New York City Speeds With 4s (Verizon/ATT/Sprint)

[peglegjack]

Well I got .64 Mbps on the street in the East Village today with Sprint, which I suppose may be good enough for me (directions, finding happy hours) if it was consistent (which it isn't). I don't know, I may just stay with Sprint. Not that I WILL use more than 2GB of data (cause I probably won't), but because it has to get better eventually. I do Netflix watching/heavy data on my iMac anyway. At the same time, it's good to know that's it's there.

If I had to do it all over again, I'd probably stay with Verizon. But I will say the call quality is the one thing with Sprint that I AM impressed about.

 

[Enrico]

So far, yes. However, I have not left my neighborhood (UES) since getting my 4S this weekend. I have been averaging 1-1.5 Mbps down (plenty fast for me) and the data is CONSISTENT unlike AT&T where sometimes data would work and sometimes not so much (even in my neighborhood).

The true test will be when I head to midtown I guess. Could be a couple of days before that happens though. I do have a friend with Verizon (Blackberry - not iPhone) who travels to the city a lot for meetings (midtown) and says he rarely has any issues at all with Verizon in the city.

Before switching to Vz, I never had an issue in the UES where i live with AT&T.
But I found out that VZ suffers more the heights than AT&T. At the 33rd floor, I have very bad reception with VZ, and in general at the high floors everywhere. (no signal at all at the Empire roof!! :O )

 

[jazzer15]

This is a very helpful thread for me. I know this is an iPhone thread, but I hope you don't mind a comment from a non-iPhone owner.

I don't have an iPhone, but have been testing and trying both iPad 3G models to figure out which is better for use in Manhattan. I don't live in the city, but I work downtown around the financial district. I have found that when AT&T is working well, it is somewhat faster than Verizon for ordinary web surfing. Indeed I have gotten some pretty decent test result at times. However, there are certain times when I get can't even connect to the network notwithstanding 4 bars signal strength. I'm not sure if this potential daily inconvenience is worth the benefits AT&T provides (like being able to swap the sim card for international use). I had hear AT&T was getting better ...

Question: Does the 4S run on the same 3G network as the iPad and the other iPhones or is it possible that as more and more people go to the new iPhone and other AT&T phones that use HSPA+ that those using devices with "standard" 3G will get some network congestion relief?

 

[balwx]

Currently working in Brooklyn, will post some tests when my phone arrives.

 

[WannaGoMac]

People I spoken with who previous had awful AT&T service, are now telling me they're getting much improved reliability with the 4s on AT&T

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1258982/

 

[jettie1767]

Have been with ATT for all the different iterations of the iPhone. Jumped ship to Verizon for the 4S when they announced it will be a world phone. My experience with ATT in Manhattan has not been the best. In midtown, coverage is good when you're out on the sidewalk but horrible when you're inside a building. Can't get any internet connectivity when in the office or not even texting works on the 3rd floor of Port Authority waiting for my bus.

With Verizon, I don't have any problems either in the office or at Port Authority. Although the internet speeds are a bit slower, at least I get reliable service where I need it.

Also, at home, I used to have an ATT Microcell to boost the cell signal. With Verizon, the signal at home doesn't need any boosting.

 

[El3ctronics]

These are my AT&T speeds in my office in SoHo just now. If I run this test again in the middle of the day, my speeds won't even break 0.5 Mbps due to congestion on the AT&T towers.

 

[cityathrt]

As someone who works in midtown and used to live in midtown as well, DO NOT go with AT&T. I have been anxiously waiting for my firm to approve the 4S so I can jump ship to Verizon. I currently use a Blackberry on AT&T and have lost count how many times I've swore at it in disgust. Dropping calls with full bars, "call failed" with full bars (accompanied by ear screeching "call failed" noise that renders temporary deafness), taking an eternity to regain signal after I come out of the subway, losing signal as soon as I walk away from a window when I'm indoors, etc. The list goes on and on, and I've more than had it.

