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LTE data with prepaid

P
I've read through all the replies to LTE on prepaid but can someone confirm 100%? My confusion is from the following: I went to the Koodo kiosk in the Eaton Centre and the rep stated that as long as your phone supports LTE, you'll get LTE data on prepaid. I said the website states that LTE is not available with prepaid and she said from what she's been told, you'll get LTE if your phone supports it. She told me to call customer service if I wanted confirmation. I called the Koodo customer service number and the csr confirmed it. I have an iPhone 5 which supports LTE and want to confirm 100% before I switch over. Can someone on prepaid with an LTE enabled phone confirm whether or not they get LTE data? Not just the LTE icon on their phone but confirmed via a speedtest? Thanks in advance.

38 replies

P
Userlevel 7
Badge +4
If its showing LTE on your phone with an icon then your connected to LTE, if you leave the area your in that has LTE and go into a area without LTE then the LTE icon would not show.
Paul-Eh-D
Sophia
Userlevel 7
Badge +4
Hi Peter, I am on prepaid and recently was in an LTE area. Yes my phone did show LTE but I'm pretty sure the speed itself was not. However data is too precious to me to waste it on speedtests so I'm afraid I can't confirm for sure. Koodo's website states that LTE is not available for prepaid and I tend to trust that... Why would they lie to their disadvantage 🙂
Sophia
Userlevel 7
Badge +4
Sophia wrote:

Hi Peter, I am on prepaid and recently was in an LTE area. Yes my phone did show LTE but I'm pret...

Found the link: http://help.koodomobile.com/coverage-long-distance-and-travelling/coverage-maps
"CDMA and LTE coverage are not available with Koodo Prepaid." There you have it :)
P
Thanks Sophia, I totally understand about not wanting to waste data. Hopefully someone else got curious and gave it a try can confirm. Thanks for confirming that you did see the LTE icon though.
Sophia
Userlevel 7
Badge +4
Peter Luong wrote:

Thanks Sophia, I totally understand about not wanting to waste data. Hopefully someone else got c...

I will flag your question for Koodo to have a look, can't promise they will give you a definite answer, but let's hope they can enlighten the situation 🙂
What puzzles me is that you spoke to two reps (one in the store, on the phone) and both seem absolutely convinced that you CAN get LTE on prepaid... so either they are wrong(ly informed), or the website is wrong/outdated.

Keep an eye on this thread for the ultimate answer... hopefully 🙂
P
Peter Luong wrote:

Thanks Sophia, I totally understand about not wanting to waste data. Hopefully someone else got c...

Thanks for your help Sophia. Will be watching this thread.
N
Userlevel 2
Is it possible they might be enabling the LTE in some cases/areas for prepaid, but perhaps limiting/throttling it? Perhaps where 3G data bandwidth is saturated, and they'd rather provide LTE for devices that support it, even if prepaid, to move some traffic off? Or perhaps they are doing some pilot testing, either for reasons of their own, or ahead of eventually opening up to prepaid?
X
Userlevel 2
You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS 4G or HSPA+ the average expected speed is 4-6 MBPS. LTE the average expected speed is 12-25 MBPS. You can download SPEEDTEST.NET app and check if you are under LTE or NOT. Get it free from: Android→ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.zwanoo.android.speedtest&hl=en Iphone → https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/speedtest.net-mobile-speed/id300704847 Hope it helps you!!! Reply me if it worked for you!
N
Userlevel 2
Xavier wrote:

You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS ...

But you could be getting LTE service, yet be speed throttled. LTE would be separate frequencies and so on - if a phone has an indicator for LTE and it is on, presumably you really are on the LTE data network. But there is no guarantee you are not being rate-limited. I'm sort of interested in this, since I'm considering upgrading from my Fido/GSM/Moto KRZR into the modern world, and Koodo prepaid seems like the best value out there if I get an iPhone. If there's not LTE for prepaid anyway, that might push me to try and find a good value used iPhone 4S (or even a really cheap 4) instead of buying a new 5s.
M
Userlevel 2
Xavier wrote:

You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS ...

HSPA is capable of speeds up to 14mbps down HSPA+ is capable of speeds up to 22mbps down LTE is capable of speeds up to 75mbps down with the hardware and spectrum Telus currently have employed What you'll actually get is dependent on your location and penetration more than anything else. I'm in DT Toronto and use LTE exclusively. I average 60mbps down and 15mbps up. This is on post paid, mind you. For whatever reason, Koodo has apparently decided to not *officially* offer LTE to prepaid customers (not sure why tbh). We have to have a forum member that's on prepaid and in a solid LTE area. Can someone check and see what speeds you're getting?
P
Xavier wrote:

You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS ...

