Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE shows promise in EE 4G speed test

We've given the Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE a speed test from our London offices, to try and get a sense of the speeds you can expect from the 4G variant of this quad-core smart phone, as well as testing the new EE service that's powering it.

What was the test?

We'll be doing more testing on the Galaxy S3 LTE's network speeds, but we wanted some preliminary results, just to get a flavour of the kind of download and upload speeds you can expect.

I used the Speedtest.net app, the same software we used to benchmark EE's 4G service on a host of other phones earlier this month, and figure out exactly how poxy the UK's network speeds were on the new iPad, way back in March.

I ran the app five times and averaged the upload and download speeds.

Where was the test performed?

I ran these tests indoors, in CNET UK's central London offices, just south of the river by the Tate Modern. London is one of 11 cities currently equipped to handle the next-generation mobile tech, along with Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, Glasgow and Southampton.

After these towns, 4G is headed to Belfast, Derby, Hull, Newcastle and Nottingham. Next year coverage will spread to Cornwall, Cumbria and Northern Ireland. EE has launched a postcode coverage checker so you can see what the signal is like in your area.

I've no doubt that the coverage we had to play with was among the best in the country -- our office's postcode registered as 'Excellent' on EE's site.

What were the results?

The results were impressive, and reasonably consistent, though there were a few wobbles with certain results being notably higher or lower than the average. The table below shows the download and upload results across the five tests, and an average result.

The average download speed was 24.11Mbps, and the average upload speed was 10.7Mbps. Those are impressive numbers, and will be significantly faster than many people's home broadband.

Will I actually get speeds that good?

As I mentioned earlier, this test was performed in central London, on the very day the UK's first 4G network launches.

As the network slowly becomes more crowded, speeds will suffer. The building you're in, and where you are geographically will also impact the speeds you can achieve, making it tough to give a realistic estimate of exactly how fast your 4G data will be.

This is a promising start though. It's just a shame that EE's tariffs are so pricey. Note that unlike some smart phones, the Galaxy S3 LTE will support other network's 4G services when they eventually launch, however, so if 4G gets cheaper next year, this phone could become a very tempting choice.

Will you be signing up for a 4G contract, or are you not fussed? Tell me in the comments or on our Facebook wall.