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AT&T vs. Verizon: LTE, Head-to-Head -- PCMag

asleep

asleep

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Sep 26, 2007
3,686
1,574
Houston, we have a winner ..... if/when:

...the results still show that if AT&T takes good care of its LTE system, it's going to be downright screaming crazy fast.

The AT&T network averaged out with about 22Mbps downloads and peaked at 42.85Mbps, the fastest cellular connection we've ever seen. Just as exciting as the sheer download speeds were the connection quality results: Pingtest.net generally rated the network an A or a B, good enough for video chat or gaming.


read more: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2393182,00.asp
 
P

Pooshka

macrumors 65816
Jun 28, 2008
1,162
1
I'd much rather take Verizon's abundant coverage than AT&T's sparse coverage despite its faster speeds.
 
A

ap3604

macrumors 68000
Jan 11, 2011
1,929
0
asleep said:
Houston, we have a winner ..... if/when:

...the results still show that if AT&T takes good care of its LTE system, it's going to be downright screaming crazy fast.

The AT&T network averaged out with about 22Mbps downloads and peaked at 42.85Mbps, the fastest cellular connection we've ever seen. Just as exciting as the sheer download speeds were the connection quality results: Pingtest.net generally rated the network an A or a B, good enough for video chat or gaming.
Click to expand...

How many users does Att have on its LTE network compared to Verizon? Think that might have something to do with the faster download speeds perhaps? ;)

Either way though once they figure out the battery life issues with LTE the customers on both sides win. Don't really care if my LTE speeds are 12mbps or 22mbps both are insanely fast...
 
Rodimus Prime

Rodimus Prime

macrumors G4
Oct 9, 2006
10,136
4
Pooshka said:
I'd much rather take Verizon's abundant coverage than AT&T's sparse coverage despite its faster speeds.
Click to expand...

first rule of choose cell phone is choose based on were you spend your time.
Something way to many to many people made a mistake when they went for the iPhone before Verizon.
They choose a phone not the coverage and forgot the fact that coverage was crap were they lived. If you break this rule in my book you loss all right to complain about coverage.

the speed depends are where you live. for me AT&T LTE would be great but then again I live in Houston.
 
Kyotoma

Kyotoma

macrumors 68000
Nov 11, 2010
1,996
46
Carnegie and Ontario
ap3604 said:
How many users does Att have on its LTE network compared to Verizon? Think that might have something to do with the faster download speeds perhaps? ;)

Either way though once they figure out the battery life issues with LTE the customers on both sides win. Don't really care if my LTE speeds are 12mbps or 22mbps both are insanely fast...
Click to expand...

This. People have to remember last year when that very same website tested out Verizon's LTE and got similar results. Once the LTE capable phones start gaining popularity on AT&T, It'll likely be more comparable to Verizon's LTE speeds.
 
Geckotek

Geckotek

macrumors G3
Jul 22, 2008
8,768
308
NYC
Rodimus Prime said:
first rule of choose cell phone is choose based on were you spend your time.
Something way to many to many people made a mistake when they went for the iPhone before Verizon.
They choose a phone not the coverage and forgot the fact that coverage was crap were they lived. If you break this rule in my book you loss all right to complain about coverage.

the speed depends are where you live. for me AT&T LTE would be great but then again I live in Houston.
Click to expand...

Well, when I actually switched to AT&T (pre-iPhone 3G)....supposedly...AT&T had good coverage in Dallas.

HOWEVER, what actually happened was AT&T had to transition to W-CDMA. That transition was a cluster-####. SO what appeared to be good coverage before I bought it turned out to suck for quite a while.

They finally got past it all and eventually caught Verizon in speed (pre-LTE) but they never have done a good job at covering the areas outside of the major metropolitan centers. I hope they eventually treat these other areas with greater regard.

And to stay on topic, this actually makes me feel somewhat better about sticking with AT&T to keep my unlimited data plan. I hope I can take advantage of the LTE sometime soon. Wouldn't it be awesome if Apple surprised us with an unknown LTE chipset like they did the Retina display?
 
