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3G: Your area, your speeds.

katyoshi

katyoshi

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 11, 2009
403
50
Honolulu, HI
Hey everyone, I'm located in Mililani, Hawaii. The maps online show that Verizon seem to cover more of Hawaii in general (all other islands too) than AT&T for 3G service. I've never experienced Verizon's 3G, but I've ready a lot about it being slower, but more reliable than AT&T. I travel often to Honolulu (UH Manoa) from Mililani. I'm going to be in Hilo for 2 months in the summer, and going to San Antonio, Texas in January for 3 years in the military. I already have a iPhone 4 with MyWi. I know some people may ask "then why do you need a 3G ipad?". I want it so I don't have to use my battery while at work during clinic hours. I know people also talk about how AT&T is a "global" GSM network but I don't plan on using international data plans that charge ridiculous fees. So I'm not sure if I answered my own question here? :confused:

Can you guys post your location/speeds with either carriers?
 
I'm about 40 minutes out of Pittsburgh, PA (northern panhandle of West Virginia) and I'm getting 2.66mbps down and 1mbps up on the AT&T network. I'm impressed with the device's speed, especially considering the semi-rural area that I live in.

The iPad 2 seems faster than my iPhone 4 when using the 3G network, and it's a very pleasant experience.
 
Using AT&T iPad 1 in NYC: 500 kbs download and 450kbs upload in Brooklyn. In midtown Manhattan, 300kbs download and 50kbs upload. Yeah, AT&T struggles in NYC.
 
Miamisburg/Dayton, Ohio -

SpeedTest.net app:
Ping 188ms
Download 316.7 Kbps
Upload 45.7 Kbps

AT&T iPad 2 :-D

Edit: iPhone 3GS (3 feet away from iPad)
Speedtest.net app:
Ping 354ms
Download 124 Kbps
Upload 22.4 Kbps

Hmm...
 
I'm in an area that's very rural, but somehow has AT&T's new HSPA+ service. I just ran a speed test on my iPad 1, 6.22mbps down, 1.83mbps up. The latency is also fantastic for cellular data, something that REALLY changed when going from "3G" to "3.5G" if you will (to HSPA+). My internet went down the other day and, for grins, I tethered my iPad to my desktop to play some Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Just to see how bad it would be). I had ventrillo open, which had a ping of about 45ms, and I was playing BC2 with a ping of about 180, with the lowest pings on this server being around 100 (95 or so), and as high as 300. I was actually doing pretty good, some mild lag spikes but all in all it wasn't bad. Definitely the most impressive feature of HSPA+, not that it matters or is practical for the majority of uses, but it proves how powerful that technology is.

SO, that said, find out if AT&T offers HSPA+ in your area, if they do go with it and don't look back! I can still get over 2mbps down in areas where I have no "bars" at all, I never drop calls or anything, it's really fantastic (the way AT&T SHOULD be for the price you pay!).

Verizon is pretty much gonna be slower than AT&T in most places, BUT, no connection is slower than a slow connection, LOL. I'd look at your area and the places you will be, and then determine who offers you a connection period, from there you can decide who has the best features. If AT&T does NOT offer HSPA+ in your area, there is a good chance they won't, they will probably skip it and go to 4G (which makes it useless for your 3G iPad, you'll still be on 3G until you upgrade to the iPad 42.6 or whatever), if that's the case speeds between VZW and AT&T are probably going to be similar, maybe 1/4 to 1/2 of a megabit faster for AT&T judging on most reviews, and that might not be worth it if they are more expensive, or it might be, that's up to you!

But, again, if they have HSPA+ I'd definitely do it, it's the fastest a current generation iPad can possibly have with mobile broadband, short of 4G which is not a feature of the current iPad! Theoretically, HSPA+ is as fast as the fastest the iPad/iPad 2's 3G chip can handle.
 
Keep in mind, faster downloaded speeds (AT&T) doesn't equal a faster experience. Sometimes even though verizon has slower speeds, it actually loads pages/images, etc faster The big difference will be in app/music downloads.

Here's a comparison of verizon/att iphone 4's where you can see it's really not that big of a difference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23r6G9QUV08

that video is what convinced me to get a verizon ipad. since I know verizon has better coverage around me, the difference in speed was negligible.
 
