The State of LTE

This was my first attempt at Data-visualisation using d3. I've done a few things with GoogleVis and R, the one is awesome for the web the other is awesome for its flexibility, D3 is awesome for both. I was also pretty much a novice to JS and CSS, I highly recommend AlignedLeft's tutorials <a href="http://alignedleft.com/" rel="nofollow">http://alignedleft.com/</a> if like me you start from scratch with this.

This article leaves out a major issue if you're an iPhone user (no idea about Android phones): LTE frequencies have not been standardized. As usual, it's the US that is the outlier, and the rest of the world have agreed on a standard.<p>Here is Apple's list of models and their compatibility: <a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/" rel="nofollow">http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/</a><p>For example, US iPhone models use GSM at 700b MHz, but won't work with European LTE (and vice versa) which use GSM at 850/1800/2100 MHz.<p>(And then there's my country, Norway, where we have only two networks which for some reason have decided on 1800/2600 MHz, which will work with <i>none</i> of the existing models.)

I recently talked to an Intel engineer about why they don't have an Intel phone out yet. And he reached into his pocket and pulled out an Intel phone! Apparently, these phones are already available in China, but because Intel does not make the LTE chipsets, they have been unable to get it out. I asked him why Intel did not have LTE chipsets in their phones, Ans:"Because Qualcomm owns all the patents and makes the latest chipsets"

HOW SPEEDS COMPARE doesn't really mean much. Japan has a higher density of users per square kilometer, so it seems to me that there should be some sort of normalization done to the numbers. I get better speeds in Kyoto (less simultaneous users) than I do in Shibuya (many simultaneous users!)

Random feedback:<p>On the THE GLOBAL ROLLOUT world map, the colors are not clear. They seem to be the same as the 2(?) pixel high lines below the labels below? Make them bigger! Or add a legend.<p>On HOW SPEEDS COMPARE I had to read the rotated y label first before I had any idea what the graph showed. Either add the unit to the numbers or add a clear title that is read normally.<p>LTE PING VS OTHER TECHNOLOGIES seems completely random. What are those numbers, how were they created? Ping to where?

MetroPCS is using a 5x5 Mhz channel in most of its markets, that is the primary reason for low speed. This brings down the USA average. Most US network operators have the capability to reach the 100 Mbit/s downlink target; that requires a dedicated 20MHz channel (which no one has) and full-blown MIMO.

"WI-FI" is a bit ambiguous for a comparison like this. If your intention was to compare land lines to cellular then it should be called out as such. It would also be important to note that the land line performance in areas with LTE coverage may be significantly better than the national average used.

It's interesting how LTE doesn't always mean fast. Here in New Zealand carriers have only been testing LTE while upgrading their networks to 42mbps DC-HSPA. At home I can average about 30mbps on my iPad and iPhone over 3G. For me, I'd rather have constantly fast 3G rather than spotty LTE, especially with the battery situation. <a href="http://i.imgur.com/7k8LXe1.png" rel="nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/7k8LXe1.png</a>

Great info! What are you pinging? Is it the default gateway or a specific host on the Internet? Also how do you determine download speed? The numbers for wi-fi are so disappointing. I wonder if you're not really measuring the speed of the DSL connection (or whatever) that the wi-fi router is sitting on.

You may be interested in <a href="http://www.mobiperf.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.mobiperf.com/</a>. Most of their data is available for research purposes, and there are many researchers who have used this for their tests.

Are HSPA+/LTE speeds really that "bad" generally? My HSPA+ phone typically gets 8-10Mbps down and roughly 50ms ping, and I've been led to believe that LTE here (the US) is considerably faster.

I'm quite happy that this article clears up the real meaning of 4G.

Is T-Mobile going to have an LTE network in US?