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Uncategorized Wednesday, April 18th 2012 at 8:30 am

Which 3G and 4G Networks are the Fastest?

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Because we can’t help incite enough wireless network flame wars, we’re going to start the morning with what we’ll call an “update” to the usual comparison between wireless network speeds in the United States. PC World performed a little test between major carriers, and the results are actually a little more surprising than what you might’ve guessed.

The test measured wireless service in 13 major cities: New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, San Francisco, New Orleans, San Jose, Washington D.C., and Seattle. The test shows that 3G is actually keeping up with what some may call the explosion of the smartphone and data-heavy mobile market, and speedy 4G is already becoming common amongst the larger of the country’s cities.

But the study also looked for the information you most want to know so you can call your friends on a service different from you and tell them how they should switch to your shining example of a mobile carrier. The results showed AT&T’s LTE network provided the fastest 4G download speeds, T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 21 service delivered the best 3G speeds, while both networks provided decent speeds for the network categories in which they weren’t the top provider. Verizon’s 4G networks are available in many more areas than other networks, and they provide the best upload speed, but both their 4G and 3G do not provide the fastest download speeds. Unfortunately for Sprint, they were found to be lagging behind in each category.

If you aren’t too happy with where your preferred network fell in the rankings, you can check out detailed breakdowns of each network in the study: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon. Happy yelling at your friends, telling them you told them so!

(via PC World)

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  • http://twitter.com/maritorivera Mario Rivera

    I have Verizon 4G and it totally sucks……on Razor Maxx..I work in Downtown LA, connection issues, commuting on the bus is worst, I tend to lose signal a lot around Chinatown/Elysian Park, so much for trying to watch Netflix.

  • Anonymous

    That’s all well and good, if you live in the center of one of those 13 cities.  Where I live, AT&T LTE is not available.  Running a test pinging local servers, I get about 5 Mbps on my Verizon LTE iPad and 0.21 Mbps on my AT&T iPhone 4.

  • hmm?

    Those who own the cell networks, are they trying to get everyone on a GSM network (with is easy to hack) verses having a CDMA network?

  • NaTaS

    But.  You have to remember, once you get involved with AT&T they will NEVER stop fucking you over.  Ever, just look up problems people have had/have with them.   Never ending nightmare.

  • Anonymous

    Sorry, but anyone who can afford a 3G or 4G data plan gets no sympathy from me over their “lousy” speeds. I’m trying to pay the light bill and you’re arguing about what is, to someone in my income bracket, a luxury. If someone GAVE me an iPhone or Android I’d have to decline, because I can’t afford the voice plan, let alone the data plan. And the argument about who has more apps? Really? Windows Phone 7 looks best to me because it has the FEWEST apps to suck my wallet dry. In this economy most of us are lucky to have jobs. The truly lucky have jobs that pay all their bills (mine doesn’t). You who cry because your toys don’t always work as you would like should volunteer at your local food bank for a month or so.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Brian-Paine/100001770894888 Brian Paine

    glad I don’t live where they tested they got slow speeds. My VW Droid Charge will get 10mbps in bad spots but it get 21 to 30 mbps all day long.

  • Horacio Gallardo

    When I bought my Sprint evo 4G twenty months ago many people (including myself) were surprised with its fastest download, internet and 8 MP camara capabilities this smartphone was the first 4G on the market, but 16 months using it the download, and upload speeds have decreased about 25%, and the pictures taken at clubs appers darker than during the first year, probably the flash has become weeker as the time pass. I like android OS, but it looks like the smartphones are designed to work well for a 20 months maximum period. Sprint needs to upgrade its 4G network, I like the custumer service and sprint prices , but I have a dobt to upgrade with sprint for another 2 years period contract. I will look for a faster phone with the best camara and network  capabilities, I would like to have an advise from all readers to help me  to choose a new Smarthone. my contract will expire on june 24 th. Thanks in advance.