Anyone's AT&T LTE data speeds really slow?

[RetiredInFl]

OK!

Went to the AT&T store and tested out my iPhone 5 to Get to the bottom of this.

5 bars - 27 Mbps down.

House - 2 bars - 6 Mbps max!

BUT

Here's the kicker...

I used my iPhone 4's stop watch to see how long it actually takes to render websites. Did some full sites no mobile.

I found that even though I am getting more Mbps at the AT&T store...

THE ACTUAL TIME IT TAKES TO RENDER WEB PAGES IS NO DIFFERENT!

Crazy. But at least I know it's not my device and don't need to get a replacement. And at least I know I'm getting great loading times even though I have less bars.

You have just proven what I have been saying for years. Other than for downloading files or streaming HD Movies your speed (and therefor LTE) makes very little difference. If you have a good ping most normal websites will render just as fast with 1MB down as with 100MB down. Normal web surfing and things like music streaming (Pandora etc) will make no difference at all if you have 40MB LTE or 1.0MB 3G. I'd rather have 1.5MB 3G with consistent day in and day out 50ms ping than 30MB LTE with pings varying between 100 and 1000ms for normal everyday web use.

Of course if you are downloading files to your phone or streaming HD videos faster speeds will speed that up. Other than that it's 98% hype.

 

[Paulshaqz]

on at&t?

yeah i'm not seeing any lte speeds in my area with at&t

 

[tengorazon]

LTE definitely varies depending on the tower. In the DC/PG County area I've gotten varied speeds, as low as (8.5/1.9) to as high as (48.3/16.4).

My home speed is good though, sitting here at my desk I just got (33.3/15.4), which is about what I expect during the day.

On back-to-back tests at work (Metro Center), I only got 1.83/2.73 and 3.98/2.26 download/upload. At home (NW DC), I got 6.41/1.44. This is all on LTE. Quite disappointing. When I switched to wireless at home, I got 19.11/3.92.

 

[Vudoo]

I have done speed tests in a few areas around Dallas and have been getting close to 50 Mbps down a few times.

 

[Myiphone7]

Bottleneck is probably the processor at this point. Top LTE speeds are probably much faster than the time the processor needs to render. My iPhone seems about the same speed rendering pages, whether on Wifi at home or on LTE. My speed at home has been about 5Mbps while my LTE last night was 17Mbps. Either way though I'm very happy at the speed web pages load on my iPhone now.

Bingo.

 

[gameboy213]

I'm in LA (Culver City/West Side) and I got 17+ Mbps last night...

I'm in the same area exactly. I never see above 9. Odd.

Spotty at best everywhere else.

 

[Myiphone7]

You have just proven what I have been saying for years. Other than for downloading files or streaming HD Movies your speed (and therefor LTE) makes very little difference. If you have a good ping most normal websites will render just as fast with 1MB down as with 100MB down. Normal web surfing and things like music streaming (Pandora etc) will make no difference at all if you have 40MB LTE or 1.0MB 3G. I'd rather have 1.5MB 3G with consistent day in and day out 50ms ping than 30MB LTE with pings varying between 100 and 1000ms for normal everyday web use.

Of course if you are downloading files to your phone or streaming HD videos faster speeds will speed that up. Other than that it's 98% hype.

You are right but the iPhone 5 processing Power makes a huge difference

 

[dictoresno]

spoke to an at&t rep again. they stated that my fluctuating data speed problem is due to a faulty provisioned SIM card. i need to get a new one. however, my coworker with at&t, with an ihone 4S is also having data issues. ill take it back and grab a new SIM but if the problem persists for one more day after, im returning it and getting Verizon.

 

[ipoddin]

You have just proven what I have been saying for years. Other than for downloading files or streaming HD Movies your speed (and therefor LTE) makes very little difference. If you have a good ping most normal websites will render just as fast with 1MB down as with 100MB down. Normal web surfing and things like music streaming (Pandora etc) will make no difference at all if you have 40MB LTE or 1.0MB 3G. I'd rather have 1.5MB 3G with consistent day in and day out 50ms ping than 30MB LTE with pings varying between 100 and 1000ms for normal everyday web use.

Of course if you are downloading files to your phone or streaming HD videos faster speeds will speed that up. Other than that it's 98% hype.

Or if you're using your phone as a hotspot. I got horrid lte with AT&T in LA. Worse than 4G. Now I have Verizon and it kicks ass.

 

[Paulshaqz]

spoke to an at&t rep again. they stated that my fluctuating data speed problem is due to a faulty provisioned SIM card. i need to get a new one. however, my coworker with at&t, with an ihone 4S is also having data issues. ill take it back and grab a new SIM but if the problem persists for one more day after, im returning it and getting Verizon.

i'm more then sure your going to verizon i tryed useing a different sim they never work.

 

[dictoresno]

i'm more then sure your going to verizon i tryed useing a different sim they never work.

i doubt its going to work either.

 

[Hpye]

I am getting 5 mb down .20 up on my LTE I live in Los angeles

 

[msommy]

I live in between Baltimore and DC and got great speeds on LTE at home the other day.

 

[AFDoc]

YES!!! Here in Colorado LTE is VERY SLOW!!!!

 

[II BISTRO II]

Philadelphia suburbs..

 

[aztooh]

NE Ohio..

 

[jrhudson]

Depends on where you are. Where i live it barely connects but its really fast

 

[anonnymouse]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread.

When using the Ookla Speedtest app, it seems to matter which server you connect to. The default (closest) one in my city that the app connects to always shows me around 2-3Mb down and 12Mb or so up on AT&T LTE. If I switch to just about any other local server in the settings, suddenly the app is showing upwards of 30-50Mb down and 16Mb up.

 

[appleonlife]

For AT&T in my area, the download speeds really are faster than Wi-Fi.

T-Mobile's LTE is not though.

⚡️#

 

[richard371]

In SF at home I used to get 40mbps at times when I first got the 5. It's gotten slower and slower. Now my ipad and 5s average about 6-10. right now my ipad and iphone are getting about 2-4mbps. I guess everyone is on LTE now

Parents always told me to learn to share haha.

 

[megapopular]

Syracuse, NY

 

[bigcstyle4]

Last year after the 5 launch, I was usually getting between 45-55 down. The highest I saw was 68. Now I'm usually getting between 12-15 down in the same areas which is to be expected due to many many more devices on the LTE network compared to a year ago. This is fine since have others have stated, the latency is much lower than the 3G network and is more important for normal activities than just higher download speeds.

 

[darkfiber]

The LTE Speeds on my iPhone 5s vary, here in Columbus Ohio. The speeds can be as slow as 6Mbps, but typically they are around 10-20Mbps. The fastest speed I ever got using speedtest.net app was 32Mbps down and 12Mbps up on the west side of Columbus.