Cellular2.12.2012

MTN LTE tested

By Jan Vermeulen

Real-world tests in Centurion and Midrand of MTN’s recently launched Long Term Evolution (LTE) network were cut short by the data cap the operator has on their launch offer, but showed promising results.

Tests in Midrand on Sunday afternoon revealed that LTE coverage was available along Lever Road as indicated by the MTN street-level coverage map.

Download speeds of between 5Mbps and 12Mbps were seen on Speedtest.net servers in Johannesburg and Midrand, including the MyBroadband Speedtest server which is hosted in MTN’s data centre.

A download of a popular torrent burst to a download speed of around 8Mbps, in an area where tests to South African Speedtest servers saw similar speeds.

Once this BitTorrent test (of a 260MB download) was finished, the 2GB monthly cap that comes with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE on offer by MTN was depleted and further testing halted.

MTN coverage map of Centurion and Midrand (LTE is red)

2GB cap at 10Mbps = 27.31 minutes of use

Usage other than Speedtest included one 260MB BitTorrent download, a handful of app downloads to try and log signal data while hunting LTE coverage, the initial setup and synchronisation to Google’s services on the Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE, and browsing the occasional web page.

This in itself speaks volumes about the speeds achieved and how small a 2GB cap is under such circumstances – especially if you consider that the mobile data connection was only used occasionally over the span of three afternoons, some of which was over HSPA+ and not LTE.

In fact, it was interesting to note the impressive speeds MTN’s HSPA+ network gave in LTE coverage areas in Centurion.

MTN LTE tests in Midrand on launch weekend

The Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE has a 42Mbps HSPA+ data modem according to the device’s spec sheet, and managed to get download speeds of over 20Mbps when connected via HSPA rather than LTE.

Similar tests conducted on an Android smartphone with a 21Mbps HSPA+ modem yielded speeds of over 10Mbps. This seems to suggest that the upgrades MTN made to its base stations will result in improved speeds for existing subscribers as well.

The verdict

Overall the MTN LTE network performed well, offering quick response times (low latency) when loading websites and other online services. However, LTE speeds weren’t as impressive as those seen in demos.

As for testing MTN’s LTE performance in Johannesburg, the mantra of the capped South African broadband user applies: “There is always next month.”