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RootMetrics: Verizon Tops in Mobile Speed, Performance, Coverage
A new report by RootMetrics effectively declares Verizon the king when it comes to mobile network coverage, reliability, speed, and overall performance. The study, which collected data from 5.6 million test samples while driving some 234,000 miles across the country, gave the crown to Verizon for all metrics except text message performance, which Verizon closely lost to AT&T. When it came to overall network performance, Root Metrics gave Verizon a score of 81.6 out of 100, AT&T a 79.5. T-Mobile a 71.5 and Sprint a score of 69.6. T-Mobile and Sprint have "started to close the gap," insists the study. Again, you can read the full study here.
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elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72

Member

Yeah if you drive on the interstate

Everyone here knows that TMO and Sprint suck wind if you are 5 miles off the beaten path and Sprint is the basement dweller. Sprint has boatloads of spectrum, so we will see if they have enough cash to make it.

No surprise that Verizon has the best coverage. My AT&T prepaid phone has pretty much caught up tho and that is native coverage.
Moffetts
join:2005-05-09
San Mateo, CA

Moffetts

Member

Re: Yeah if you drive on the interstate

VZW (of which I use for my work phone) and AT&T both have very good coverage here in my part of CA. AT&T appears to have the densest tower spacing by a wide margin, though. I'm going to drop Sprint next month and go for VZW for my personal phone.
existenz
join:2014-02-12

existenz to elefante72

Member

to elefante72
I'm having good experience now with Sprint but am in a completed Spark area. Calls work in deep garages/basements, data is 20-60Mbps, rarely stepping down to 3G if ever. Now if they would just upgrade every single tower to Spark, they'd be in good shape. 100% of sites, not 70% in each area.
biochemistry
Premium Member
join:2003-05-09
92361

biochemistry

Premium Member

Re: Yeah if you drive on the interstate

Nice to live near Sprint HQ.

Brett C
join:2004-08-03
Olathe, KS

Brett C

Member

Re: Yeah if you drive on the interstate

If you're around Sprint HQ for cell phone bandwidth, it is something to be desired for (Galaxy Note 2).

Much of Johnson County Ks is "spark" (triband?) enabled now, including most of the rural towers in the county.
existenz
join:2014-02-12

existenz

Member

Re: Yeah if you drive on the interstate

I'm on the Missouri side. Midtown/Downtown KCMO have basically every site with Spark and works well, including deep underground garages.
txfeinbergs
join:2009-03-10
Allen, TX

txfeinbergs

Member

Re: Yeah if you drive on the interstate

In Dallas area and all are Spark towers. Works great and I pay a lot less than the monthly wallet reaming that Verizon and AT&T dish out.
Moffetts
join:2005-05-09
San Mateo, CA

Moffetts to existenz

Member

to existenz
Fresno is one of the last areas to get the NV goodies. There's a bunch of towers that have been upgraded (some for nearly a year now) but no clusters have been launched yet outside of a few towers at the south end of town.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
Netgear WNDR3700v2
Zoom 5341J

KrK to elefante72

Premium Member

to elefante72
I have T-Mobile and it's been improving. Occasionally I get 30-40 miles out of the city into some real boonies. There are areas I go to that were "Dead Zones" where now I have Data. May not be the fastest but a couple years ago it was a complete black hole, so that counts as upgrades in my book.

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

jseymour

Member

That'$ Wonderful And All, But They're $till Too Expen$ive

No matter which way I slice and dice it, I cannot get a VZW plan for my wife and I that would cost us any less than half again what T-Mobile's costing us. And, with T-Mobile's free or inexpensive add-ons, we could actually dump the landline and save money. VZW? Not so much.

So, VZW: Kudos for the coverage. Really! Y'all are the best. But we cannot afford you.

Jim

bigballer
@205.214.216.x

bigballer

Anon

Now did....

Tmobile get better or Sprint get worse?

Either way, looks promising for tmobile to overtake Sprint later this year!
elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72

Member

Re: Now did....

Sprint is already in the basement and continuing it's slide. Nextel and Wimax buried them. The only reason TMO is still around is because of the AT&T cash infusion and roaming contracts.

But if you look big picture TMO and Sprint are on the ropes cash-wise. One or both will be gone/merged within the next 18 months. Softbank can't go on forever...

bigballer
@205.214.216.x

bigballer

Anon

Re: Now did....

I disagree with that.

