How LTE changes the VZ vs. ATT battle

[Mark Booth]

I have an iPhone 4S on AT&T and an iPad 3 on Verizon LTE. This summer, my wife and I took a 6,200 road trip across the U.S. and back. We drove eastward (from California) along a northerly route along I-80 that took us through Colorado, Nebraksa, Iowa, Indiana, etc. On the way home, we took a more southerly route through Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and eventually catching I-44 & I-40 toward home (dong some Route 66 stops along the way).

While traveling, I had the Verizon iPad plugged into power (to keep it charged) and had it set up as a WiFi hotspot. Since my wife's iPad doesn't have a cell radio, she would connect to my iPad (hotspot) to check email, browse the web, or play Words with Friends.

During our travels, we were frequently streaming Pandora radio through the iPhone (connected to our vehicle's iPhone interface). Pandora worked beautifully on AT&T, except for some stretches across Utah and some stretches in eastern New Mexico and eastern Arizona. In those areas where AT&T's signal disappeared, I would switch to connecting the iPhone to my Verizon iPad via WiFi. About 75% of the time, Verizon had signal in areas that AT&T did not.

Conversely, there were some areas in Colorado and Nebraska where Verizon struggled and AT&T seemed to work fine. On the way home, while traveling Route 66 (away from the Interstate), it wasn't uncommon for AT&T to actually do better than Verizon as far as connectivity was concerned.

I came away with the impression that it was six of one and half a dozen of the other. The only strong negative I can think of is that in really crowded areas like New York City, my AT&T iPhone would show 4-5 bars of signal but it was QUITE obvious the network was overcrowded. In fact, in NYC I wasn't even using my iPhone much, yet, by the end of the day the battery was dead. The phone was apparently spending so much time searching for a cell it could use (despite showing 4-5 bars), it ran the battery down. Here at home, if I don't use my iPhone much I have 75% of the battery left at the end of the day. No such luck in NYC!

Maybe it would be the same for a Verizon iPhone? I don't know. I wasn't carrying my Verizon iPad with me when we were in NYC.

Mark

 

[bogatyr]

They technically are there. However, they have no practical implication because the phone's case would insulate the person from the antenna anyways, so outside of the lab the problem just doesn't occur.

Except for those of us who use no case. I insure my phones and forget about cases and screen protectors. Both make the phone just feel big and awkward compared to a naked phone.

 

[Photogdave]

Ugh. So in your technical, practical world every single iPhone 4 is in a case because everyone wants a case and/or knows they need one? Interesting.

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Bingo, that's my qualm. Stick with Unlimited (throttled at 5GB) on ATT for $22, or go get reliable service at Verizon for $50 for 5GB.

Talking to self: "Sounds like a personal problem"
Self talking back: "Yep"

I guess after this thread I'm convinced Verizon is superior (In most cases), the question comes down to is it worth the price. That, everyone will have to decide for themselves...

Being throttled at 5GB is a blessing if that's your case LOL
Everyone I work with that's ATT gets throttled like clock work upon 3GB.
Same here on Verizon with my 4s. Thats why Im willing to loose my Unlimited Plan so I don't get throttled. Besides. I can save money with 2 iPhones on Shared Data vs my current plan and get 6 GB of data. I never go over 3.5-4 even on hard use. So I wont be throttled and I get free Hotspot which used to cost 20/month(i didn't have it)
Its getting old but what can i do. I dropped my land line so this is the only phones we have now.

 

[orangebluedevil]

Being throttled at 5GB is a blessing if that's your case LOL
Everyone I work with that's ATT gets throttled like clock work upon 3GB.
Same here on Verizon with my 4s. Thats why Im willing to loose my Unlimited Plan so I don't get throttled. Besides. I can save money with 2 iPhones on Shared Data vs my current plan and get 6 GB of data. I never go over 3.5-4 even on hard use. So I wont be throttled and I get free Hotspot which used to cost 20/month(i didn't have it)
Its getting old but what can i do. I dropped my land line so this is the only phones we have now.

Clarify: It's 3GB on 3G, and 5GB on LTE before throttling. At least according to AT&T's sight FAQ about throttling. So yeah, currently I get throttled every month. But hopefully won't on LTE iPhone, depending on increased usage. Still...it's my personal problem

 

[terraphantm]

Except for those of us who use no case. I insure my phones and forget about cases and screen protectors. Both make the phone just feel big and awkward compared to a naked phone.

