Telkom Mobile 100Mbps LTE tested: one word, impressed

Telkom Mobile 100Mbps LTE tested: one word, impressed
MyBroadband takes Telkom Mobile’s 100Mbps LTE service for a spin, and it does not disappoint
Staff Writer June 23, 2014
http://mybroadband.co.za/news/broadband/...essed.html



Telkom announced on 13 June 2014 that it is rapidly growing its LTE footprint, and will be offering 100Mbps services to many new areas across the country.

“With peak speeds of 100 Mbps on the home LTE network, the concept of the connected home becomes a lot more tangible and the possibility for value added services is within reach,” said Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko.

Telkom Mobile has upgraded its core network, and is also upgrading many of its mobile sites to support higher LTE speeds.

MyBroadband put the service to the test to see if it lives up to the Telkom CEO’s promise.

Testing environment

MyBroadband tested the service using two different setups: a standalone Huawei B593 router and a Huawei B222 installation using an external antenna to increase signal strength.

Telkom Mobile has very good LTE coverage at the testing venue, which meant that the speeds were only slightly better when using the outdoor LTE CPE.

However, using the outdoor unit did provide a more stable connection with more consistent speeds and latency.




Telkom Mobile LTE speed test results

Telkom Mobile’s LTE service performed very well, especially when using local speed test servers.

Local download speeds ranged between 65Mbps and 80Mbps, while International speeds ranged between 10Mbps and 30Mbps.

Local upload speeds ranged between 6Mbps and 8Mbps, with international speeds ranging between 5Mbps and 8Mbps.




Telkom Mobile LTE latency

One of the biggest benefits of LTE over 3G products is its lower latency. Telkom Mobile’s LTE service clearly shows what is possible with this technology.

Local latency typically ranged between 30ms and 50ms, depending on the testing server.

International latency ranged between 200ms and 300ms when using servers in the United States and the United Kingdom.

This means that Telkom Mobile’s LTE service is suitable for online gaming and other services where low latency is needed.



Conclusion

Telkom Mobile’s LTE service offers an impressive performance, and is a suitable replacement for a fixed broadband service for low usage (5Gb to 20GB per month) or as a backup connection.