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3g speed is horrible on vzw iPhone!!

I'm pretty torn because even though I can get up to 3-4 times faster data speeds on ATT, VZW is much more consistent and stable. Sure I can run a speed test and hit up to 5mbps sometimes but if I download a large file it'll never hold that speed regardless of where I am in LA/OC. There's also a lot more ATT deadzones around here. I guess it's more of a problem if you are using data on the go (navi, stream music, etc...) or frequent fringe areas. Call quality is also definitely worse and I've seen more dropped calls since I've switched to ATT (last june) than I ever had before. Funny because my girlfriend went from ATT to VZW and I did the opposite for the iphone 4. Now I know what she was always bitching about ha. I guess I can still show off my speed tests though :rolleyes:
 
The inevitable whining begins. At least most of the whining at this point was warned of FAR in advance. Do your research whining people.
 
This is what I'm getting in AT&T in the Miami area. 2.87Mbps
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Did some of you think Verizon always touted coverage instead of speed for no reason? Geez, do a little research. AT&T quite often flies on 3G, but it's slow in EDGE areas. Thankfully those are dwindling every day. Southern Alabama got a ton of AT&T upgrades in the past year. That made a Christmas visit not so bad.

Anyway, here's my tests I just ran from near Winder, Ga. I have 6Mbps DSL through Windstream and walked outside to make sure my signal was worth a darn for 3G. I was on EDGE with 1 bar in my bedroom. I'm in some void for cell service. What sucks is my bedroom is way worse than my den. Ugh.

Also notice that AT&T's 3G upload is faster than Windstream's DSL upload. I honestly don't understand that.
 

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zenio said:
Some people never learn. "The grass is greener" is a farce.

Enjoy Verizon, the network you put on a pedestal.
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I am not putting Verizon on ANY pedestal; I am simply saying that in my PERSONAL experience this is what I've enjoyed; obviously everyone's mileage will vary slightly.

Both companies have strong and weak points; I still wish AT&T hadn't destroyed our old Cingular network in this region. When Cingular was around; GSM kicked a** here in the Philadelphia Metro area; not the case anymore, thanks to AT&T politics and corporate greed.

Whatever you're flavor; just ENJOY the iPhone for the marvel of technology it is...
 
ryno2292 said:
You could get whatever results you want if you go to the right part of the country. Just because Verizon is better in SF doesn't mean it's better somewhere else. I'll trust my own real world comparison where I live haha. Use whichever carrier is better in your area.
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It doesn't mean it well stay that way either. If AT&T data issues in places like SF and NYC were the result of heavy iphone traffic then VZW might run into the same problem at some point. I admit though, that's just a guess - I don't know if the EVDO technology prevents this from happening (but we do know VZW intends to throttle heavy data users). I think I also recall Verizon saying their subscribers use more data (with Android phones) then AT&T users. Don't know if that's true or not, but wait until they see how much data that iphone users will consume.

Anyways, I haven't had any issues with AT&T voice or data in months and that includes spending a few days in SF. There was a time when my service was spotty, but IMO having the iphone along with the ability to accumulate roll-over minutes far outweighed whatever nuisance the network was. Having most of my family/friends on AT&T helps too.
 
I, for one, don't think I'll miss AT&T's 3G, especially their upload speeds... or their lack of network coverage in many areas.
 

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lmao at how this thread has literally devolved into people defending a network with speed test screenshots.
 
You people getting 5Mbps downloads over 3G just suck. Royally! :D

I've never hit 3Mbps anywhere in the Atlanta area.
 
I've always been happy with AT&T everywhere except at Fenway during a Red Sox game. These tests are a mismash of Providence, RI (where AT&T is phenomenal) and Boston (where AT&T is solid but the issues at Fenway bother me).

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I think there so many variables in speeds in different areas....

radio wave propagation is an interesting thing....wall type and thickness, elevation, spectrum saturation, etc.....

im have been happy for the last 2 years with the ATT iphone, mainly because I dont pay for it, and it serves me for what I use it for, checking email, maybe the weather and an occational webpage when waiting for a meeting. the call coverage is bad around the dc/balto area, I get dropped calls all over. I was about ready to move my personal cell phone over and get an ATT iphone until the VZ iphone was anounced. I waited, ordered, and now have had it for less than 24 hours. granted my tests arent going to be the same as others, but comparing the same phone on the 2 different networks doing the same tasks that I would do, the VZ is as fast or faster in almost all tests. does this mean im going to chuck my ATT phone? no, its not mine, and I dont pay for it. I will use it for what it was purchased for.


my real test will be next weekend when we drive to North Carolina, in the past on the 95 corridor south of richmond, the att iphone was on Edge until somewhere in NC pretty much the entire time.

I will test them both in those locations and see what the differences are.

again, who cares what network you are in, its an iphone and has the same functionality more or less, just might be faster or slower in some areas...
 
In case there are any new Verizon iPhone owners out there who live in my area (St. Paul/Minneapolis), I would love to know how my ATT results compare with your Verizon results:
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Travisimo said:
You're right though... you don't see the whole story just by looking at speed tests. Latency comes into play, as well as consistency. My guess is that the viPhone may actually start loading things more quickly, but will fall behind during larger downloads (like video streaming). For web browsing, audio streaming, and bite-sized network grabs, I'm betting they will be pretty equal (or maybe even the ViPhone doing better).
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I think you are right. It seems the Verizon phone has less latency which would be good for some applications, such as web browsing and gaming. The AT&T network has the potential to be faster which is good for downloading and streaming.
 
This is all a matter of where you use the phone most. I am currently on AT&T and when my new Verizon phone comes in today I will be on Verizon. I have an iPhone4 and get a wide range of download speeds. I was following this thread yesterday and decided to test the 3G network in various locations throughout Richmond Virginia. What I found was that my top Download speed was 2.53 Mbps and my top upload speed was 1.22 Mbps. My lowest was .05Mbps (DL) and .46Mbps (UL). When running an average on my results I found that the average DL (Sample size 20 results) was 1.398 and my average upload was .950.

I am interested in doing the same test, with the same locations under Verizon to see what the difference is. I have run a similar test using a Verizon Droid device but with a smaller sample and found that the DL average was ~1.9 Mbps and the upload was ~.65Mbps.

Anyway, I envy those who live in areas where they are getting 5mbps download through 3g because I dont see anything like that in Richmond VA and to add to it, I travel up and down Interstate 64 to the beach weekly and there is a dead zone that I hit for about 30 miles (sometimes completely dead zone but most times it is just an extremely weak zone), plus the Edge Network from just east of Richmond all the way to Newport News (60 miles+). Not trying to say anything about either network because I know there are pro's and con's to both. Just wanted to share my findings.
 
It's too bad T-Mobile can't get these cool phones because since I ditched AT&T and went with an Android phone at T-Mobile I get great speeds AND zero dropped calls! Unfortunately their network outside of major metro areas is not that great so there is that trade-off.
 
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