A Day in the Life of 3G

[Steve Mehs]

Saw this on the front page pf Broadband Reports today

More comparisons of Sprint, Verizon and AT&Ts wireless broadband services.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/167391/3GTests.html?tk=rss_news

[Lee L]

Nice. If you average their reliability scores, it proves what I have seen.

Sprint 90.38%
Verizon 89.68%

ATT 70%

Nice one ATT. Maybe you should step it up so people can use your service. I bet if the testing used an iPhone, it would have been even worse.

[hdtvfan0001]

Our company's experience with Sprint is more like 50% reliability, especially in Florida and other parts of the SouthEast. That's with about 80 3G units in the field.

Not sure how these reports are, as in the real world, the results are a whole lot different.

[davring]

Our company's experience with Sprint is more like 50% reliability, especially in Florida and other parts of the SouthEast. That's with about 80 3G units in the field.

Not sure how these reports are, as in the real world, the results are a whole lot different.

Exactly. Our company dropped Sprint a couple of years ago and moved to AT&T with much improved service.

[Zellio]

At&t is good in the south. I get 2 mBit speed on the original Iphone 3g in Atlanta.

[Grentz]

The problem is all the carriers vary widly by area.

In my experience Verizon and ATT tend to be the best, Sprint sucks in most places.

I have had awesome luck with ATT, great CS, great coverage.

Nice. If you average their reliability scores, it proves what I have seen.

Sprint 90.38%
Verizon 89.68%

ATT 70%

Nice one ATT. Maybe you should step it up so people can use your service. I bet if the testing used an iPhone, it would have been even worse.

[wingrider01]

Exactly. Our company dropped Sprint a couple of years ago and moved to AT&T with much improved service.

we deal with all the major providers and issue phones depending on amout of coverage in the home area

[lflorack]

The problem is all the carriers vary widly by area.

In my experience Verizon and ATT tend to be the best, Sprint sucks in most places.

I have had awesome luck with ATT, great CS, great coverage.

Until very recently, I traveled extensively throughout the US and I carried a personal Verizon phone and a Cingular/AT&T phone for business. At first, Verizon had better coverage on average than (what was then) Cingular. When AT&T took Cingular over, that changed drastically and AT&T coverage became on par (or better) with Verizon for most places. Each had strong areas throughout the US and the other had different strong locations. During this entire time, (according to Sprint users I met or knew, Sprint was notably weaker in most areas (not all) and was not a reasonable option if you traveled a lot. If you don't travel much or you travel to only areas where the Sprint signal is strong, then Sprint is a good option. Otherwise, they are not.

[wilbur_the_goose]

how much does the service cost? (3G, that is)

[Lee L]

The problem is all the carriers vary widly by area.

In my experience Verizon and ATT tend to be the best, Sprint sucks in most places.

I have had awesome luck with ATT, great CS, great coverage.

That is true about it varying by region, but still, if you take all 13 metro areas that they tested, ATT has a much worse average than the other two and I don't think they were the highest in more than one or 2 cities.

This is made even worse by teh fact that the Radio in the iPhone 3g sucks (have not heard enough about the 3GS yet to know) and it does not deal with the issues of ATTs network very well.

[Grentz]

That is true about it varying by region, but still, if you take all 13 metro areas that they tested, ATT has a much worse average than the other two and I don't think they were the highest in more than one or 2 cities.

This is made even worse by teh fact that the Radio in the iPhone 3g sucks (have not heard enough about the 3GS yet to know) and it does not deal with the issues of ATTs network very well.

True I guess, still with my blackjack and razr I have had no issues, even when traveling. The ATT network has been very solid for me.

Cannot say the same about verizon or sprint. Verizon has a lot of "coverage" but they drop the call quality in the coverage a lot and it sounds like you are under water in low signal areas. I noticed this when traveling with friends/family that had verizon phones and yet my ATT phone still sounded great.

ATT CS is also hands down better than Verizon or Sprint in my experience. They have always treated me great. I was originally with ATT Blue as well so I have been with them for a long time.

[pfp]

OK, DirecTV, you beat me! Now that I have 4 HD DVRS in the house (including 2 in one room) I no longer need the 50 Series Link Limit raised.


http://www.sizethis.com/s/b/super_smilies007.gif

[Zellio]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/507324230.png

I'm currently on at&t hsdpa 3g in metro atlanta.

[redfiver]

That is true about it varying by region, but still, if you take all 13 metro areas that they tested, ATT has a much worse average than the other two and I don't think they were the highest in more than one or 2 cities.

This is made even worse by teh fact that the Radio in the iPhone 3g sucks (have not heard enough about the 3GS yet to know) and it does not deal with the issues of ATTs network very well.

I've been nothing but happy with my AT&T service and my iPhone. I've been an AT&T customer (or cingular or cellular one....) for some where near 16 years or more? The coverage where I live (large metro area) is great, way better than the sprint phone I used to carry for work and better than the verizon phone I carried for work.

As for my iPhone not working with the AT&T network, I've experienced none of those problems. Except not getting MMS and tethering, but that's a different issue.

[Grentz]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/507324230.png

I'm currently on at&t hsdpa 3g in metro atlanta.

Faster than my DSL at home :p