Is LTE-Advanced Really Advanced?

Abstract

LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) theoretically can provide better network performance than 4G LTE. Mobile carriers around the globe are eager to deploy LTE-A to attract more subscribers. However, is it really making difference to the user experience compared to the existing LTE service? To investigate this question, we collected the network performance log from 111 user smartphones on 3G, LTE, and LTE-A. For in-depth analysis, we also asked for privacy information, such as data plan, subscribed network, monthly payment details, and etc. By analyzing the collected log, we observed that (i) LTE-A was faster than LTE only for download bandwidth by 14.1%, yet the users pay on average 13.6% more for LTE-A; (ii) the mVoIP traffic was blocked by all carriers when the users exceed their mVoIP quota; (iii) the subscribed data plan showed no discrimination in network performance.