ISSUE 64 • ANDROID ADVISOR 19REVIEWNetflix-owned Fast speed test app (fave.co/2xf3LZx).
Ookla’s popular Speedtest (fave.co/2RBxNjv)
also heralded similar results, but Fast is easier to
photograph given its clear user interface.
Some fellow tech reporters have managed to reach
insane speeds that I have not found, including an
astounding 980Mb/s on a moving train in London. Out
and about, I reached 360Mb/s standing on the Strand
close to Waterloo Bridge, one of the recommended
test spots. My giffgaff SIM could hit an actually quite
respectable 43Mb/s – in the middle of Covent Garden
it could only hit 3.8, though the EE 5G SIM was at 190.
Still amazing, but it shows the current fluctuation
that a short walk from Covent Garden to the Strand
(all of four minutes) can nearly double the download
speed. It’s also worth noting that when I tested it again
in exactly the same spot, it only hit a paltry 12Mb/s.
Another go and it was back to the high hundreds.
Availability
5G launched on 30 May in London, Cardiff, Belfast,
Edinburgh, Birmingham and Manchester. It will then
roll out to more cities in 2019 and 2020 in a gradual
launch. You can check if 5G is coming to your
postcode at fave.co/2xbNFj9.
Real world use
While speeds are astounding within the speed test apps
(and crunch through at least 0.2GB of data per test at
the highest speeds – I used over 10GB of data in four
days just doing them), most everyday consumer apps
don’t need to use that much data at once.