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At&t lte in sarasota/bradenton/tampa areas

O

orlandocano

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 23, 2010
224
1
Hi everybody,

I have an AT&T LTE iPad. I live in Miami and in my part of town, I cannot get Verizon LTE service, and AT&T has not turned on LTE in Miami at all. I went with AT&T iPAD because HSPA+ in my area is MUCH faster (6 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up) than Verizon's 3G (1 Mbps down, >1 up)....

I have 1 day to exchange my iPad for the verizon version -- and I will be moving to Sarasota in 3 months, and will probably be working in the Tampa area.

Can anybody who lives there post your LTE data speeds with both companies? I wont be able to test it myself until after my 14 days are up! I do not care for the absurd speeds some people are getting (30 Mbps and up)... but I would like for my LTE to be at least +12 Mbps down... I have heard mixed reviews about AT&T LTE. Some people in Chicago (from another thread here) were getting slower LTE speeds than I currently get on HSPA+.

Hope I get some replies before my 14 days are up (tomorrow).. would hate to get to Sarasota only to find out that I have subpar LTE AT&T speeds. If I exchange to Verizon, I can keep my current ATT sim card and keep HSPA+ on my Verizon iPad in Miami until I move in 3 months! If you all tell me that AT&T is good in those areas, I will just keep what I have and not worry about exchanging anything.


PS: My folks live in Orlando so if anybody from that area wants to reply as well, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everybody!
 
I got 27.40 Mbps download and 21.68 Mbps upload last night at the Orlando Airport. The other day, at the BMW dealer off I-4/Lee Road, I got 21.27 down, but less than 1 up.

I noticed that within the city limits, speed is great. Start moving toward the outskirts, YMMV.

-BB
 
Wow.. thats some pretty good speed! My folks place is 5 minutes away from the airport! I visit them alot... Thanks for the reply! Now, this is ATT we are talking about, right?
 
I live in a suburb of Tampa (NW part of Hillsborough county) and just ran a couple speedtests (both showing 2 bars LTE on AT&T):

1st test: 17.83 Mbps d/l, 7.36 Mbps u/l, 128 ms ping
2nd test: 20.33 d/l, 7.74 u/l, 129 ms ping

In the past few weeks, I've generally seen download speeds from 12-25 Mbps and upload consistently around 6-8 Mbps, depending where I am in town. The best was being at the Lightning hockey game and getting these speeds where before I'd be lucky to even access the internet with such a high concentration of users in such a small area.
 
My LTE speeds (AT&T). I'm in southwest pasco.
 

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HOLY CRAP, PsstGreek!!! Thanks for your post! Looks like I'm keeping AT&T!!!!
 
Got my own results

Well my 14 days came and went and I am very glad I did not switch to Verizon. If anyone is interested, here are my results from this weekend at all Florida 4G LTE areas (visited fiancé and parents so I drive around a lot)

Miami HSPA+ where I live:
7 Mbps up, 1 down

LTE kicked in a little north of Ft Myers so...

Ft Myers LTE:
14 Mbps up, 6 down

Sarasota LTE (1 bar in finances apartment):
13 Mbps down, 5 up

Clearwater
19 Mbps down, 8 up

Tampa
22 Mbps up, 7 down

Orlando airport area
23 Mbps up, 11 down

In short, i may not have seen the crazy 40+ speeds that others are seeing but I am definitely glad I stuck with AT&T because their HSPA+ is a lot faster than Verizon 3G where I work and live in Miami . And their LTE is plenty fast for what I need it. Coverage did not drop off a single time from ft Myers to Tampa. Very impressed by stability and speed of network. Also glad I get 1 extra gb for the same price. Thanks for the other posters for your input before I was able to go and test the network myself. Not bashing verizon at all. I know they are great. I'm just saying I am glad i kept AT&T.... Partly due to some replies I got here.
 
Where exactly were you able to get LTE in Clearwater? I've been in Pinellas and Tampa and still have yet to see LTE light up on my AT&T iPad. Just says 4G. I even went to AT&T and they weren't sure where any of the LTE towers were. The coverage map says all of Pinellas is LTE.
 
kewlfocus said:
Where exactly were you able to get LTE in Clearwater? I've been in Pinellas and Tampa and still have yet to see LTE light up on my AT&T iPad. Just says 4G. I even went to AT&T and they weren't sure where any of the LTE towers were. The coverage map says all of Pinellas is LTE.
Click to expand...

Have you actually activated a data plan on your new iPad? My understanding is you won't see the LTE icon until data is turned on.

I've been all over Pinellas (from St. Pete Beach to Palm Harbor) and all over Tampa and have seen LTE everywhere. If your plan is activated, make sure LTE is turned on in Settings > Cellular Data. If all that is set and still no luck, exchange it where you bought it.
 
tbayrgs said:
Have you actually activated a data plan on your new iPad? My understanding is you won't see the LTE icon until data is turned on.

I've been all over Pinellas (from St. Pete Beach to Palm Harbor) and all over Tampa and have seen LTE everywhere. If your plan is activated, make sure LTE is turned on in Settings > Cellular Data. If all that is set and still no luck, exchange it where you bought it.
Click to expand...

Yes, I've got it turned on, though it's for the lowest plan, I wouldn't think that would make a difference. LTE is on in Settings. I transferred the plan from my iPad 2, I wonder if that has anything to do with it. Thanks.
 
kewlfocus said:
Where exactly were you able to get LTE in Clearwater? I've been in Pinellas and Tampa and still have yet to see LTE light up on my AT&T iPad. Just says 4G. I even went to AT&T and they weren't sure where any of the LTE towers were. The coverage map says all of Pinellas is LTE.
Click to expand...

