Non-Technical Answer:
The speed of your Portable Hotspot’s connection depends largely on the network coverage in your area. The stronger the coverage, the faster and more reliable your connection will be. Factors like bad weather can also affect your speed. However, unless you're in an area with very poor coverage, your connection should still be fast enough for typical internet use—like browsing the web, sending emails, and more.
Technical Answer:
You’ve probably heard network providers boast about their data speeds—100 megabits per second (Mbps) or even 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) on 4G networks. While these figures sound impressive, they represent theoretical maximum speeds measured in ideal conditions with zero latency (network delay). Unfortunately, in real-world conditions, you won’t experience speeds that fast just yet.
To help manage expectations, here are the theoretical versus real-world speeds for 4G networks:
4G:
- Theoretical data speeds: Up to 100 Mbps while moving (e.g., in a car) and up to 1 Gbps while stationary.
- Real-world data speeds: Average download speeds of 18.6 Mbps and upload speeds of 9.0 Mbps.