How to get fast download speeds on your mobile

Typically, these are the things which determine your download speed:

• Distance from the mobile base station The further away you are, the weaker your signal and the slower your download speeds. This applies to all mobile technologies, from 2G to 5G.
• Low signal strength This is lower indoors as the signal has to penetrate the building. Outdoors it can be reduced by obstacles blocking the base station, like a hill or large building.
• Mobile generation With each technological advance, mobile phone download speeds have improved. It takes 8 seconds to download a 2 MB file on 3G; 2 seconds on 4G and less than 1 second on 5G, according to one regulator.
• Frequency bands Low frequency bands like 700, 800 and 900 MHz are the best at penetrating buildings but have lower download speeds. You get faster speeds with the higher bands like 2.6 GHz and 3.6 GHz.
• Base station congestion As more users connect to a base station download speeds decrease and some may lose service altogether. This often happens at music festivals and in crowded environments like railway stations.

So, to get the best possible download speeds you want to be close to a base station that isn’t too congested; preferably you should be outdoors, have a good signal strength and be using a higher frequency band.

Will changing your operator help? Quite probably – their base stations may be closer to the places where you spend most of your time and they may use faster bands or technologies.

How useful are fast download speeds?

However, faster speeds are not a golden ticket that will ensure the perfect mobile experience. Most people need their phones in several locations, so consistent speeds are usually better than one very high measurement. SignalTracker allows you to compare measurements in multiple locations.

Time taken to download common file types (Average speeds from Ofcom)

Also, very high download speeds are most useful in downloading very large files – like a 1 GB movie – but how often do we need mobile for that? Many people do it on Wi-Fi or they watch movies on a streaming service, which typically only needs 3 Mbit/s.

When downloading smaller files, like a music track (about 5 Mb) or a podcast (about 50 MBs) the time difference is minimal, as shown in the table.

In summary: fast download speeds are the product of several factors; their benefits may only be noticeable in quite specific cirumstances; and peak speed is not the only the thing to consider when choosing an operator.