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In the beginning, the congestion argument was a good one for Verizon’s competition to make. Verizon Wireless’ LTE was brand new while other carriers had hundreds of thousands of 4G subscribers. But fast forward to today, and Verizon Wireless 4G is just as fast as ever. I performed about 20 speed tests with a Novatel Wireless 4G MiFi in and around New York City ahead of publishing this piece, and Verizon’s network is just as fast now as it was when it launched in this region.
From my own personal first-hand experience, Verizon's LTE is fast. I mean, absurdly fast. I regularly see speeds in the 20-30Mb/s range. Here's a test I just now ran from deep inside my office building in Harrisburg PA, surrounded by server racks, radio equipment, fluorescent lights, cubicles (my Thunderbolt was at desk level), concrete walls, metal cabinets, etc:
So it's obvious that the performance is there today. Some competitors are arguing that this is a temporary fluke that won't last. However, as BGR -- a well-known, respected wireless site -- reported, their performance in NYC is the same as it was on day one. Since NYC was one of the first LTE launch markets, and since it's a uniquely complicated market for wireless coverage, it's an excellent torture test of available technologies.
When Sprint 4G launched in my area in May 2010, I was given a USB aircard as part of a review prior to the network being made available to the general public. In this pristine, virtually-empty network, my maximum speed was 5.6Mb/s and my average speed was 3.5Mb/s. This performance remained consistent after market launch, and was on par with the Sprint 4G hotspot I had just two months ago.
I've also had the opportunity to play with AT&T's 4G HSPA+ for a few months earlier this year. Don't even get me started on the their whole "you can get 4G speeds *IF* you live in a 4G market *AND* you have signal from an HSPA+ cell *AND* that cell is served by the enhanced backhaul" nonsense. AT&T's 4G speeds were all over the place. In downtown Harrisburg, they were even faster than Sprint's 4G. However, once I moved a few miles out of the city, their speed fluctuated wildly, often clocking in slower than 3G from either Verizon or Sprint.
Which brings me to the major factor in 4G performance: Coverage. T-Mobile currently has the largest 4G deployment (unfortunately due to their poor overall statewide coverage, their service was not considered in our testing). AT&T and Verizon keep dancing back and forth for second place. Sprint's 4G coverage is currently in last place at 40 million covered POPs. This has the effect of putting Sprint's effective 4G speed at zero, which is unfortunate as I otherwise like Sprint.
It's important to remember that everyone's experience and coverage needs will be different. But just as we held coverage as the most important aspect of voice service back in the 90s, and how we held coverage as the most important aspect of 2G & 3G data in recent years, coverage remains the most important factor when considering 4G. Fast is nice, but only if it works.
Again Verizon last quarterly reports only showed 500K users currently on LTE....Sprint and Clear reported 6 million users in the same time....When LTE has 6 million or even 2 million users and still pumping out 20 mbps down, then come back here and gloat!
Nobody's gloating, these are just the facts backed up by observations from (many) others.
Why do you take this so personally? Do you work for Sprint?
Nobody's gloating, these are just the facts backed up by observations from (many) others.
Why do you take this so personally? Do you work for Sprint?
They're facts of today, skewed by omitting that Verizon doesn't currently have the user load of WiMAX that's a big omission is why you're enjoying much faster speeds.
You refuse to listen technology wise there's no speed difference between LTE and WiMAX..NONE!
What can I say I'm a debater... The reason I don't make a case for HSPA is because that's not a 4G network, Tmobile and AT&T are both lying in that case.
You refuse to listen technology wise there's no speed difference between LTE and WiMAX..NONE!
Sure there is. My LTE runs at 20-30Mb/s right now. WiMax peaks out around 6Mb/s right now. I'd call that a speed difference.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212
What can I say I'm a debater... The reason I don't make a case for HSPA is because that's not a 4G network, Tmobile and AT&T are both lying in that case.
They're facts of today, skewed by omitting that Verizon doesn't currently have the user load of WiMAX that's a big omission is why you're enjoying much faster speeds.
You refuse to listen technology wise there's no speed difference between LTE and WiMAX..NONE!
What can I say I'm a debater... The reason I don't make a case for HSPA is because that's not a 4G network, Tmobile and AT&T are both lying in that case.
Ok, so, if there isn't any difference, there are two scenarios here.
You're on VZN:
You have 30mb/s down now, and 6mb/s later
You're on Sprint:
You have 6mb/s down now, and 6mb/s later
So............what is your point? Enjoy it while you can, Floor9
I'm not being difficult but this is just funny to me. So there are 6Million users on wimax? Okay, so let's say sprint has 50% of the users (I don't know how it's partitioned but bear with me). 3Million x $10/mo 4g "fee". $30Million/mo in just those fees? Uh so why is it still slow? Again I don't live in this part of the technical world but from the way it sounds someone is continuing to sell seats on already crowded bus without adding more buses to the route.
That's what they've been trying to say. No one is saying it's here to stay. Your point was made like 40 posts ago, heh
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