
Three UK 4G testing updates (speed tests)
As long as I’ve got my 4G enabled SIM, I’ll continue to do testing as I move around London day and night.
Rather than write a new post every single time, I’ll simply update this post and bump it up. That way my followers won’t be bombarded with emails about new posts that could become rather tiresome after a while.
I must also give thanks to the individual on YouTube that informed me that Ookla has released an official Speedtest.net app – so from now on any tests using a Windows Phone will at least use the same servers. Not that this can prevent the phone from dropping down to 3G, 2G or even no-G!
Coverage update
Three has recently updated its coverage checker, showing a number of new towns and cities receiving 4G service – albeit in a rather limited fashion so far.
Locations include Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Blackpool, Huddersfield, Nottingham, Derby, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Luton, Bristol, Cardiff, Bournemouth, Southampton, and Southend-on-Sea.
Warren Street Station
23 January 2014, 1640
Three: 58ms, 22.66Mbps/21.85Mbps
Near BT Tower
23 January 2014, 1600
Three: 59ms, 24.35Mbps/9.72Mbps
Hammersmith (Novatel West Hotel, indoors)
23 January 2014, 1245



Hammersmith (Novatel West Hotel, indoors)
22 January 2014, 1615
Three: 34ms, 48.88Mbps/0.43Mbps (Yes, that’s right – fastest download speed to date, slowest upload speed!)
Three: 47ms, 46.38Mbps/0.42Mbps
Three: 47ms, 26.90Mbps/0.45Mbps
Three: 31ms, 21.47Mbps/20.25Mbps (via USB tethering)
Three: 49ms, 13.91Mbps/22.25Mbps
Holborn
22 January 2014, 1130

O2: 81ms, 9.46Mbps/12.71Mbps
Three: 41ms, 23.22Mbps/18.88 Mbps
Blackfriars/Tate Modern
21 January 2014, 2100
Three: 54ms, 29.68Mbps/15.81Mbps
Three: 57ms, 24.04Mbps/22.46Mbps
Finsbury Park
21 January 2014, 0830
I am frustrated with Three because in central London (Liverpool street) I get pathetic speeds of 4kb/sec and up to 20kbytes/sec if I am lucky. However if I downgrade my network to H+ then it immediately speeds up to 200kb/sec up to even 750kb/sec.
How come 3G is 400 times faster than 4G? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
I found Three to be increasingly aggressive with there traffic shaping, to the point I was thinking of leaving them. But three 4G seems to be working fine just like being on WiFi, it that good, so if happy again. Looks like Three are rolling out 4g in towns and city’s with congestion problems first.
What about limits of volume of data transferred?
Reblogged this on The LTE World Series Blog and commented:
From a slow start on 4G in the UK, London now has four 4G networks to choose from. As this blog demonstrates, Three’s 4G network in London is now up and running, hitting amazing speeds of up to 67Mbps in places. Of course, there will be very few people making use of Three’s 4G network right now so those speeds will likely come down as the network starts to get loaded, but it’s still an impressive start, especially as Three is not charging its subscribers any premium for 4G data at all.
Three Seems overall best value
i get 86mbps down 28mbps up here in peterborough