Don't get started with BiggAW. He's convinced that the iPhone 4/4S was designed by Apple to be used with a case and is guaranteed to shatter within a week without one. He also is convinced that those of us who choose not to use cases are either stupid, have too much money, or both. He doesn't understand that many of us find the phone to be more comfortable without a case and have usage patterns that don't lend themselves to shattering the front or back.

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I have an iPhone 4S on AT&T and an iPad 3 on Verizon LTE. This summer, my wife and I took a 6,200 road trip across the U.S. and back. We drove eastward (from California) along a northerly route along I-80 that took us through Colorado, Nebraksa, Iowa, Indiana, etc. On the way home, we took a more southerly route through Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and eventually catching I-44 & I-40 toward home (dong some Route 66 stops along the way).

While traveling, I had the Verizon iPad plugged into power (to keep it charged) and had it set up as a WiFi hotspot. Since my wife's iPad doesn't have a cell radio, she would connect to my iPad (hotspot) to check email, browse the web, or play Words with Friends.

During our travels, we were frequently streaming Pandora radio through the iPhone (connected to our vehicle's iPhone interface). Pandora worked beautifully on AT&T, except for some stretches across Utah and some stretches in eastern New Mexico and eastern Arizona. In those areas where AT&T's signal disappeared, I would switch to connecting the iPhone to my Verizon iPad via WiFi. About 75% of the time, Verizon had signal in areas that AT&T did not.

Conversely, there were some areas in Colorado and Nebraska where Verizon struggled and AT&T seemed to work fine. On the way home, while traveling Route 66 (away from the Interstate), it wasn't uncommon for AT&T to actually do better than Verizon as far as connectivity was concerned.

I came away with the impression that it was six of one and half a dozen of the other. The only strong negative I can think of is that in really crowded areas like New York City, my AT&T iPhone would show 4-5 bars of signal but it was QUITE obvious the network was overcrowded. In fact, in NYC I wasn't even using my iPhone much, yet, by the end of the day the battery was dead. The phone was apparently spending so much time searching for a cell it could use (despite showing 4-5 bars), it ran the battery down. Here at home, if I don't use my iPhone much I have 75% of the battery left at the end of the day. No such luck in NYC!

Maybe it would be the same for a Verizon iPhone? I don't know. I wasn't carrying my Verizon iPad with me when we were in NYC.

Mark

I used to travel to NYC every week. I always found my Verizon iPad to be much more usable than my AT&T iPhone. Same with DC and Boston.

 

[terraphantm]

Well that answers the question for you than.

I think people will defend and convince others that one carrier is superior to others. Coverage is all local. Remember that.

I have luxury to have both att and Verizon.

So I can compare coverage of both simultaneously. Since I travel between DC and most of Florida I can tell u honestly Verizon's LTE service is very spotty in the Miami area and drops to CDMA a lot. But Verizon lte service in the DC or even Baltimore suburbs are rock solid.

I am in Orlando most of the time and Att lte service is actually better than Verizon.

So I can give a fair and balance Opinion of both carrier.

You have 14 days with Verizon to try out the service and 30 days with att. That's the period to test out coverage.

As mark Twain once said or something similar. "Those who read the news are misinformed". Always take with a grain of salt what you read. Try out both services for yourself or even borrow a friends phone even just for a little bit to check out coverage for yourself.

For me the issue isn't so much LTE vs LTE, but overall service vs overall service.

AT&T may have faster LTE. But it's much more sparsely deployed. And if their 3G rollout is anything to go by, it will be about a decade before their LTE coverage has any semblance of nationwide coverage. Where AT&T doesnt have LTE, the phone will drop down to HSPA+... Which barely works in any populated cities. Verizon on the otherhand already has a very respectable map and it's on track to match their existing 3G coverage. So there's a much lower chance that it'll drop down to EVDO, and when it does, at least it works. So even if VZW is marginally slower, simply having service everywhere, and more reliable service in big cities makes the switch a no brainier. I am also confident that VZW will be quicker to upgrade to LTE Advanced

 

[Photogdave]

Clarify: It's 3GB on 3G, and 5GB on LTE before throttling. At least according to AT&T's sight FAQ about throttling. So yeah, currently I get throttled every month. But hopefully won't on LTE iPhone, depending on increased usage. Still...it's my personal problem

I gotcha. Ive heard some others lean towards increased data usage when using LTE vs 3G. Doesn't make sense to me.
Example, downloading 25mb file is same when downloaded, or browsing is browsing doesn't matter how fast it downloaded, just the info passed between device and tower.

 

[nizmoz]

For me the issue isn't so much LTE vs LTE, but overall service vs overall service.

