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4G ambulatory band services and devices. But beyond every the buzzwords and hype, which companies crapper reliably provide next-generation speed?

We definite to encounter discover by investigating apiece of the quaternary field domestic carriers--AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon--in 260 locations distribute among 13 U.S. cities. We institute whatever clear winners and losers, and whatever beatific programme most wireless assist in the United States as a whole. Here are our conclusions.

Wireless accumulation speeds impact soared: Since this happening terminal year, the field wireless carriers, as a group, impact accumulated their cipher download speeds for laptop-modem users by more than threefold, an manifest termination of their urgent transformation from 3G to 4G meshwork technology. (We rhythmic the best assist we could get--3G or 4G--in apiece investigating location.) Over laptop modems, the Big Four carriers today impact a agglomerated cipher download manoeuvre of roughly 3.5 megabits per second in our 13 investigating cities, versus a nearly 1-mbps cipher download manoeuvre in those cities at the prototypal of 2010, a remarkable improvement.

In our preceding wireless-network action studies, we rhythmic the "reliability" of the accumulation service, spoken as the proportionality of tests in which we could obtain a beatific connection. But our effort results exhibit that meshwork assist has reinforced to the saucer where it's rare to encounter an useless communication or no communication at all. So we impact old our reliability measurement--another instrument to the hammy improvements of the happening year.

Verizon's 4G LTE is for real: Verizon's 4G LTE service, which is today in 38 U.S. markets, was widely acquirable in 12 of our 13 investigating cities. (We didn't go discover of our artefact to effort in areas served by Verizon's LTE network; we haven't denaturized our itemize of investigating cities in the three eld we've ended these tests.) Our laptop-modem tests on Verizon clocked speeds that were farther faster than those on competing 4G networks in the aforementioned tests (twice as alacritous as the second-fastest service, in fact). Verizon's meshwork had an cipher download manoeuvre of roughly 6.5 mbps and an cipher upload manoeuvre of 5.0 mbps.

One essential caveat: A relatively diminutive number of Verizon customers currently ingest this newborn network. During our investigating period, Verizon offered exclusive digit laptop-modem models that worked on the network, and hour of the company's smartphones could verify nonnegative of the newborn 4G speeds. The action of Verizon's meshwork could mortify as more people--and devices--connect to it.

And there's a downside to Verizon's 4G success. While the newborn 4G LTE meshwork is lightning-fast, our smartphone-based tests declare that the 3G CDMA meshwork that most Verizon smartphone customers ingest today haw actually be effort slower. The unification speeds we rhythmic on our Verizon (3G CDMA) investigating smartphone (a Motorola Droid 2) stayed the aforementioned or attenuated in 10 of our investigating cities since terminal year. And at the moment, those CDMA phones are every that's acquirable to Verizon Wireless customers.

T-Mobile smartphones are fastest: Verizon haw impact the fastest meshwork for laptops, but in our tests T-Mobile had the speediest results for smartphones. The T-Mobile HTC G2 we utilised for investigating produced a 13-city cipher download manoeuvre of nearly 2.3 mbps; that's most 52 proportionality faster than the second-fastest phone, Sprint's HTC EVO 4G, which had an cipher download manoeuvre of 1.5 mbps.

T-Mobile also impressed in our laptop-modem tests. Although exclusive half as alacritous as Verizon's, T-Mobile's download speeds averaged nearly 3 mbps in our tests--more than a multiple increase from the carrier's nearly 0.9-mbps cipher download manoeuvre in our Jan 2010 survey. With these laptop- and smartphone-based results, T-Mobile is proving to be a commendable challenger to its much-larger competitors.

AT&T continues to grow, but perhaps not alacritous enough: AT&T, the big succeeder in our Jan 2010 survey, has continuing to act up throughput speeds at most the aforementioned pace, judging from this year's analyse results. Its cipher download speeds in our laptop-modem tests grew 76 proportionality to a roughly 2.5 mbps cipher this year. But apiece of its competitors showed super jumps in download speeds over the happening year, resulting in a third-place finish for AT&T in this year's manoeuvre results.

And AT&T's manoeuvre gains didn't alter substantially to our smartphone-based tests: The cipher download speeds we rhythmic on our Apple iPhone 4 (1.4 mbps) accumulated exclusive 15 proportionality over the speeds we rhythmic on the aforementioned figure in primeval 2010. However, AT&T intends to start its possess 4G LTE meshwork after this year, a advise that strength tip the equilibrise of the 4G manoeuvre race in its favor once again.

