Webe is Malaysia’s upcoming 5th telco and they are rolling out their commercial services later this year. At the moment, webe is having internal trials and it is available only to selected staff.
If you’re curious about webe’s 4G network performance, we’ve gotten some speedtest results from a tipster.
Unlike other 4G LTE networks, webe’s 4G network utilises LTE Band 5 at 850MHz as shown in the screenshot above. As a comparison, other 4G telcos including Maxis, Celcom, Digi and U Mobile are running on 1800MHz or 2600MHz. Most flagship smartphones these days support Band 5 which includes the latest iPhone 6s/SE, Galaxy S7 edge and Huawei Mate 8.
In terms of speed, the tipster gets an average download between 4-9Mbps, while uploads were faster around 8-9Mbps. It isn’t blazing fast but we are told it is fast enough to watch 1080p videos on YouTube without buffering.
When the webe SIM is popped into an iPhone, it only supports 3G for now. Webe also rides on Celcom’s network where it isn’t available as part of its domestic roaming arrangement. In order for 4G LTE to work, webe would need Apple to push a software update for all iOS device. This was the same situation when Celcom and Maxis introduced 4G LTE 3 years ago.
Of course, these are still preliminary results and the performance may vary depending on location. From what we’ve seen yesterday, TM’s LTE coverage is quite extensive covering most major towns and cities in Malaysia including Sabah and Sarawak. Hopefully, webe can deliver faster 4G speeds once it is officially available for the public.
