Vodafone was in second place at 2.72 Mbps. O2 came in almost bang on average, at 2.64 Mbps. Orange and T-Mobile, which have been merged and now share a network, brought up the rear, reporting a combined average of 2.59 Mbps. So all those O2 bashers out there... It seems O2 is slightly better than nothing nowhere http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...n-speed-survey

19-11-2012, 17:43	#2
MGS4SnakeRulez Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 16,705	Funny how you call people' O2 bashers' then go and bash EE. Hypocrite.

19-11-2012, 17:54	#3
artnada Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2000 Posts: 9,397	Taken 1 minute ago on Three. Tiny bit more than the small amount the Guardian posted. Three have recently been upgrading their network, and is very comparable to average 4G speeds. https://www.dropbox.com/s/1rkl4ng4v5...2017.52.06.png picture recently on EE 4G

19-11-2012, 17:57	#4
Daveoc64 Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Bristol (BBC1 West) Posts: 15,143	I would completely ignore these results. The problem with this sort of test is that it's grossly unscientific. You're not comparing the networks like for like. To do an accurate comparison, you need to test each network in the exact same location using the exact same hardware. It's not really a fair test to compare results from a phone that can hit speeds of ~20mbps with one that can only manage ~5mbps. It drags down the results.

19-11-2012, 18:00	#5
BT@home Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,911	How fast? Fast enough for me, don't see the point in having faster.

19-11-2012, 18:05	#6
danielmeah Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Liverpool(L15)l, UK Posts: 458	You gotta remember people who do speed tests on o2 with the speedtest.net app, its always invalid. Due to that compression proxy (Which cannot be disabled on o2) One sign is you notice how quick the download test finishes.

19-11-2012, 18:54	#7
mogzyboy Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Wales Posts: 4,554	Too many variables with this sort of thing for me to take it seriously. I'm guessing they were stood right under the mast to get that speed on O2?

19-11-2012, 19:29	#8
hongkongandy Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Ashford Middx Posts: 118	I am getting 11.84 down and 2.63 up. Three mobile and my area is not yet upgraded to Ultrafast.... Why pay EE prices?

19-11-2012, 19:31	#9
mogzyboy Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Wales Posts: 4,554	Quote: Originally Posted by hongkongandy I am getting 11.84 down and 2.63 up. Three mobile and my area is not yet upgraded to Ultrafast.... Why pay EE prices? Isn't EE's Full Monty around the same price? That's probably why...

19-11-2012, 19:39	#10
hongkongandy Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Ashford Middx Posts: 118	Three sim only £6.90 monthly.

19-11-2012, 19:42	#11
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	Time and time again 3 comes out top in these things though, whilst this one isn't that scientific the one carried out by Root Metrics certainly was, all using the same equipment in the same locations, tests were both indoors (at 102 locations), outdoors (conducted in the scouter’s parked vehicle during indoor testing), and during drive tests (covering 2,292 miles) throughout London. The result was that 3 provided the best overall performance including in building, the best SMS speed to delivery and the best overall data speeds. No wonder over a million people switched this year.

19-11-2012, 19:53	#12
interactiv-uk Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 587	Quote: Originally Posted by danielmeah You gotta remember people who do speed tests on o2 with the speedtest.net app, its always invalid. Due to that compression proxy (Which cannot be disabled on o2) One sign is you notice how quick the download test finishes. Change your APN username to bypass. That should get you round the proxy issue.. It will screw up tethering etc so use at your own risk!

19-11-2012, 20:22	#13
danielmeah Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Liverpool(L15)l, UK Posts: 458	Quote: Originally Posted by interactiv-uk Change your APN username to bypass. That should get you round the proxy issue.. It will screw up tethering etc so use at your own risk! Dont think that works on giffgaff or other mvno's

19-11-2012, 21:54	#14
Minardi Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Midlands Posts: 502	I always got good speeds where I had O2 3G. That just wans't that often. T-Mob via Virgin Mobile runs at about 3Meg here, though I topped 6Meg the other afternoon. Orange (again via Virgin) is a woeful 400-600k all the time. 3, via modem, is about 3Meg.

19-11-2012, 22:07	#15
jabbamk1 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: London, UK Posts: 8,759	With three and o2. Usually get around 6-12mbps on a good day at home and work. Usually above 3mbps in most places in my area. Have seen really good dc-hspa+ speeds though on mates ipad. Around 15-20mbps. O2 is slower but on a good day I can get around 4mbps at home.

21-11-2012, 04:46	#16
kevin619 Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 36	To give an idea of the speeds to expect, the top laboratory-tested download rate on EE's network is around 50 megabits per second (Mbps) – equal to superfast home broadband. In real life conditions, the company is forecasting speeds of between 8 and 12Mbps.

21-11-2012, 05:00	#17
eypon Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Aberdeen Posts: 326	Get about 5-8Mbps outdoors about 1mb indoors with vodafone but tbh indoors i'm usually on wifi.

21-11-2012, 05:20	#18
bowland37 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 4,230	http://www.speedtest.net/result/2321668136.png Using a standard 3 ZTE112 dongle plugged into a TP-Link 3G router sat on my window ledge..

21-11-2012, 06:57	#19
lovedoctor1978 Forum Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Huddersfield Posts: 1,876	What site do people use to do a speed test from thier phones?

21-11-2012, 07:29	#20
wavejockglw Inactive Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Glasgow Posts: 10,276	Quote: Originally Posted by lovedoctor1978 What site do people use to do a speed test from thier phones? www.speedtest.net is popular. There is a Speedtest app available for iPhone and Android.

21-11-2012, 07:39	#21
lovedoctor1978 Forum Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Huddersfield Posts: 1,876	Speedtest.net wont run on my phone, Samsung Monte (not android). Oh well.

DS Forums

Mobile speed test: how fast is your mobile network?

21-11-2012, 19:02	#22
Thine Wonk Forum Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 14,577	Quote: Originally Posted by lovedoctor1978 Speedtest.net wont run on my phone, Samsung Monte (not android). Oh well. Yeah it's a feature phone, rather than a smartphone really with it's own OS. I don't think you'll get much in the way of speed test aps etc.

21-11-2012, 19:50	#23
Gormond Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Scotland Posts: 15,714	On Virgin Mobile, in my house I get: Down: 3.51 Mbps Up: 2.23 Mbps Ping: 73 ms Test done on an iPhone 4 with 3/5 bars so only 7.2 Mbps max.

21-11-2012, 23:42	#24
DevonBloke Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Totnes, Devon Posts: 6,694	EE. iPhone 5. MBNL 3G mast in my home town of Totnes. http://www.speedtest.net/iphone/373578018.png This isn't a one off. Gives same results all the time.

22-11-2012, 02:44	#25
The Lord Lucan Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Scotland Posts: 4,966	Quote: Originally Posted by beecart The Guardian have done a test and results are in... http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...n-speed-survey The tester they use on this is crap. Where i'd see 15mb+ on any speediest.net server the guardian page only shows 2-4mb. it just doesn't test for long enough! I did a test this morning on EE LTE. Speedtest.net app registered 39mbps.. this silly test only could manage 5!! Also NONE of my tests have shown up on the map! it also thinks a 3G iPad is a desktop....