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question: is the lack of LTE really that big of a deal? how much slower is this other thing nexus 4 uses?

If you will ask me, my answer is no. I'm living in a region / country wherein LTE is still "not there yet". I'm buying this phone because it's cheap. I don't mind the lack of LTE because it's still somewhat useless in my country.

I've found that in areas that have LTE it is a big deal. HSDPA 3G can theoretically get you 21Mbps but I've found this to hardly ever be the case. I have friends that regularly post speedtest screenshots at >35Mbps.

Also the lag on 3G is atrocious. When I'm streaming iTunes Match it's click, wait, start, pause, wait, and then start again. Apparently the ping times are much lower on LTE and this is a bigger deal (for me) than the bandwidth.

I regularly get between 16Mbps and 21Mbps on HSPA+ in my area and the latency doesn't feel particularly different between my LTE devices and my HSPA+ devices. YM, of course, MV.

what area are you in? (if you don't mind me asking)

Eastern Massachusetts, outside of Boston.

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