Was 4G Really Worth Waiting For?

[john30308]

Everyone seems to be dancing around 4G - turning it off to save battery, worried about weak LTE reception constantly seeking signal when 3G is plentiful, etc. So..... is 4G worth it? Would the Bionic be 95% of the phone it already is even if it didn't have 4G?

 

[ahaidet]

YES! I have not turned it off to save battery. Granted the 2nd day i had the phone I installed the extended battery (because it was on sale). I am getting 16-22 hours battery life with moderate/average use. When the phone is in 4G reception it absolutely FLIES! As fast as my time warner cable internet on my wifes laptop (I dont pay for anything but basic bandwith speed for RR).

When I am in 3G the phone is still snappy just not nearly as much. When a page loads a little slow I find myself looking up to notification bar and realizing that its in 3G and sighing. Its noticiable and with the extended battery I dont see any draw backs. Phone even fits in the standard docks with it.

 

[jwest06]

YES! I have not turned it off to save battery. Granted the 2nd day i had the phone I installed the extended battery (because it was on sale). I am getting 16-22 hours battery life with moderate/average use. When the phone is in 4G reception it absolutely FLIES! As fast as my time warner cable internet on my wifes laptop (I dont pay for anything but basic bandwith speed for RR).

When I am in 3G the phone is still snappy just not nearly as much. When a page loads a little slow I find myself looking up to notification bar and realizing that its in 3G and sighing. Its noticiable and with the extended battery I dont see any draw backs. Phone even fits in the standard docks with it.

100% Agree. If you need to save battery or are concerned with it, turn 4g off. I just bought the extended battery today (because its on sale). I've been running with normal battery and 4g on all the time and it will last me as much as I need it to (about 10-11 hours of medium-low use).

Benefits definitely outway the costs in my opinion.

 

[Travisimo]

YES!! 4G just went live in my area early this morning, and I am amazed by the speed. It beats my home Internet connection significantly. Yes, the trade-off is battery life, but that's what extra batteries are for! Without 4G, the Bionic would still be a worthy upgrade to the Droid X, though I probably would have waited for the launch of Ice Cream Sandwich if it weren't for the LTE coming to my area today.

 

[William T Riker]

Heck yeah it was. 3G my speedtest is typical 1-1.5mb down on my Droid 1 with verizon. I ended up trying out the EVO3D on sprint because I couldn't wait and in my area 3G with them the best I got was 700k down, usually in the 2-400k range, and 4G best I got was 7mb down this was for $90 a month after tax and stuff. I took it back and now that I upgraded with the Bionic on 4G I am seeing 12 to 15 mb down at the same price as my original droid plan, grandfathered in on unlimited. An 11 meg bump in speed with no price change is a win in my book, not really worried about the Prime either if it ever comes to vzw just use my wifes upgrade on it

 

[skwalk47]

YES.

I download a podcast in 2 seconds instead of 5 minutes.

I was able to watch the Jets-Cowboys game in good quality on the train.

I downloaded and HD DIVX in just a few minutes.

I think it was...

 

[DanDroide]

yes

 

[rocket97]

Short answer yes... Long answer yyyyyeeeeeeessssssss

 

[Vihzel]

Seeing as I am receiving about 15Mbps down and have the extended battery... YES.

 

[painweaver]

YES!!! I wish i could get it everywhere.

 

[krouget]

VZW
Connection Type: Lte
Download: 26.52 Mbps
Upload: 4.33 Mbps
Ping: 58 ms

Home network
Connection Type: Wifi
Download: 18.09 Mbps
Upload: 17.82 Mbps
Ping: 16 ms

I'd say yes, it's worth it (at least for downloading).

 

[Somniferum]

It's worth it to me, in ATL I'm getting strong 4g everywhere. Good battery life too. I've heard switching from 4g to 3g a lot is the real battery drain, so it may depend on your location and the 4g coverage there.

 

[xmr405o]

You know, I was really skeptical about 4G even though I lived in or near a 4G area. Especially how I saw 4G dropping on the Thunderbolt and Charge on my co-workers phones. So I didn't think 4G was worth it.

But when I bought the Bionic, I was really surprised to see my 4G signal holding up everywhere I went. This network is super fast and pretty reliable. I'm glad I waited until the Bionic was released to try out 4G because it gives LTE a positive reputation.