 

[El3ctronics]

As someone who works in midtown and used to live in midtown as well, DO NOT go with AT&T. I have been anxiously waiting for my firm to approve the 4S so I can jump ship to Verizon. I currently use a Blackberry on AT&T and have lost count how many times I've swore at it in disgust. Dropping calls with full bars, "call failed" with full bars (accompanied by ear screeching "call failed" noise that renders temporary deafness), taking an eternity to regain signal after I come out of the subway, losing signal as soon as I walk away from a window when I'm indoors, etc. The list goes on and on, and I've more than had it.

Most of your issues sound more like a Blackberry issue than an AT&T issue. In Midtown I sometimes have trouble with my 3G data connection but the voice quality and reliability are rock solid. Also I know that ear screeching "call failed" sound you get and can confirm it does not happen with an iPhone.

 

[cityathrt]

^ Ah! That hadn't even occured to me as I have several friends who also use Blackberry, and seem to be happy campers. I've never had a call drop until I switched to BB on AT&T, and automatically blamed AT&T since it didn't seem likely that my company would offer an unreliable phone. Thanks for the food for thought, I may have to think a bit about which carrier to go with in three weeks..

 

[mastercheif91]

at&t is terrible in NYC, end of story. Verizon is the undisputed king of reliability in manhattan at the minimum, and I would probably extend that to brooklyn as well. With at&t, many times during the day you'll see the 3G logo in your status bar and the loading data circle just spin endlessly until you find some WiFi or switch to edge.

Yes, at&t can sometimes test faster data speed wise, but if you are looking to save yourself a lot of frustration go with verizon. Getting 1.2 mbps 95% of the time is better than getting 3mbps 60% and .24kbps with no real world throughput randomly when you need data.

//at&t commuter from LI

 

[randymac88]

So far, yes. However, I have not left my neighborhood (UES) since getting my 4S this weekend. I have been averaging 1-1.5 Mbps down (plenty fast for me) and the data is CONSISTENT unlike AT&T where sometimes data would work and sometimes not so much (even in my neighborhood).

The true test will be when I head to midtown I guess. Could be a couple of days before that happens though. I do have a friend with Verizon (Blackberry - not iPhone) who travels to the city a lot for meetings (midtown) and says he rarely has any issues at all with Verizon in the city.

I can second this. I've lived in the East Village, Upper East Side, and now Brooklyn. AT&T on my iphone would consistently drop calls, sound "muffly", and have signal breaks. As for data speeds, it was always slow, but the worst part was the latency (a "good" latency would be in the 225-300 range).

I've switched to verizon and calls sound good, I have not dropped a single call yet, and data has been in the 750kbps-2mbps range, with latency consistently in the 75-125 range. The latency difference makes the data start streaming into the phone quicker and ultimately makes me feel like I'm moving faster. I suppose AT&T's benefit would be for downloading larger files and uploading photos to Facebook etc., but I still think Verizon is acceptable for those tasks. Based on my experience, Verizon has been a no-brainer over AT&T.

 

[WannaGoMac]

I can second this. I've lived in the East Village, Upper East Side, and now Brooklyn. AT&T on my iphone would consistently drop calls, sound "muffly", and have signal breaks. As for data speeds, it was always slow, but the worst part was the latency (a "good" latency would be in the 225-300 range).

I've switched to verizon and calls sound good, I have not dropped a single call yet, and data has been in the 750kbps-2mbps range, with latency consistently in the 75-125 range. The latency difference makes the data start streaming into the phone quicker and ultimately makes me feel like I'm moving faster. I suppose AT&T's benefit would be for downloading larger files and uploading photos to Facebook etc., but I still think Verizon is acceptable for those tasks. Based on my experience, Verizon has been a no-brainer over AT&T.

which iphone are you using?

