Crowded events and network congestion: what to expect

Sometimes, if your plan covers several operators there, since load differs between them. Try manual selection and return to automatic after the event.

Text uses very little data and tolerates delay well, so it often gets through when almost no bandwidth remains.

No. Allowance and speed are separate things. The allowance is how much you may use; the speed at that moment is set by the capacity where you are standing and how many people share it. A larger plan solves running out, not congestion.

It is worth trying, but do not expect much. Event Wi-Fi faces the same problem as the cellular network — too many people sharing — and some venues use captive portals that log you out periodically. Use it if it works, but keep an alternative and do not build your plans on it.

Several things could be true at once. They may be attached to a different mast or a different sector, they may be on a different operator with a different load at that spot, or their handset may have attached using a different network generation. Inside a crowd, differences of this kind are entirely normal.

Only when the connection has genuinely hung, since it forces a fresh attach. If the issue is shared capacity, re-attaching returns you to the same busy cell. Do it once to rule that cause out, and no more, because repeating it wastes time and battery.

It can help if the backup reaches a different operator from the primary, since load differs between them at the same spot. It only works if you install it beforehand on a good connection, though; hoping to buy and install one inside a venue where data barely moves rarely ends well.