How does 4G use more data thread

[BHP41]

Ive been hearing and reading this for the last few days now. What I don't understand is how this is possible.

Let say I load this site, locate this thread and then read it and respond. What 90% are saying is that i will use more data on LTE vs 3G. Please, someone tell me how this is possible. I'm loading everything the exact same. Only difference is that with LTE I load it faster.

I can see that with loading things faster I might browse more threads or sites, that would lead to more data useage for sure. But loading the same video in YouTube 3G vs LTE I'm viewing the same content, only I'm not waiting for it to buffer before I start watching.

I would like to hear what everyone thinks about this.

 

[r.j.s]

When things load faster, people usually browse more.

When watching video on LTE, you're usually watching the HD version - which eats up a lot more data.

 

[Spectrum Abuser]

The network protocol itself does not use up more data. It just encourages more usage with the faster speeds.

 

[BHP41]

That's what I've been saying.

Thing is, most of the news media isn't reporting it as that way. They make it sound as if using LTE will consume more data if I did the same thing. Like watching a movie on Netflix. If this is true it shouldn't consume more just because I'm on LTE vs 3G, right?

 

[r.j.s]

Thing is, most of the news media isn't reporting it as that way. They make it sound as if using LTE will consume more data if I did the same thing. Like watching a movie on Netflix. If this is true it should consume more just because I'm on LTE vs 3G, right?

Netflix will probably consume more, as they will feed higher quality video on LTE than they would on 3G.

 

[BHP41]

Netflix will probably consume more, as they will feed higher quality video on LTE than they would on 3G.

Again, I can understand that also. Higher the quality the higher the data. Simple. Right?. Where are the people that are using 2GB in a weekend? Is pandora streaming higher quality?

I'm not sure but with the high ppi of the retina display, does that make for more data?

 

[UrsaMajor]

I've noticed Netflix and vevo pull more data. YouTube seems to be like 3g.

I think most people would be OK with 6gb a month. But they really need to bring unlimited back for the newbies.

 

[bossxii]

Again, I can understand that also. Higher the quality the higher the data. Simple. Right?. Where are the people that are using 2GB in a weekend? Is pandora streaming higher quality?

I'm not sure but with the high ppi of the retina display, does that make for more data?

Coming to MR on 3G vs LTE won't matter, but any media such as music or video will stream at a higher bit rate and eat up your data. YouTube, Netflix, Pandora etc...there is no way to control most of these apps or sites to use lower quality streams. So in theory you are half right, but as the Internet and all the web 2.0 sites have media, you will burn thru data faster because it higher quality being sent to your device.

On the retina display, I am guessing yes. If a site auto detect resolution it is going to load higher res images, which in turn are larger files. Since LTE is so fast we not only browse more, you use more data in the same amount of time.

Thankfully I have unlimited or this would suck trying to monitor usage.

 

[spiderman0616]

It's another non issue that everyone has decided to blame on Apple.

LTE is faster than 3G. People are loving it and using more data. If they're not paying attention to how much data is consumed, then they're idiots. And even if LTE itself tends to eat more data by default, it's STILL not on Apple. The headlines are making it sound like the iPad is forcing you to use more data.

 

[bkitchen0406]

This is how it works. I work for an ISP and it's similar to docsis three. This is not exact but the same principle. When you turn on all the sinks in your house at the same time your getting a lot more water compared to one. Docsis 3(wide band) uses 4 channels instead of one. The data is traveling at the same speed but you have four pipes running instead of one. LTE works the same way, it's not faster, you just have more pipes of info sending information through at the same time. Now compare LTE to running 4 sinks at the same time and you can see how your bill would go up. This is not exact, but explains a little how it works, hope that helps.

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4g an 4g LTE are different

LTE screams where you can get it as fast as a standard cable modem connection

Regular 4g is hardly faster then 3 g

 

[Cingular]

It's embarrassing how much carriers charge for data usage when we can get up to 70 Mbps with LTE. It just doesn't make sense.

