Do We Really Have 4G Networks in Nigeria?

There is constant improvement in the internet space by network providers and developers, for the pleasure of the internet users. These improvements are designed to increase efficiency and productivity of the customers.

The importance of internet speed cannot be overemphasized as internet speed promotes productivity and saves a lot of human time.

It is a great achievement on how the internet speed has developed from good to better (although we are still hoping for the best, especially in this part of the world called Nigeria) as there has been constant improvement in the internet speed right from the time 2G network experience was introduced.

Nigeria wasn’t left behind in this internet technological improvements as it joined, trying to catch up with the rest of the world countries, on internet speed improvements.

Internet speed improvement became noticeable from the year 1990 when the first 2G was introduced in the United States of America and was launched in the year 1992.

The 2G networks were the first network technology to offer cellular data services and Short Message Service (SMS messaging) but since it’s the first cellular data technological invention, the network data transfer rate was slow – very slow – and it could be said that snail was faster in terms of speed compared to the 2G network of the early 90s, although this was expected as it was the first leap into cellular data networks.

3G came into place to replace 2G in order to improve speed and the throughput of the data transmission. It achieved this cause to some extent as the internet speed of the 3G is better, and faster than that of 2G, but there is always a room for constant improvement.

Due to the fact that there are some apps and sites that require high internet speed for accessing, 4G came into play to improve speed and increase the rate of data transmission.

Nigeria has been trying to catch up in this internet speed technological advancements but we are yet to get there when it comes to internet speed and throughput of data transmission when compared to what is enjoyed in other countries like China, Japan, Netherlands, South Korea, Switzerland,  and Finland.

While Nigeria is still struggling with a (scam of network) called 4G, some countries like the United States of America, China, Japan etc. are already planning of launching 5G networks.

The so called 4G we use in Nigeria is the best way the network providers charge us more for less value, by consuming our data at a higher rate, with the excuse that if you use 4G the rate of data consumption will be higher due to the throughput of the internet, causing a higher rate of data transmission. The 4G of some network providers here in Nigeria is little or no improvement for the 3G that we had as the speed can be said to be the same.

The global average for fast internet speed is about 5.5mbs/s, countries with average internet speed below 4mb/s are considered to have slow internet speed, and Nigeria falls into the group of countries with slow internet speed.

The bulk of the blame will fall on the network providers; they are the conduit pipe for the provision of internet speed. If your phone is made to be compatible with the 4G network and the data transmission rate is not equal to what 4G network should provide, then the network providers owe you some explanations.

While network providers do not make adequate provision to accommodate internet users in some areas, especially rural areas or semi-urban areas, internet users struggle to use network even with a phone compatible for 4G.

There are lesser bandwidths that could be streamed at a given time; they do this to accommodate the traffic hence slowing down the network speed.

Lastly, your tools and your device settings could also increase your internet speed or reduce the throughput of the internet.

NB: You can check the speed of your internet on Fast.com