Nationwide Study Shows AT&T Has Fastest iPhone Data Speeds, Sprint Most Dropped Calls

[iamthedudeman]

I can't believe this. AT&T is one of the worst "companies" I have ever seen. I live in a suburb very close to Chicago, and we still can't even get 3G. This is confirmed from my own observations and by asking several people who use their service around here. That is totally unacceptable. You would think they would invest in some tower upgrades in one the largest metro areas in the entire world, but I guess this is AT&T we are talking about. It is also hard to even make regular voice calls. Calls are frequently dropped and even if they don't drop they sound terrible. Additionally I find it humorous that AT&T actually wants people to pay to get an Internet relay device. Why should I pay from my own pocket to fix their coverage issues. Isn't that what the monthly changes for service are for?*

Correction. You are having issues and problems because the coverage for ATT in your area is bad. No so for most around the country, as the study found.

I travel frequently weekly in fact and have not had one dropped call on ATT. Get 6Mps speeds frequently all around the country. ATT has been great for me.

Any carrier will give better or worse speeds and coverage based on where you are. All things being equal with the same coverage in the same area ATT will give you better speeds, the best speeds, Verizon the least amount of dropped calls, and Sprint slow speeds and the most dropped calls according to the study.

 

[estockme]

what exactly is a dropped call? i know this is a stupid question but i have been on sprint for years, tmo verizon and cingular before that and i don't remember many times i have been just plain ole disconnected since the early 2000s. is a dropped call where you just suddenly hang up? I would say it happens once or twice a year for me and I live in chicago. In grant park when obama was elected i seem to remember having a hard time placing a call. Is this a hardware issue or signal or what?

 

[iamthedudeman]

Very true. T-Mobile has the fastest "fake" G network between AT&T and T-Mobile.
Now since this was limited to only the 3G and "fake" G networks who is really surpised by the fact that AT&T came out on top. Now say they were testing some true 4G power phones (LTE or WiMax) then AT&T would of been on the bottom of the list. But this was iPhone testing and iPhone does not have 4G yet. It is a year away.



Umm that is about coverage. Not about data speed. Wrong topic



I think it should be limited to you have to be in AT&T 3G or HSPA+ network. If you are in Edge aka not near a major city then Verizon beats the crap out of AT&T. I want to say Sprint would as well since it roams on Verizon's towers.

testing some true 4G power phones (LTE or WiMax) then AT&T would of been on the bottom of the list.

Not so. ATT's LTE is almost twice as fast as Verizons. ATT LTE would be tops. There coverage isn't there yet.

 

[oban14]

Surprised they didn't mention the fact that Verizon's LTE network is 5 times faster than the best AT&T can do. Hope they have a 4G iphone soon.

 

[FearNo1]

Hmm, so perhaps its the problem is with the iphone after all? How prevalent are dropped calls on verizon's iphone?

 

[AidenShaw]

So sad that a Thunderbolt on Verizon LTE wasn't included....

Saying "AT&T has the fastest go-cart phone" is nonsense when you can get a Formula 1 racer from another handset manufacturer.

 

[Fuchal]

I switched to Sprint with the 4S after years on AT&T and although the data is a bit slower, I have yet to drop a call on Sprint which is way more than I can say for AT&T, and I have yet to be somewhere where there is no signal. (in Boston area)

 

[notabadname]

The article is clear in this being about the iPhone

Why all the posts about this not being fair, and a 4G phone should have been used, etc.

This is clearly an article about speeds and voice on the iPhone, and no other product. It is not a statement about which network has the highest possible speed if you are using the right type of phone.

And as an airline pilot, It would be hard to get to more cities (big and small) on an annual or monthly basis than I do. My ATT iPhone has done just fine. Certainly it has dropped calls, as did my Verizon phone I switched from. But never, absolutely never, have I been in a US city that I could not connect with data or make a call on ATT.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

testing some true 4G power phones (LTE or WiMax) then AT&T would of been on the bottom of the list.

Not so. ATT's LTE is almost twice as fast as Verizons. ATT LTE would be tops. Their coverage isn't there yet.

AT&T cover of LTE is not go enough to really push up their average nation wide compare to the others. Hence the reason it would still be ranked at the bottom. But it really depends on where you spend most of your time.

AT&T LTE coverage where I live is great but then again I do live in Houston.

 

[KnightWRX]

Yes, obviously. I'm asking how a Samsung 4G-enabled on Verizon fares against Apple 4S on ATT 3G.

I think you missed all the articles about HSPA+ now being considered 4G by everyone.

