Smartphone web browsing

[PCGamer3000]

I was looking at a smartphone to browse the internet when on the go around cities(inside malls or other buildings), and outside the home that would use a 4g network.

Some people are saying the 4g networks outside the home and not using a wi-fi 802.11 router is slow when browsing.

How fast is browsing and watching broadband videos on a 4g LTE network or is this even possible with a 4g network? Are there differences in browsing speed among different carriers like AT&T and Verizon?

 

[Anubis]

verizons 4g is faster then 90% of the broadband people get at their house,

 

[upsdriver]

~10 Mbits/sec on Verizon 4g with 2 bars according to speedtest (Boston area). Not fast enough for web browsing imo.

 

[soccerballtux]

the great thing back with slow single core phones on 3g was you didn't need more speed, because the phone couldn't render any faster.

 

[upsdriver]

the great thing back with slow single core phones on 3g was you didn't need more speed, because the phone couldn't render any faster.

OP is talking about 4g versus wifi loading speeds. Render time should be the same.

 

[InfinitySquared]

~10 Mbits/sec on Verizon 4g with 2 bars according to speedtest (Boston area). Not fast enough for web browsing imo.

LMAO!

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Browsing on my T-Mobile HTC Sensation can be a pain sometimes, but it is fast enough. The experience is not as good, as cell data gets hit by atrocious ping rates.

 

[bearxor]

I'd agree that the phone itself is the bottleneck right now, not the network speed, typically. You should be fine regardless of what you pick.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

My thunderbolt (verizon 4g) is plenty fast for me.

 

[JimmiG]

I find even 3G is fast enough with my phone. Sure, Tegra2 isn't the fastest platform, but I can't really tell the difference between WiFi (100Mb/s Internet over 802.11n) and 3G (~4-6Mb/s) when loading pages or watching video. The bottleneck seems to be the phone itself or perhaps the flash storage (as everything has to be written to flash for caching).

 

[Anubis]

4-6 Mb/s on 3G with who?

 

[bearxor]

4-6 Mb/s on 3G with who?

AT&T. I don't pull 6, but I consistently pull 4 with some toes dipping in to 5 on an iPhone 4.

 

[Anubis]

man VZWs 3g sucks, i dont think ive ever seen it over 3. even getting over 2 is a small miracle

 

[rh71]

it's plenty fast, a little bit slower than my wifi at home, but the biggest problem is browsing on a small screen. I just hate the limitations with input and display... on a tablet too.

 

[zerocool84]

4-6 Mb/s on 3G with who?

That's on the higher side for AT&T but definitely not unheard of.

 

[hans007]

man VZWs 3g sucks, i dont think ive ever seen it over 3. even getting over 2 is a small miracle

That would be because evdo rev a has a Max speed of ..... 3 mbps

 

[poofyhairguy]

Yep, my AT&T 3G pretty much rocks until I am throttled.

 

[hanoverphist]

i dont have many issues with web browsing on my droidX. sure, its not as easy as browsing on a tablet or a laptop, but its not meant to be. its a very small screen, but when i need to find some info on the go it does its job well. i have no problem for the most part with vzw 3g speeds, but i do know that my moms TB with 4g is much faster. i dont see much difference on hers whether on wifi at her house or on 4g tho, they are about the same as far as load times and whatnot.

 

[Oyeve]

VZW lte is painfully slow, at least for me in NYC. Thank God its a work phone so I really dont use it. I prefer my tmo sgs2 which is stomping lte, at least for me.

 

[fluffmonster]

thunderbolt, Verizon 4G in chicago/wisconsin is every bit as fast as wi-fi g.

 

[Nothinman]

10Mb here on VZW LTE in PGH and while there is occasionally some latency at the beginning of the request, once the connection is made it's plenty fast. The real issue is the battery drain caused by LTE use.

 

[kyrax12]

~10 Mbits/sec on Verizon 4g with 2 bars according to speedtest (Boston area). Not fast enough for web browsing imo.

How in the world is that not enough?

There is a threshold to the amount of mbits that would matter in web browsing.

 

[upsdriver]

How in the world is that not enough?

There is a threshold to the amount of mbits that would matter in web browsing.

Is this your first time on the interwebs?

 

[bnj]

Around 5 Mbit/s 3G network and around 10 Mbit/s Wifi did not make any difference in Galaxy S browsing because the bottleneck is the processor rather than the network speed.

 

[vshah]

i get 8+ on tmo hspa+, good enough for streaming and web browsing for me. doesn't work well deep inside buildings or below ground though.