People I spoken with who previous had awful AT&T service, are now telling me they're getting much improved reliability with the 4s on AT&T

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1258982/

 

[nealric]

at&t is terrible in NYC, end of story. Verizon is the undisputed king of reliability in manhattan at the minimum, and I would probably extend that to brooklyn as well. With at&t, many times during the day you'll see the 3G logo in your status bar and the loading data circle just spin endlessly until you find some WiFi or switch to edge.

Yes, at&t can sometimes test faster data speed wise, but if you are looking to save yourself a lot of frustration go with verizon. Getting 1.2 mbps 95% of the time is better than getting 3mbps 60% and .24kbps with no real world throughput randomly when you need data.

//at&t commuter from LI

Really?

I've never had a problem with AT&T in NYC other than the occasional dropped call in midtown (an area I generally avoid anyways).

 

[gothamguy]

Ugh. Finally switched from a Blackberry because it was so slow to do anything. Now I have a speedy iPhone which still can't do anything.

This is Midtown Manhattan.

 

[jkozlow3]

People I spoken with who previous had awful AT&T service, are now telling me they're getting much improved reliability with the 4s on AT&T

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1258982/

The 4S might improve signal, yes. However, signal strength was never my issue with AT&T in NYC. I could have 4-5 bars almost anywhere in the city and would drop calls, have calls fail, terrible voice quality and piss poor data speeds (not just on tests, but pages wouldn't load, etc).

I do not believe that any of this can/has been helped by the 4S, as the real issue with AT&T is lack of bandwidth and overly congested towers - not signal strength. No phone can fix bandwidth issues with the network.

How many times are you going to post that you keep hearing people with AT&T have had improved signal with the 4S? You've posted it twice on this page and are starting to look like an AT&T employee/troll.




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Most of your issues sound more like a Blackberry issue than an AT&T issue. In Midtown I sometimes have trouble with my 3G data connection but the voice quality and reliability are rock solid. Also I know that ear screeching "call failed" sound you get and can confirm it does not happen with an iPhone.

B.S. I used an AT&T iPhone 4 in NYC for 6 months. Your post goes against what almost every AT&T customer in NYC has experienced. Do you work for AT&T or something?

 

[WannaGoMac]

The 4S might improve signal, yes. However, signal strength was never my issue with AT&T in NYC. I could have 4-5 bars almost anywhere in the city and would drop calls, have calls fail, terrible voice quality and piss poor data speeds (not just on tests, but pages wouldn't load, etc).

I do not believe that any of this can/has been helped by the 4S, as the real issue with AT&T is lack of bandwidth and overly congested towers - not signal strength. No phone can fix bandwidth issues with the network.

How many times are you going to post that you keep hearing people with AT&T have had improved signal with the 4S? You've posted it twice on this page and are starting to look like an AT&T employee/troll.




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B.S. I used an AT&T iPhone 4 in NYC for 6 months. Your post goes against what almost every AT&T customer in NYC has experienced. Do you work for AT&T or something?

Do you own a 4s? If so I would love to hear more from your experience in NYC!

I am not a troll for AT&T, I actually HATE THE DAMN COMPANY since on my 3gs it's been a HORRIBLE 2 years of service. With that said, and I summarized in the thread in my sig, I have come full circle and will try the 4s on AT&T.

Also, the 4s now uses the antenna design requires of Verizon which are a lot better than AT&T I understand -- the dual opposite side antenna requirement on Verizon .

Please check the thread in my sig and elsewhere in this forum. I have read in this forum many in NYC are finding better reliability with the 4s compared to the 3G, 3GS, and even the 4. 2 posts above there is one NYC person who hasn't had a dropped call so obviously your use is different -- btw did you ever get your iphone checked by Apple?

It's not a 100%, but significantly more SEEM to be getting better reception on the 4s than before.

 

[jkozlow3]

Ugh. Finally switched from a Blackberry because it was so slow to do anything. Now I have a speedy iPhone which still can't do anything.

This is Midtown Manhattan.

Return it and switch to Verizon if you're in NYC. It's the network, not the phone.