 

[BiggAW]

LTE is not just running stuff in parallel, it is spectrally more efficient.

There are three factors:

1. People will click on more things if they are REALLY fast, and clicking on things uses data.

2. Streams that auto-detect will go to a higher bitrate.

3. The new factor. It's new and people are playing with it a lot and burning up data like no tomorrow.

 

[scirica]

LTE is not just running stuff in parallel, it is spectrally more efficient.

There are three factors:

1. People will click on more things if they are REALLY fast, and clicking on things uses data.

2. Streams that auto-detect will go to a higher bitrate.

3. The new factor. It's new and people are playing with it a lot and burning up data like no tomorrow.

This. The OP has his answer. Nuff said.

 

[Vessy]

Just a personal note:

I've had the 2G Data plan for AT&T for the last several years. Until I switched to the iPhone 5 with LTE, I had never broken my data limit. Within the first week of owning this phone, I've somehow gone over my 2GB plan and am approaching 3GB. I've definitely been using the phone non-stop, but am mostly tinkering with non data using apps. When I do use data, it's usually browsing the web and visiting sites like Al-Jazeera, Reddit, various forums, and Wikipedia. I've played about one to two 4 minute videos from Youtube.

I seriously have no idea how I've managed to run up such a high data usage in one week but I thought I'd let people know that it 4G LTE absolutely uses more data than 3G.

P.S.
I am in no way criticizing 4G or AT&T. Just sharing an example.

 

[BiggAW]

Just a personal note:

I've had the 2G Data plan for AT&T for the last several years. Until I switched to the iPhone 5 with LTE, I had never broken my data limit. Within the first week of owning this phone, I've somehow gone over my 2GB plan and am approaching 3GB. I've definitely been using the phone non-stop, but am mostly tinkering with non data using apps. When I do use data, it's usually browsing the web and visiting sites like Al-Jazeera, Reddit, various forums, and Wikipedia. I've played about one to two 4 minute videos from Youtube.

I seriously have no idea how I've managed to run up such a high data usage in one week but I thought I'd let people know that it 4G LTE absolutely uses more data than 3G.

P.S.
I am in no way criticizing 4G or AT&T. Just sharing an example.

You must be using it a LOT, as casual use is a few hundred MB at most in the a month. You have to get into a lot of streaming to do any more than that. I stream music for hours at work, and my typical usage is 1-1.5GB on a 4S.

 

[Medic311]

there should be an iOS option in Network Settings to variably limit your data speed so that you don't exceed your set data cap in a month. say your data cap is 2GB/mo. it'll run an algorithm and variably trim your speed as you accelerate through your data plan compared against what day of the billing cycle it is. you could set custom options where it would maintain full LTE speeds up to 1GB then after that reduce the speed by 25%, then once you hit 1.5GB to reduce it by another 25%...and so on. it would be a great feature that could be toggled on/off when you need it. you could also set all streaming video to default to SD and streaming radio to default to regular quality - especially when the app doesn't offer the ability to toggle quality of the streams

 

[balamurugan]

4G using more data usage

Hi all,

I am using facebook in 3G it use 30Mb for 2 hours also. But same if i use in 4G for 30 minutes data usage is 170 MB. It looks likes 4G data usage is more without any reason.

 

[nostresshere]

Ive been hearing and reading this for the last few days now. What I don't understand is how this is possible.

Let say I load this site, locate this thread and then read it and respond. What 90% are saying is that i will use more data on LTE vs 3G. Please, someone tell me how this is possible. I'm loading everything the exact same. Only difference is that with LTE I load it faster.

I can see that with loading things faster I might browse more threads or sites, that would lead to more data useage for sure. But loading the same video in YouTube 3G vs LTE I'm viewing the same content, only I'm not waiting for it to buffer before I start watching.

I would like to hear what everyone thinks about this.

Try your own test and see what you get. The accuracy of the news media these days is scary.