For those in Southern California,

I get 4G signals from 91 starting near the 15 freeway (Corona to Cerritos)
the 605 and 405 (Long Beach to Culver City)...
The 60 (Pomona to East LA),
210 freeway (Ontario to Pasadena)
10 freeway- (Ontario to Santa Monica)
5 freeway- (Orange County)

I travel a lot in and around the LA area, Orange County, San Bernardino, Riverside...every city I've been to (when I checked) I had 4G coverage.

 

[New Rising]

You know, I was really skeptical about 4G even though I lived in or near a 4G area. Especially how I saw 4G dropping on the Thunderbolt and Charge on my co-workers phones. So I didn't think 4G was worth it.

But when I bought the Bionic, I was really surprised to see my 4G signal holding up everywhere I went. This network is super fast and pretty reliable. I'm glad I waited until the Bionic was released to try out 4G because it gives LTE a positive reputation.

Same here, I'm surprised how well 4g has been holding up everywhere for me. I thought it'd be really spotty in some areas and i'd be going in and out of 3g 4g a lot. In my house i get 2-3 bars of 4g, on my Incredible I'd go from 0-2 bars on 3g. I live right outside Chicago though which is why my reception on 4g stays strong. So yes, 4g was worth the wait.

 

[freeky1]

Going from 3G to 4G was like going from dial-up to broadband, so yes!

 

[Vehtemas]

I love it! Granted if I forget to charge the phone I disable it. The extended battery rocks too.

 

[fatpomp]

You know, I was really skeptical about 4G even though I lived in or near a 4G area. Especially how I saw 4G dropping on the Thunderbolt and Charge on my co-workers phones. So I didn't think 4G was worth it.

But when I bought the Bionic, I was really surprised to see my 4G signal holding up everywhere I went. This network is super fast and pretty reliable. I'm glad I waited until the Bionic was released to try out 4G because it gives LTE a positive reputation.

For those in Southern California,

I get 4G signals from 91 starting near the 15 freeway (Corona to Cerritos)
the 605 and 405 (Long Beach to Culver City)...
The 60 (Pomona to East LA),
210 freeway (Ontario to Pasadena)
10 freeway- (Ontario to Santa Monica)
5 freeway- (Orange County)

I travel a lot in and around the LA area, Orange County, San Bernardino, Riverside...every city I've been to (when I checked) I had 4G coverage.

I live and work around these same areas and I always have a 4g signal. The only time it drops to 3g is when I'm at work inside the building but as soon as I walk outside 4g comes back.

And yes its worth it!

 

[Bogie]

I have Clear 4G as my home Internet provider. The Bionic on the LTE network is getting double the results from speedtest.net than my computer gets on Clear's network.

So yes, 4G is worth it.

 

[amageus]

When I was playing with my phone at my brother's house 4G made youtube videos a snap...and straight to HQ. Netflix didn't even flinch at all. Download speed for apps were quick. Pandora didn't even flinch at all while doing 70mph down the freeway. However where I live I am just a few miles outside the 4G zone so I'm stuck with 3G for now. I will use 4G whenever I can and am happy with it.

 

[Groid]

Definitely worth it. If nothing else, would you want to wait for another 2 years for a phone with 4g? As coverage gets better and better and we get the next update or two to tweak the initial settings, 4g will be even more of an asset. I have a hard time thinking people will lock for 2 years into a slightly upgraded iphone4 with no lte. I turn off all data at home with a good wifi connection, but when I'm out and about, I really like the 4g speed on the internet.

 

[jbdan]

I leave it on 24/7 and absolutely yes it is worth it. Surfing on the go that's as fast as my i5 desktop? You betcha

EDIT: also have to add I came home tonight with no internet (Charter DSL 8Mbps down 1Mbps up) so I hooked up the Bionic and USB tethered. Wow it's faster than my home internet. No speedtests just browsing and email but wow!

 

[Rodent]

No 4G where I am...
Did have a question maybe someone had some insite. How long do people think it will be before the LTE chips are on the power use like the current Evdo chips?

 

[nstallion]

Yes:

Test Date: Sep 9, 2011 10:54:29 pm
Connection Type: Lte
Server: Chula Vista, CA
Download: 24923 kbps
Upload: 12681 kbps
Ping: 89 ms

 

[sean76]

Simply put...Yes!

 

[xmr405o]

Yes:

Test Date: Sep 9, 2011 10:54:29 pm
Connection Type: Lte
Server: Chula Vista, CA
Download: 24923 kbps
Upload: 12681 kbps
Ping: 89 ms

Wow thats some crazy upload speed. That's fiber optic speeds!!