Who has the fastest LTE network?
Posted by: Jon on 06/17/2013 11:35 AM
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PC Mag geared up two Ford C-Max Energi cars, and one Ford Fusion Energi and embarked on a 20,000 mile road trip to test AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless.
PC Mag says overall, they found AT&T's LTE network to be the fastest of the group, but Verizon Wireless typically triumphed on our reliability gauges. T-Mobile's new LTE network looked great in the few cities where we could find it, and it has the best backup in T-Mobile's HSPA+ network. Sprint, just like in 2012, didn't win any cities, but it's on an upward trend by switching from obsolete WiMAX to a fresh LTE system.
Salshgear explains that it was AT&T’s 4G LTE network that appeared to show the fastest data speeds most often. In the Northeast region, AT&T LTE beat out the competition with an average download speed of 16.02 Mbits/second where second place went to T-Mobile’s budding LTE network at 13.11 Mbits/second on average. Verizon’s top download speed at 53.38 Mbits/second nearly edged out AT&T’s 58.25 and beat out AT&T with a time of 194.10ms “average time to first byte” (AT&T hit this at 236.27ms).
This is all great news, because it means competition is working. While none of the wireless carriers offers a perfect 4G experience, they're all working hard and delivering better networks than they did last year. There's one thing clear, though: If you have an older 3G phone and you're in an LTE coverage area, upgrade to an LTE phone right now. The difference in data performance is dramatic.
PC Mag says overall, they found AT&T's LTE network to be the fastest of the group, but Verizon Wireless typically triumphed on our reliability gauges. T-Mobile's new LTE network looked great in the few cities where we could find it, and it has the best backup in T-Mobile's HSPA+ network. Sprint, just like in 2012, didn't win any cities, but it's on an upward trend by switching from obsolete WiMAX to a fresh LTE system.Salshgear explains that it was AT&T’s 4G LTE network that appeared to show the fastest data speeds most often. In the Northeast region, AT&T LTE beat out the competition with an average download speed of 16.02 Mbits/second where second place went to T-Mobile’s budding LTE network at 13.11 Mbits/second on average. Verizon’s top download speed at 53.38 Mbits/second nearly edged out AT&T’s 58.25 and beat out AT&T with a time of 194.10ms “average time to first byte” (AT&T hit this at 236.27ms).
This is all great news, because it means competition is working. While none of the wireless carriers offers a perfect 4G experience, they're all working hard and delivering better networks than they did last year. There's one thing clear, though: If you have an older 3G phone and you're in an LTE coverage area, upgrade to an LTE phone right now. The difference in data performance is dramatic.
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