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Sweden has the world's fastest 4G LTE speeds, US ranks 8th overall

Discussion in 'TechSpot News and Comments' started by Shawn Knight, Feb 14, 2013.

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  1. Shawn Knight TechSpot Staff Posts: 1,784   +6

    Despite having the most developed LTE infrastructure in the world, the speedy 4G network in the US isn’t actually all that fast compared to implementations in other countries. According to a new report from UK network testing firm OpenSignal, seven...

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  2. Littleczr TechSpot Booster Posts: 300   +55

    For a country the size of the United states that's pretty good.
  3. cmbjive TechSpot Enthusiast Posts: 199   +20

    I think the spectrum plays an important part but also consider that the countries that rank higher than the US have a combined population that is less than it. Therefore there are not that many demands made by its citizens on their respective networks as it is in our country on an even lower spectrum.

    While it is not as good as Sweden's, 9Mbps is not that bad for the US. I haven't benchmarked my usage and I haven't been on the 4G network for months now but 9Mbps is 3Mbps less than what I get on my landline DSL.
  4. Ultraman1966 Newcomer, in training Posts: 55

    UK isn't even in the top ten (for obvious reasons). Having said that, we're a relatively small island for the population so this will change over the next two years.
  5. MilwaukeeMike TechSpot Maniac Posts: 1,079   +240

    The US is just about perfectly setup to perform poorly in an average speed test like this. The US has many large population areas that would make it very expensive to outfit with fast 4G. I don't know about 4G configs etc, but I've seen plenty of reviews of smart phones that show US cities getting 25Mbps over 4G. I think the average is low because there are just too many people to cover in too much space. the only large countries in that list (Canada and Australia) also could have a high average because they have so few 4G areas.

    In the effort to not make their results bogus though, I'd hope they accounted for population and done this test by taking the fastest 10 markets in each country and averaging them. Obviously they didn't since I doubt some of those countries even have 10 4G markets, but that would help the credibility. In the same manner that an MLB hitter isn't considered for batting average titles unless he has enough at-bats. Going to bat once and hitting 1.000 isn't really a good measure, right Hong Kong?
  6. Lionvibez TechSpot Enthusiast Posts: 328   +37

    I'm in canada and I've hit 23Mbps using the speedtest.net app on rogers with LTE and a Iphone 5.

    On my New Blackberry Z10 also on rogers LTE I've hit 22Mbps max so far.
     
  7. I can indeed confirm that the 4G speed in Sweden is very good, especially in major cities. I usually get around 60-80mbps down and 15-40mbps up in my apartment (Stockholm suburb).

    My personal record though is 94mbps down and 57mbps up, this however was done in the middle of the capital.
  8. rimasiba Newcomer, in training

    Not sure why you look so surprised. Americans still have a lot to learn with the Old continent.
  9. veLa TechSpot Booster Posts: 310   +36

    I got at least 20Mbps in San Antonio, TX on AT&T's 4G LTE. Sadly I live out in the boonies where the only "4G" service is HSPA+, which I get about 5Mbps with, which is about as good as the DSL connection I have to live with here as well.
  10. LukeDJ TechSpot Booster Posts: 316   +66

    Yay Australia! Glad to see we're keeping up in SOME aspects of techology :)
  11. dennis777 TechSpot Enthusiast Posts: 134   +11

    Your so lucky, in the Philippines the average speed is less than 1mbps :p
  12. gobbybobby TechSpot Enthusiast Posts: 508

    Its very disappointing. I remember 2 years ago reading about how 4G will change everything with 1000+ Meg download speeds


    yet highest you see is 30~

    tests in London, UK got 100, but that was in closed testing with only a few people using it. I doubt that the case today. Well it might be with only 1 4G carrier, EE who have insane usage caps and ridiculously overpriced 4G. You can have 4G but don't you dare try and use it.
  13. Rippleman TechSpot Member Posts: 75

    In cities here in Canada, the 4g is for me is always 40+ mbs
  14. In South Africa we write messages on the cured skins of indigenous beasts and parcel them on carts drawn by oxen. Sometimes, if the roads are not slick from the winter rains, we can get parcels and missives to neighbouring villages in less than a week! We also have a mobile data telecoms infrastructure but nobody uses that because it’s simply so slow.
    SNGX1275 likes this.
  15. What ? Seriously ?

    Guys I live in Saudi Arabia and I get between 22 Mbs and 27 Mbs and never less than 21 Mbs , and once reached 57 Mbs.

    Does this mean my country is the fastest in LTE ?
  16. waterytowers Newcomer, in training Posts: 74

    So is Hong Kong a small place that would not have any demands on its network??
  17. cmbjive TechSpot Enthusiast Posts: 199   +20

    I did say "in addition to spectrum".