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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.'"

6 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. Not a valid test anyhoo - for the whiners by gearloos · · Score: -1, Troll

    This wasnt a controlled sientific test anyhoo, and for that matter how could you do one? Variables like solar angle, temperature, day of the year and minute of the day(solar cycle stuff), air traffic, ground traffic(was there a truck and trailer 2 blocks away between you and the cell site causing phase distortion?) was there a kid walking down the street playing a DS that he dropped and is now emitting a harmonic that is close to the fundamental frequency? How tall was the guy holding the phone? How much did he weigh? Was his body in contact with the phone or was he wearing gloves or a holster? Which hip was it on, which way was he facing? LOL were the windows on the building across the street dirty and was the air moist enough to put moisture on the dirt causing reflectivity? Was he barefoot and walking in a park where a dog peed 2 hours ago thereby making the ground he was standing on more conductive(a better ground)? LOL these are all things that affect that tiny RF signal in some small way. I'll just leave it at-- I use Tmo and in Los Angeles, it works great. Thats all I care about. Oh and I don't have to keep swatting that dam map outa my way. :)

    --
    "Computers are a lot like Air Conditioners" "They both work great until you start opening Windows"
  2. Re:Better Sample Size by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    ME ME ME ME ME

    WHAT ABOUT ME!!!

    Never mind where MOST OF THE FUCKING POPULATION LIVES!

  3. 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
  4. 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.
  5. 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.

  6. 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?