UK based network operator Lycamobile Uganda has launched its 4G-LTE network to the masses in Kampala and many other cities. As a Kampala resident, I’ve had a chance to test out this 4G network for at least a week now and get a better feel for the early days of the company’s commercial 4G. There has been a lot of excitement around the company’s data deals and as we promised, we decided to fill in the missing pieces from our previous articles — and that is data speeds that one would expect. Now please note that we did our tests when the network is still in its infant stages so it means there are fewer subscribers and no network congestions which gives a clear indication on the network’s maximum capabilities.
Lycamobile Uganda’s 4G-LTE network runs on either 800 MHz or 1800 Mhz frequency bands depending on location and the latter offers more coverage, but it doesn’t have all the speed and bandwidth benefits that 4G has been promising to bring unlike the former. Its 2G network runs on 1800 MHz–but by default, a phone will always be in 4G mode and when one makes or receives a call, an SMS or sends a USSD code request, they will be switched back to 2G, a terminology known as Circuit Switched Fall Back (CSFB).
After testing for about a week with my Huawei Mate 30 Pro, I found myself impressed with the speeds, latency, coverage, and network improvements made by Lycamobile Uganda after acquiring the struggling Tangerine. Most network operators have raced to complete their 4G networks in Uganda. Defunct Orange telecom launched Uganda’s first commercial 4G FD-LTE network on 31st July 2013 beating MTN Uganda after the telecom giant rolled out its network with the less popular frequency 4G TD-LTE technology in the same year. MTN later launched its commercial 4G FD-LTE network on 9th July 2015 and that is when the battle of 4G-LTE networks began in Uganda.
Lyamobile Uganda’s Speed and Coverage
@LycamobileUG 4G-LTE speeds tests live in action. @oquidave here is what you requested pic.twitter.com/rubX3BUzID
— roger bambino (@rogekk) April 29, 2020
I won’t dwell much on the coverage of Lycamobile Uganda, we wrote a full post on this so in case you missed the memo, read this first. Unlike 3G technology, speed has always been the most obvious 4G benefit. I saw some truly impressive 4G speeds during my first few hours of testing in Kampala and its suburbs, but I haven’t been able to replicate them with consistency. On average, I’d say speeds were around 18 Mbps in most 4G coverage areas. That’s still an impressive jump over the 3G speeds. It should be noted that most people are not in the city due to the lockdown and recent Google stats on internet usage in Uganda confirms that. These areas in Kampala have become choke points for 4G and other networks during morning commutes, but just outside Kampala areas like Kiwatule, Kawempe, Munyonyo, Kireka and Najeera, I recorded an average of 20Mbps on 4G vs. 1 Mbps to 5 Mbps on 4G on other networks.
Along the Gaba road, I was able to consistently record speeds in excess of 17.5 Mbps during busy times of the day. A lot of the time these speeds would even break past 18Mbps. These seem to be the consistent 4G top speeds for a fresh network in all the big areas covered in Kampala, but I could occasionally hit 20Mbps and sometimes beyond. I recorded 24 Mbps on a single occasion, but I was never able to reach that speed again during my subsequent tests.
I’ve been impressed with Lyamobile Uganda’s 4G coverage, though my 4G signal at home is inconsistent I managed to get usable speeds. Large parts of Kampala and even its suburbs are covered. I was able to tether the Huawei Mate 30 Pro to a laptop over Wi-Fi and get speeds of around 14 Mbps at a petrol station in town one day. I did find that the tethering speed didn’t always match the higher speeds found directly on the phone, though, unless you’re using direct USB tethering.
Tethering is where you’re really able to see how well 4G can perform, and the speeds can dip and fluctuate a lot when you’re downloading larger files. I found on smaller files the speeds would remain consistent and allow me to download them quickly, but I tried to download a Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft’s speedy download servers and although it started off at around 13MB/s, it dipped to 500KB/s after a couple of minutes.
With these download speeds, I’ve been able to scrub through 1080p HDR YouTube videos within minutes, and download entire episodes of Netflix TV shows or albums from Spotify much faster than I could on many Wi-Fi hotspots in Kampala. I wouldn’t say the download speeds have been life-changing just yet, but if the upload speeds matched them then it would transform my ability to work anywhere.