I had previously posted about my experience in my neighborhood (UES) after switching to Verizon a week ago but had not had an opportunity to go to midtown until yesterday. Yesterday I went to the DMV at Herald Square (34th & Broadway) and then walked home to the UES afterward.

While in midtown (between 11am - 2pm), I ran a ton of speed tests and with Verizon, speed tests were significantly worse than in the UES. I kind of expected this. I probably averaged around .2 Mbps down as I walked from Herald Square towards the 5th Ave Apple store, testing my speed over 10 times. This is obviously not good.

However, I decided to do some real world tests as well, and am happy to report that I had no problem loading any web pages, facebook, mail, etc during this time. While synthetic speed tests were slow, real world page loading seemed fine. Everything loaded without issue and I didn't get a constantly spinning icon like I often did with AT&T in midtown. Heck, with AT&T I had times when the Weather app couldn't even update in midtown. This was not my experience with Verizon yesterday.

Overall, I'm definitely glad I made the switch so far.

 

[WannaGoMac]

Return it and switch to Verizon if you're in NYC. It's the network, not the phone.

I had previously posted about my experience in my neighborhood (UES) after switching to Verizon a week ago but had not had an opportunity to go to midtown until yesterday. Yesterday I went to the DMV at Herald Square (34th & Broadway) and then walked home to the UES afterward.

While in midtown (between 11am - 2pm), I ran a ton of speed tests and with Verizon, speed tests were significantly worse than in the UES. I kind of expected this. I probably averaged around .2 Mbps down as I walked from Herald Square towards the 5th Ave Apple store, testing my speed over 10 times. This is obviously not good.

However, I decided to do some real world tests as well, and am happy to report that I had no problem loading any web pages, facebook, mail, etc during this time. While synthetic speed tests were slow, real world page loading seemed fine. Everything loaded without issue and I didn't get a constantly spinning icon like I often did with AT&T in midtown. Heck, with AT&T I had times when the Weather app couldn't even update in midtown. This was not my experience with Verizon yesterday.

Overall, I'm definitely glad I made the switch so far.

Interesting. I wish you could compare for us a 4s on att and verizon at that location. Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[jkozlow3]

Do you own a 4s? If so I would love to hear more from your experience in NYC!

I am not a troll for AT&T, I actually HATE THE DAMN COMPANY since on my 3gs it's been a HORRIBLE 2 years of service. With that said, and I summarized in the thread in my sig, I have come full circle and will try the 4s on AT&T.

Also, the 4s now uses the antenna design requires of Verizon which are a lot better than AT&T I understand -- the dual opposite side antenna requirement on Verizon .

Please check the thread in my sig and elsewhere in this forum. I have read in this forum many in NYC are finding better reliability with the 4s compared to the 3G, 3GS, and even the 4. 2 posts above there is one NYC person who hasn't had a dropped call so obviously your use is different -- btw did you ever get your iphone checked by Apple?

It's not a 100%, but significantly more SEEM to be getting better reception on the 4s than before.

Yes, I own the 4S, but I switched to Verizon a week ago when it was released, so I can't help your poll. AT&T was simply terrible here in Manhattan with the 4 however. I went from a happy customer with AT&T of 5 years in Colorado to an extremely unsatisfied one when I moved to NYC 6 months ago.

I really don't see how the phone can be helping much. I had 4-5 bars EVERYWHERE with AT&T in Manhattan but would still get "call failed" when attempting to place a call (with 5 bars), terrible voice quality where many words were lost (with 5 bars), dropped calls (with 5 bars) and data that just wouldn't load at times (with 5 bars). And yes, AT&T replaced my SIM card and Apple replaced my phone 2 times during that 6 month window.

I'm not an expert, but I don't see how a better antenna on a phone would help things when I already had a strong, 5 bar signal to the tower. AT&T lacks bandwidth in NYC and the towers are overloaded. No phone is going to help that.

