[Osiris]

3G Network Speed Test Show Verizon as Fastest

Wired ran a 3G speed test with their readers and built a list of results from about 12,000 valid responses. What they found was that Verizon’s network was the fastest, followed by T-Mobile, Sprint, and finally AT&T. VZW’s speed was more than twice that of AT&T. Yowtch!

Verizon came in first place with an average download speed of 1,940 Kbps, as reported by 856 participants. T-Mobile’s average rate was 1,793 Kbps with 1,189 reported T-Mobile users. Third was Sprint with 1,598 Kbps, based on data from 1,570 users. In dead last was AT&T with an average of 901 Kbps — but an overwhelmingly large user sample of 8,153 test takers.

[yzmxer608]

I don't have 3G, but I do have Verizon. Nice to know they are the fastest if I ever did switch to 3G.

[wafflehammer]

if at&t is last place, then how do they claim they are the fastest? Isn't that like false advertising

[philbar71]

^ that's what i was thinking, but i thought it was sprint that said that they have the fastest 3G o_O

[yzmxer608]

Most likely all of them will say they are the fastest just to get more customers. Then if people claim false advertising they will just make up some crap like it's only the fastest if you are in this on city at this time on this day.

[hikaricloud]

Actually.

The problem with AT&T's network isn't the fact that it's slower than all the other networks. It's about the area it's deployed in.

AT&T's main problem for a while was getting out 3G support. They were pooling billions of dollars into towers all over the place to cover as much of the country as possible, while other companies were working on beefing up their network speed in the areas they already had covered. So speed wasn't exactly AT&T's priority, coverage was.

Now they've shifted their gaze to pushing out 3G on as many areas as possible while still expanding the coverage, and it's going slow. VZW has had EVDO out in more places for a lot longer, so they've had time to work with it. Sprint and T-Mobile have such crappy coverage in comparison, it was pretty simple for them to push their money into beefing up their network without having too much area to cover.

So basically, AT&T has less 3G coverage and speeds but a wider spread of coverage, while Verizon has more EVDO coverage, but less of a spread.

Now as to the fastest claim, it is a bit misleading considering they don't have as much 3G coverage. BUT. If you take the best AT&T 3G speed and compare it to the best VZW EVDO speed, pretty sure AT&T will win, considering it has HSDPA deployed in some major metropolitan areas.

[wafflehammer]

Originally Posted by hikaricloud

Actually.

The problem with AT&T's network isn't the fact that it's slower than all the other networks. It's about the area it's deployed in.

AT&T's main problem for a while was getting out 3G support. They were pooling billions of dollars into towers all over the place to cover as much of the country as possible, while other companies were working on beefing up their network speed in the areas they already had covered. So speed wasn't exactly AT&T's priority, coverage was.

Now they've shifted their gaze to pushing out 3G on as many areas as possible while still expanding the coverage, and it's going slow. VZW has had EVDO out in more places for a lot longer, so they've had time to work with it. Sprint and T-Mobile have such crappy coverage in comparison, it was pretty simple for them to push their money into beefing up their network without having too much area to cover.

So basically, AT&T has less 3G coverage and speeds but a wider spread of coverage, while Verizon has more EVDO coverage, but less of a spread.

Now as to the fastest claim, it is a bit misleading considering they don't have as much 3G coverage. BUT. If you take the best AT&T 3G speed and compare it to the best VZW EVDO speed, pretty sure AT&T will win, considering it has HSDPA deployed in some major metropolitan areas.

yea...i didn't think of it that way. They are claiming the fastest for single area basically...not the fastest when it's an average of them all

[Dauntae]

I actually tethered my Iphone to my pc just to see how well it worked and did a speed test (I don't recall the numbers though) BUT it was very close to my DSL speeds around 1.5 so I don't believe the favoritism in these articles. I think it depends how close to the tower and and what area you are in. I'll redo the test and write the numbers down sometime this week (that annoying job gets in the way) and post em up when I get them.

Dauntae

[hikaricloud]

That's a good point, I almost forgot about that. Verizon phones work farther away from a tower then AT&T phones, due to the type of signal they use (CDMA based). The upshot is AT&T works better in buildings than VZW (due to GSM base). So a person standing 1000ft from a VZW tower will have stronger signal than a person standing 1000ft from an AT&T tower in the end.

This whole test was really one big joke. They even say it's not definitive in any way shape or form.

[yzmxer608]

Ah I never thought about it in that way before (amount of coverage, distance from towers, in buildings ect.) I guess there are way too many variables in this that make it not truly valid.