Tmobile's been rolling out their network damn quick. The upcoming 600/700 mhz will definitely put tmobile on the map with better building penetration and in rural areas. Coupled with their 2g/edge to lte refarm, it'll be nice to see where tmobile is next year. Hopefully they'll convert their hsdpa/hsdpa+ network to lte sooner rather than later.

Sprint looks promising if they can beef up their network vision soon. These delays Sprint keeps coughing up isn't helping them. Mr Son "looks" like he knows what he's doing
elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72

Member

Re: Now did....

You aren't disagreeing, but they are rolling out their network fast because of the cash they received from AT&T. The new auction while an oppy wont go into production for years. Their refarm wont be fast because they are almost out of dough..

It is a FACT that they are almost out of AT&T cash, and cash in general:

»investing.businessweek.c ··· ype=10-Q

Barely $3b in cash left and they already burned through $3b in six months. At that run rate, that means they have until the end of the year and then their financing cost goes through the roof.

And their valuation changed ONLY because they marked up their spectrum license "value" $3b this year. Do you think if they went under they would get that price Mhz-POP?

Compare that to Verizon $53 BILLION in cash, and well in a capital intensive market, you are TOAST.
ITGeeks
join:2014-04-20
Cleveland, OH

ITGeeks

Member

Re: Now did....

And that money from AT&T is going for new customers and that network. Something that Softbank should have done with Sprint instead of loaning them money.

michieru
Premium Member
join:2009-07-25
Denver, CO

michieru to elefante72

Premium Member

to elefante72
Of course when you are on top you have the most leverage. However even with all that leverage you can still lose subscribers. Cost is the obvious factor and the savings can reach up to $1000+ depending on which carrier you go with. It will be years before Verizon even feels even a little bit of hurt from T-mobile. However I do see T-mobile reaching half the size of Verizon in subscribers within two years if the current pace of users continue.
dlewis23
join:2005-04-18
Boca Raton, FL

dlewis23

Member

Verizon Fastest since XLTE

Looking at the results from my iOS app Verizon has been the fastest since they launched there XLTE. T-Mobile was faster then Verizon before XLTE.

Download/Upload/Ping
Verizon: 23.35 Mbps -- 6.22 Mbps -- 72 ms
T-Mobile: 15.51 Mbps -- 6.55 Mbps -- 74 ms
AT&T: 12.70 Mbps -- 5.12 Mbps -- 62 ms
Sprint: 7.41 Mbps -- 2.87 Mbps -- 65 ms
ITGeeks
join:2014-04-20
Cleveland, OH

ITGeeks

Member

Re: Verizon Fastest since XLTE

Many of TMO's and Sprint areas already see 23megs down and 10megs up. VZW's XLTE is nothing but more bandwidth going out and more towers.
juicem2
join:2006-03-05
Mastic Beach, NY

juicem2

Member

Re: Verizon Fastest since XLTE

I get those speeds home on Verizon and at work I'm on xlte with speeds of 60-73 megs down and 15 up!
compuguy
join:2003-05-26
Burke, VA

compuguy to dlewis23

Member

to dlewis23
That's great, but there tower density in southern Fairfax County is pathetic (Both T-mobile and AT&T have far better density here).
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

openbox9

Premium Member

Re: Verizon Fastest since XLTE

I don't know, my VZW service when I lived there was always rock solid. I spent too much time on 2G with T-mobile when I was there five months ago.
txfeinbergs
join:2009-03-10
Allen, TX

txfeinbergs

Member

Verizon tops in another metric as well: COST

Sorry, got tired of paying AT&T and Verizon almost $200 a month for 3 lines. That is ridiculous. Their customer service is some of the worst as well. On Sprint now and only paying $75 for three lines on the Framily plan and have not had a dropped call yet.
mikeluscher159
join:2011-09-04

mikeluscher159

Member

Oh god

Just bring some of this apparent coverage to Staten Island, then maybe this will add up.
Verizon54
join:2014-08-19
United State

Verizon54

Member

I have good speeds...

I am getting typically 40mbs to 60mbs with 15ms ping around my area. Almost as fast as my FIOS connection.

Data caps are the only real issue on Verizon.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

That's why I pay the premium for Verizon

I want a cell phone that actually works. A cell phone with no service is as good as no cell phone at all.

Verizon has the best coverage. They even have coverage in AT&T dead spots.

ilikeme
Premium Member
join:2002-08-27
Stafford, TX

ilikeme

Premium Member

Re: That's why I pay the premium for Verizon

said by IowaCowboy:

Verizon has the best coverage. They even have coverage in AT&T dead spots.

In Texas it is the opposite. At&t has the best coverage. They even have coverage in Verizon dead spots.