Sorry. Here's the Verizon one too.
In my area (the largest metro area in Virginia), Verizon 3G rarely breaks 500-750kbps, which is actually a little slower than what you friend got.
Verizon doesn't have that middle-tier "4G" data speed like AT&T and T-Mobile do. With Verizon, it's either 3G or LTE. AT&T and T-Mobile have 3G, LTE, and a speed in-between the two that they call 4G, which pisses a lot of people off, since it's sort of a made up term. Call it 4G or whatever, but as you're currently demonstrating, it's not LTE, but it sure the heck isn't 3G either.
I've been using Verizon LTE here since the iPad 3 came out about a year ago, and it's steadily decreased from 15-20 Mpbs down to 3-7 Mpbs.
In most of the areas I use Verizon LTE, AT&T's 4G network is faster.
The speed of AT&T's LTE network here absolutely creams Verizon.
Verizon also hasn't seemed to started backfilling LTE coverage here. Two years later, the same spots that had crappy 1-2 bar LTE coverage still have crappy 1-2 bar LTE coverage. These spots are where their LTE speeds drop to 1-3 Mbps.
The only reason I'm staying with Verizon is because they will unlock my phone when I travel overseas (or not lock it in the first place, in the case of the iPhone 5). AT&T won't do that. Plus, Verizon lets me do a Share plan with family members that are out of state. AT&T can't do that.