Extremely low 4G+ speeds. Why is that?

[Antonismastro34]

Hi everyone. 

 

Sometimes when I test the speed of my 4G+ using my phone (Huawei P Smart) I get around 5-10mbps download on average. Occasionally even lower, 2mbps or so. However, I have also reached 60+mbps. More than 50 speedtests the past week, different times too. 

 

Few minutes ago I did a speedtest, same place, exact same spot, 10 seconds difference each. First one I got 53mbps, second 2.1mbps (!). 

 

My question is:

 

Why is this happening? Why do they vary so much? And why is it so slow in general? Could it be related to COVID? (more usage etc). 

 

Thanks. 

[WereCatf]

6 minutes ago, Antonismastro34 said:

Why is this happening? Why do they vary so much?

You're sharing the cell-tower's bandwidth with everyone else who is connected to it.

[Antonismastro34]

4 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

You're sharing the cell-tower's bandwidth with everyone else who is connected to it.

Makes sense, however isn't 4-8mbps downlaod on average a bit too low nonetheless? 

 

It's also weird how at 15:00 I might get 50mbps, and at 15:01 2mbps. Huge difference. 

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, Antonismastro34 said:

Makes sense, however isn't 4-8mbps downlaod on average a bit too low nonetheless?

Nope, there are SO many different things at play, like e.g. what the weather is like, if there's some radio-interference happening, how many different devices are transmitting or received data with the tower and so on and so forth. You're not only sharing the Internet-facing bandwidth of the tower with everyone else, you're also sharing the radio-bandwidth with everyone else, so it can vary a lot, and people tend to be very erratic in how they use their phones, tablets etc., so all the bandwidth-usage will naturally vary a lot.