AT&T may have faster LTE. But it's much more sparsely deployed. And if their 3G rollout is anything to go by, it will be about a decade before their LTE coverage has any semblance of nationwide coverage. Where AT&T doesnt have LTE, the phone will drop down to HSPA+... Which barely works in any populated cities. Verizon on the otherhand already has a very respectable map and it's on track to match their existing 3G coverage. So there's a much lower chance that it'll drop down to EVDO, and when it does, at least it works. So even if VZW is marginally slower, simply having service everywhere, and more reliable service in big cities makes the switch a no brainier. I am also confident that VZW will be quicker to upgrade to LTE Advanced

Lol.....barely works? Works great in all the big cities I have been in. Sad the same cant be said for Verizon when I tried them.

 

[Smileyboy]

For me the issue isn't so much LTE vs LTE, but overall service vs overall service.

AT&T may have faster LTE. But it's much more sparsely deployed. And if their 3G rollout is anything to go by, it will be about a decade before their LTE coverage has any semblance of nationwide coverage. Where AT&T doesnt have LTE, the phone will drop down to HSPA+... Which barely works in any populated cities. Verizon on the otherhand already has a very respectable map and it's on track to match their existing 3G coverage. So there's a much lower chance that it'll drop down to EVDO, and when it does, at least it works. So even if VZW is marginally slower, simply having service everywhere, and more reliable service in big cities makes the switch a no brainier. I am also confident that VZW will be quicker to upgrade to LTE Advanced

Totally agree. I'm out here in Wallkill, NY I have full 4g signal and super slow Internet, NYC AT&T is useless. But back in Denver it's great. No complains.

But I do think it will take AT&T forever to roll out LTE.

 

[eastercat]

If at&t said they had lte in a city and it didn't work, they'd be skewered by media, users etc.; that's a pretty dim idea.
I don't like cdma carriers, because if I ever want to move to sprint or someone similar, I'll pretty much have to buy a new phone. At least the 4S' sim slot can be unlocked early on and gives you the option of selling it overseas. Otherwise its market is limited.

I don't really trust AT&T's magic they've been working lately. If I was them, I would make sure that by iPhone launch day I just had a high number of LTE cities. Even if its not tested and ready. Just so that I don't get crushed in the news. Verizon has about 350, AT&T needs to at least hit 100+ to not look foolish.

 

[orangebluedevil]

If at&t said they had lte in a city and it didn't work, they'd be skewered by media, users etc.; that's a pretty dim idea.
I don't like cdma carriers, because if I ever want to move to sprint or someone similar, I'll pretty much have to buy a new phone. At least the 4S' sim slot can be unlocked early on and gives you the option of selling it overseas. Otherwise its market is limited.

I never said LTE wouldn't work. There's a big difference between not working (which is obvious to users), and not working well because it hasn't been properly tested.

No, ATT is not stupid enough to claim LTE when it's just not there, but they are smart enough to make sure that map has lots of cities on it come Sept 12. Whether that means fully tested, full city coverage - we shall see. But it seems unlikely that they went from 11 cities over 6 months to 70 over the last 3 months doesn't it? Uh ya.

 

[BiggAW]

Ugh. So in your technical, practical world every single iPhone 4 is in a case because everyone wants a case and/or knows they need one? Interesting.

Maybe because it is made out of glass, and will get broken if it doesn't have a case on it.

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Except for those of us who use no case. I insure my phones and forget about cases and screen protectors. Both make the phone just feel big and awkward compared to a naked phone.

Hope you have a ton of money and enjoy going to Apple Store every time you crack it. iPhones are not durable enough to survive without one.

 

[orangebluedevil]

Maybe because it is made out of glass, and will get broken if it doesn't have a case on it.

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Hope you have a ton of money and enjoy going to Apple Store every time you crack it. iPhones are not durable enough to survive without one.

Ok, you're right, you've convinced me that I'm stupid for not having a case, rich for not having a case, and clumsy for dropping it all the time. Next question please.

 

[DTphonehome]

Maybe because it is made out of glass, and will get broken if it doesn't have a case on it.

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Hope you have a ton of money and enjoy going to Apple Store every time you crack it. iPhones are not durable enough to survive without one.

I'm going on 2.5 years with a naked iPhone 4 which has never broken despite rough usage. So clearly for some people it's not as big an issue as you think it is.

 

[BiggAW]

I'm going on 2.5 years with a naked iPhone 4 which has never broken despite rough usage. So clearly for some people it's not as big an issue as you think it is.

You're gambling. Chances are, your iPhone will eventually break/crack. They're just too fragile not to.