MTN 5G vs 4G - Side-by-side speed tests

I wish this speed test can be done at area's which have LTE 1800Mhz and 5G 1800Mhz so that i can see if same spectrum can have major difference in both 4G and 5G networks.
By the way if MTN 5G maintain sub 20 ms latency even when active users increase i will be impressed, it will be good to see stable latency results.
If one tower can connect 1000 5G devices and still have 12ms latency to all connected devices i will be impressed by MTN 5G even if DL is 50Mbps and UL is 20Mbps to all connect devices
 
How much does data cost on 5G? Any uncapped options?
 
It's just disgusting, demoralizing and down right pathetic that ICASA hasn't licenced spectrum for 5G yet (or even more for 4G). I can only assume it is malicious, because no one can be that incompetent.
 
The problem is that these tests are indicative only and a bit unrealistic to be honest. You are comparing a brand new band that is hardly in use by anyone at the moment to a highly utilized band in use by a lot of people. As connectivity increases, cell size will reduce and so will the bandwidth that will be availbe. 5G has smaller cells and needs more of them with poor building penetration. In short, it is way too early to start shopping for data prices and prudent to wait for real world tests where a lot more people are using the technology to see how the experience will compare. In SA we don't even have proper 3G everywhere so I think this hype is overrated.
 
Where do they get 4G from, we have only ever had 3G LTE..
4G was never implemented in this country (SA)?
Now I'm really confused??

Ref: source Wikipedia.
 
Once there is full coverage of 5G and more 5G devices are used, would the network be capable of handling this load of higher speeds across millions of devices :/
 
Deandbn said:
Where do they get 4G from, we have only ever had 3G LTE..
4G was never implemented in this country (SA)?
Now I'm really confused??

Ref: source Wikipedia.
Click to expand...
Each new generation can use bands previously assigned to earlier generations.

The so-called 4G spectrum is largely un-assigned and so SA's operators have re-farmed or dynamically assigned spectrum originally assigned for 2G (900 and 1800MHz) and for 3G (2100MHz) for use in LTE. Telkom has 2300MHz spectrum and rain has 2600MHz spectrum which was assigned with 4G in mind.

Interestingly, MTN is providing 5G on the very same spectrum (in addition to its emergency assignment and its mm-wave assignment).
 
LinuxMan said:
Once there is full coverage of 5G and more 5G devices are used, would the network be capable of handling this load of higher speeds across millions of devices :/
Click to expand...
The idea is to give blanket coverage on lower frequencies whilst introducing high band spectrum in high-use pockets, to handle capacity and faster speeds. MTN is the only operator thus far to go live in SA with the high band spectrum.

In terms of IoT, 5G supports millions of devices and the targets (per square km) are written into the target specs.
 
Jamie McKane said:
MTN 5G vs 4G - Side-by-side speed tests

MTN recently launched its 5G network in three cities in South Africa - Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Bloemfontein.

The service is offered in two variants – 5G home Wi-Fi and 5G mobile.
Click to expand...
This may be an interesting exercise - to see the difference - as long as it is clear that comparisons are not straightforward unless you have the same spectrum assigned (MTN has 50MHz of pure 5G spectrum for these sites which it didn't have for LTE), the same customer load (LTE is far busier) and the same MIMO configurations (5G has massive mimo, which can be used for LTE but is not currently).

The latency is one value which should reduce with 5G (although one can implement short-TTI on LTE as well) and I do find it interesting that techcentral recorded sub-10ms latencies on the same 5G network.
 
Deandbn said:
Exactly..
It (3G LTE) doesn't meet the technical specifications for 4G but the ITU says you can call it 'true 4G' anyway.

What a mess, but noted.
Click to expand...
Wikipedia is saying the original LTE on 3GPP Rel 8 was not true 4G. However the operators are on 3GPP releases 14-16 right now, which do meet the IMT-Advanced specs (and go beyond). The wiki needs to be updated to clarify that.
 
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