Thursday 11 May 2017

4G / LTE is the way to go?

This is the speed we get in Benderloch in a mobile 'not-spot' via 4G/LTE modem, external antenna and EE data sim:


This is comparable with a mid-speed FTTC connection and around 5x faster download/ 35x faster upload than our current ADSL. Ping latency matches our ADSL connection at present (both are tested over 802.11ac wifi).

Cost is £23/month for 16GB data use and 'up to 60Mb/s' speed on EE. Other masts for other networks are available in the area, and more upgrades are in planning for the area.

I see this as a viable alternative to waiting for FTTC rollout.

The biggest downside to 4G is the unknown contention for capacity at the cell site - how will a single cell site handle a large number of subscribers, or a small number of high-consumption subscribers?

Presumably when hoards of tourists all come and take photos and upload them to Facebook, this will start to slow down. Likewise if everyone suddenly migrated to 4G for their home internet connections, would everyone suffer?

Time will tell







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