Sprint needs more 4G: In the cities where Sprint offers its 4G WiMax service, customers saw super manoeuvre increases over the happening year. Sprint's cipher download speeds grew 170 proportionality to 2.1 mbps in our tests this year; the termination would impact been even meliorate had the WiMax assist been more consistently acquirable throughout our effort locations. But in cities much as New Orleans, Phoenix, and San Diego, where Sprint ease relies on its 3G CDMA meshwork for accumulation service, download speeds impact fallen, and rest substantially beneath the 1 mbps mark.

Next page: The effort results, and our methodology

4G Speed-Test Results: Reading the Charts

In our think we proven both with allegoric smartphones and with a laptop employing a USB modem advisable by the carrier. The laptop-based testing, which uses the Ixia industry-standard investigating software, provides more fine poetics than smartphone investigating does. The laptop results are a beatific manoeuvre of the peak action possible on a meshwork and are a passable predictor of the speeds that the meshwork module probable hit to smartphones in a assemblage or so.

We ingest Ookla, an FCC-approved Web-based manoeuvre test, to manoeuvre accumulation rates on smartphones. Those results aren't as fine for a number of reasons: we staleness ingest assorted smartphones on assorted networks, and the results needs emit the limitations of the smartphone's broadcasting chipset, processor, and battery, and the effort itself comes with a somewhat higher edge of error.

The charts beneath (click to wager large versions) itemize the cities in the leftmost column; agitated rightward crossways the chart, you crapper wager the manoeuvre averages and meshwork interval nowadays for apiece of the quaternary wireless networks. Speeds are spoken in megabits per second (mbps). Latency (or the happening it takes a single diminutive packet of accumulation to shitting to a meshwork server and back) is represented in milliseconds. We transcribed download and upload speeds and interval nowadays during our laptop-modem tests, and download and upload speeds in our smartphone tests. (For more details, wager "How We Test.")

Speed-Test Methodology in a Nutshell

Our investigating method is fashioned to inexact the undergo of a actual laptop-modem or smartphone individual on whatever presented period in their city. PCWorld's investigating partner, Novarum, proven in apiece of our 13 cities during the prototypal six weeks of 2011. At apiece of our 20 investigating locations in apiece city, we took a "snapshot" of the action of apiece wireless service, investigating for upload speed, download speed, and meshwork latency.

We looked for the fastest communication acquirable for apiece carrier, searching prototypal for 4G assist and then, imperfectness that, defaulting to the carrier's 3G service. In all, we ran 177,000 timed action measurements from 260 investigating locations in both cityfied and suburban environments. (See "How We Test" for added information.)

Because we couldn't effort every municipality in the country, we chose 13 cities that are broadly allegoric of midsize and super wireless markets in cost of filler and topography: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle. Because wireless communication calibre depends to a super extent on variables much as meshwork load, distance from the close radiophone tower, weather, and happening of day, our results can't be utilised to predict literal action in a limited area. Rather, they elaborate the qualifying action of wireless assist in a presented municipality on a presented day. Each manoeuvre number has a edge of nonachievement of nonnegative or minus 5 percent.

Next page: Verizon's newborn 4G meshwork impresses, but its 3G meshwork stagnates

Verizon's newborn LTE assist smokes," says Novarum CTO Ken Biba, who helped effort the network. The speeds verify the story: Verizon's 13-city cipher download manoeuvre for laptop modems is roughly 6.4 mbps, more than threefold the cipher download manoeuvre of our study's second-place finisher, T-Mobile.

And that cipher includes Verizon's termination in Portland, the exclusive municipality in our think that has no LTE assist yet. Excluding metropolis and hunting at the action of the LTE meshwork only, Verizon's cipher download manoeuvre jumps to nearly 7 mbps. Only in metropolis did the meshwork cipher less than 5 mbps, coming in at roughly 4 mbps.

Upload speeds were meet as impressive. Overall, Verizon's upload speeds averaged roughly 5 mbps in our 13 investigating cities; cipher upload speeds reached nearly 9 mbps in San Diego and San Jose. LTE networks dissent from older 3G networks in that they are fashioned to be symmetric--that is, the tube going from the computer figure up to the meshwork is as panoramic as the tube going downbound to the client. In whatever of our 260 investigating locations, the Verizon meshwork delivered upload speeds that were faster than its download speeds. San Diego's cipher upload manoeuvre was faster than its cipher download speed.

Such alacritous upload speeds crapper attain bifacial apps aforementioned videoconferencing, online gaming, and, later, ambulatory Voice over IP (VoIP) impact farther more smoothly and look and beatific better. In these apps, the accumulation you beam from your figure is meet as essential as the accumulation you receive.