I was in Clearwater today, Countryside Mall to be exact and had full signal of LTE. Was getting between 38-51 down and 16-21 up.
 

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PsstGreek said:
If that doesn't work. I would try getting another sim card. There's an AT&T store across the street from the mall by the Steak n Shake.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks, going to drive over there tonight. It's weird cause I definitely am getting "4G" HSPA+. It's quite possible I haven't hit any LTE spots. If that's true, I'm quite disappointed. Then the coverage map is a lie :(
 
PsstGreek said:
I was in Clearwater today, Countryside Mall to be exact and had full signal of LTE. Was getting between 38-51 down and 16-21 up.
Click to expand...

Figured it out!

Ended up going to the mall like you said and still wasn't getting LTE, only 4G HSPA+. Also, apparently the AT&T store closes at like 7:30 on weekdays (??). So, after grabbing some dinner with the wife, I sat in the car and deleted the data account I had transferred over from my iPad 2 and signed up for a new account with another e-mail address. For a little bit it seemed that didn't work, so, I gave up in a huff, until I was pulling out of the parking lot and glanced at the iPad... LTE! Finally! So, I'm guessing if anyone else has this problem, they should cancel their existing data plan and create a new one, seems to me that transferred plans only allow HSPA+ at the most. Thanks! Also, I've got almost full bar LTE next to my house, and it's fast!

:):eek:
 
That's odd. I live in the Clearwater area and I have never seen speeds higher then 20 even in the Countryside area.
What location are you using for the speedtest? Tampa?
This is on AT&T of course.
 
Zimmy68 said:
That's odd. I live in the Clearwater area and I have never seen speeds higher then 20 even in the Countryside area.
What location are you using for the speedtest? Tampa?
This is on AT&T of course.
Click to expand...

Yeah. The HiVelocity server gives me higher speeds (not by much) than Rapid Systems.

----------
kewlfocus said:
Figured it out!

Ended up going to the mall like you said and still wasn't getting LTE, only 4G HSPA+. Also, apparently the AT&T store closes at like 7:30 on weekdays (??). So, after grabbing some dinner with the wife, I sat in the car and deleted the data account I had transferred over from my iPad 2 and signed up for a new account with another e-mail address. For a little bit it seemed that didn't work, so, I gave up in a huff, until I was pulling out of the parking lot and glanced at the iPad... LTE! Finally! So, I'm guessing if anyone else has this problem, they should cancel their existing data plan and create a new one, seems to me that transferred plans only allow HSPA+ at the most. Thanks! Also, I've got almost full bar LTE next to my house, and it's fast!

:):eek:
Click to expand...

I have one to two bars of LTE at my house as well. Even with that I get a fast connection. Usually 20-30 down and around 10-20 up.
 
Last edited:
kewlfocus said:
Figured it out!

Ended up going to the mall like you said and still wasn't getting LTE, only 4G HSPA+. Also, apparently the AT&T store closes at like 7:30 on weekdays (??). So, after grabbing some dinner with the wife, I sat in the car and deleted the data account I had transferred over from my iPad 2 and signed up for a new account with another e-mail address. For a little bit it seemed that didn't work, so, I gave up in a huff, until I was pulling out of the parking lot and glanced at the iPad... LTE! Finally! So, I'm guessing if anyone else has this problem, they should cancel their existing data plan and create a new one, seems to me that transferred plans only allow HSPA+ at the most. Thanks! Also, I've got almost full bar LTE next to my house, and it's fast!

:):eek:
Click to expand...

Glad you seem to have gotten it all worked out but transferring plans shouldn't have been an obstacle as I also transferred from my previous iPad 2--had to if I wanted to keep my unlimited plan. :D

----------
PsstGreek said:
Yeah. The HiVelocity server gives me higher speeds (not by much) than Rapid Systems.

----------



I have one to two bars of LTE at my house as well. Even with that I get a fast connection. Usually 20-30 down and around 10-20 up.
Click to expand...

I was also wondering why your speedtest results were so much higher than mine so I switched to the HiVelocity server as well and saw the same speed increase you reported. But doesn't that only just show you're getting a better connection to their server, not necessarily seeing any better performance in real world use?

And if there is such a huge difference, I tend to wonder about the validity of such tests anyways. Whose results are more representative of real world use?
 
AT&T 4G LTE Miami, FL

I actually found some areas in Miami, FL that are covered by AT&T 4G LTE, I have some screen prints to show the proof, I was to exited to get my highest speed which was 28 Mbps down and 13 Mbps up. If you have an AT&T LTE phone and you live around US1 and 104th ST in Miami, FL you should see AT&T 4G LTE... Wish all of Miami was covered though..
 

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Could someone post a picture of your IPad showing LTE in the upper left corner? I have only seen mine show 4G when on AT&T data but nothing else. Thanks!
 
AT&T vs Verizon

Ive been relatively happy with AT&T with it's 3G coverage (except certain problem areas). I'm upgrading my phone to the iPhone 5 with lte, but was considering swapping to Verizon.

For those who know, how do speeds compare between the two locally. I live in St. Pete, and rarely travel outside the area except to South Tampa.

Is there a site with data comparisons? (I know his is an iPad section, but the speed should be the same)
 
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