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AT&T LTE speeds on their way down in NYC

E

El3ctronics

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 30, 2011
1,017
40
NYC
When the iPhone 3G first came out, speeds were pretty great on AT&T in NYC. Soon after, the network became congested and virtually unusable around my office in Soho. So when the i5 was released with LTE, I was excited to have a reliable connection again during the day! When I first got the device, I ran speedtests that resulted in approximately 20Mbps download speeds and around 15Mbps upload speeds. I was very happy.

Unfortunately, over the last week, speeds have began to decrease significantly again. While my LTE connection is still very reliable, the speeds are nowhere near what they were just 3 weeks ago. Below is a screenshot I just took of my Speedtest in the Soho area. If these speeds now remain consistent, I'd be 100% fine but I'm worried it's going to again lead to being unusable due to congestion. Is this a legitimate concern?
 

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with more and more iphone 5s getting activated everyday and the plethora of people with grandfathered unlimited data plans downloading GBs every day, it's no surprise that the LTE speeds in NYC are slow.
 
I'm on an unlimited plan but haven't reached 5GB's since I got the i5 so haven't been throttled yet.
 
El3ctronics said:
When the iPhone 3G first came out, speeds were pretty great on AT&T in NYC. Soon after, the network became congested and virtually unusable around my office in Soho. So when the i5 was released with LTE, I was excited to have a reliable connection again during the day! When I first got the device, I ran speedtests that resulted in approximately 20Mbps download speeds and around 15Mbps upload speeds. I was very happy.

Unfortunately, over the last week, speeds have began to decrease significantly again. While my LTE connection is still very reliable, the speeds are nowhere near what they were just 3 weeks ago. Below is a screenshot I just took of my Speedtest in the Soho area. If these speeds now remain consistent, I'd be 100% fine but I'm worried it's going to again lead to being unusable due to congestion. Is this a legitimate concern?
Click to expand...

Run the speed test again. Often times I can run a speed test and get 2 completely different results within minutes apart.
 
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I guarantee you it will eventually happen with verizon as well... Just like it did when they first got the 4.
 
LTE is suppose to handle loads better than 3G but yes, once that connection to the ground is overloaded there is only so much you can do sometimes.
 
mpossoff said:
Run the speed test again. Often times I can run a speed test and get 2 completely different results within minutes apart.
Click to expand...

Here you go...big difference in upload speeds but downloads are pretty consistent.
 

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El3ctronics said:
Here you go...big difference in upload speeds but downloads are pretty consistent.
Click to expand...

Don't forget VZW speeds were once over the top now they've come down.

We just got back from NYC, we were in SoHo, and I have to say that I was impressed with AT&T LTE in my iPhone 5. I keep hearing from posters in another saying 'If I lived in NYC I wouldn't have AT&T' or 'you're on AT&T in NYC' being sarcastic.

Honestly I didn't see any major issues.

To me speed tests are worthless. I go by 'does your device perform?'
 
What?! Are you implying ATT didn't plan for this? I'm shocked, really shocked! :rolleyes:
After you get over my sarcastic remarks, remember that our friend Sammy has been selling true 4G phones for over a year. I test drove a Sammy LTE phone (in SF) before getting my 4S, and the speeds were amazing, but I haven't gotten my 5 yet, so I don't know your problem is more widespread.
 
mpossoff said:
Don't forget VZW speeds were once over the top now they've come down.

...

To me speed tests are worthless. I go by 'does your device perform?'
Click to expand...

First, I wasn't comparing to Verizon b/c I don't view Verizon as a better network.

Second, I totally agree with you. That's why in my OP I said "If these speeds now remain consistent, I'd be 100% fine but I'm worried it's going to again lead to being unusable due to congestion." And that's 100% true. If I'm consistently able to get 5Mbps down with under 100ms ping, that would be totally fine with me. I just hope this isn't the start of something worse.
 
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