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LTE, do you trust it?

A

audix

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 27, 2012
149
0
I suspect LTE is just a way of getting you to pay up more money for a slightly different internet connection. Not necessarily faster. Anyway. LTE should not be sold at a premium. That's why people will not upgrade to it.

Is the new iPhone automatically going to be more expensive because it comes with LTE?
 
audix said:
I suspect LTE is just a way of getting you to pay up more money for a slightly different internet connection. Not necessarily faster. Anyway. LTE should not be sold at a premium. That's why people will not upgrade to it.
Click to expand...

Its insanely faster and its not more expensive. Your data plan include LTE you just don't have a device that supports it. (Assuming you have LTE in your area). Some of us have been using it for a very long time now.
 
LTE isn't sold at a premium. If you go and buy a 3G phone or an LTE phone you pay the same for the data. The phones tend to be more expensive but not always as the most popular one out now, the SGS3, is only $199. I imagine the iPhone 5 will also stay at $199. With the way the S3 is selling I can't imagine Apple will price themselves higher than they are. I don't see how you don't think LTE is faster. It's not only faster, it's massively faster.
 
audix said:
I suspect LTE is just a way of getting you to pay up more money for a slightly different internet connection. Not necessarily faster. Anyway. LTE should not be sold at a premium. That's why people will not upgrade to it.

Is the new iPhone automatically going to be more expensive because it comes with LTE?
Click to expand...

It's the same exact price to have an LTE data plan versus a 3G data plan. And it's been documented time and time again that LTE is much quicker in terms of raw speed. If you read up on the technical specifications of some of these cellular technologies you'll find even more information on the differences.
 
I doubt Apple will let you turn it off (without JB). However it won't matter too much, turning it off doesn't have much of an effect. I have a Xoom and when I bought it it was 3G then later had the LTE radio installed. So I knew how the battery life was on 3G, turning LTE off (CDMA only) has no effect conserving battery. Its noticeably worse, but its not using the newer technology LTE like Apple will be using. I don't think anyone has anything to worry about with battery life...
 
You'll hit your data caps quicker, so yes it's possible it will cost you more in the long run, but that is up to the individual and their usage habits. The base prices are not more, 3 gigs of 3G and 3 gigs of LTE cost the same.
 
jav6454 said:
Sorry to hear it, New Orleans already has it... well the entire metro area does (New Orleans, Slidell, Covington, Mandeville, Hammond, Kenner, Harahan, Avondale, Gretna, Harvey, Algiers, LaPlace and Metairie)
Click to expand...

Sweet, hope they roll it out soon to more places in the US.
Even though Im happy with HSPA+ with around 6-7mbps down, cant complain.
 
Interestingly enough, Apple's website says



"The new iPad supports 4G LTE...

You’ll see downlink speeds up to 42 Mbps with DC-HSDPA and up to 21.1 Mbps with HSPA+."



But then scroll to the bottom...

Based on theoretical peak speeds. Actual speeds will be lower.

So I mean...?
 
cynics said:
I doubt Apple will let you turn it off (without JB). However it won't matter too much, turning it off doesn't have much of an effect. I have a Xoom and when I bought it it was 3G then later had the LTE radio installed. So I knew how the battery life was on 3G, turning LTE off (CDMA only) has no effect conserving battery. Its noticeably worse, but its not using the newer technology LTE like Apple will be using. I don't think anyone has anything to worry about with battery life...
Click to expand...

So you bought the xoom with 3G only and then installed an LTE radio?
I didnt know you could do that. Like a hardware addon or you got a whole new xoom?
 
audix said:
I actually couldn't find many people testing this "LTE" on the internet, but one video showed like 20mb per second or something like that, but my internet is faster..

So what is LTE really? I mean if it's like 2 times faster or something, what's all the buzz about it, it sounds cool but I mean that's all there is to it.
Click to expand...

47a63a40-fe9c-8a74.jpg
 
Applejuiced said:
So you bought the xoom with 3G only and then installed an LTE radio?
I didnt know you could do that. Like a hardware addon or you got a whole new xoom?
Click to expand...

You had to send it back to Motorola. Week turn around for hardware addon and it was a free upgrade to LTE.
 
audix said:
Interestingly enough, Apple's website says



"The new iPad supports 4G LTE...

You’ll see downlink speeds up to 42 Mbps with DC-HSDPA and up to 21.1 Mbps with HSPA+."



But then scroll to the bottom...

Based on theoretical peak speeds. Actual speeds will be lower.

So I mean...?
Click to expand...

Because theoretical means, little to no traffic, straight line of sight to the tower, enough bandwidth at the backhaul and enough spectrum availability for the speed.
 
audix said:
I actually couldn't find many people testing this "LTE" on the internet, but one video showed like 20mb per second or something like that, but my internet is faster..

So what is LTE really? I mean if it's like 2 times faster or something, what's all the buzz about it, it sounds cool but I mean that's all there is to it.
Click to expand...

LTE can be anywhere from 10-50X faster than 3G. When I'm on LTE I average 25-30Mbps, and when I'm on 3G I average about 1-2Mbps. LTE really is amazing.
 
audix said:
Based on theoretical peak speeds. Actual speeds will be lower.
Click to expand...

That is stated for any internet speed package. Just look at the TOS for your home internet provider. They all state that in the fine print. It's not just cellular companies.
 
audix said:
Yes, it is, I'm jealous. But can I see an actual webpage load or like an app download or something?
Click to expand...

Well I have Verizon and there 3G is terrible in my area. I've come home from work and browsed the internet for hours forgetting to switch from data to wifi (usually automatic unless you're tethering). So yes at least I notice it being much faster...
 
Also, is this on par with the much touted fiber optics which excites me more than LTE. I haven't tried it yet.

Also, is the new iPhone going to say LTE or 4G? Are they the same thing?
 
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