The most disappointing part of my tests has been the measly upload speeds. The promise of 4G has always been about speed, but I’ve barely been able to hit an average of 5 Mbps in most upload speed tests, which has made me rethink the dream of a remote office. I was getting upload speeds as low as 800 kbps. The current 4G uploads on network maxed out at 7.24 Mbps and the speeds are so much lower than the download links. On a brighter side, the 7 Mbps uploads on Lycamobile Uganda is faster than some download speeds of competitor 4G networks.
Data Usage
My big concern around 4G is data usage. During my first day of testing, I used up ~5GB of my 100GB UG Giga data bundle just on speed tests alone. That’s an incredible amount of mobile data, and I would have chewed through Lycamobile Uganda’s Ug Super 10GB data plan at UGX 10,000 a month with this phone within just a few hours. With these speeds, a 10GB data plan isn’t going to cut it for 4G, and you’d need at least 100GB of data a month to really get the benefits of this new network. Lycamobile’s maximum plans are the UG Student and UG Giga at 100GB of 4G data at UGX 30,000 and UGX 45,000 per month respectively.
I hope Lycamobile Uganda will work around offering music or video data passes that can be put in within a monthly bundle, which means streaming data from services like Youtube, Spotify, Apple Music, and Netflix won’t count to your monthly data cap. Well, a guy can only dream! This would feel very icky compared to just offering unlimited data deals.
It is clear that Lycamobile Uganda is competitive and people are currently flocking their offices to acquire SIM cards. The pricing is indeed very competitive giving us after data 4G experience on the go. Data caps and expensive monthly contracts will only hold back the progress of high-speed networks and the potential for gigabit 5G networks to reach homes in Uganda in the future.
Battery life and network oddities
Another concern I had around 4G was the impact on battery life. During my testing with the Huawei Mate 30 Pro, I found that those concerns were unwarranted: battery life wasn’t impacted majorly by 4G. The Mate 30 Pro has a large 4,500mAh battery inside, and even with a 4G connection for most of its usage, I found it lasted the day without a fuss during my tests.
What I found the most concerning about 4G were the weird network oddities I witnessed. On a number of occasions, I’d walk a few steps and immediately drop from a steady 13Mbps connection to less than 1Mbps, or the phone would tell me I had a strong 4G signal but I’d have no network connectivity at all. I had to toggle airplane mode more than a few times during my tests just to get connectivity back, and it reminded me of the early days of both 3G when modems and their associated networks weren’t well optimized. But a simple software update on my phone seemed to clear these issues. Owners of the latest iPhone models will have to upgrade to the latest iOS 13.4 to avoid dropped calls.
Early signs of promise
It does highlight the early nature of Lycamobile Uganda’s 5G, though. The company has implemented this new connectivity using the 800 MHz band in towns and rural areas, which, in my experience, have been great for more coverage, but they don’t have all the benefits that 4G promises of 100 Mbps speeds. Higher frequencies above 1800 MHz allow for much more bandwidth (speeds) to be passed to 5G devices, but they operate over a smaller distance, and the radio waves can’t easily penetrate walls and objects that are in between you and the 4G antenna. The first 5G networks in Uganda are also using 800 MHz on the lower bands and 2,600 Hz on the higher side.
Eventually, 4G in Uganda and elsewhere will move toward the higher band spectrum. This promises far better speeds than I’ve seen during my tests, but the challenges of shorter transmission ranges will be even more difficult when there’s interference from walls, buildings, or even rain.
The real test of Lyacamobile Uganda’s 4G network will be how well the operators will manage capacity and bandwidth requirements. We’ve seen the previous promises of 3G speeds, only to see these choke at busy points in cities. 3G in Kampala is particularly bad in large parts of the city, and while 4G is certainly better, there are fewer people using this network right now.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Your speeds may vary from the tests in our review. This can be attributed to many factors including; Location, the mobile device being used, and signal strength among others. We advise you to contact Lycamobile to be certain that you have good coverage at your place and the right device before you make the purchasing decision. It should also be noted that Lycamoible has now throttled its speeds to 2 Mbps.
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4.7 OVERALL SCORE |
