Fastest LTE networks and countries revealed

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4G LTE has been rolling out across the globe for a number of years now, but your typical speed and coverage can still be highly dependent on your country of residence and choice of carrier. OpenSignal has just published its report on global 4G LTE networks for Q3 2015, which reveals the fastest and most consistent networks around the world and in which countries you can find them.

Before we delve into the leader boards, the research also finds that 4G LTE speeds are generally increasing around the world. 20 Mbps connections are now quite common, partly thanks to the introduction of LTE-Advanced. However, it’s the late adopters that seem to be providing the best speeds these days, while some countries that were previously on the cutting edge are falling behind.

In fact, the 4G wireless standard has easily surpassed typical broadband WiFi speeds available through telephone wires. The average 4G LTE speed sits at 12.6 Mbps, faster than 3G’s 3.2 Mbps average and quite a bit quicker than WiFi’s rather poor looking 5 Mbps. Although regional broadband speeds vary considerably from this average.

Top 5 fastest countries

1. New Zealand, 36 Mbps
2. Singapore, 33 Mbps
3. Romania, 30 Mbps
4. South Korea, 29 Mbps
5. Denmark, 26 Mbps

Despite only introducing 4G LTE to the country two years ago, New Zealand now tops the table as the country with the fastest LTE network. As we have come to expect, countries in Asia are generally up there with the best performance too, although some European countries are also quite competitive. Interestingly, South Korea has managed to double its LTE speed in the past year, thanks to the introduction of carrier aggregation technologies.

For comparison, the typical speed in the US is around only 10 Mbps, less than a third of the speed of the top nations. The UK sits on 13 Mbps and the typical speed in Europe is closer to 20 Mbps, although it varies a lot. India, which is seeing growing LTE use, sits at 10 Mbps as well. Early LTE adopters, such as the US, Japan, Sweden and Germany, don’t feature in the top 5 anymore.

While the best performing networks were in Asia, European operators delivered some impressive performances as well, notably TDC in Denmark and KPN in the Netherlands. – OpenSignal

Top 5 countries with the best coverage

1. South Korea, 97%
2. Japan, 90%
3. Hong Kong, 86%
4. Kuwait, 86%
5. Singapore, 84%

Of course, coverage is just as important as the top achievable speeds. There’s little utility in a super-fast connection available to just one village. However, OpenSignal doesn’t calculate these results based on geographic coverage, but rather caculates the score on time in coverage, which takes into account the strength of indoor signals too.

Again, we see a particularly strong showing for the Asian nations. However, speed leader New Zealand drops down to just 51 percent coverage, sitting right next to the UK’s and India’s 50 percent.

While the U.S., Sweden and Japan are falling behind in speed, they are among the top countries in the world in terms of coverage. – OpenSignal

The US fares much better in this category, managing to offer a LTE connection to customers around 78 percent of the time, although the Sprint network falls to 64 percent. Europe is a very mixed bag, with the Netherlands managing 80 percent while France struggles on just 47 percent. The worst carrier coverage can be found in Indonesia, where Axiata’s XL network provides a LTE connection just 19 percent of the time.

Top 5 fastest networks

1. Starhub, Singapore, 38 Mbps
2. Vodafone, Romania, 36 Mbps
3. TCD, Denmark, 35 Mbps
4. Olleh, South Korea, 34 Mbps
5. SingTel, Singapore, 32 Mbps

Finally, a quick look at the fastest carriers around the world. Unsurprising, Singapore manages to nab a couple of the top positions, but European countries also host two of the top five. Looking more broadly, Europe is a mixed bag, where as Asia and some Middle Eastern countries offer the most consistent selection of local carriers.

For US readers out there, T-Mobile and Verizon are the two fastest networks in the country at around 12 Mbps each. Sprint, AT&T and C Spire are slower, hovering around the 7 Mbps mark on average. There’s quite a way to go to catch up with Singapore.

See also: 5G network speed defined as 20 Gbps by the ITU3415182

4G LTE technology has already helped hook up a large number of mobile customers to blazing fast wireless connections, but it is apparent that a number of carriers still have a long way to go to offer a suitable levels of consistent coverage. If you are looking for the fastest data connections around, Asia is still the place to relocate to, but the rest of the world is catching up.