T

thetexan

macrumors 6502a
May 11, 2009
720
0
I remember when I got the iPhone 3G I was disappointed in AT&T's 3G coverage. Even though their coverage map showed my town as blanketed in 3G coverage I found I had an EDGE signal almost all of the places I frequented. I had an AT&T tech admit to me that not every tower in a 3G market is actually a 3G tower so I will have what he called "3G deadspots" and the coverage maps do not show this.

Even though AT&T claimed full 3G coverage in my market they half-assed the build out by not upgrading every tower to 3G.

Here I am using a 4G phone with Verizon and I have yet to find a "4G deadspot" with them unless I leave the 4G area. I've gone all over my town and have yet to find a spot where 4G didn't exist.

Something tells me AT&T will half-ass their LTE build out as they did their 3G buildout.
 
S

shadrap

macrumors 6502
Jul 6, 2009
499
0
Mayberry
It's a brand new network. No one is using it. Do you research. The 700mhz spectrum that Verizon bought. Is superior to the left over LTE network that AT&T purchased. The only way AT&T can be faster is to get LTE advanced.
 
parseckadet

parseckadet

macrumors 65816
Dec 13, 2010
1,489
1,269
Denver, CO
Here's what I don't understand. In my area my 3G speeds have gotten MUCH worse here just north of Houston just in the last year. I used to easily pull down 2Mbps sitting in my office. Now I'm lucky if I can get 500Kbps. The only thing I can think of is that they stole some spectrum from 3G in order to implement HSPA+ and LTE. I've been inside the HSPA+ footprint since it launched, and I'm in the LTE footprint now as well. I understand the iPhone isn't capable of supporting either of these technologies, but I wouldn't expect things to get WORSE. What gives?
 
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ap3604

macrumors 68000
Jan 11, 2011
1,929
0
parseckadet said:
Here's what I don't understand. In my area my 3G speeds have gotten MUCH worse here just north of Houston just in the last year. I used to easily pull down 2Mbps sitting in my office. Now I'm lucky if I can get 500Kbps.What gives?
Click to expand...

If I had to guess I'd say its simply more iPhone/Android/WinPhone/WebOS/Blackberry users sucking down data from your congested tower...
 
J

Jbrumz85

macrumors member
Feb 27, 2011
50
0
Is it any LTE phone coming to AT&T soon? The 4g phones they have now are only hspa+ correct?
 
Apple...

Apple...

macrumors 68020
May 6, 2010
2,148
0
The United States
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

The million dollar question: when is too fast too fast (for a phone)? :D

If AT&T can keep those speeds after expanding, woo-hoo! But for now, Verizon has far more coverage.
 
J

jacollins

macrumors 6502a
Jun 19, 2010
531
0
Sure, let's take a new unused network vs a highly used network and compare the speeds. Surprise surprise, the unused network is faster!
 
Rodimus Prime

Rodimus Prime

macrumors G4
Oct 9, 2006
10,136
4
Geckotek said:
Well, when I actually switched to AT&T (pre-iPhone 3G)....supposedly...AT&T had good coverage in Dallas.

HOWEVER, what actually happened was AT&T had to transition to W-CDMA. That transition was a cluster-####. SO what appeared to be good coverage before I bought it turned out to suck for quite a while.

They finally got past it all and eventually caught Verizon in speed (pre-LTE) but they never have done a good job at covering the areas outside of the major metropolitan centers. I hope they eventually treat these other areas with greater regard.

And to stay on topic, this actually makes me feel somewhat better about sticking with AT&T to keep my unlimited data plan. I hope I can take advantage of the LTE sometime soon. Wouldn't it be awesome if Apple surprised us with an unknown LTE chipset like they did the Retina display?
Click to expand...

yeah I have been hearing a lot of valid complaints about the problems in DFW area and while I lived there they keep getting worse and worse. It is very sad that AT&T is sucking so much in DFW because that is were they are based. Something is sad when your homebase is in piss poor shape. They are pretty good in the Houston area were I live but pretty screwed up in DFW.

but if you look back at most people (say 90% of the complainers) it was people who went to AT&T for the iPhone knowing that the coverage in there area was crap or did not even bother to check before hand and it was pretty easy to find out it was crap in their area.

