How useful is LTE on a phone?

[Steve Jobs.]

I'm on Verizon, so to consider getting the iPhone, I would have to accept that it has the slowest data speeds compared to the AT&T iPhone and slower data speeds than many of the Android handsets offered thru Verizon.

So my questions is: How big of a factor is LTE?

I'm thinking about it, and its not like I'm going to have 10 torrents running on my phone while I browse the internet and stream pandora all at once.....After all, it IS a phone.

Then again, it wouldn't hurt to have the latest network tech in your phone when you are signing a 2yr contract....

I'm torn, what do you guys think? If I had AT&T speeds, I wouldn't mind so much, but Verizon 3G speeds are not too good.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

EVDO Rev A (what you get with iPhone on Verizon) can be up to 3.1Mbps, which is plenty fast for (IMO) anything you need a phone to do - e.g. pandora, youtube, web browsing. It's marginal at best for tethering, particularly since if you're tethering you can't make or take a phone call.

LTE will not give you near the battery life you get from iPhone if you're actually using the LTE radio.

I would say if you plan to tether, you might want to consider an LTE phone and plan on needing to top up the charge during the day.

 

[Steve Jobs.]

No I'm not planning to tether at all, so I think I would be fine right?

I mean, really how much faster does LTE make browsing the web and playing youtube videos?

 

[takeshi74]

I mean, really how much faster does LTE make browsing the web and playing youtube videos?

The limits are posted and you can Google them. Real world speeds are affected by a number of variables. It's impossible to tell you how much faster it will be for you.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

No I'm not planning to tether at all, so I think I would be fine right?

I mean, really how much faster does LTE make browsing the web and playing youtube videos?

You might stop by your local Verizon store to compare side by side - what I find perfectly adequate may not be to you. I'm happy with the speeds I get when browsing the web on my iPhone on AT&T, but locally here I don't get much faster speeds on AT&T than normal Verizon speeds (<3Mbps) so it's comparable.

 

[darster]

Verizon 3G speeds in general are pathetic. LTE is a lot faster for streaming HD video and so on. Night and day between the two.

 

[dccorona]

Currently I don't see any reason for it. Mobile apps will begin to embrace the ability to utilize very fast data speeds as it becomes more widespread, and at that time the benefits of it will be evident and wonderful. Currently everything is optimized for these slower data speeds, so the advantages aren't as apparent or noticeable

 

[bidwalj]

I have a Verizon iPhone 4s and I also have a Verizon lte mifi. The 3G is plenty fast for your normal tasks. Only time lte really makes a difference is if you are streaming hd video, downloading apps / files, etc.