orangecrushv
macrumors regular
Crap those LTE speeds are going to force me to update my u-verse package to stay on wifi at home... 
AT&T LTE speeds vs. Verizon LTE speeds
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Aston.Zagato
macrumors member
When traveling through Phoenix a few months ago, my speedtest.net results of AT&T LTE on my iPad 3 were:
Download: 42.66 Mbps
Upload 15.87 Mbps
Impressive
Download: 42.66 Mbps
Upload 15.87 Mbps
Impressive
Irish Rose
macrumors 65816
When ai clicked on the link it brought me to a map where you put the carrier in as well as what you want to test. I choose data for AT&T. That is where I saw that speed.
gmanist1000
macrumors 68030
Heres' my iPad speed on Verizon a couple months ago
jredecop
macrumors 6502a
Nice. In cnets review they were on AT&T and got between 10-20 they said. All areas dependent on the two again.
deannnnn
macrumors 68020
I agree with you. Verizon came through and put in LTE service along the coast of South Florida, but coverage in the inland suburbs is spotty (3G coverage is great everywhere, of course). AT&T completely coated the area with LTE. There isn't really any part of metropolitan south Florida that isn't covered by AT&T LTE.
SR45
macrumors 65832
That's because they have some boosters or what ever they are called inside the store. I asked the sales rep why the phones all have 5 bars, and mine outside gets 2 or 3 and was told about the equipment that boosts the signal.
I agree that AT&T 4G LTE coverage is better in the South Florida area. However, if you live in Miami or along the coast is much better to get Verizon as their 4G speeds are generally faster. I always have 4G LTE wherever I go - however some people are no so fortunate.
In Miami AT&T and Verizon are pretty neck and neck. I would go for AT&T if I lived in a place where Verizon's coverage did not have 4G LTE as their 3G is much slower compared to AT&T's HSPA+.
shareef777
Suspended
Issue is that it's more then boosting their signal. LTE in the Chicago area hasn't been able to push faster then 10Mbps for the most part and yet every store's device is pushing upwards of 20Mbps. Very misleading.
I have AT&T currently and they're horrible in Charlotte, NC. I'm switching to Verizon on Friday when my new iPhone 5 comes in just to get better reception. It's hilarious a block away from my house is an AT&T store and I get 4 bars in the store, once I walk outside it's 1. In my house 0 and anywhere in charlotte I'm lucky to get 2 - Currently using iPhone 4S and iPad 2.
Quick patch jobs? Verizon had over a year lead time in rolling out LTE over AT&T. They are ahead because they started earlier not because they are half assing it.
FYI Verizon has over double the bandwidth for LTE in most cities than AT&T - meaning more capacity. Getting all these iPhones on LTE will be pretty telling to how the AT&T network will stand up. There are already a lot more LTE devices on Verizon than AT&T and Verizon is still doing fine.
GFLovesMy9Inchr
macrumors member
Sorry bro, but it was hotted up today.
DETROIT, Sept. 19, 2012 — /OK-TO-RELEASE/ -- AT&T* has turned on its 4G LTE network in Metro Detroit, bringing customers in Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne counties the latest generation of wireless network technology.
And our towers will be going live all the way to lansing and bay city next week.
Not sure if that press release has hit the wires, if not, you're one of the first people to know
ObsidianBlade
macrumors regular
Oh ***** I didn't even think about AT&T having boosters in their stores. I went over there and found myself all giddy when I was getting nice speeds in there. I'm hoping their coverage of my area (Delaware County, PA) is better than Verizon's. If I can get at least 3 bars rather than 2 most of the time I'd be a bit of a happier man.
aristobrat
macrumors G5
Verizon's LTE coverage in many areas of my market feels like a patch job, because in the same location that my Verizon iPhone 4s gets 4+ bars of voice/3G coverage, my Verizon LTE iPad only gets 1-2 bars of LTE coverage (and piss-poor data speeds).
This is in VA's largest market, and Verizon has had LTE here for coming up on a year now.
chrisfromalbany
macrumors 6502
ok alittle bias don't think?
Why more then few ppl posting that ATT DL times are faster? Not sure it is as clear cut as you think.