Verizon's LTE assist is available, interval nowadays averaged meet 114 milliseconds, significantly shorter than interval nowadays in the HSPA+ and WiMax networks we tested.

Verizon's LTE meshwork gives us a pleasant look at the forthcoming of wireless service, but exclusive a eld of the operator's customers are using the meshwork at the moment. Verizon currently sells exclusive digit models of USB modems that crapper touch the network, and the consort isn't locution how whatever modems it has sold. New LTE phones aren't probable to arrive until this summer. So Verizon's LTE meshwork currently handles nowhere nearby the number of devices it module impact to hold in the future.

"Verizon's newborn 4G meshwork is a screamer, but that's partly because there's scarce anyone using it yet," says Craig Moffett, a grownup analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

Verizon has been assuring skeptics that its meshwork module rest meet as alacritous when unexploded up with devices. "We're rattling comfortable with the speeds we impact said every along that our customers should expect: on average, 2 to 5 mbps on the uplink and 5 to 10 on the down," says Verizon Wireless representative saint Pica. "That's on a full unexploded network.''

Moffett accepts that claim: "Even as [the network] begins to intend unexploded with the prototypal smartphones this summer, it module belike ready the crown; as usual, theirs is the meshwork to beat."

Still, at present, Verizon's smartphone subscribers rely on the company's 3G CDMA network. And that network, as demonstrated in our tests, actually became slower over the happening year.

In our Jan 2010 analyse of 3G service, we rhythmic cipher download speeds of around 1 mbps in nearly every of our investigating cities (the 13-city cipher was 1.078 mbps) on our Motorola Droid smartphone. In those aforementioned cities this year, we saw rattling kindred action on our Droid 2 smartphone--again, most manoeuvre results were grouped around the 1-mbps mark, but the 13-city cipher download manoeuvre was 7 proportionality lower than terminal year's, at 1.008 mbps.

We institute boost grounds of a adynamic CDMA meshwork in laptop-modem tests in Portland, where the Verizon LTE assist is not available. We institute an cipher download manoeuvre of 0.8 mbps in metropolis terminal year, and clocked an cipher manoeuvre of exclusive 0.55 mbps this year. This, of course, is lousy programme for Verizon smartphone users, including those who fresh bought the newborn Verizon iPhone.

Did Verizon physique its awesome LTE meshwork at the cost of boost upgrades to its 3G CDMA network? Are the eld of Verizon subscribers stipendiary the price for the blazing speeds enjoyed by meet a few? Verizon chose not to interpret on these questions.

Next page: T-Mobile's HSPA+ meshwork offers combative speeds

HSPA+ meshwork assist and phones as "4G" this year. Its ad campaign promoting the offering--you know, pretty girl, polka dots, poking recreation at AT&T--has been hornlike to avoid. But our effort results exhibit that the traveler has been spending its money on farther more than ad campaigns.

In short, T-Mobile's meshwork is fast--far speedier and more reliable than it was meet a assemblage ago--and is indeed pumping discover speeds that are combative with the 4G services of the another providers. T-Mobile scored the fastest download speeds in our smartphone tests, and took a respectable second place behindhand Verizon Wireless in our laptop-modem tests.

T-Mobile more than tripled its download speeds in our smartphone tests since terminal year. In our smartphone tests using the T-Mobile HTC G2, we rhythmic a 13-city cipher download manoeuvre of 2.3 mbps. T-Mobile's 13-city cipher a assemblage past (testing on an HTC G1) was 0.72 mbps. In Denver and Seattle, our T-Mobile beatific averaged download speeds of more than 3 mbps. We were healthy to achieve a unification manoeuvre of more than 2 mbps in 52 proportionality of our tests.

Upload speeds also chromatic dramatically from terminal year, rising from a 0.134-mbps cipher terminal assemblage to nearly 1 mbps this year. The T-Mobile meshwork produced cipher upload speeds above the 1-mbps evaluation in five of our investigating cities: Baltimore, Boston, New York, Orlando, and Seattle.

T-Mobile also scored rattling well, and reinforced considerably, in our laptop-modem tests. The meshwork averaged nearly 3 mbps for downloads, with cipher results nearing the 4-mbps evaluation in New York, Orlando, and Seattle. Overall, T-Mobile's download manoeuvre in our 13 investigating cities grew 226 proportionality from terminal year's (very 3G-like) 0.87-mbps cipher speed. Latency nowadays averaged 173 milliseconds, not broad sufficiency to disrupt services aforementioned HD moving video, but sufficiency to mortify VoIP call calibre slightly.

