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AT&T Wins Gizmodo 3G Bandwidth Test

Posted by timothy on from the avoid-the-mountains dept.

ink writes "Gizmodo has completed a 12-city test of 3G cellular bandwidth speed. Verizon won four of the twelve, however AT&T scored higher with six: 'Let's get this straight right away: We didn't test dropped voice calls, we didn't test customer service, and we didn't test map coverage by wandering around in the boonies. We tested the ability of the networks to deliver 3G data in and around cities, including both concrete canyons and picket-fenced 'burbs. And while every 3G network gave us troubles on occasion, AT&T's wasn't measurably more or less reliable than Verizon's.'"

4 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. I have no particular interest in multitasking by aussersterne · · Score: 1, Troll

    on a phone. Here are the things I did want:

    - Phone + Google + Evolution + Mac OS calendar, all synced, automatically, all the time
    - GTD system task manager that syncs automatically to a web-based GTD system (Toodledo)
    - A rapidly accessible text + voice + photo notes system with tagging that syncs automatically to a web-based interface
    - No more "event" syncs (i.e. put in dock/plug into USB, have to remember to sync), all syncs immediate and transparent
    - The REAL web of non-"mobile" pages, including AJAX capability
    - Flexibility to grow in capabilities

    I also got along with it:

    - A kindle (with Kindle app)
    - YouTube anywhere
    - Great GPS integration for nearly every app both for consumption (shopping, dining, directions) and production (contextualizing input data)

    iPhone gave me all of this. I tried Palm and Blackberry and they never came close to what I wanted. The iPhone is actually the first technology device in a very long time that I'm absolutely fully satisfied with. No complaints, no qualms, no niggles. That never happens, but it happened with the iPhone. You'd have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

    --
    STOP . AMERICA . NOW
  2. Re:What about sustained transfers? by Mike+Buddha · · Score: 0, Troll

    Yeah, that's great, but you have to live in Sweden or Finland, blech.

    --
    by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
  3. Re:I use AT&T, by Karlt1 · · Score: 0, Troll

    t's pretty easy to use a device that can only run one app at a time to its potential. That said, I've been with AT&T for 9 years now and...

    Let's look at the great multitasking capability of the BlackBerry compared to the iPhone -- I have a BB Curve on Sprint.

    1. You can't use the web and talk on the phone at the same time
    2. The media player doesn't work in the background
    3. The browser doesn't stream music at all -- let alone in the background -- and the included Sprint TV media streaming service doesn't work in the background.
    4. You can't use any GPS aware app on my BB while talking to someone.

    All of this can easily be done on the iPhone.

  4. Re:I use AT&T, by Karlt1 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Safari can stream music in the background. As far as the not being able to play music in the background, isn't the "Media" app a standard BB app?

    Don't bash the phone when the technology the carrier's network uses doesn't support a feature, or when the carrier disables a feature, or when 3rd party software the carrier includes on the phone doesn't do what you want. All of those fall squarely on the shoulders of the carrier

    So why is it that Apple, a complete newcomer, was able to demand that network carriers don't artificially cripple the iPhone and RIM couldn't do the same?