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ATT LTE vs Verizon LTE in NYC

P

pcuz

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 8, 2009
22
0
Hi Guys,

I have a 4S on AT&T with an unlimited plan in New York City. Thinking about jumping to Verizon due to the poor coverage in Manhattan with ATT and Verizon always seems to be better.

I was wondering though how ATT's LTE network is in the city and if it is as good as Verizon's or just as bad as their voice coverage? Anybody got any experiences in comparing them in NYC?

My brain is saying stay on the unlimited plan but my heart is saying now could be a good time to get out!

Cheers!
 
I just got 31.52 down and 3.36M up in Downtown by Wall Street on my iPad. For me it works well all over downtown for the most part and all the way to the Holland Tunnel.
 
Verizon LTE is decent, but I've heard that AT&T LTE is faster in NYC. Whether that's because of less traffic or a superior network, I guess we'll soon find out as an onslaught of iPhone users hits AT&T's LTE network. On my Verizon iPad, I generally get download speeds of about 20MB/s, but in Midtown during the week it can be slower than that.
 
AT&T still congested on voice calls?

Two questions for anyone who has had AT&T LTE:

1) can you actually access AT&T's LTE network during regular hours in locations like midtown Manhattan? I have an iPhone 4 and it becomes usable from 10am to 6pm every weekday in midtown because the AT&T network get so overloaded. That's both voice and data - calls drop or don't go through, text arrive hours after their time stamp and checking email times out. Does AT&T LTE have these problems in midtown?

2) since voice calls will continue to run over the AT&T 3G network because no one is doing voice-over-LTE yet, wouldn't calling problems continue with an iPhone 5? This is what worries me if I stick with AT&T for the iPhone 5. If anyone is an Android LTE user, can you say whether you've had fewer problems in high-traffic areas of NYC since you started using your LTE phone?
 
MajesticNJ said:
Let's see what happens to LTE speeds on ATT when they let a bunch of iPhone 5 users loose in Manhattan.
Click to expand...

THIS! Anywhere. I have AT&T LTE unlimited on my iPad and VZW LTE on a Galaxy Nexus. LTE speeds on AT&T are far superior where LTE is available with AT&T. Then again, there are far less users on the network. How will this change after Friday, we will see. I ran speed tests while traveling the past week on the west coast, Midwest and east coast. Boston, not NYC.

I have a feeling the party is over for the screaming AT&T speeds, I sure hope to be proven wrong. Either way, I am not giving up VZW for voice or either unlimited data plan.
 
pcuz said:
Hi Guys,

I have a 4S on AT&T with an unlimited plan in New York City. Thinking about jumping to Verizon due to the poor coverage in Manhattan with ATT and Verizon always seems to be better.

I was wondering though how ATT's LTE network is in the city and if it is as good as Verizon's or just as bad as their voice coverage? Anybody got any experiences in comparing them in NYC?

My brain is saying stay on the unlimited plan but my heart is saying now could be a good time to get out!

Cheers!
Click to expand...

http://www.rootmetrics.com/compare-carriers/new-york-city/new-york-city-may-2012/

Verizon, hands down.

If you want GSM, you might as well switch to T-Mobile. At least it's half the cost.
 
I don't believe in this AT&T LTE traffic nonsense everyone keeps saying. The most popular phones that released on AT&T for the last year have been LTE phones (excluding the iPhone) so the user base should be just as congested as Verizon in areas where they both have LTE.

In my town (about 45 min from NYC) I've been consistently seeing download speeds upward of 50meg and uploads around 15meg. In areas where the LTE signal is a little weaker they drop to 30/10.

And the argument that AT&T's LTE network is going to crumble come iPhone 5 launch can be used against Verizon, too.
 
Yeah, I'm actually pretty concerned for Verizon's LTE network. I've had an LTE MiFi since Verizon first started offering LTE. In the beginning, it was 30 Meg plus. Over time, its slowed down some. Sometimes I can get 20 Meg down, but usually its around 5-12. Adding a zillion iPhones with LTE is not going to help. Verizon's 3G data network gets swamped as well. To the point that its almost unusable. Especially in Queens along the Long Island railroad path. Thousands of commuters, everyone surfing away.

Basically, you need to live in the boonies that for whatever reason gets LTE coverage. Then you're set.
 
Lower east side new york city
 

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I live in the upper east side NYC, I switched from AT&T to Verizon for the iPhone 5.
So far I've been really impressed with the LTE speeds, I'm consistently getting 17-25 MBPS download and always 20+ for uploads.

I also switched to Verizon because their LTE expands into the outer suburbs of NYC (most of Westchester) and the speeds there are even faster (probably because of less users). I'm happy with it so far!!
 
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