Speed and Data Consumption
In terms of speed, the 4G connectivity had a significant impact on what it was like to browse through the site and perform certain actions. For comparison purposes I tested the navigation on a wi-fi connection and it was noticeably smoother using wi-fi. This drives home the point that if users are planning to trade on a mobile device, the combination of browser, signal strength and internet speed are all extra variables to factor in. Because of the extra elements on a page and the amount of javascript, the page speed is a bit slower than if the page had fewer elements on it. Below are the sizes (in kilobytes) of the pages obtained from a one-time load:
- Menu Page: 418 kB
- Current Orders: 389.7 kB
- Account Details: 383.1 kB
- Transactions: 405.3 kB
- Markets: 297.3 kB
- Obtaining a Quote: 273.4 kB
- Watchlist: 273.5 kB
- Monetary Transfers: 388 kB
As you can see, the above visit consumed just under 3MB of data, with a typical page running between 300-400 kB. The page size helps to explain why at 50% – 75% signal the load times I experienced were a bit choppy. On a 4G or 4G LTE, page load times should, in theory, be very quick (Geek side note: 3G speeds are at best 3 Mbps and 4G LTE can hit up to 150 Mbps in theory).