Fastest mobile networks 2013 pc mag 1
- 1. LAPTOPS DESKTOPS Top Searches Online Backup Trending Home Product Guides Best iPad Cases Cell Phones TABLETS Window s 8 Android Best Android Apps Fastest Mobile Networks PHONES SOFTWARE CAMERAS HDTVS PRINTERS MORE iPad Best Laptops Fastest Mobile Netw orks 2013 Fastest Mobile Networks 2013 PCMag drove more than 20,000 miles to test AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. Here's what we found. By Sascha Segan June 17, 2013 34 Comments AT&T and Verizon are battling it Contents out to build nationwide, highFastest Mobile speed wireless networks to feed Networks 2013 Americans' millions of hungry Regional and National Winners smartphones and tablets, and Sprint and T-Mobile aren't far Different Carriers, Different Strength behind. So, for the fourth year running, we sent drivers out on How We Tested the road to test our 4G nation 4G: Beyond Speed and figure out which network is It's Electric! Driving the fastest near you. Ford's High-Tech This year, we upgraded our testing to be more consistent and more realistic. We put three Ford hybrid-electric cars on the road (for more, see "It's Electric! Driving Ford's High-Tech Cars"), each packed with eight identical Samsung phones to test the four major carriers' networks: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless. A new testing tool from Sensorly let us grab new measurements, like the all-important "time to first byte" which tells you how long it takes for a Web page to start to appear. (For more, see How We Tested.) With our improved tools, we found out why you should be looking for the letters "LTE" on your 4G phone, and how LTE's strengths lend themselves to real-world advantages like faster Web page downloads. But remember: The speeds we saw on AT&T's and Verizon's nationwide LTE networks look spectacular, but they aren't the whole story, as neither network is able to deliver a completely consistent or affordable home broadband quality experience. (For more, see "4G: Beyond Speed.") Cars Atlanta, GA Austin, TX Baltimore, MD Boston, MA Charlotte, NC Chicago, IL Dallas, TX Denver, CO Detroit, MI Houston, TX Indianapolis, IN JOHNDOE@EMAIL.COM Subscribing to a new sletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. PCMag Trending on Facebook Kansas City, MO Las Vegas, NV Los Angeles, CA Memphis, TN Miami, FL New Orleans, LA New York, NY Philadelphia, PA Phoenix, AZ Portland, OR Like Sign Up 118k Like PCMag.com on Facebook Create an account or Log In to see w hat your friends recommend. iPhone Users Are About to Be Screw ed Over 814 people recommend this. Bill Gates: 'Control+Alt+Delete' Was a Mistake 447 people recommend this. The Top 10 Best Laptops 1,885 people recommend this. The Best Products of 2013 2,080 people recommend this.
- 2. Raleigh, NC Salt Lake City, UT San Diego, CA Facebook social plugin San Francisco Bay Area Seattle, WA St. Louis, MO Overall, we 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. Tampa, FL Tucson, AZ Washington, DC Rural/Suburban 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. Where We Tested This year, we worked with our technology partner Sensorly to collect even more data in our 30 studied cities. Once again, we chose our 30 test cities so they were evenly spread across our six regions, and so we could drive to all of them in three weeks. We also chose so as many of them as possible had the maximum number of 4G networks. We defined the boundary around each city as either the city limits, or the city's major ring road. Outside those 30 cities, our cars drove on a mix of interstate and U.S. highways and stopped in smaller cities along the way. The data we collected contributed to a "suburban/rural" score for each of our six regions. Every one of our 30 cities had AT&T's and Verizon's LTE networks. We also tested 24 of Sprint's 88 LTE markets and six of T-Mobile's seven LTE cities: Baltimore, Houston, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Washington DC. While we saw some limited T-Mobile LTE in Tucson, Seattle, and the San Francisco Bay Area, we didn't deem coverage broad enough to include the results in the study. Over the years, we've gotten a lot of complaints from people who live in states we haven't been able to focus on, such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, Alabama, and Ohio. We're looking at using crowdsourcing and additional data sets to expand our coverage even further beyond our own drive testing in 2014. What We Tested This is "fastest" mobile networks, so we're focusing on speed and reliability. We didn't test call quality, dropped calls, or coverage. For the best assessment of voice call quality according to our readers, check out our annual Reader's Choice awards results. To get a picture of wireless coverage near you, go to Sensorly's Web site and you'll see crowdsourced coverage maps for all the major U.S. mobile carriers, enhanced with the data from our test drives. (For more, see How We Tested.) Mobile networks are constantly changing, and almost always for the better. And because speeds vary based on tower location, network load, device used, and even the weather, we can't predict performance in a specific location; rather, we're giving a snapshot of a few days' worth of usage in several locations across a metro area. Hit the next page for the regional and national winners. Back to top 1 2 SMB Mobile Survey 1) How many people are employed at the company where you work? // Self - 10 // 11 - 50 // 51 - 200 // 201 - 500 // 500+ Next // PC MAG POLL 3 ... You Might Also Like Select Term: 24 issues for $29.99 ONLY $1.25 an issue! 1/5