RadicalxEdward said:
Keep in mind, faster downloaded speeds (AT&T) doesn't equal a faster experience. Sometimes even though verizon has slower speeds, it actually loads pages/images, etc faster The big difference will be in app/music downloads.

Here's a comparison of verizon/att iphone 4's where you can see it's really not that big of a difference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23r6G9QUV08

that video is what convinced me to get a verizon ipad. since I know verizon has better coverage around me, the difference in speed was negligible.
Click to expand...

Spot on man. Same reason here!
 
RadicalxEdward said:
Keep in mind, faster downloaded speeds (AT&T) doesn't equal a faster experience. Sometimes even though verizon has slower speeds, it actually loads pages/images, etc faster The big difference will be in app/music downloads.

Here's a comparison of verizon/att iphone 4's where you can see it's really not that big of a difference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23r6G9QUV08

that video is what convinced me to get a verizon ipad. since I know verizon has better coverage around me, the difference in speed was negligible.
Click to expand...


That's true. Verizon compresses web content correct? That's also going to mean that the exact same content on VZW is going to impact your usage cap less than on ATT, but honestly, if all your doing is browsing the web you'll never use up the limits. (I browse the web, download apps, stream music and even tether are can stay within the 2GB)
 
What's amazing is I tested my AT&T speed with my iPhone 4 using MyWi (unlimited plan) to my ipad one and got like 1.5-2+mbps but <3mbps so far download and about 0.8-1.4mbps upload. Its been varied, but I've still impressed. Here in Mililani Mauka, I use to have Clear "4G" hotspot and got <2mbps! I canceled that and now got road runner and been happy since. Sorry going off topic. But it seems AT&T is indeed fast, but I haven't had any experience with Verizon's speed. I've watched the video links posted here and seems that everyone is saying AT&T is indeed faster. I wonder if I'll notice a difference in network speed if I'm going to use the iPad during work hours using mostly safari, epocrates, email, medscape. Also during off work time in social networking (facebook/twitter/etc), Pandora, iDisk, news apps, maps. Basically "light" use...except for Pandora wouldn't be considered as light right?

I wonder if the which is would be a better deal in terms of the plan pricing considering I probably won't need more than 2-3gb/month? It's sometimes discouraging to hear Verizon doesn't have "fast enough" speeds.
 

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Hey btw, what's this I hear that AT&T's HSPDA is more updated than Verizon's EVDO CDMA? I'm not technologically advanced here. I'm torn guys. I have an AT&T iphone 4 which I plan to stay on since I'm on a family plan and it hasn't given me any call or data troubles. Kinda sorta thinking maybe I'll go with Verizon's iPad to "mix up" the choice of networks available to use when I have both devices during travel (not out of country)? What do you think about this? Unwise because AT&T is just outright faster?
 
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katyoshi said:
Hey btw, what's this I hear that AT&T's HSPDA is more updated than Verizon's EVDO CDMA? I'm not technologically advanced here. I'm torn guys. I have an AT&T iphone 4 which I plan to stay on since I'm on a family plan and it hasn't given me any call or data troubles. Kinda sorta thinking maybe I'll go with Verizon's iPad to "mix up" the choice of networks available to use when I have both devices during travel (not out of country)? What do you think about this? Unwise because AT&T is just outright faster?
Click to expand...

going with the verizon ipad might be a smart solution since basically you'll have the best of both worlds.
 
AT&T spent some cash upgrading their network to something that could be called 3.5g. So it is faster in most areas where the network isn't overloaded with traffic. Verizon hung with their older CDMA network and instead put money into the LTE (i.e., 4G) network. So it will have larger LTE network sooner than AT&T. If you get good speed on your iPhone 4, you should probably stick with AT&T. But if you are in a big city where AT&T is overloaded (e.g., San Fran or NYC), Verizon is probably going to be faster. None of the Apple products use LTE and we aren't expecting iPhone 5 to use it either. So Verizon's LTE network is useless for iOS devices for now (setting aside a 4G Mi-Fi solution).

V-Pads should start showing up in NYC from Apple soon, so we should know relative real life speeds in AT&T's problem areas soon.
 
