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Mobile Broadband Typical Speed Measurement

Mobile Broadband Typical Speed

StarHub offers various mobile broadband plans with varying download speed to consumers. Mobile broadband is often used for accessing websites, sending emails, downloading files and instant messaging when consumers are on-the-move. For most people, the mobile broadband download speed is an important consideration – the speed at which data can be transferred to a mobile device over the mobile network, when choosing mobile broadband plans. However, it is also important to note that as with any network, there are many factors that could affect the mobile broadband speed. These include the location and time which you are accessing mobile broadband, the amount of network traffic at that time, whether you're on the move or stationary, the performance of the mobile device, the web servers accessed and environmental factors.

The average mobile broadband speeds currently being delivered are usually more than adequate for common type of uses such as browse the Internet websites, download an MP3 track or stream music or video. StarHub’s network has been designed to ensure that all users would have a fair opportunity to use the service in a manner that maximises their own utility.

StarHub has embarked on the measurement and publication of the typical download speed performance of the mobile broadband plans which include MaxMobile range for laptop/tablets and mobile voice plans with data access, such as SmartSurf plans. This is to provide greater awareness to consumers on the performance of the broadband plans under actual conditions. Consumers would be able to better understand how their broadband connections would perform and make informed choice of their broadband plans. StarHub would conduct measurement and publish the performance of the broadband plans on a quarterly basis.

Typical download speed range of StarHub mobile broadband plans

Mobile Broadband
  SmartSurf Elite, SmartSurf Premium, SmartSurf Value, SmartSurf Lite, MaxMobile Elite (6GB) and MaxMobile Elite (11GB) MaxMobile Premium (10GB) MaxMobile Lite (6GB), MaxMobile Value (10GB) and Other Mobile Voice Plans with Data Access
Theoretical Local
Download Speed		 LTE: Up to 75Mbps Up to 21Mbps Up to 7.2Mbps
Typical Download
Speed Range
(Stationary)		 LTE: 3.4~12Mbps 1.6 ~ 7.8Mbps 1.3 ~ 5.2Mbps
Typical Download Speed Range
(On-the-Move)		 LTE: 3.4~12Mbps 1.1 ~ 5.2Mbps 1.1 ~3.3Mbps

How is the speed measurement conducted?

For the purpose of measuring and publishing the typical stationary and on-the-move speeds of mobile broadband, the following methodology was adopted:

  1. A laptop with wireless 3G/4G dongle and mobile phone were used as end-user devices to measure the typical speeds of the mobile broadband plans. The typical download speeds were measured throughout the day at various parts of Singapore during each quarter, with at least 200 measurement samples for each speed category (due to limited LTE coverage, typical download speed for LTE is based on 100 measurement samples). The measurement locations will change on a quarterly basis. For measurements in Q1 2013, the measurements when in both stationary position and-on-the-move would include areas: Clementi, Dairy Farm, Dunearn Road, Farrer Park, Hougang, Jalan Sayang, Lower Peirce Reservoir, Marine Parade, Pasir Ris, Spottiswoode Park, Woodsville Close, Yishun, East Coast Park Expressway, Circuit Road, Watten Estate and Woodlands Est.
  2. The measurement of the typical speeds is conducted with FTP servers located in Singapore, Hong Kong and United States of America. A file size of 20Mb is used for all measurement tests. Below is a simple diagram illustrating the measurement set-up.
file

Computation of typical download speeds of mobile broadband plans

An indicative range of typical download speeds for each broadband plan was published to reflect the variable nature of the mobile Internet access service performance. The typical download speed range is derived to illustrate what majority of our users would experience with the mobile broadband speed in actual conditions for most of the time.  The following sets out the typical speeds for our various mobile broadband speed categories.

Stationary Test

Mobile Broadband
  SmartSurf Elite, SmartSurf Premium, SmartSurf Value, SmartSurf Lite and, MaxMobile Elite (6GB) and MaxMobile Elite (11GB) MaxMobile Premium (10GB) MaxMobile Lite (6GB), MaxMobile Value (10GB) and Other Mobile Voice Plans with Data Access
Theoretical Local
Download Speed		 LTE: Up to 75Mbps Up to 21Mbps Up to 7.2Mbps
Typical Download
Speed Range
(Stationary)		 LTE: 3.4~12Mbps 1.6 ~ 7.8Mbps 1.3 ~ 5.2Mbps

i. Typical download speeds from stationary test for the period of March 2013.
ii. Speed range indicated what mobile users are likely to experience around 80% of the time

On-the-move Test

  SmartSurf Elite, SmartSurf Premium, SmartSurf Value, SmartSurf Lite, MaxMobile Elite (6GB) and MaxMobile Elite (11GB) MaxMobile Premium (10GB) MaxMobile Lite (6GB), MaxMobile Value (10GB) and Other Mobile Voice Plans with Data Access
Theoretical Local
Download Speed		            LTE: Up to 75Mbps Up to 21Mbps           Up to 7.2Mbps
Typical Download
Speed Range (Stationary)
 LTE: 3.4 ~ 12Mbps
 1.6 ~ 7.8Mbps
 1.3 ~ 5.2Mbps
Typical Download Speed Range
(On-the-Move)		 LTE: 3.4~12Mbps 1.1 ~ 5.2Mbps 1.1 ~3.3Mbps

i. Typical download speeds from on-the-move test for the period of March 2013.
ii. Speed range indicated what mobile users are likely to experience around 80% of the time

It is important to note that these typical speeds are not guaranteed speeds as they are meant to reflect what mobile users would experience in actual conditions. StarHub envisage that such speeds could change from time to time as it is dependent on various factors.

Mobile Broadband Typical Speed Measurement

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