You can read the full report in the source link below, complete with some interactive charts to help breakdown the data.

Turing’s ‘Dark Wyvern’ up for preoder, comes with Armor case enabling 60GHz data transfers

If you have been following the Turing Phone you know the regular version of the device will begin shipping on December 11. We have given the Turing Phone the hands-on treatment and know what to expect from it, but Turing Robotic Industries is throwing in a little something extra for those of you who decide to purchase the Turing Phone Series II version, more commonly known as the “Dark Wyvern,” which is now available for pre-order.

Those who purchase the $999 Dark Wyvern will also receive the Turing Armor protective case. This may sound trivial, but wait until you hear the details around this case – it’s not your usual one. The company is highlighting the super fast data transfer technology, called Wind Tunnel, that comes integrated in this phone cover. The gadget is WiGig-enabled, which means it supports data transfers of about 3.2 GB in under 25 seconds. It can also back up  64 GB of data in less than 8 minutes.

“We are committed to the WiGig future and to heterogeneous networking and have been working on making it viable for our customers since early 2015.” -SYL Chao, CEO of TRI

Fast transfers are cool and all, but we are also excited about the additional features this case has to offer. The Turing Armor comes with  a 3,000 mAh battery, a microUSB port and a 3.5 mm headset jack!

Now, the latter two additions may not sound that ground breaking to many of you, but those who have been following the Turing Phone know this is kind of a big deal. Because the Turing Phone focuses on security and privacy, it leaves no chances for attackers to access it. For Turing, this meant getting rid of the microUSB port and headset jack, leaving only a proprietary port that supports no more than charging.

This means the Turing Armor will not only keep the phone safer, but it will also substantially improve battery life, grant faster data transfers and even offer you the ports many of you were hoping for. And the best part is that it’s pretty much “free” for those who buy the Dark Wyvern Turing Phone.

Also worth mentioning is that those who already pre-ordered the regular Turing Phone are not exactly left stranded. TRI will upgrade you to the Dark Wyvern upon request (and payment). How many of you are pre-ordering the Turing Phone Dark Wyvern handset? Hit the comments and let us know which feature on the Turing Armor is more exciting to you.

NoPhone Zero is the greatest fake phone money can buy

Last week we reported on a study suggesting phone addiction behaved similarly to drug addiction, and we even suggested a few apps that can help you wean off your over-reliance on your mobile, if you feel you are “truly addicted”. Want to go to an even further extreme? The NoPhone and NoPhone Zero are here to help!

If you have never heard of the NoPhone, don’t feel bad, I hadn’t either. Apparently the original NoPhone was a Kickstarter project last year, which aimed to create a rectangle that looked like a phone, had no real purpose, and cost $12. Since then, the model has become widely available for those looking to buy. Now the company is back on Kickstarter once more, this time bringing us the NoPhone Zero, which the company heralds as “the least advanced NoPhone ever”. This time the sleeker yet still completely useless rectangle will set pledgers back just $5.

Okay… what do we mean when we say the NoPhone has no real purpose? Well, there is no screen, no processor, no RAM, no storage, no camera, nothing. NoPhone’s founders say it best, “The NoPhone ZERO has zero features. It’s a plastic rectangle for people who are addicted to rectangular devices. If you know someone who needs no phone, give them a NoPhone.”

Is this a joke? No. Are you sure this isn’t a joke? Yes.

Before you shake your head and say WTF, keep in mind that despite the Kickstarter page’s denial that this is a joke, its somewhat humorous comments about the phone’s lack of features makes it fairly obvious this is just for fun and that NoPhone doesn’t really believe that clutching a rectangle will magically help people break away from phone addiction. One of my personal favorites: “If it isn’t a NoPhone ZERO, it isn’t a plastic rectangle.”

On the other hand, creating the first NoPhone as a joke made sense, but a second release sounds more like a money grab. For the record, it has already secured it’s funding goal of $500, and then some, at $900 so far with 15 days to go. What do you think of the NoPhone Zero? Funny, stupid, a little bit of both? You can read more about it on their official Kickstarter page.