South Korea LTE Speed Test - How fast is your mobile Internet? |

Crazy Fast LTE Speed

May 22, 2012 - Internet, Technology, Video, YouTube - Tagged: 3G, 4G, Apple, Galaxy Note, Internet, iPhone, Korea, KT, LTE, Mobile Phone, Olleh, SamSung, Speed, Speed Test, Technology, Test, Video, YouTube - 11 comments

Believe it or not, I’ve been using the Internet since it’s inception… well at least when it was made public. I recall fondly the days of using ARCHIE and GOPHER to network into other schools and retrieve information about history and recipes (I must make for you that coffee cake sometime). When in the US, I routinely paid over $100 for a fast connection. Something on the order of 10Mbs download and 5Mbs upload. I was stoked! Until I moved to Korea.

Land of Speed

When I first got here I had no idea how fast a connection I was going to receive. Imagine my surprise when for a little over $30 per month, I am able to have a 100Mbs up and down connection in my home. A connection ten times faster than the US for a third of the price. AMAZING. Since coming to Korea, I’ve become accustomed to that kind of speed. In fact, being able to purchase and download a movie in SECONDS is what I live for. As a YouTube Creator, being able upload a 4GB podcast movie in a few days, is much appreciated. It’s something I would never try in the US.

Since I purchased my iPhone 4 in 2011, I have been pleased with the mobile speeds I’ve been able to achieve.

Above you see a recent speed test taken by my phone. The thing that stands out most for me, is that the 3G connection is faster than my average connection in the US. When I was paying for standard Internet, I was lucky to get 1Mbs download and 256Kbs for upload. This 3G connection is significantly faster, comes with unlimited data, and is cheaper than any mobile data plan I ever had in the US.

New Kid on the Block

Rolled out this year is the upgrade to 3G: the LTE network. I had seen commercials from SK, LG, and Olleh, but wasn’t sure how fast the networks really were in comparison. I mean, was the hype really worth it? To find out, I borrowed a Samsung Note to compare Olleh 3G and 4G speeds. This is what I found:

That is crazy fast. 22.6Mbs for download and 13Mbs for the upload. I have never seen speed like that on mobile device. I ran the tests a number of times and most results hovered around 17-25Mbs for the download and between 9-17Mbs for the upload. Those numbers are awesome. As I continue to produce more mobile content, I’m left wondering if the next iPhone will be made available on LTE networks. The sheer power the network provides is amazing.

I’m curious to see how my tests stack up in your neck of the woods. Please surf on over to the app store of your choice and download the Speed Test app (available for both iOS and Android). Then post your results here with what kind of network you’re on (3G or LTE). I’m curious to see what speeds are out there.

Joel Seah

It’s crazy slow in Singapore. 38 bucks/month (mobile), 12GB/month Ping: 313ms, DL:3055kbps, UL:1376kbps
- Steve
  
  Wow! I would have suspected Singapore to have a lot faster speeds!
http://lisawiesinger.xanga.com Lisa

22.6 Mbs for downloading on your mobile device?! That sounds amazing, I just can’t picture myself. I wish that the LTE network was available in my country.
- Steve
  
  We are extremely lucky here. I can’t even begin to tell you how valuable having that kind of speed is to our work! What kind of speeds are you getting?
  - http://www.bebopets.com/ Lisa
    
    Unfortunately, at my place we only have 10Mbs for downloading. I’ve heard a lot about 100Mbs on cable and about 40Mbs on mobile devices, but I haven’t got any experiences with that fast connections. Sometimes I really feel like I was in the age of the dial-up modem:) I still can hear those dial-up noises:)
http://www.bebopets.com/ Sindi

Wow! I just can’t believe how lucky you are!I dream about the 40Mbs for my home connection, but – it’s sad but true – I only have 4Mbs for downloading. It feels like I was in a McDonalds or something like that. I wish that the new 4G network would be available in my city.
- Steve
  
  4Mbs is what I was averaging in my home in the US before I left in 2008. I’m a little confused about your answer. Is 40Mbs available, but you’re just not able to get it at your home? I have a friend in NC who is still on dial-up since DSL doesn’t reach his farm.
  - Ladielova17
    
    Hey I too am living in seoul. In fact I plan on getting the egg hotspot from LG U+. I want that awesome 4g speed. Let me know what you think about it.
    - qiranger
      
      I don’t have LG, but I’ve been thinking of getting an egg for greater speed. I know I would love it for my mobile computing!
Kevin

Look at the graph on the bottom of the speedtest result. Speedtest reports only the fastest speed it ever sees during the test. It is meant to test the ultimate ability of the hardware. In reality, traffic reduces this and is a huge factor in real mobile data speeds. Looking at the graph it’s obvious that your average speed tests were several times slower than the peak result. The thing that impacts mobile experience more than 1 vs 20 Mb/s is how often the connection freezes entirely for a couple of seconds. Who cares if it’s 20 Mb/s sometimes if you have to wait 5 seconds before it does anything. That’s fine for buffering video I guess, but not for much else.
Kevin

I’m wrong; it’s reporting an average (maybe it changed? or I remembered wrong).. still the experience is largely determined by the lags and freezes, not even the average.