Hopefully I am posting in the right place for this wifi/4g question

[krammuel]

So what are the limits of cell phone internet (4g lte) vs. lan (broadband, dsl, etc..).
Basically I was wondering what, if any, limitations (speeds) using the cell carriers hotspot phone to connect my desktop/laptop pc to (ie. verizon, att, spint...)?

 

[remixedcat]

Very limited compared to wifi and very expensive to keep as a primary! Not recommended. They also limit tethering and if they detect desktop user agents they will can you or throw on a ton of charges.

Even 'unlimited" plans have fine print and often will can you for tethering at all. even other mobile user agents detected besides one phone will trigger.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

On the 3 allin one 15 top up for payg, it is proper unlimited.

Using your phone as a net connection, depends on your phone, as far as i know, the fastest usb dongle in the uk at the moment is 42.2Mb/s but i am not sure what the speed is on the likes of a SGS5 or HTC one M8.

EDIT- the SGS5 is HSDPA, 42.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE, Cat4, 50 Mbps UL, 150 Mbps DL
HTC one M8 is HSDPA, 42 Mbps (21 Mbps - AT&T), HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE, Cat4, 50 Mbps UL, 150 Mbps DL

They would both be pretty good tethered.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

On the 3 allin one 15 top up for payg, it is proper unlimited.

Using your phone as a net connection, depends on your phone, as far as i know, the fastest usb dongle in the uk at the moment is 42.2Mb/s but i am not sure what the speed is on the likes of a SGS5 or HTC one M8.

EDIT- the SGS5 is HSDPA, 42.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE, Cat4, 50 Mbps UL, 150 Mbps DL
HTC one M8 is HSDPA, 42 Mbps (21 Mbps - AT&T), HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE, Cat4, 50 Mbps UL, 150 Mbps DL

They would both be pretty good tethered.

The thing about mobile networks in the uk is that you will NEVER even begin to reach the maximum speed of any HSDPA+ or 3g networks. Even with 4G networks unless you pay for EE's double speed otherwise speeds will fluctuate between 1-8mb/s off peak and not even 256kb/s during peak times for hsdpa+ or 3g. Its a rather pointless endevor to get your phone to use its rated speed of 21mb/s. When the networks are so congested

 

[Deleted member 24505]

My friend has a 21Mb/s dongle and has has peaks of over 900KB/s over night which is not bad, but i get what ya saying. Shame EE/Orange is the crappest network imo

 

[RCoon]

Shame EE/Orange is the crappest network imo

Mobile networks are like motherboard manufacturers. Everybody has a hated choice because of some reasons in the past.

I personally am agnostic in terms of mobile networks, I'm on EE because public servants get 25% discount, and have had no troubles with EE or Orange. I hate ASRock, because one of their motherboards died within 3 months, and yet thousands of people use them with no trouble. I've used T-Mobile, Virgin and Vodafone and not had any issues. Virgin's only issue is a lack of "new" handsets on their contracts.

Besides all that, mobile carriers are just a personal thing, everyone has different experiences, none of them are particularly awful.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

900kb/s is probably the fastest youre ever going to see. Three averages around 6MB/s even in the evenin on their 3g network. I have a 4g dongle and EE/Tmobile/Orange seemed to have a better average throughput and didnt struggle to hit 8MB/s. O2 on the other hand are quite average.

O2 might not have the fastest 4g network but they dont shit on you by throttling your speed to 56k during the day like Three does and trust me, ive used three for tethering and tried their mobile broadband service. Complete and utter shite

 

[Shambles1980]

i like 3 because of theire good pricing plan on contracts with unlimited bandwidth.
but when i used pay as you go with 500mb allowance, and the interner went off i could hook up my phone and use that.
a few months after we switched to a contract the internet went out so we hooked up the phone. but all that did was allow us to access the 3 web site explaining that we weren't allowed to use tethering on the plan we had...

I know a lot of people who use these 3g dongle things. and compared to fibre they really suck. but if your only other choice is 3-4mb Adsl 2 then they can be a tiny bit faster. but the cost would be prohibative in comparison.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

i like 3 because of theire good pricing plan on contracts with unlimited bandwidth.
but when i used pay as you go with 500mb allowance, and the interner went off i could hook up my phone and use that.
a few months after we switched to a contract the internet went out so we hooked up the phone. but all that did was allow us to access the 3 web site explaining that we weren't allowed to use tethering on the plan we had...

I know a lot of people who use these 3g dongle things. and compared to fibre they really suck. but if your only other choice is 3-4mb Adsl 2 then they can be a tiny bit faster. but the cost would be prohibative in comparison.

In a few months ago it was a case that you could only tether on the 'One Plan' (which i have)

Unfortunately they've changed it to 5GB per month tethering only to stop people abusing their 4G network but its still unlimited so long as you use it on your mobile.

 

[Seany1212]

Other than the obvious data caps/bandwidth drawbacks with mobile data usage the biggest one i found personally was the latency. It makes online gameplay close to unplayable when you have ping rates of around 400ms dependant on where you are in relation to mobile network masts.

Unless your only going to view webpages and low resolution video, or your broadband/adsl/fibre options are terrible i'd avoid going with mobile data for internet use.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Other than the obvious data caps/bandwidth drawbacks with mobile data usage the biggest one i found personally was the latency. It makes online gameplay close to unplayable when you have ping rates of around 400ms dependant on where you are in relation to mobile network masts.

Unless your only going to view webpages and low resolution video, or your broadband/adsl/fibre options are terrible i'd avoid going with mobile data for internet use.

Mobile internet isnt too terrible.... so long as you use it during off peak hours. my ping can sit around 70-90 when its off peak otherwise it would be around 300 or something.

 

[krammuel]

Thanks for all the info

I believe I got the answer I was looking for.

 

[eidairaman1]

Use wifi when you can. Its free