I tested Telenor 4G quite a bit. For Pindi Islamabad peeps, here are my findings:
Lalkurti: I was getting
Consistent. Look closely at the signal level.
On the road at Panjsarki (between PC and Shalimar Hotel), I was hitting 8-9Mbps downstream (Zong and Mobilink fail in that specific stretch of Mall Road as well, so this is basically meeting expectations).
At Kacheri (Vaneeza Chowk... Remember?), I was hitting 40Mbps.
In Bahria, at Shaheen Chemist (next to the connecting bridge with DHA), 4G was between 3 and 4Mbps (indoor). 3G went higher - up to 7Mbps (didn't let the test complete).
At McDonald's (both inside and outside, mixed), I was getting anywhere between 3.3Mbps (on 4G) and 22Mbps (also 4G). It wasn't when I got around 4 Mbps a few times that I decided to test 3G - and I managed to get between 9 and 11Mbps. When I reverted back to 4G, I started getting 14Mbps consistently (a few times).
All of the above places have carrier aggregation. All of the above places also have respectable 3G performance, without dual carrier.
When I reached home (weak 4G, no dual carrier), I was getting between 3Mbps and 12Mbps (not shown), but averaging around 7Mbps in poor signal. In the same spot I got 9Mbps, Jazz gave 11-30Mbps (same pathetic signal levels for both). Telenor still has 4G coverage holes, but despite the weak signals, their performance has been... fairly steady.
So far, nobody can match whatever magic Mobilink is doing with their signals, although carrier aggregation has helped Telenor (their lack of coverage, however, isn't helping them - but they have a fairly robust 3G network - at least in Pindi Islamabad, and where I've tested it). Telenor doesn't work well at my office (average speed: 3-4Mbps on 4G, and 3G is marginally better) despite having carrier aggregation (there's another place in Bahria, in the corner of one shop, with CA, and it didn't go beyond 1Mbps, whilst another corner gave me 20Mbps... This was one test only though). But they're clearly doing something that you manage to get usable service, and their average speeds have gone up (but still limited due to the antennas, and the spectrum crunch).
As proof, here's a long screenshot of the speed tests (let's hope the screenshot came out properly).
And data on 3G calls still work. And 3G doesn't really fall down to 2G during my test calls as often as Mobilink does, even in average signal conditions - so I won't have to deal with a garbling mess. Until it does downgrade to 2G - in which case, well... Tough luck. But I remember over a year ago, I was cursing their data speeds - now, I've managed to use about 800MB in tests alone in the past few hours.
In case anyone's interested.
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