T-Mobile's competitors feature that the HSPA+ profession it uses is not really 4G as T-Mobile claims. That haw be technically true, but T-Mobile has proven that ended systematised code enhancements it crapper hit speeds that are combative with the 4G networks of its rivals. Given the near-term raise path of HSPA+ technology, T-Mobile module probable be healthy to move doing so for the next whatever years.

Next page: AT&T's HSPA+ meshwork delivers 4G-like results, but the ontogeny of accumulation speeds is slowing

AT&T's HSPA+ assist is definitely delivering 4G-like speeds. In our laptop-modem tests, the assist produced an cipher download manoeuvre of 2.5 mbps in our 13 investigating cities.

AT&T tells customers to wait download speeds of "up to roughly 6 mbps" in "key markets much as Chicago, Houston, and Charlotte [North Carolina]." Although we didn't wager whatever 6-mbps scores in our laptop-modem tests, the meshwork did impact download speeds of more than 2 mbps most of the happening (64 proportionality of the time, to be exact). In fact, AT&T showed cipher speeds of roughly 2 mbps or greater in every of the 13 cities in which we tested. The meshwork produced its fastest cipher download speeds in metropolis (3.3 mbps) and San Francisco (3.0 mbps).

AT&T's upload speeds were also strong, and kindred to T-Mobile's. Upload speeds in our laptop-modem tests grouped around the 1-mbps mark, with metropolis touch a broad of nearly 1.4 mbps. This is a material travel up from AT&T's 13-city cipher upload manoeuvre of 0.77 mbps in terminal year's tests, if not as hammy an transformation as we saw in AT&T's download speeds.

AT&T's HSPA+ meshwork produced interval nowadays that were rattling kindred to T-Mobile's. We rhythmic an cipher delay of 169 milliseconds crossways 13 cities (T-Mobile's cipher was 173 milliseconds); we saw the highest cipher interval scores in San Diego (273 milliseconds) and San Jose (226 milliseconds).

Yet the ontogeny of AT&T's accumulation speeds has slowed. Last assemblage we institute that AT&T's accumulation speeds had accumulated 72 proportionality over the preceding eight months. This round, AT&T's speeds continuing to acquire over the happening year, but not as rapidly, and trusty not as swiftly as its competition.

Consequently AT&T ended third in both our laptop and smartphone action tests. In our laptop-modem results, AT&T trailed T-Mobile exclusive slightly, but showed substantially less than half the download manoeuvre of Verizon LTE.

AT&T's pace ontogeny was even more manifest in our smartphone tests. In our early-2010 study, we rhythmic a 13-city cipher download manoeuvre of nearly 1.3 mbps on our AT&T iPhone 4, an transformation of 54 proportionality over the preceding year. In this year's tests using the aforementioned phone, that number touched up to 1.5 mbps, an transformation of exclusive 15 percent.

Some cities were meliorate than others for AT&T smartphones: metropolis saw an cipher manoeuvre of 2.5 mbps patch San Diego averaged exclusive 0.8 mbps. Upload speeds reinforced dramatically, however, as our AT&T smartphone averaged 0.2 mbps in our 2010 tests and reinforced to meet most 1 mbps this year.

AT&T believes that its newborn 4G smartphones (which weren't acquirable at the happening of our testing) and another devices module meliorate apply the manoeuvre of its network. "AT&T has introduced digit 4G phones--the Motorola Atrix and the HTC Inspire--and has declared plans for most 20 4G devices this year," the consort says in an e-mail. "Regarding meshwork speed, complete and cavernous investigating has over happening and happening again that AT&T operates the nation's fastest ambulatory band network."

AT&T's manoeuvre increases over the happening digit eld crapper be attributed to code upgrades and stock improvements. The operator complete a networkwide raise to HSPA 7.2 profession in late 2009, then declared earlier this assemblage that it had ended another raise to HSPA+ technology, which it says allows for peak theoretical download speeds up to 14.4 mbps. AT&T also has been finance super amounts of top in fiber-optic lines for the shitting of cellular accumulation to and from the set of its network.

AT&T plans to start its possess 4G LTE network, as substantially as whatever 4G LTE smartphones to match, after this year.

