4G on Lumia 820

Beagslife

It might be a bit early to ask this question in an Irish forum but here goes anyway. This could be one for Jimmy!

I'm based in Portugal and have recently bought an unlocked Lumia 820 directly from Amazon. It has the latest firmware (1308) and I upgraded to a new Micro Sim when i got the phone.

My locality has good 4G coverage. In Portugal, if you have a 4G enabled phone, you can use a 4G connection without needing to be on a special contract. When I test the connection, I'm getting 3G or H+ showing up. In the settings the highest connection option is for 3G. I've used speedtest and the fastest download speed so far has been 4.47Mbps.

I went back to the phone company and they tested my Sim in a Samsung phone and 4G showed up. They also tried the Sim from the Samsung in my 820.

I've read comments about some Lumia's needing to have 4G activated via a software update.

Is it a case of waiting for the next software update, or is there something I'm missing? Thanks for any advice in advance.

MC

Beagslife

Just an update on this. I installed the Amber update yesterday and 4G is now activated on my Lumia 820. So far, 15.44 has been the highest download speed, tested at home. Getting 9 on average for upload. Are these speeds within the expected levels?

Other main improvements (for me) with the update, are the glance screen, call & sms filter, data sense and flip to silence. I've also been able to install Nokia Pro Camera, thanks to this Tip.

MC

wheresmybeaver

I suspect that when o2 finally launch 4g here in Ireland you'll need a special plan to take advantage of the speeds. Cue a return to the dark old days of €15 for 750mb of data! I thought I had read earlier in the year that 4g would be an automatic upgrade for existing customers, anyone have any detail on this?

seanmacc

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

I suspect that when o2 finally launch 4g here in Ireland you'll need a special plan to take advantage of the speeds. Cue a return to the dark old days of €15 for 750mb of data! I thought I had read earlier in the year that 4g would be an automatic upgrade for existing customers, anyone have any detail on this?

It would have to be an automatic upgrade with no further charges for existing customers. O2 like most of the networks here cannot garauntee 3G coverage in all of Ireland never mind expecting all their towers to be 4G ready from roll out.
I'd expect a sight jump in the bills from all operators in the next year or so. Notice how very few networks are offering unlimited data without charging through the nose.

seanmacc

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

I suspect that when o2 finally launch 4g here in Ireland you'll need a special plan to take advantage of the speeds. Cue a return to the dark old days of €15 for 750mb of data! I thought I had read earlier in the year that 4g would be an automatic upgrade for existing customers, anyone have any detail on this?

I stand corrected. Meteor are making existing customers wait until their contract ends and then sign them up for a new 4G plan. Currently there is no way with them to upgrade to 4G without changing your tarrif. I can only expect O2 to do the same

whitebriar

Ah so this is the great money making plan to replace the soon to be totally neutralised EU roaming rip off..
knew they'd come up with something.

Regulators,where are you?

senordingdong

seanmacc wrote: »

I stand corrected. Meteor are making existing customers wait until their contract ends and then sign them up for a new 4G plan. Currently there is no way with them to upgrade to 4G without changing your tarrif. I can only expect O2 to do the same

Indeed.
What I was basically told by a meteor staff member was wait it out with you have and within a year, the price of 4g will fall to acceptable levels. But if you absolutely have to have it, then you will pay significantly for it, and are not even guaranteed that you will get coverage everywhere, all the time.