 

[CandyCane23049]

I can't believe this. AT&T is one of the worst "companies" I have ever seen. I live in a suburb very close to Chicago, and we still can't even get 3G. This is confirmed from my own observations and by asking several people who use their service around here. That is totally unacceptable. You would think they would invest in some tower upgrades in one the largest metro areas in the entire world, but I guess this is AT&T we are talking about. It is also hard to even make regular voice calls. Calls are frequently dropped and even if they don't drop they sound terrible. Additionally I find it humorous that AT&T actually wants people to pay to get an Internet relay device. Why should I pay from my own pocket to fix their coverage issues. Isn't that what the monthly changes for service are for?*

I live in Chicago and I have excellent service, and whenever I travel out of the city limit's I have yet to have problems. I guess it just depends on where you are at, so I can't call them the worst service I give that honor to T-Mobile and Verizon because those were the worst service I ever had.

 

[vitzr]

Your comment makes no scense. Verizon has the lowest call failure rate.

Two reasons.

They have great Moto Androids, Motorola has aways built cell phones that make clear calls.

The other reason is that CDMA has a bit more tolerance to a weak signal as opposed to GSM.

My experience using both, reveals they are very close to the same. Especially since in my area their coverage maps are identical.

I do prefer the great customer service and extra price breaks I get from AT&T. Verizon really holds a hard line on pricing. The advantage of using both is I get a larger selection of phones to choose from.

 

[KnightWRX]

Hmm, so perhaps its the problem is with the iphone after all? How prevalent are dropped calls on verizon's iphone?

The 4S has a fixed antenna. It doesn't have the problem.

 

[ghostface147]

I've had zero dropped calls since I've had my GSM 4S. I think Qualcomm is a better chip than Infineon.

 

[SpectatorHere]

Wireless Sucks

It amazes me how people want to identify even with a cell phone company...geez advertising is evil crap. If you haven't noticed, all of the services vary by location.

No, it's not unacceptable that you don't have coverage...it's normal. Find the carrier that works best where you spend the most time. This isn't rocket science.

 

[SandynJosh]

Now... we know why AT&T customers remain loyal and why Mr. Jobs chose AT&T and stuck with AT&T for 3 years exclusively.

Mr Jobs chose Quest and they were bought by At& T by the time the iPhone came out. It was Apple's good fortune things worked out as they did.

 

[ghostface147]

Mr Jobs chose Quest and they were bought by At& T by the time the iPhone came out. It was Apple's good fortune things worked out as they did.

They chose Cingular, not Qwest. If you look at the unveiling, the screenshots even show Cingular.

 

[SandynJosh]

They chose Cingular, not Qwest. If you look at the unveiling, the screenshots even show Cingular.

Oops, you are right. my bad!

 

[kjs862]

Isn't this new antenna system just for ATT? Hence the faster data speeds.

 

[cosmicjoke]

AT&T has the only "4G" iPhone. If they are using the HSPA+ or whatever it is called while the other carriers are using 3G, it's a mute point. Try using AT&T's actual 3G network. There is no way in hell the 4S and 4 are nearly equal on AT&T.

moot! /nazi

 

[tigress666]

I'm so not surprised about Sprint having the most dropped calls/slowest speed.

The unpleasant experience I had with them was not that the calls dropped, they just were so crappy you couldn't understand the other person (Talk about static that hurt your ears!).

I could see the analogy that CDMA tolerates weak signal better (I didn't have issues with their calls dropping but weak signal meant lots of static. And my experience was Sprint got lots of weak signals rather than strong ones).

I've been happy with AT&T/Cingular for years (and I'll echo it was Cingular Apple had a contract with... I was pretty sure they were still Cingular or maybe on the verge of changing names when I got the 3G but that I could be wrong I'll admit).

 

[anti_]

notabadname why is your avatar the symbol of all that is unholy!

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Isn't this new antenna system just for ATT? Hence the faster data speeds.

no the new antenna system was to fix the design flaw in the iPhone 4.

They did add HSPA+ hence the boost in speed but the older HSPA was still faster than Verizon 3G.

 

[deannnnn]

part of the intention of the nationwide study was to show "how performance problems in one city reported by the news media and bloggers shortly after a phone is launched can be less relevant over the entire network over time."

What!? In what way does this "study" prove that?! If anything it proves the opposite because they tested phones all over the country. AT&T is still terrible in New York yet fantastic in Florida and most cities around the country. Average that out, and AT&T's reliability rates will be really high, but does that mean that AT&T in New York City is better than how it was when the news media first reported on it when the iPhone launched 2007? Not at all.

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

sooo whats the point of having unlimited data if its slow as heck? cool i have unlimited data so i can wait for my app to download in 10 min!

and t-mobile having the fastest lol? doesn't ATT owns t-mobile hahah

Sooo... what's the point of having a fast data connection if you have limited data availability to send through it?