As per Sophia, prepaid users might not want to waste their data by running speedtests. I've read that one test eats up 25 mb so that's 25% data gone if someone had the 100 mb booster. But if someone were willing, it would be very much appreciated 🙂 Still hoping for an official answer from Koodo on this.
N
Userlevel 2
Xavier wrote:

You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS ...

If one has Koodo prepaid and are worrying about things LTE, one probably has the $30/GB booster. 25mb would be around 75¢ - a small price to pay for eternal gratitude from Koodo Community readers... 🙂
Sophia
Userlevel 7
Badge +4
Xavier wrote:

You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS ...

Hahaha! Put it that way, I'd happily volunteer. I thought much more data was involved 🙂 Unfortunately I won't be in an LTE area until next week or so (we live in a small town).
However the Koodo team promised to look into this as well, still hopeful we'll hear something official!
But if not, by next week I'll probably be able to test this 🙂
N
Userlevel 2
Xavier wrote:

You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS ...

I have no idea if that 25mb number is plausible or not - the docs for speedtest.net say they try and run a test for 10 seconds of data, which at 25Mbps would indeed be around 25mb, nominally. If they are allowing prepaid to connect to LTE for test or capacity purposes, they aren't likely to say anything useful about it publicly, and it might vary from area to area or at different times.
M
Userlevel 2
Xavier wrote:

You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS ...

Mbps = mega BITS per second, not bytes. A bit is 1/8th of a byte. So, a 10 second speed test at 25Mbps would be around 3.2 MB of data on the down stream. Factor in a bit more for an upstream. LTE in a strong area should be around 55-60Mbps, so a starting point would be somewhere around 7MB of data for the down portion.
N
Userlevel 2
Xavier wrote:

You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS ...

25Mbps (yes indeed, bits, I'm a programmer) times 10 seconds is 250 megabits (Mb), or 31.25 megabytes (MB). I think you considered 25Mbps as a data quantity, instead of a rate, and erroneously divided by 8, instead of multiplying by 10 seconds and then converting to bytes.
N
Userlevel 2
Xavier wrote:

You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS ...

In any case, if the phone is showing LTE, then it is on LTE. The question is whether a prepaid Koodo phone that is on LTE despite the prepaid terms supposedly preventing this is actually getting the full LTE access a postpaid person standing next to them would. A fast or slow speed could hint at the answer, but might also just mean the LTE service sucked at that particular time/location, and have nothing to do with being a prepaid user.
M
Userlevel 2
Xavier wrote:

You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS ...

You're right NorthernRaven, I forgot to multiply by 10 after my divsion, good catch!
C
Userlevel 2
Xavier wrote:

You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS ...

I used 14MB total data on HSPA+ prepaid using WP8 speedtest.net app on my Lumia 520. Scored 5Mbit/sec downstream and 4Mbit/sec upstream. This was in Toronto with solid 5 bars signal.
X
Userlevel 2
Xavier wrote:

You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS ...

That's a great download speed chris. You can also upload things quickly! Even HSPA+ is amazing!! Lumia 520 is not capable of LTE! Check all features of you phone here → http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_lumia_520-5322.php
C
Userlevel 2
Xavier wrote:

You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS ...

Yes I am aware my phone is not LTE. The point was to give a sense for HSPA+ speeds (on this low end phone) and how much actual data was used for the test - particularly important for those prepaid users afraid of burning through their precious data.. 😉 LOL 5MBit is plenty fast; however HSPA+ is capable of much higher.
X
Userlevel 2
Xavier wrote:

You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS ...

BTW, CDMA and LTE coverage are not available with Koodo Prepaid. I Just found that at the koodo website. How bad! → http://help.koodomobile.com/coverage-long-distance-and-travelling/coverage-maps As you said Chris, 5MBit is plenty fash enough.
P
Userlevel 7
Badge +4
Xavier wrote:

You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS ...

Again Xavier Sophia already claimed about finding the page you linked to right at the top of the conversation, make sure to read the entire conversation before responding.
Paul-Eh-D
X
Userlevel 2
Xavier wrote:

You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS ...

Who are you Paul? It's our profile we can post what we like to. Like if you were Koodo. Have a good day!
M
Userlevel 2
Xavier wrote:

You will get the download speeds as follows: 3G or HSPA The average expected speed is 3-4 MBPS ...

Not if it's redundant.

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