Mobile data speed

[PHK]

LTE speeds on Fido have been getting slower over the past months (I live in a rural area north of Hamilton). Tonight I'm seeing 0.41 Mbps — this is so slow that even normal browsing is very frustrating. It feels like there are more users than the service can handle. Are there plans for improvement? 

[FidoDaniela]

Hey @PHK, thank you for bringing this up to our attention. 

Is it any better today?

Does it happen everywhere at all times?

How many lines of service do you see?

[PHK]

Hi Daniella, thanks for responding.

My speed fluctuates - the worst times are: Mon-Fri after 9am and every evening. Right now it's 6:40am on a holiday Monday and the speed is ok (it's never better than ok) at 9.72 Mbps down / 4.49 up. I use a data bytes session every Monday morning to pick up various updates and have learned to get this done early!

I only have one line. I live in the country and do not have home internet. LTE speeds appear to have been going down since the Covid lockdown began (back in March my speed was 18.7 Mbps down), so my guess is that there are more people using mobile data now than there was a few months ago.

Thanks.

[FidoSaad]

Hey there @PHK

How long have you been experiencing this? Your data speed can vary indeed, though most of our LTE customers today get an average download speed of 36.14 Mbps.

That said, the speed can be impacted by location, tower reception, etc. The good news is that about 5 Mbps should be enough for browsing and watching videos.

Have you had the chance to use the NetworkAid tool available on your Fido mobile app as well? This should help you confirm if there's any outage in your area.

As a side note, you've mentioned being in the country. Are you fully covered by our LTE network there as well?

Let us know!

[PHK]

Hi @FidoSaad, thanks for replying. As I mentioned I have been experiencing steadily deteriorating service since mid-March. Right now at 10:30am I am seeing only 1.7 Mbps down. The best speed I've ever had is 30 Mbps in December 2019. Now I'm always in the low single digits.

I live in the city of Hamilton in the northern rural area close to African Lion Safari. Fido says I'm fully covered here (I get 1-2 bars). My connection is pretty solid. I've used Network Aid but have never seen it report an outage.

Thanks for any help you can provide! 

[Cawtau]

Hello PHK,

  Welcome to the community!

  You're correct in that more people using data can indeed reduce speeds for everyone. However, there are many factors which can affect data speeds.

  Since you live in a rural area, your location relative to the cellular towers could affect cellular signal and data transmission.

~taken from here.

  In addition, the frequency at which your phone is connected could also have bearing on data speeds. The lower frequencies (ie 700MHz) can travel further and penetrate deeper than higher frequencies (ie 2600MHz) (see graphic here). However, the lower frequencies also have less potential bandwidth (see table here; note that Fido no longer uses band 17).

  Most of the rural cellular towers surrounding that area do not appear to use band 7 or 2600MHz. Depending on your location relative to the cellular towers, you may be using either band 4 (1700/2100MHz) or band 12 (700MHz) for LTE. What phone are you using? Does it have all of the compatible bands/frequencies? You can verify the compatible bands/frequencies here.

  Furthermore, signal strength could also affect data transmission. According to here, -100 dB is still required for data transfer to occur while maintaining the 4G or LTE speeds. Your 1-2 bars would suggest a signal strength of approximately -106 dB to -110 dB, where higher numbers represent worse signal (different phones may have varying ranges for the bar representations). Had you always had 1-2 bars of signal?

  As you may have guessed, there are also many factors which can affect cellular signal. In addition to location relative to the cellular towers, the signals are prone to interference. Could there be any new obstructions between your location and the cellular towers since December 2019? The cities are usually more prone to new obstructions as more taller buildings get built, however, I suppose it's still possible in a rural setting as well.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers

[PHK]

How do I resolve my problem? I can give you all the numbers for my phone but it's the same phone I had 9 months ago when I usually had 20-30 Mbps. Now it's consistently 1-3 Mbps. Nothing has changed on my end. 

[FidoClaudia]

Hey @PHK, 

Would it be possible to share with us the answers to @FidoSaad's questions so we can better assist you?

Also, can you tell us if you spoke to our Technical Support since you first started experiencing this?

-FidoClaudia

[PHK]

Thanks @FidoClaudia - here are some answers:

1. Have you only experienced this situation in the rural area close to African Lion Safari?

— Yes. I did a mobile data speed test downtown yesterday and saw 160+ Mbps! Then I drove 20km to home and I was at 2.5 Mbps 😕

2. Do you perhaps have a better reception outdoors compared to indoors, or does your signal remain consistent everywhere within that vicinity?

— No difference. The signal is the same indoors and out. 

3. Are there other devices at your household experiencing the same situation?

— I have a phone (Oneplus 6). This is my only connection to Fido. 

4. Would you happen to have another device you can test your Fido SIM card in?

— I tested on my old Samsung S7 and get the same results. 

I live in the country and internet is generally bad. But I was happy with Fido when I could consistently get over 10 Mbps. Now that I'm consistently in the lower single digits I am far less happy. 

Since LTE is one of the few reliable internet services in this area, I know that a number of my neighbours subscribed to the Rogers rocket hub solution when they were forced to work from home. I feel that this is a factor in the significant degradation of mobile data speeds but maybe I'm mistaken. Whatever the cause, speed is significantly slower now than pre-Covid.

I haven't yet contacted Tech Support. 

Thanks. 

[FidoClaudia]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to send us this info, @PHK!

Can you try resetting the network setting on your device to see if that improves things?

Also, how many signal bars do you usually have? Are calls and text messages impacted at all or only data?

[PHK]

Hi @FidoClaudia,

Text and voice calls seem to be ok. I know the occasional call doesn't ring through to my phone. 

I get 1-3 bars (out of 4). I connect to 1 of 2 towers, each is about 6km away.

I have reset the network settings on my phone. This made no difference.

I can still get good data speeds, but seemingly only at times when I figure not many people will be online.

I did a speed test at 7am this (Sunday) morning and got 21.0 Mbps. At 8:35am it was 3.18 Mbps and by 11:25am it was 0.66 Mbps. So to me it feels more like a network issue than an individual connection issue.

Thanks for looking into this. 

[MASET]

I have exactly the same issue with the 4G connection. it gets worse during working hours from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

[FidoFaiza]

Hi @MASET! 

You can reach us here to get help. 

[FidoKenny]

@PHK

I'm sending you a PM to get this looked into. Talk to you soon.  

[FidoSaad]

Thanks for clarifying,

You are correct, your area is fully covered

However your reception is degraded as you're only getting 1-2 bars of signal strength.  A few more questions if I may:

1. Have you only experienced this situation in the rural area close to African Lion Safari?
2. Do you perhaps have a better reception outdoors compared to indoors, or does your signal remain consistent everywhere within that vicinity?
3. Are there other devices at your household experiencing the same situation?
4. Would you happen to have another device you can test your Fido SIM card in?