Theoretical speeds are those which you can expect to obtain in a laboratory environment with perfect conditions, while real world speeds are those you can expect to get everyday using your phone on a real mobile network. When it comes to measuring mobile network speeds there are two situations which are of interest, theoretical and the real world. We’ll also do the same for 5G, which is another jump up in speed. To understand just how fast 4G is, we need to put the technology into perspective against the older mobile network technologies, namely 3G and 3G HSPA+. To do so we'll look at the theoretical and real-world performance of 4G LTE, as well as looking at 4G speeds on the UK's mobile networks. We’ll get into exactly how fast below, along with everything else you need to know about 4G and 5G speeds.
Theoretical maximum 4G speeds are significantly higher at 300Mbps, although such speeds are only achievable in controlled laboratory environments.ĥG is far faster still. You’d have to be living in a cave to not know 4G was faster than 3G, but just how much faster is it really? And what about 5G?ĤG offers maximum real-world download speeds up to around 100Mbps, making it over 20 times faster than 3G.
