4 ms·

The State of LTE – USA record the second-lowest speeds worldwide

9 points by edmack 13y ago

smcl 13y ago
I'd be curious how the Czech LTE coverage (http://www.o2.cz/osobni/199436-mapa_pokryti_a_prodejen/ http://www.o2.cz/osobni/199436-mapa_pokryti_a_prodejen/) would translate into this graph. Most of the main cities have LTE, but I've no idea how fast or reliable it is as my phone and network don't currently support it.
Spittie 13y ago
Nice article, I think that the biggest problem with American's LTE (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, as a not-american I can talk only about what I read online) is that it got implemented really soon, in place of the almost not existing 3g network. In result, the infrastructure is (might be?) already old, and there are also many people on 4g already (and more people = less bandwidth for everyone). I'm also guessing that very small bandwidth caps play a role here, as it's way easier to use 500MB on a 20mb/s connection, instead of a 5mb/s. On a side note, it's nice to not see Italy at the bottom as always ;) Now, if we could do something about our home connections... (Yes, I do know TI/FW are currently deploying VDSL, but it's still at a very low pace).
rayiner 13y ago
This is inconsistent with the numbers I've heard about LTE rollout in the U.S. versus Europe: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/gsma-europe-trails-us-lte-deployment-mobile-investment/2013-05-30 http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/gsma-europe-trails-us-lt... ("The report also found that by the end of 2013, nearly 20 percent of U.S. connections will be on LTE networks, compared with fewer than 2 percent in the EU . . . . Further, the GSMA's report found that average mobile data connection speeds in the United States are now 75 percent faster than those in Europe--and by 2017 the speeds will be more than twice as fast. The report also found that mobile investment in the United States has outpaced that in Europe, with capital expenditure in the U.S. market growing by 70 percent since 2007 while declining in the EU."). I wonder how much of the speed issue is related to higher load on LTE networks here in the U.S. From the above-linked article: "The report found that, on average, U.S. consumers use five times more voice minutes and nearly twice as much data each month than their counterparts in the European Union." See also: http://www.gsmamobilewirelessperformance.com/GSMA_Mobile_Wireless_Performance_May2013.pdf http://www.gsmamobilewirelessperformance.com/GSMA_Mobile_Wir.... Maps of LTE rollouts: http://gigaom.com/2013/09/20/mapping-out-the-worlds-lte-coverage-its-in-fewer-places-than-you-think http://gigaom.com/2013/09/20/mapping-out-the-worlds-lte-cove.... U.S. investment in wireless is up by 2/3 since 2007, but down in the EU: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f3240dc2-c852-11e2-acc6-00144feab7de.html#axzz2tsuIXYMc http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f3240dc2-c852-11e2-acc6-00144feab7....
sjtgraham 13y ago
Three (Hutchison Whampoa) is rolling out 4G in the UK. It was turned on for me yesterday and I had 30 meg down in Central London today. Three is ludicrously cheap too (at least compared to the other carriers), £18/month for unlimited data.
dubfan 13y ago
In Seattle with AT&T I find that I often have to disable LTE because it's so slow. I just ran a test and I get about 1.5 Mbit/s downstream on LTE. Pathetic.

9 points by edmack 13y ago

smcl 13y ago

I'd be curious how the Czech LTE coverage (http://www.o2.cz/osobni/199436-mapa_pokryti_a_prodejen/ http://www.o2.cz/osobni/199436-mapa_pokryti_a_prodejen/) would translate into this graph. Most of the main cities have LTE, but I've no idea how fast or reliable it is as my phone and network don't currently support it.

Spittie 13y ago

Nice article, I think that the biggest problem with American's LTE (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, as a not-american I can talk only about what I read online) is that it got implemented really soon, in place of the almost not existing 3g network. In result, the infrastructure is (might be?) already old, and there are also many people on 4g already (and more people = less bandwidth for everyone). I'm also guessing that very small bandwidth caps play a role here, as it's way easier to use 500MB on a 20mb/s connection, instead of a 5mb/s. On a side note, it's nice to not see Italy at the bottom as always ;) Now, if we could do something about our home connections... (Yes, I do know TI/FW are currently deploying VDSL, but it's still at a very low pace).

rayiner 13y ago

This is inconsistent with the numbers I've heard about LTE rollout in the U.S. versus Europe: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/gsma-europe-trails-us-lte-deployment-mobile-investment/2013-05-30 http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/gsma-europe-trails-us-lt... ("The report also found that by the end of 2013, nearly 20 percent of U.S. connections will be on LTE networks, compared with fewer than 2 percent in the EU . . . . Further, the GSMA's report found that average mobile data connection speeds in the United States are now 75 percent faster than those in Europe--and by 2017 the speeds will be more than twice as fast. The report also found that mobile investment in the United States has outpaced that in Europe, with capital expenditure in the U.S. market growing by 70 percent since 2007 while declining in the EU."). I wonder how much of the speed issue is related to higher load on LTE networks here in the U.S. From the above-linked article: "The report found that, on average, U.S. consumers use five times more voice minutes and nearly twice as much data each month than their counterparts in the European Union." See also: http://www.gsmamobilewirelessperformance.com/GSMA_Mobile_Wireless_Performance_May2013.pdf http://www.gsmamobilewirelessperformance.com/GSMA_Mobile_Wir.... Maps of LTE rollouts: http://gigaom.com/2013/09/20/mapping-out-the-worlds-lte-coverage-its-in-fewer-places-than-you-think http://gigaom.com/2013/09/20/mapping-out-the-worlds-lte-cove.... U.S. investment in wireless is up by 2/3 since 2007, but down in the EU: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f3240dc2-c852-11e2-acc6-00144feab7de.html#axzz2tsuIXYMc http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f3240dc2-c852-11e2-acc6-00144feab7....

sjtgraham 13y ago

Three (Hutchison Whampoa) is rolling out 4G in the UK. It was turned on for me yesterday and I had 30 meg down in Central London today. Three is ludicrously cheap too (at least compared to the other carriers), £18/month for unlimited data.

dubfan 13y ago

In Seattle with AT&T I find that I often have to disable LTE because it's so slow. I just ran a test and I get about 1.5 Mbit/s downstream on LTE. Pathetic.