Carrier Gigabit LTE - Why is nobody talking about this?

[BiggAW]

The screenshots are from unbox therapy.

You keep comparing a 2017 iPhone to the 2018 Qualcomm modem.

You didn’t even once mention that you were comparing a 2017 intel to a 2018 Qualcomm modem.

That’s dishonest.

I have made numerous comparisons, and it doesn't really matter what set of Qualcomm and Intel chips you use, you could do a Qualcomm iPhone 7 and it would still have better low-signal performance than an Intel iPhone 8.

The facts remain, very clearly, the Qualcomm iPhones perform significantly better than Intel iPhones in normal usage scenarios. Of course when you cherry pick strong signal tests with unloaded towers, you can create an artificial scenario where the Intel iPhone is about the same as the Qualcomm iPhone. That's extremely misleading, dishonest, and not representative of anything other than an artificial test scenario.

Go take a Qualcomm and Intel iPhone out where there is barely one bar, or on the subway, and tell me what happens. The Qualcomm iPhone will crush the Intel iPhone.

 

[Derived]

LTE (and even 3g) are already faster than you would ever need for anything that happens on a phone. Honestly, Edge was probably fast enough. I suspect no one's talking about it because it's just useless overkill that's going to probably take 7–10 years to roll out.

All the meaningful advancements in mobile technology happened a decade ago. At this point it's just masturbatory.

This is an absolutely ridiculous comment, most carriers had 3G speeds in the hundreds of kilobits per second, a small percentage of what we get now. Most things done over cell networks on phones now could not possibly even have been conceived of with 3G. What a silly thing to say. On top of that, LTE is a vastly superior spec with much better energy efficiency, penetration & reach, and several orders of magnitude better in terms of scalability.

Why are you on a technology website in 2018 if you think “EDGE is really good enough” - clearly smartphones aren’t your thing.

 

[ilifecomputer]

Comparing 2017 speeds and assuming the same for 2018 even though they have not yet been released - the thread.

 

[Juicy Box]

Why are you on a technology website in 2018 if you think “EDGE is really good enough” - clearly smartphones aren’t your thing.

I have to agree with you, that this is a pretty silly thing to say, as EDGE is pretty slow.

But...

As the world is now, and probably for at least the next half decade, Gigabit internet speed is probably over kill for most people on cell phone. I think Gigabit speeds is overkill for most people in their homes too.

Now, if someone is able to get Gigabit speeds, and it doesn't cost them more money to do so, then I would tell them to go for it, but having those type of speeds for the average consumer would be like leasing a large box truck to transport a roll of pennies.

I just think that Gigabit speeds on cell phones isn't that important to the average person atm.

BTW, this comment isn't directed at your or your post I quoted, but just a bunch of other posts in the thread I saw.

 

[BiggAW]

I have to agree with you, that this is a pretty silly thing to say, as EDGE is pretty slow.

For one, EVDO is not EDGE. EDGE practically topped out around 180-200kbps, EVDO topped out at 2-2.1mbps. EDGE is 2G tech, EVDO is 3G. HSPA+ pushed 3G to the 8-12mbps range. I haven't had a good EDGE connection in years. I was on Bug Tussel EDGE this summer and it didn't work at all. That being said, a modern smartphone will work on EDGE, although it will feel rather sluggish. With 180-200kbps, any halfway decently written app will work just fine. Good luck finding EDGE that actually works in 2018, however. You'd have to be in an extremely remote area basically with a tower and T1 basically to yourself for it to work. Even some very rural and remote areas today have LTE fed with gigabit fiber IP-RAN.

I just think that Gigabit speeds on cell phones isn't that important to the average person atm.

You're 100% right that about gigabit speeds. But that's not what gigabit is about. It's about better signals at the cell edge, better spectrum efficiency, and more carrier aggregation to deal with heavy congestion. Gigabit LTE is going to shine when a phone with gigabit LTE, the latest LTE bands, and a Qualcomm LTE radio is getting 5-10mbps in the middle of a huge crowded event, and a phone without gigabit LTE, or without Qualcomm isn't. Or if it has neither, well, it's pretty hopeless.

For home broadband, gigabit is all about capacity as well, for multiple users to be streaming and downloading without killing each others' connections. Also, cable is bundling faster uploads with gigabit, like Comcast's 35mbps uploads with the gigabit tier, whereas the 250mbps tier only has 10mbps. I can see multi-user households benefiting from gigabit internet provided that they have a wired network or really good wireless system to distribute that bandwidth.
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This is an absolutely ridiculous comment, most carriers had 3G speeds in the hundreds of kilobits per second, a small percentage of what we get now. Most things done over cell networks on phones now could not possibly even have been conceived of with 3G.

EVDO can reach about 2mbps, and HSPA+ can reach 8-12mbps. That being said, they just don't have the capacity to keep up with modern smartphones in urban and suburban areas. I've used 3G recently on Sprint and USCC in rural areas, and it's fine, but if you have more than a handful of people using it, it gets overloaded too quickly.

Every modern flagship smartphone today will do work just fine on EVDO or HSPA+ as long as it's not overloaded and has adequate backhaul. That being said, most places have LTE today, and the few areas that have 3G often have lousy 3G.