I just this test today at Chandni Chowk, Rawalpindi. I was on a open road, there were no obstacles but still got very weak 3G speed via Telenor.
Till now, I came to conclusion that Jazz-Warid is awesome in terms of speed and signal strength in RWP/ISB. It's 2G is almost always at full inside the house but i rarely get 4G indoor. While Telenor has weak signals indoor but it randomly jumps to 3G a lot when i go to drawing room which is close to our porch. So Telenor has better indoor coverage.
When I earlier asked people to use the app and tell me what shows on the screen, there was a reason for it.
Here's the thing:
3G is deployed in chunks of 5Mhz, as the bare minimum, and this leads to limited speeds (at most, you can get HSPA+ where the theoretical peak speed is 21 Mbps). In order to go higher, you need to implement
Dual Carrier HSPA+, and they use two 5Mhz bands of spectrum
concurrently to improve speeds (this
website - the first website I linked above - says the spectrum has to be adjacent whilst a
newer 3G release states that spectrums in different bands can be used for the same effect).
Mobilink uses DC-HSPA+ whilst Telenor only uses HSPA+ (no dual carrier). In short, you can get roughly double the speeds on Mobilink for this very reason. I found this slideshow and took a
screenshot, which proves this. For the nerds (I gave up at this part), this relies on MIMO (multiple in, multiple out) transmission. I'm not touching that even with a 10 foot pole, sorry. I don't get paid to read up on technology that goes above my head and drives me mad like how spectrum is computed and what-not.
On the same subject, there was one more oddity I observed (I couldn't confirm from the internet, but my guess is that it's true?). Here's why I say:
- Mobilink 3G, in its resting state: http://imgur.com/a/yWmfL. See how it says WCDMA, and the signal readings are -99.5dBm and SNR is -11.1 dB.
- Mobilink 3G, with some data transmission: http://imgur.com/a/PDvMh. Do you see how the SNR jumped up? I tested this more than a few times, and each time, the SNR improved by about 4dB. The signal strength seems to improve, but I think that was more of a random occurrence than a pattern. SNR increased EVERY TIME I engaged in some data transmission. EVERY TIME!
- On the other hand, here's Telenor 3G, resting state: http://imgur.com/a/uC6oe - see the SNR and signal dBm.
- And Telenor 3G, with data being transmitted: http://imgur.com/a/fBUKL - see how the SNR doesn't improve? (I think the signal strength improving was more of a random occurrence again).
So power levels may have an impact, I don't think that's the reason. SNR is better (anecdotally and apparently) because of dual carrier tech Mobilink is using. And since Wikipedia says that a newer release of the 3G specification allows carriers to use 5Mhz in different bands, MAYBE (I think I'm expecting too much) Telenor could do something like this and bolster the speeds in the near future with their 850Mhz spectrum? And if they don't, I read it's because conventionally, they need two contiguous 5Mhz bands for DC (i.e. 10 Mhz consecutively) - which Telenor doesn't have but Mobilink and Zong do - unless Telenor does some upgrades (and then, again, I don't know if this is backward compatible with all phones). Oh, and DC-HSPA+ also improves latency (Telenor 3G has fluctuating latency - DC improves that)
I think this answers the question why Telenor doesn't perform as well as Mobilink (after so, so many posts), and why Mobilink can offer double speeds.
It's because of DC-HSPA+ (and everything else) and Mobilink is using newer tech to bring those speeds.
Enjoyed the ride? I certainly learned a lot of information which won't help me in my career (anybody want to give me a job?) but I certainly
didn't enjoy the ride! I'd like to go back to Mobilink with better speeds and reliability. Just fix your billing systems!
One more thing before I finish: Telenor wasn't allowing simultaneous voice and calls in Rawalpindi, but was allowing them in Islamabad today (they weren't even working yesterday in Islamabad). I don't know why, but if people are hoping they can use this feature, stop. It's inconsistent. No point. Telenor, like other Pakistani companies, have crippled 3G (although selectively, so that's a plus...?)
I pay via my Askari bank mobile app. When I select Mobilink postpaid from mobile payment section, it asks me for mobile number. When I enter my mobile number and press OK, it automatically pick my current month bill. Like this month my bill was 1549 rupees. When I enter my number it auto picked payable amount and showed that my payable bill is 1549 and asked me to pay. When I click on pay bill my bill paid and amount deducted from my account. Even I received sms on my number from jazz that my bill has paid.
Same goes for HBL mobile app
Sent from my X9009 using Tapatalk
For HBL, we ask for the consumer number, but enter the phone number and the amount you want to recharge it with (it can be any random amount). Everything is done through the phone number, and I get a confirmation from the bank as well as Mobilink (or used to) that my bill has been paid. It's not working with Telenor though.