Our iPhone 4s is better...AT&T says?

[JasonR]

I actually have to agree with AT&T on this one, even though I hate those greedy thieves! Their 3G speeds in California are giving me an average of 2-4Mbps on my 3GS, which is good enough for me. I would obviously like a faster speed, but I can't imagine anything slower. Considering Sprint's max is at 2Mbps according to its iPhone website, I might not be as eager to switch to Sprint, until an iPhone is compatible with whatever their version of faster data speed network is...

I'm in California and actually see slower speeds on AT&T versus Verizon. EDIT: (Typically, in the areas I frequent).

 

[kdarling]

Thanks for posting that. While that is a helpful map, I'm not sure if it's fair to categorize the fastest speeds by state. It really should be by city IMHO.

It needs to be by street corner to be useful, actually.

User sourced maps have a built-in flaw that I noticed while digging down into their base data a year or two ago: they only come from a location where a test can be run.

ATT user results almost always come from only locations with good reception. Verizon results include those, plus places where ATT has no reception at all.

Check the details on a Manhattan map, for instance. ATT results are mostly in wide open spaces like Central Park or on the street, where a signal was available to test. Verizon results have those plus results from inside buildings, elevators, and underpasses where speeds are much slower, but at least they exist. But those slower areas lower the average quite a bit.

 

[shadrap]

Enjoy your 1 year of great speeds with AT&T if you are in a good coverage area. Cause when the LTE iPhone comes in 2012. Verizon will have not only the most reliable, but also the fastest.

PS: AT&T's LTE network did test faster under "no load" versus Verizon. But that doesn't count cause it was " no load". AT&T LTE could only be theoretically faster when we hit LTE advance. The reason is Verizon bought the superior LTE spectrum when it was auctioned by the government. Look it up.

 

[ZBoater]

Enjoy your 1 year of great speeds with AT&T if you are in a good coverage area. Cause when the LTE iPhone comes in 2012. Verizon will have not only the most reliable, but also the fastest.

I sure hope so. Because I've been a LTE customer for just under a year with Verizon, and it has been the crappiest experience ever. So much so that I am paying ETFs on two Thunderbolts to jump ship to AT&T.

Maybe a year from now it will be different. I doubt it though.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

AT&T LTE could only be theoretically faster when we hit LTE advance. The reason is Verizon bought the superior LTE spectrum when it was auctioned by the government. Look it up.

I call shenanigans. Both are in the 700MHz band and both have a comparable block size.

Of course none of this will ever affect an iPhone 4S, it does not support LTE.

 

[Captain America]

This is pretty awesome news. Now I can brag to my friends who are considering it on Verizon.

Unless they get an LTE phone, they lose! woot lol.

 

[shadrap]

I call shenanigans. Both are in the 700MHz band and both have a comparable block size.

Of course none of this will ever affect an iPhone 4S, it does not support LTE.

Here is the article link. http://www.thestreet.mobi/story/11206407/1/the-ireali-reason-att-had-to-buy-t...

This is what it says.

Apart from introducing the first iPhone, what else was going on early 2007? It was the federal government's auction for cellular frequencies near 700 MHz. Those frequencies were not all the same, however. Verizon (VZ) decided to strike it big and invested almost $10 billion in a 2x20 MHz slice near 700 MHz. In contrast, AT&T purchased only a 2x10 MHz slice -- or half the size of Verizon's purchase.
Here's the crux: AT&T has now realized that it made a mistake to buy only half as much spectrum as Verizon did. This is war, and in war you need natural resources. As we saw in so many wars where Germany, Japan, Iraq and other countries invaded neighbors, they did it to acquire those precious resources.
In this case, Verizon looks like the U.S., with plenty of resources in the form of a 2x20 MHz slice of the very finest cellular spectrum made available, near 700 MHz. We can see this in terms of the performance of Verizon's LTE network, initially launched last December. Most people who test it get something along the lines of 15 Mb/s down and 10 Mb/s up. Some get more. Latency is around 40ms. These are dramatic improvements from previous cellular data networks, on the order of three times or much more.

Verizon's LTE will handle the load of future data users.

 

[HiRez]

Just keep in mind that "fastest" != "most reliable". There is a difference. Happy hunting.

Exactly. I've been on AT&T since the beginning and this will be my first Verizon iPhone. Yes, AT&T data speeds are slightly faster. On the newer phones, theoretically they could be much faster, but don't count on the real world results making much difference. AT&T's network is a choked, hobbled, delicate piece of crap, and it's been the same for me living in 2 major metro areas, and visiting many other cities...and it's even worse rurally. What good is a theoretical fast data speed if I can't even get a 3G connection? What good is it if I can't make calls, constantly get calls dropped, or have various other problems (poor voice quality, one side can't hear the other, echoing, noise, I've had it all, constantly). The ONLY thing I like better about AT&T is simultaneous voice + data (but again...good luck getting those to work consistently anyway).

Good riddance, AT&T, I won't miss you and your "fastest speeds" one bit.