I *really* wanted to love Verizon LTE, but am finding it lacking in coverage.
I have an iPad on AT&T LTE, an AT&T 4S and have been testing a 5 on Verizon. When I'm able to get Verizon LTE, it's usually about twice as fast as AT&T, but sporadically is on par during heavy congestion times like ~ 4 - 5 pm. In the distant north burbs (Lake Forest) I'm getting better speeds on AT&T.
My huge issue has been Verizon's claim of LTE coverage -- it's like they put LTE on the minimum number of towers possible. My phone is constantly reverting back to 3G and 2G because of a stronger signal. I had not seen the 2G circle indicator since the original iPhone!
Walking around River North/the loop, Verizon will constantly bounce between 2G - 3G and occasionally stick with LTE. I find myself turning LTE on/off in the iPhone's settings to get it back on the LTE network. During peak times, LTE signal will drop dramatically -- 2 bars during work hours, but then 4 - 5 late at night.
In normal AT&T dead spots, like elevators, basements and other tough areas my 4S is problematic as expected, AT&T LTE is pulling in a usable 1 - 2 bars, and Verizon is on 1 bar of 2G, but not actually able to pull any data. In the suburbs, I had the same situation in various big box retailers (I actually had to walk outside of the store on Verizon so that I could download a shopping list!).
Voice:
AT&T has been much better on the 4S. I keep finding myself reverting back to the AT&T 4S for conference calls because I can't stand the heavily compressed sound of Verizon. Verizon has made statements that they will not support voice over LTE (VoLTE) until mid-2013 because they know the coverage is lacking, and will not implement the costly feature of seamless switching of voice between 3G and LTE bands (so if you're making a VoLTE call, lose the LTE signal, your call will drop rather than revert to 3G).
Data:
Having the option to revert back to HSPA+ is a huge win for AT&T and they seem to have LTE on many more towers. Disadvantage is that depending on congestion, HSPA+ can be faster than LTE. AT&T will never hit the highs of Verizon's LTE because of spectrum issues.
Proxying:
Verizon will recompress web pages and transcode videos/audio. You'll find that JPEGs contain a lot more artifacts/look poorer and YouTube videos have less resolution. I also found that when streaming MP3 radio stations on Verizon, the bit rate seems to get reduced.
Overall:
- For me, Verizon costs $30-40 more a month because of the shared data plan. - Verizon has extremes of ultra lows and highs, but for web pages and other activities you're not going to notice a huge difference.
- Verizon might have great numbers now, but they're only advertising averages of ~ 10 mbps. There goal is to buy spectrum rather than put up extra towers.
- Be prepared for some 2007 iPhone 1 speeds with Verizon.
I've reserved an AT&T iPhone 5 for pickup tomorrow. I was willing to lose my unlimited AT&T plan and pay extra for great coverage, but Verizon doesn't make the cut. If they add more LTE towers by the time a 5S is released, I'll consider trying them again, but I'm not optimistic.