The other 10% were the ones who well AT&T just started sucking and going down hill on.
 
S

Spectrum Abuser

macrumors 65816
Aug 27, 2011
1,377
48
If AT&T were to use the same frequency that Edge uses we would see LTE practically anywhere. Who even uses Edge anymore to justify keeping it running? Even all the modern go phones use the 3G frequency so the only small percentage that would be affected is stone-age phones dating back to pre-2006
 
alexbates

alexbates

macrumors 65816
Nov 24, 2008
1,082
0
Georgia, USA
Just if AT&T could run those kinds of speeds to my house via fiber optic cables...

We are not far off from the day when cable and fiber optic is considered outdated for the average consumer. I was on that path a year ago when having WiMax as my ISP, but 7Mbps just didn't cut it.
 
S

Spectrum Abuser

macrumors 65816
Aug 27, 2011
1,377
48
alexbates said:
Just if AT&T could run those kinds of speeds to my house via fiber optic cables...

We are not far off from the day when cable and fiber optic is considered outdated for the average consumer. I was on that path a year ago when having WiMax as my ISP, but 7Mbps just didn't cut it.
Click to expand...

Cable? Yes. Fiber Optic? Definitely not. A single strand[channel] of Fiber optic which is about the same thickness as the tip of a pen-head can transmit up to 111 Gigabits per second. If you call that outdated I'd consider going to a therapist.
 
R

Reaper0bot0

macrumors regular
Dec 28, 2010
159
45
"Probably not since I have Pandora blasting on 3G while I'm talking to you. Too bad CDMA can't do that."

My Thunderbolt with SVDO would like to disagree with you.

I seriously tire of the fact that sooooo many people on this board love to trumpet that "fact" even though it is no longer true.
 
S

Spectrum Abuser

macrumors 65816
Aug 27, 2011
1,377
48
Reaper0bot0 said:
"Probably not since I have Pandora blasting on 3G while I'm talking to you. Too bad CDMA can't do that."

My Thunderbolt with SVDO would like to disagree with you.

I seriously tire of the fact that sooooo many people on this board love to trumpet that "fact" even though it is no longer true.
Click to expand...

Your Thunderbolt with SVDO is not a pure CDMA based 3G Verizon phone. I wish people like you would understand that. And your Thunderbolt cannot disagree with me because it lacks any sort of artificial intelligence or feelings. So quit speaking for an inanimate object.
 
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Reaper0bot0

macrumors regular
Dec 28, 2010
159
45
Well if advertising has taught me anything, my Android device has feelings and an ability to reason. And apps! All you've got are those bigger geebees and the wifis!

All joking aside, the fact that it supports LTE has nothing to do with SVDO. Any "pure" CDMA phone could support SVDO. It's a bit of a shotgun approach to radios, but it certainly works.
 
S

Spectrum Abuser

macrumors 65816
Aug 27, 2011
1,377
48
Reaper0bot0 said:
Well if advertising has taught me anything, my Android device has feelings and an ability to reason. And apps! All you've got are those bigger geebees and the wifis!

All joking aside, the fact that it supports LTE has nothing to do with SVDO. Any "pure" CDMA phone could support SVDO. It's a bit of a shotgun approach to radios, but it certainly works.
Click to expand...

Just as any 3G AT&T phone 'could' support HSPA+ since the chips are the exact same minus the newer technology. Once Verizon switches over voice+data to their LTE network I will stop using that argument.
 
R

Reaper0bot0

macrumors regular
Dec 28, 2010
159
45
You are free to use whatever arguments you like. I'll continue using voice and data over EV/DO on those very rare occasions I leave the LTE footprint.

I'm not being pedantic here, either. If you're going to claim that CDMA can't do it, you'd probably better add an asterisk and mention "this excludes the HTC Thunderbolt, and any other potential handsets that support SVDO." That would make your argument more intellectually honest.

You can't claim ignorance of the exception, but you're certainly welcome to ignore it anyway.
 
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