LA speed result |
As an LA resident and owner of an AT&T iPhone and Verizon LTE iPad, I don't think these results give AT&T a fair shake at all.
Verizon's LTE network is obviously superior where available, but Verizon does not have LTE coverage in all of Los Angeles county. When you exit LTE territory, Verizon 3G can be unusably slow in my experience. It's much, much worse than AT&T for general web browsing.
PC Mag gives Verizon 3G a "mobile speed index" of 45, but the average is only 0.62mbps. AT&T's average is over twice that at 1.31mbps, but they only give it a 41? WTF? Because Verizon has better UDP performance? I browse the web far more often than I stream UDP. Perhaps Verizon's 3G network performs better where it's gotten relief from the new LTE network, not sure because they didn't test in those areas.
I also question what they were using to test AT&T's network - I see speeds up to 6mbps on AT&T's HSPA+ network, in areas where neither Verizon nor AT&T has LTE coverage. They show a "max" of less than 3mbps. Were they using a non-HSPA+ device to test? If so they're ignoring a very significant aspect of AT&T's network - a reasonably fast network with excellent coverage.