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Uh.. WOW! AT&T Chicago Suburbs LTE..

M

misterjay

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 19, 2012
126
0
Well holy crap.

So long story short,

LTE here in Chicago, specifically suburbs where I am is complete and total garbage. I decided to test my LTE today out of curiosity....

behold the new LTE speeds by my area.. compared to just a two weeks ago.

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www.unlocksmyi.com
 
AT&T was running LTE at only half-speed 2x5 spectrum because they didn't own enough 700 spectrum in key areas, like LA and Chicago.

AT&T just bought enough spectrum from Verizon (700 lower B) to boost their network up to 2x10, which gives you a max of 73 mbps.

Deal only went through about a few weeks ago, so it looks like AT&T is moving fast. Fast speeds were also reported in LA.

They now have 2x10 in all top metro areas. So for those in older 2x5 markets (Chicago/LA, etc) would be seeing latency decrease and speeds increase.

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lordofthereef said:
I'm surprised it took this long for Chicago suburbs to get it. Send everywhere I go in eastern MA is covered by LTE.
Click to expand...

They've had LTE for a long time also (just like our Boston market.) They were just running LTE at half-speed (2x5) versus Boston (2x10) because AT&T didn't own enough of the 700 band in Chicago.
 
Whereabouts in the Chicago area are you? I live in Hammond, IN close to the South Burbs and my speeds aren't nearly that fast. I sure would love to have those speeds!
 
How is your coverage though? When I was on AT&T over a year ago I would see random drops in service. I'm on Verizon right now b/c it is more consistent for me, but wouldn't mind going back to AT&T when they improve.
 
@ Manny C - I live near Orland Park, IL.


@TJ - Coverage is great. Here and there, it drops but RARELY.. Maybe once or twice since I've had the iPhone 5 when it launched. Also LTE is really stable, it was slow but now it's just freaking fast and I love it.



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www.unlocksmyi.com
 
Is there any difference in signal strength between AT&T's 3g network and LTE network? I "think" they still use the 3g network for voice?

Any experiences appreciated. I had AT&T for many years without issues other than they network did not penetrate buildings as well as Verizons. Is this the same case with there LTE network?

Verizon is great, but i am so sick of them lagging behind on getting phones out on time(I get 3-4 different phones a year in addition to the iphone every year)
 
Shockwave78 said:
Is there any difference in signal strength between AT&T's 3g network and LTE network? I "think" they still use the 3g network for voice?
Click to expand...
They still use HSPA/EDGE for voice. Both signals should be about the same because they hang one antenna that does everything (EDGE/HSPA/LTE) on the same tower. If anything, I bet LTE will be stronger because the 700mhz band can penetrate buildings better

Any experiences appreciated. I had AT&T for many years without issues other than they network did not penetrate buildings as well as Verizons. Is this the same case with there LTE network?
Click to expand...

In Boston, I get strong LTE with AT&T DEEP inside buildings because AT&T has hung LTE on every tower, whereas VZW's LTE buildout hasn't been nearly as comprehensive. (of course, VZW has it in more areas)

Good example is my work building. My Note 2 has 4 bars on AT&T LTE, whereas my VZW MiFi is stuck on EVDO.

Verizon is great, but i am so sick of them lagging behind on getting phones out on time(I get 3-4 different phones a year in addition to the iphone every year)
Click to expand...
they seem to be getting the same phones as AT&T at the same time :confused:
 
I was in Chicago with my Verizon iPhone a few weeks ago and was getting LTE speeds just under 20. That's phenomenal for me as I live in Columbus, Ohio and normally see speeds between 7-9. Which I am happy with considering my terrible Verizon 3G was consistently less than 1 mbps.
 
chrislaw said:
I was in Chicago with my Verizon iPhone a few weeks ago and was getting LTE speeds just under 20. That's phenomenal for me as I live in Columbus, Ohio and normally see speeds between 7-9. Which I am happy with considering my terrible Verizon 3G was consistently less than 1 mbps.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm getting in SoCal 8-10ish, with about 20 here while I'm in Chicago. Not bad considering 3G VZW on my 4 and 4s were getting around .7mbps.
 
Much Faster

Last night i decided to speedtest again. At my particular location the LTE speeds were always around 9-12mbit on the downlink. To my surprise, over 5 tests, I have speeds ranging from 16mbit to 32mbit. Does anyone have a link to the spectrum deal approval? I did not know that it was approved yet, or that ATT upped the 5X5 to 10X10 already.
 
I just checked field test mode on my i5 and it is 10x10. Thank you att for finally giving Chicago the proper spectrum!
 

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