 

[iTundra]

4s (33rd floor office near Grand Central, midtown, downtown, DUMBO)

 

[gothamguy]

Return it and switch to Verizon if you're in NYC. It's the network, not the phone.

I hear what you are saying but AT&T has two (and possibly three) advantages for me: my rollover minutes and my unlimited data plan.

I have also wondered about the differences between battery life on the two networks. I have always been under the impression that CDMA phones use more battery than GSM phones (if you compare the specs for identical phones on the different company websites Verizon always has lower battery estimates). Thus, that is an issue for me as well. Coming from a Blackberry I am struggling to adjust to the reduced battery life (I could use the heck out of my BB and still have 70% battery at the end of the day). So, if AT&T gets me an extra hour of use time in a day, that if a factor.

 

[jkozlow3]

I hear what you are saying but AT&T has two (and possibly three) advantages for me: my rollover minutes and my unlimited data plan.

I have also wondered about the differences between battery life on the two networks. I have always been under the impression that CDMA phones use more battery than GSM phones (if you compare the specs for identical phones on the different company websites Verizon always has lower battery estimates). Thus, that is an issue for me as well. Coming from a Blackberry I am struggling to adjust to the reduced battery life (I could use the heck out of my BB and still have 70% battery at the end of the day). So, if AT&T gets me an extra hour of use time in a day, that if a factor.

Yeah, I will miss rollover, but 900 minutes + top 5 should be sufficient. Unlimited voice is only $10 more/month, but then I'd lose my 20% company discount since it doesn't apply to the unlimited plan.

I also miss the IDEA of simultaneous voice & data, but the reality is that I very rarely need to use data while talking when I'm not on a wifi network. This will of course change with the LTE iPhone on Verizon next year, so I'm willing to suck it up for a year in order to have a phone that actually works in the city I live in. Verizon has been night & day better for me in the past week than AT&T has been for the past 6 months. 1 week isn't long enough for a true assessment, but so far I'm quite pleased.

I have no idea about battery life differences between the two carriers. I wasn't particularly impressed with my iP4 battery life on AT&T and I'm not impressed with the 4S on Verizon either. iOS 5 seems like it may have some bugs in regards to battery life based on my experience and all of the threads here and on Apple's site.

 

[troyprocessor]

AT&T vs Verizon vs Sprint for an iPhone 4S in New York City

For those in NYC and you're looking to get a 4S, I'd suggest going with Verizon. I tried them last because they're expensive, but they turned out to have the best internet reliability for the iPhone 4S. Sprint was cheapest but had the worst reliability, and AT&T's internet failed regularly. Verizon was the only network with a consistently usable internet, so they had no competition. All three networks were fine with phone calls.

I tested reception in Union Square, Times Square, Bryant Park, and Wall St, and in a couple of other places around Manhattan and Brooklyn. My test was to load a Google map of the area on an iPhone 4s, as well as normal phone use.

Verizon was good everywhere.

AT&T failed in Times Square, sometimes taking hours to successfully connect to email when unattended, and often taking 5 minutes to display a Google map of the area. AT&T was usable in the other locations, though sometimes slow.

Sprint was unusable in Wall St and by the East River, and in many areas of Union Square. Sprint was consistently many times faster that AT&T in Bryant Park, and very fast in Times Square.

AT&T and Sprint are both cheaper than Verizon, both offer unlimited download plans, and Sprint even lets you replace the SIM card in your phone when you travel internationally, which runs much cheaper. I would have liked to stay with sprint, but the poor reception of both carriers in NYC meant that Verizon was the only choice.

All three carriers had the same bad sound quality, though Verizon's network is louder than the others. I didn't notice any difference in dropped calls (around 1 in 20), SMS failures (very rare), customer service, or reception in subways.

These are just my pretty specific experiences in NYC with an iPhone 4S. I didn't haye bad reception on AT&T on my previous iPhone 3GS, but did after upgrading, and this is a well known problem where I work in Times Square.