Question about 4G to 3G transisiton

[j7469]

I work for an automation company in the Boston area and due to my job, I spend a significant amount of time of my day inside a clean room. One of my co-worker has purchased a Thunderbolt and gets excellent 4G speeds expect when he walks from one side of the clean room to the other. The clean room is approximately 150" X 50" in size and on one side of the room he gets 6-7Mbps download and less than 1.5Mbps on the other.

Now according to Verizon's website 4G coverage map, my building is near the line of 4G LTE coverage area and 4G LTE extended coverage area. Could the transition of great 4G coverage to average 3G speeds be simply 10 steep away? I 'm not a wireless engineer so I have no idea how the coverage works but I'd assume it would be more gradual than that.

Any thoughts? Could it possibly interference? If the 4G coverage really does stop at the spot what are the odds that it will get extended in the near future?

 

[FrankXS]

I think the likelihood of this happening because of the 4G signal is nil. Most probably there is something unique about that side of the room (beams, angle to tower, interference, etc). When it comes to trying to evaluate bounced RF (i.e. when you're not in line-of-sight) you are pretty much a test pilot. It's almost impossible to predict.

-Frank

 

[Droid800]

I work for an automation company in the Boston area and due to my job, I spend a significant amount of time of my day inside a clean room. One of my co-worker has purchased a Thunderbolt and gets excellent 4G speeds expect when he walks from one side of the clean room to the other. The clean room is approximately 150" X 50" in size and on one side of the room he gets 6-7Mbps download and less than 1.5Mbps on the other.

Now according to Verizon's website 4G coverage map, my building is near the line of 4G LTE coverage area and 4G LTE extended coverage area. Could the transition of great 4G coverage to average 3G speeds be simply 10 steep away? I 'm not a wireless engineer so I have no idea how the coverage works but I'd assume it would be more gradual than that.

Any thoughts? Could it possibly interference? If the 4G coverage really does stop at the spot what are the odds that it will get extended in the near future?

If you're inside? Hell yes it could only take ten feet. Sometimes even less than that.

 

[j7469]

Thanks for the replies. Today I tried another experiment where he turned on his free mobile hotpot and I connected to it via WiFi. He was at the end of the room with the best speeds and I walked to the other area of the room where the speed slows down. I would walk a couple of steps and run a speed test, then walk a few more...

To my surprise, the speed I was getting (speed test app) also slowed the further I walked towards the area where 4G drops off. In fact only 10-15 feet away and I was getting less than 100Kbps. I would have thought that if the 4G area ended at that location, it would NOT effect WiFi also.

Does the fact that the same end of the room slow down both LTE and WiFi further prove that it's most likely interference? Or is it strange that both LTE and WiFi are being slowed down? Any info would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to get a 4G phone if I can get 4G for a majority of my day.

 

[unibolt]

Absolutely it could do that, the line has to be drawn somewhere.

 

[FrankXS]

I would have thought that if the 4G area ended at that location, it would NOT effect WiFi also.

Of course it would. You are not using Wifi for the speed test. You are using the cellular network. No parallel.

-Frank

 

[shaddix]

Thanks for the replies. Today I tried another experiment where he turned on his free mobile hotpot and I connected to it via WiFi. He was at the end of the room with the best speeds and I walked to the other area of the room where the speed slows down. I would walk a couple of steps and run a speed test, then walk a few more...

To my surprise, the speed I was getting (speed test app) also slowed the further I walked towards the area where 4G drops off. In fact only 10-15 feet away and I was getting less than 100Kbps. I would have thought that if the 4G area ended at that location, it would NOT effect WiFi also.

Does the fact that the same end of the room slow down both LTE and WiFi further prove that it's most likely interference? Or is it strange that both LTE and WiFi are being slowed down? Any info would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to get a 4G phone if I can get 4G for a majority of my day.

there's infinite variables inside a building. reflections, different materials cause different attenuations, people walking down the hall can mess up your signal. this applies to both 4g and wifi. Your hand being in between the antenna and the signal can be enough to kill it.