Eir 5G test - hits phone browser speed limit

[Sean]

While in an area with good 5G coverage on the 3.6GHz band, not in a moving vehicle for once, I tried a few speed tests.  It appears that ~370Mbps is about the max my Samsung A51 5G phone will get on TestMy and possibly any other browser based test.  During the test, the web browser appears unresponsive during the download test, unusually with the figure jumping straight to 100% once the speed hits about 350Mbps.  On the other hand, these are my fastest TestMy results to date on a phone:

 

 

Although the Ookla App got faster (734Mb down), I have recently noticed a design flaw with most midrange 5G phones, including mine - There is no practical way to make use of 5G speed above about 350Mbps even with tethering.  Most midrange phones have a USB2 port (USB2 maxes out about 350-380Mbps real world) and 802.11ac Wi-Fi that is not MIMO capable (SISO maxes about 300Mbps real world on an 80MHz channel), two major bottlenecks when tethering.  So for my next phone, I need to make sure it has USB3 or Wi-Fi 6 with MIMO...

[CA3LE]

Interesting. So you got 734 Mbps down on ookla using the same exact connection? 

 

In other words, did ookla give you a result that was 2X faster than possible (due to a known bottleneck)?

[Sean]

Both were run directly on my phone, however, I'd say it's more likely the browser's SSL overhead that's limiting the speed with browser based tests.  For example, I don't think the Ookla App uses SSL for its tests, never mind using a non-standard TCP port.  Indeed there's no way I could get Ookla's speed realistically with actual file downloads on my phone as they would face the same SSL bottleneck.  For example, any streaming service that offers downloads will obviously use SSL or other encryption overhead for their DRM. 

 

Basically I need a faster phone. 😃  I'll probably upgrade to the Samsung S21 FE when there's a good sale on one.  Not just for speed tests, but for even offloading video files from my phone and additional 5G bands in use that my current phone lacks.  I don't get why manufacturers still put USB2 ports on phones just to save a few cents on manufacturing.

[xs1]

I've got the Samsung s21 ultra;  work where im in the "5GUC" 

 

PS:  oh, and ookla showed over 500. 

 

 

Edited May 26, 2022 by xs1

[Sean]

While in a 3.6GHz 5G area today I tried some further testing, this time with a different browser.  It turns out the Chrome browser is less CPU intensive than Firefox when it comes to handling high throughput, at least with SSL.  This surprised me as it used to be the other way around.

 

Unlike Firefox, the Chrome browser did not appear to freeze or stutter even when testing above 400Mbps:

 

 

I'll need to retest whenever I'm back in the other town with the less congested 5G site to see if it can top 700Mbps. 😃