4G in Manchester Tested

Posted on Nov 23 2012 - 6:53pm by Thomas Sharp

A big test in Manchester has pointed to the new EE 4G coverage in the city being less comprehensive than you might think but still more impressive than standard 3G connections.

The research was carried out by the mobile coverage firm RootMetrics in November using standard shop bought Samsung Galaxy S3 devices.

What they discovered is that less than half of Manchester city centre gave them access to the super fast 4G network. In fact, a total of 40.2% of the locations they tested allowed them to get 4G access. Once they moved out of the city centre there was no 4G coverage at all according to this study.

Better Inside Than Out

The researchers also discovered that the 4G speed was a lot better indoors than outside, which is something which had been brought into question at the time of the launch.

Across the test areas where 4G could be accessed the average download speed was 17Mbps, while in the places where there was no 4G the average download speed with EE was of 7.6 Mbps. This means that downloading a song will take under 25 seconds in most cases, while a conventional 3G connection will probably lead to a wait of over a minute.

The next best operator in Manchester city centre is Vodafone, with an average download speed of 3.1 Mbps noted in previous tests in the area.

Among the report’s headline figures is the fact that 31% of the tests got more than 10 Mbps, while 9% got from 6 to 10 Mbps, 18% got from 3 to 6 Mbps and 23% from 1.5 to 3 Mbps.  This meant that 19% got less than 1.5 Mbps, which is better than EE’s rivals can offer, as in the past almost half of all tests in the area ran at this kind of slow speed.

A patchy start for 4G is seen as been in line with how it was rolled out in the US in the past.

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