TallManNY said:
AT&T spent some cash upgrading their network to something that could be called 3.5g. So it is faster in most areas where the network isn't overloaded with traffic. Verizon hung with their older CDMA network and instead put money into the LTE (i.e., 4G) network. So it will have larger LTE network sooner than AT&T. If you get good speed on your iPhone 4, you should probably stick with AT&T. But if you are in a big city where AT&T is overloaded (e.g., San Fran or NYC), Verizon is probably going to be faster. None of the Apple products use LTE and we aren't expecting iPhone 5 to use it either. So Verizon's LTE network is useless for iOS devices for now (setting aside a 4G Mi-Fi solution).

V-Pads should start showing up in NYC from Apple soon, so we should know relative real life speeds in AT&T's problem areas soon.
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for this! I was torn. I think I may go with AT&T because it seems to work fast in Hawaii in general. But like the other poster said, I'll have the best of 2 worlds if I get verizon ipad...but then again, AT&T seems to be stepping it up! I'll be stationed in Texas next year in San Antonio so I saw the map and it seemed strong for both carriers in that city...both even have 4G up and running!
 
blevins321 said:
Miamisburg/Dayton, Ohio -

SpeedTest.net app:
Ping 188ms
Download 316.7 Kbps
Upload 45.7 Kbps

AT&T iPad 2 :-D

Edit: iPhone 3GS (3 feet away from iPad)
Speedtest.net app:
Ping 354ms
Download 124 Kbps
Upload 22.4 Kbps

Hmm...
Click to expand...

Can't be 3g. edge?
 
Rural travel -- safest bet?

My husband and I are "in line" for our new iPad2. It'll be our first. We don't have an iPhone either.

We are journalists and often work and travel in rural areas, so rural coverage is pretty important to us (we're actually working in rural Arkansas right now). I currently have both a Verizon and AT&T iPad on order and need to cancel one, but I'm torn on which one to axe. It'd be lovely to have a very fast option for our rural home, too, which is in southwest Michigan -- and we do know that AT&T works really well near our house. But ultimately overall rural coverage, particularly in the midwest, central south, and Great Plains is key. What would y'all recommend?
 
medora66 said:
My husband and I are "in line" for our new iPad2. It'll be our first. We don't have an iPhone either.

We are journalists and often work and travel in rural areas, so rural coverage is pretty important to us (we're actually working in rural Arkansas right now). I currently have both a Verizon and AT&T iPad on order and need to cancel one, but I'm torn on which one to axe. It'd be lovely to have a very fast option for our rural home, too, which is in southwest Michigan -- and we do know that AT&T works really well near our house. But ultimately overall rural coverage, particularly in the midwest, central south, and Great Plains is key. What would y'all recommend?
Click to expand...

Sorry I can't really answer that. Your best bet is to view the coverage map in your area through the respective carriers. I would base your 3G carrier ipad 2 purchase based upon what area you'll be in the most. Even if you tend to travel to another area "once in a while", I would still get something that works great in your area that you work/live in and not necessarily get something just because you're going to another state for 2 weeks, etc. You get my point. :) I have the AT&T 3G and it's really fast. I never used the verizon one but I've heard although their 3G coverage is more consistant and reliable, they're slower than AT&T. In my area where I live, AT&T coverage is great. I'm going to San Antonio texas next year for 3 years and it also has great AT&T 3G coverage. It seems for ME, wherever I'm going, there is adequate AT&T 3G coverage. But that's me. Not sure about you. :confused:
 

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The problem with us is that it's REALLY important to be able to have service in these rural areas -- that's the whole reason we are getting the iPad -- and the location of our assignments is completely unpredictable. There's no one place we return to consistently. It's a little bit of Minnesota, a dash of Arkansas, a day in the Dakotas. You get the idea. We need GPS, we need Internet access, and we need it at weird times in odd places. So our goal is to figure out which carrier is more consistently available in the rural U.S.

Based on my Googling, the answer to that question in 2009 would have definitely been Verizon, but it's no longer clear to me (most of the references I'm finding online are from 2009 for some reason) ... I've looked at the coverage maps and it seems that AT&T drops to Edge service an awful lot where Verizon still shows 3G. So perhaps Verizon is still the way to go?

Opinions greatly appreciated.
 
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