Smarty sim on a IPhone 8 ....4G / 3G

Frozen_up_north

You might check what data type and speed is shown for the Three network using the free Rootmetrics Cell Phone Coverage Map app.

Clicking on one of the hexagonal “cells” will show what others have reported. You can also run speed checks yourself with the app. The data speed and whether the area is 3G or 4G does depend on (a) someone using the app to run a test and (b) having a 4G or later phone.

Take poor readings with a pinch of salt unless several tests have been done, as maybe nobody has tested there recently. For example near my location it shows LTE (4G in other words) and 70Mb/s download with 79 data points.... a few yards away in an adjacent area it shows 3G+, 2.3Mb/s download, but only 1 data point, ie only one person has run a test with the app in that area.

dazzaofdagenham

Here’s a thought and my observations.
yesterday left for work at 7pm...phone was showing 4G but dropped down to 3G after about 5 mins of me listening to internet radio...got to work and phone was def showing 3G.
left phone on in the car overnight....left work at 5.30@am...and the phone was showing 4G and again all the way home was showing 4G whilst I was listening to internet radio.

so my thought and question is....if the network is busy...will it dump a few people who are in 4G to 3G..

Frozen_up_north

dazzaofdagenham said:

so my thought and question is....if the network is busy...will it dump a few people who are in 4G to 3G..

My new iPhone (SE 2020 model), definitely tends to show 4G pretty much all the time, regardless of time of day, whereas my 4 year old SE was about 50/50 between 3G and 4G in the same area. It has tended to show faster data rates too, perhaps not a surprise as it has “gigabit over LTE” capability, although the fastest data I’ve seen so far on Three with it was 80Mb/s... nowhere near 1000Mb/s.

My OH still uses an older SE, I’ll try and compare them, but it doesn’t appear to be an exact science. Maybe you will get a response from the network people?

dazzaofdagenham

Same happened again last night on way to work.
left home at 16:50pm and streaming radio over 3G....
got to work and phone showing 3G
left work at 5:30 am and phone showing 4G and streaming radio all the way home on 4G.

japitts

Different networks are configured differently, in terms of which sections of their radio spectrum (and which services are carried over it) are prioritised over others.

Also if you're using 3G, how proactively the phone/network encourage you upwards onto 4G.

EE are by far the most proactive in keeping you on 4G.

dazzaofdagenham

Thought I’d give a update.....so when I started using Smarty......pit sim in phone and that was it.......having had these issues and contacted smarty.....they detailed a new APN that I should be using.....the one installed on the phone was from 3.....the one I have now isn’t 

will update on how I go