CallOfDuty
macrumors 6502
AT&T's LTE speeds are that fast because not many people are using their LTE networks right now. Their 3G network is still crazily saturated and people are experiencing snail-like speeds on their 3G HSDPA network other than HSPA+ network. (Subject to every individual's opinion once again). But AT&T can be really fast, faster than Verizon in some areas. That's from my experiences and many reviews. (I switched from AT&T to verizon precisely because of the slow 3G speeds)
Verizon on the other hand has many people adopting LTE handsets, ranging from the thunderbolt in 2011 all the way till today in 2012. Verizon currently offers LTE on almost all its smartphones and promise LTE on every smartphone it offers in the future. Its 3G can also be considered to be rather reliable, ranging from speeds of 1-2 mbps for me.
Why on earth do you need extremely high speeds like 70mbps? Even streaming HD videos only takes at most 10 mbps for a smooth experience. Speeds aren't everything too - a decent speed like 10mbps+ but with a low latency is better compared to higher speeds but higher latencies.
I personally don't use speed as a benchmark for LTE experience. I rely more on reliability of the network. Verizon's 3G is known to be tad slower than AT&T but it is certainly more reliable in most areas (Subjective to different people). But many people thinks the same way as me too.
For a mobile device, you most probably don't need 70mbps speeds. Most of your usage goes to simple small data tasks like email, web browsing, imessage, social networking and so on. And some streaming. HD video streaming don't even need that much speed. You also don't download and play a 1GB infinity blade on the go.
Furthermore, you can't multitask so you can't download too many things at once.
And Oh yes, Apple has restrictions on how big an app you can download over a cellular network. It does not let you download huge files. So even if u want infinity blade on the go you won't get it!
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You're in the most remote and at the edge of Verizon's LTE coverage. Look at your signal bar. Its one bar which means there is extremely weak coverage of LTE. So naturally you will get such speeds.
Verizon on the other hand has many people adopting LTE handsets, ranging from the thunderbolt in 2011 all the way till today in 2012. Verizon currently offers LTE on almost all its smartphones and promise LTE on every smartphone it offers in the future. Its 3G can also be considered to be rather reliable, ranging from speeds of 1-2 mbps for me.
Why on earth do you need extremely high speeds like 70mbps? Even streaming HD videos only takes at most 10 mbps for a smooth experience. Speeds aren't everything too - a decent speed like 10mbps+ but with a low latency is better compared to higher speeds but higher latencies.
I personally don't use speed as a benchmark for LTE experience. I rely more on reliability of the network. Verizon's 3G is known to be tad slower than AT&T but it is certainly more reliable in most areas (Subjective to different people). But many people thinks the same way as me too.
For a mobile device, you most probably don't need 70mbps speeds. Most of your usage goes to simple small data tasks like email, web browsing, imessage, social networking and so on. And some streaming. HD video streaming don't even need that much speed. You also don't download and play a 1GB infinity blade on the go.
Furthermore, you can't multitask so you can't download too many things at once.
And Oh yes, Apple has restrictions on how big an app you can download over a cellular network. It does not let you download huge files. So even if u want infinity blade on the go you won't get it!
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Verizon's LTE coverage in many areas of my market feels like a patch job, because in the same location that my Verizon iPhone 4s gets 4+ bars of voice/3G coverage, my Verizon LTE iPad only gets 1-2 bars of LTE coverage (and piss-poor data speeds).
This is in VA's largest market, and Verizon has had LTE here for coming up on a year now.
Image
You're in the most remote and at the edge of Verizon's LTE coverage. Look at your signal bar. Its one bar which means there is extremely weak coverage of LTE. So naturally you will get such speeds.
paulie6978
macrumors 6502a
Oh good. That means there will be plenty of bandwidth for me to use when I fire up my iPhone 5 this Friday.
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I live near Richboro, PA.
im live in south philly but im up NEP alot
ViperDesign
macrumors 6502a
With the history that ATT has shown those speeds are only temporary. Let's be honest their network isn't exactly awesome. And they don't put money into their network.
Those speeds I guarantee you will head down south once more LTE devices are released and more LTE cities are put online.
You can't beat verizon LTE coverage and ATT will never beat that.
But again it comes down to personal coverage, what's best for you in the area's you travel.
Those speeds I guarantee you will head down south once more LTE devices are released and more LTE cities are put online.
You can't beat verizon LTE coverage and ATT will never beat that.
But again it comes down to personal coverage, what's best for you in the area's you travel.
aristobrat
macrumors G5
Actually, I'm in pretty much the CENTER of Verizon's LTE coverage of this market.
That same location =
1 bar of Verizon LTE coverage
4/5 bars of Verizon voice/3G coverage
To me, this situation is caused by Verizon not having upgraded enough of their towers near my location to provide adequate LTE coverage there. Which is exactly why I say it feels like "a patch job" at this point.
