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LTE in Chicago.
- Thread starter misterjay
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Outside of New York, Chicago is the largest city in the US in terms of population per area. Chicago will continue to develop.
AT&T has half the LTE spectrum of Verizon in Chicago. LTE is going to be sub-par until they start turning off their 2G network. Had the T-Mobile deal gone through, they'd have gotten more spectrum, but since it didn't, this is what Chicago and a lot of AT&T LTE locations will be stuck with for a while.
I'm about 30 min west of Chicago. Last night I got around 8mbps up and down.
I was hoping for a little faster, but still far and away better than what I was seeing on 3G with my iPhone 4.
I can't get close to these 20mbps+ speeds others are seeing elsewhere.
I was hoping for a little faster, but still far and away better than what I was seeing on 3G with my iPhone 4.
I can't get close to these 20mbps+ speeds others are seeing elsewhere.
The internet is complex. Numbers do not tell the whole story. If you look beyond numbers, you'll be surprised what matters in the real world.
30 Mbit is not currently needed for a phone. In fact, if you're going at a consistent 30mbit, you'll reach the average data cap (2GB) in about 10 minutes
.
General web browsing, checking email, watching videos, downloading photos, playing games, getting sports scores, using Siri can all be done comfortably at the OP's speeds. In fact, if you look at real world tests higher numbers do not always equate to a better experience.
I'll use TMobile as an example. Studies have shown that Verizon's 3G network beats TMobile's much faster 3G network (and others) on a consistent basis, even when TMobile has the lower ping and higher data throughput. I'm not saying TMobile doesn't win some of the time, but overall, Verizon's real world experience is more consistent than TMobile's at lower speeds and higher ping. What's also shocking is how close Verizon's 3G experience is to their 4G experience.
Take the 4G vs 4G numbers with a grain of salt, as they don't elaborate on what "type" of 4G they're testing.
If you hover over the pictures, the pic name shows the location. The top left is Chicago:
Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/255068/3g_4g_performance_map_speeds_from_everywhere_we_tested.html
30 Mbit is not currently needed for a phone. In fact, if you're going at a consistent 30mbit, you'll reach the average data cap (2GB) in about 10 minutes
.General web browsing, checking email, watching videos, downloading photos, playing games, getting sports scores, using Siri can all be done comfortably at the OP's speeds. In fact, if you look at real world tests higher numbers do not always equate to a better experience.
I'll use TMobile as an example. Studies have shown that Verizon's 3G network beats TMobile's much faster 3G network (and others) on a consistent basis, even when TMobile has the lower ping and higher data throughput. I'm not saying TMobile doesn't win some of the time, but overall, Verizon's real world experience is more consistent than TMobile's at lower speeds and higher ping. What's also shocking is how close Verizon's 3G experience is to their 4G experience.
Take the 4G vs 4G numbers with a grain of salt, as they don't elaborate on what "type" of 4G they're testing.
If you hover over the pictures, the pic name shows the location. The top left is Chicago:
Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/255068/3g_4g_performance_map_speeds_from_everywhere_we_tested.html
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I'm in the near-west suburbs of Chicago. I did a few speed tests and averaged between 25 to 30 Mbps on the DL.
My only concern about the slower speeds is if Verizon is nearing capacity in my area. If it becomes overloaded, it is no better than sprint. I know that getting huge speeds isn't important. What is important to me is that when I tap on a link, I don't have to wait a minute for something to happen. Most of the time, this is exactly what happens with sprint. It just sits and does nothing. Then when it does start to do something, it is really slow. Even with WiMAX on and working. I have little faith in sprint's big upgrade. I think that no matter what, they'll always be terrible in the Chicago area.
To alleviate some of the problems I have, I have my phone rooted. I am connected to Verizon 3G by the prl that I've side loaded. I am looking forward to getting good speeds and response time without a hack.
To alleviate some of the problems I have, I have my phone rooted. I am connected to Verizon 3G by the prl that I've side loaded. I am looking forward to getting good speeds and response time without a hack.