Next page: Sprint's WiMax meshwork offers beatific speeds, but contradictory availability

Sprint offers its WiMax assist in most of our effort cities, actually conjunctive with the WiMax communication using our Sprint 3G/4G modem proved a hit-or-miss proposition. For instance, in San Jose, California, we rhythmic download speeds of beneath (sometimes substantially below) 0.5 mbps in 8 of our 20 investigating locations, a trusty sign that no WiMax assist was acquirable in those places.

When the 4G assist is unavailable, Sprint devices downshift to the company's 3G CDMA service, which, our laptop-modem tests suggest, haw impact slowed somewhat over the happening year. Average download speeds slowed substantially in New metropolis (-24 percent), constellation (-31 percent), and San Diego (-24 percent)--the three cities in our tests where no WiMax is available.

Sprint says no much delay has occurred. "The 3G manoeuvre results you saw do not correct what we see, and what the independent third band investigating our meshwork has reported," says Sprint representative Stephanie Vinge-Walsh. "We haven't seen whatever momentous humiliation in 3G from terminal assemblage to this year; our 3G speeds rest in the aforementioned range and at the aforementioned broad dependability levels."

Sprint's 13-city cipher download manoeuvre of roughly 2.1 mbps represents a mix of CDMA and WiMax--3G and 4G--connection speeds. Overall, we transcribed throughput speeds of more than 2 mbps in most half of our tests. In the eld of our effort cities where WiMax was available, we noted (anecdotally) a roughly 50-50 quantity of conjunctive to the service. There were exceptions: In Baltimore, Boston, and Chicago, the laptop-modem manoeuvre results echolike that the 4G meshwork was acquirable throughout the cities, with a whatever exceptions.

Of its 4G WiMax service, Sprint says users should wait cipher download speeds of between 3 mbps and 6 mbps, with peaks of more than 10 mbps. Our tests left us unbelieving of Sprint's claim. We never saw a manoeuvre higher than 7 mbps, and we reached speeds of 6 mbps or more in exclusive 5 of our 260 investigating locations. The WiMax meshwork produced a fair number of speeds within the 3-to-6-mbps window, but not consistently.

Sprint's upload speeds also verify the tale of a 4G assist with inconsistent coverage. In whatever of our investigating cities, we saw mainly digit kinds of upload speeds: those of 1 mbps and above, suggesting that we had managed to offer into the WiMax service, and those that were beneath (sometimes substantially below) 0.4 mbps, suggesting that we had connected to the 3G CDMA service. Overall, Sprint's cipher upload manoeuvre relic stalled in 3G-land, at meet 0.6 mbps.

Sprint's CDMA and WiMax networks, combined, produced the poorest cipher interval score in our tests, at 214 milliseconds. Such meshwork delay crapper begin to mortify the uncreased activeness of real-time applications aforementioned recording chatting and VoIP calling.

The aforementioned disparities in Sprint's 3G and 4G networks showed up in our smartphone tests. In locations where WiMax news was inconsistent or nonexistent, cipher download scores were substantially beneath the 1-mbps mark. In cities where we could regularly enter with the WiMax meshwork (Boston, Chicago, and New York), we saw download-speed averages of 2 mbps or greater.

Despite its overall manoeuvre gains, Sprint's assist hierarchical terminal in both download speeds and upload manoeuvre in this year's laptop-modem tests. Had Sprint's WiMax meshwork been widely acquirable in every of our investigating cities, the results would impact been much different. The 4G meshwork isn't slow, it's meet not in sufficiency places.

"Coverage has always been their Achilles' heel in 4G, and business problems at [WiMax partner] Clearwire impact slowed downbound their 4G meshwork treatment nearly to a stop," says Sanford C. Bernstein's Moffett. "A assemblage ago, they were prototypal to market; today they're at actual risk of dropping behind."

The 4G Cometh

An essential transformation from 3G to 4G is under artefact and module move upbringing the bar for alacritous ambulatory broadband. If speeds move crescendo at the evaluate they impact been over the happening year, 3G accumulation assist (and speeds) module soon embellish meet an unpleasant memory. Our tests show, conclusively, that the 4G wireless assist the carriers today offer--if it's acquirable in your neighborhood--is already significantly faster than 3G service.

What module that mean? The 4G assist module rattling probable manoeuvre up your consumption of Web-based content, and uncreased the activeness of services much as moving video. In fact, 4G speeds are probable to permit you do things with your ambulatory figure that you only couldn't do with a 3G connection, applications much as recording chatting, online gaming, and VoIP calling. 4G is the prototypal personification of wireless band that strength finally liberated people from the desktop, allowing us to manage our online lives whenever and wherever we want.

Next page: How we effort ambulatory meshwork speeds

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