iPhone 5 may not be the best device for 4G in Singapore

[nirvarq]

Worst still whenever i enable the LTE for Singtel, i cannot receive calls 50% of the time in certain areas and they tell me 4G is new i have to be patient wtf....


http://asia.cnet.com/blogs/iphone-5-may-not-be-the-best-device-for-4g-in-singapore-62218716.htm
The iPhone 5 may not support Singapore's new 4G networks perfectly, while handsets from competitors Samsung and HTC will, based partly on a report from Digital Life, Singapore's weekly tech digest.

4G LTE sounds great but we have a big problem of fragmentation. There's no standard frequency band for LTE network--they differ from one country to another. Here's a list of the various networks around the world. You can also check CNET's LTE FAQ.

Reportedly, the iPhone 5 will support only the 1,800MHz band. Since SingTel and M1 are using both 1,800MHz and 2,600MHz bands to provide coverage in Singapore, the iPhone may not get the LTE signal in areas where the 2,600MHz band is being used. Competing handsets like the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S III LTE and HTC One XL will support both frequency bands.

Consider all this before buying an LTE phone. I'm looking forward to LTE for it signals a relief from the terrible congestion we have for 3G data today. So I'd be shattered if my handset didn't have full 4G coverage even after paying about a thousand bucks for it.

 

[red amoeba]

So stinktel what now ? Half baked 4g n tortoise speed 3g...r we back to gsm?

 

[Alamaking]

It keeps dropping connections when I surf during mobility.... and the battery... wah lau....

 

[Fook Seng]

It keeps dropping connections when I surf during mobility.... and the battery... wah lau....

Even if you don't get LTE coverage all phones should downgrade to 3G. You are lucky that the phone display is only 4". To conserve battery, do the further thing - switch off your wifi and cellular data when not needed. Also switch off unnecessary notifications like Sammyboy's new posts. Getting an application like Battery Doctor might help.

 

[Alamaking]

Even if you don't get LTE coverage all phones should downgrade to 3G. You are lucky that the phone display is only 4". To conserve battery, do the further thing - switch off your wifi and cellular data when not needed. Also switch off unnecessary notifications like Sammyboy's new posts. Getting an application like Battery Doctor might help.

Paiseh, never saw LTE on my phone before.... I already max minimize the usage of the battery, but still upset about it, 2 hours dropped to 76%, what is this?...

 

[laksaboy]

LTE is a huge drain on the battery life on any phone, any platform.

Doesn't matter what tricks you try to conserve battery life.

We're still using battery technology from last century.

 

[eatshitndie]

battery drain is also due to lack of lte coverage. the iphone 5 with cellular data on will 1st look for 4g lte, and if lte is not available will hand down to 3g hspa, hsa+ and umts. it is also compatible with 2g gsm/gprs and edge. when there's lack of 4g coverage, the mobile will constantly do hand off's between 4g and 3g while also falling back to 2g if both 3g and 4g coverage are poor. with wi-fi and cellular data on, the drain increases with the mobile looking for wi-fi plus hand off issues at 3g and 4g. moreover, the 1800 mhz band is re-farmed from gsm for lte, thus capacity is lower with smaller channels or carriers (5 mhz vs 10 and 20 mhz at higher bands). it will only improve if the iphone 5 in sg is multi-band, i.e. 1800 and 2600 mhz. hand off's between the lower and higher bands improve with coverage, i.e. 1800 mhz for a wider area and 2600 mhz for smaller high capacity sectors or hot spots. because of the frequency difference, there's less interference, thus improved performance. unfortunately, when apple market specific iphone 5 models and variants to various countries, band selection is not optimal due to royalties paid to qualcomm. there are different qualcomm chipset variants for the iphone 5 depending on band and technology, eg. cdma + lte at certain band combinations vs. gsm/edge/umts/hspa + lte at a variety of band combinations. handset companies pay qcom royalties based on technology selected and band selection. the chipsets are programmable with a complex matrix of feature selections. to reduce cost of royalty, apple and some other manufacturers skinny down on band and tech selections. there's no one size fits all god chip for baseband as 4g lte is so fucked up with band fragmentation globally.

 

[Cestbon]

Now Samsung phone all out of stock. Note 2 , S3 and Ace.

 

[songsongjurong]

m1 3G signal is zero at certain north east end,particularly facing johor.
call m1 daily complaint, reset, worked for 5mins...no signal agajn ( 3g on tablet)..think better IDA to step in

 

[nirvarq]

All 3 telcos kena fined recently but nothing change.... still very bad receptions.

 

[tonychat]

Throw away your iphone lah, why use a gay phone???

Use a man phone like Andriod...

 

[Fook Seng]

Throw away your iphone lah, why use a gay phone???

Use a man phone like Andriod...

Andriod is designed for gorilla sized palms, not for humans.

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

Paiseh, never saw LTE on my phone before.... I already max minimize the usage of the battery, but still upset about it, 2 hours dropped to 76%, what is this?...

Piang u mean you got 4g data plan but don't have the chance to use it?

Anyway the 4G plans in sg suck. Only 2GB sia. It's very easy to exceed.

 

[Cestbon]

All 3 telcos kena fined recently but nothing change.... still very bad receptions.

Telco fine no use . Small money for 3 telco.
Best is the refund all the fee to user. Then telco will have pressure.

 

[Fook Seng]

Paiseh, never saw LTE on my phone before.... I already max minimize the usage of the battery, but still upset about it, 2 hours dropped to 76%, what is this?...

If LTE coverage is poor and draining away power, just disable LTE in the phone. The networks need some time to be reasonably effective, probably closer to mid 2013.

Anyway disable both cellular data and wifi while not in use unless you are using it for some of those soft phone applications.

 

[A1amaking]

It keeps dropping connections when I surf during mobility.... and the battery... wah lau....

Alamak...my galaxy note also bad in Lte