AT&T 3G Network Tops Verizon's; iPhone Blamed

[Paul Daniel Ash]

A new study shows that - despite recent negative publicity and consumer ratings to the contrary - AT&T's 3G network actually has better performance than Verizon's. The tests, carried out by start-up performance monitoring company Root Wireless, were done using non-Apple smartphones, though, and a New York Times writer quotes a consultant who claims there are problems with the iPhone's wireless interface.

Root Wireless did testing of 3G network performance in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, San Francisco and Washington, DC, and its results were conclusive: AT&T's 3G downloads were faster than Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile's in each of those seven cities. Network World summarizes the results:

Overall, AT&T's average 3G data speeds ranged from a low of 246Kbps in New York and a high of 428Kbps in Dallas. Verizon, meanwhile, had average 3G speeds ranging from 195Kbps in Seattle to 259Kbps in Chicago. The study also found that both carriers had comparably low rates of 3G connectivity failure, as each carrier's connection failure averaged between 1% and 3% for all seven cities. Sprint fared poorly in this particular category, as the carrier experienced data connection failures of 11% or higher in all seven markets.

The company has an app in beta testing right now that will allow smartphone users to log their performance and send it to Root Wireless for analysis. Because the iPhone OS doesn't allow access to the core functionality that the app uses to assess network throughput, iPhone users will have to self-report the data somehow.

A New York Times article, meanwhile, points a finger at the iPhone's hardware as a reason why performance on AT&T's network, especially in the major cities, is so bad. Roger Entner, senior vice president for telecommunications research at Nielsen, said the iPhone's "air interface," the hardware and firmware in the phone that handle the connection to the 3G network, had problems that "affect both voice and data." He said - echoing a recent study that claimed iPhone users will defend their phone against all reason -that "the iPhone has the nimbus of infallibility, ergo, it's AT&T's fault."

AT&T has recently acknowledged that service in some major U.S. cities have been performing below standards and claim that they are making infrastructure improvements to deal with it. At no time has AT&T publicly blamed Apple for any issues. AT&T will never criticize Apple under any circumstances, Entner claimed.

John Gruber, who writes the Daring Fireball blog, points out some deficiencies in the New York Times article.

If it’s the iPhone’s fault, not AT&T’s, why aren’t iPhone users around the world having the same problems as those here in the U.S.? How come iPhone carriers in Europe turned on tethering support as soon as iPhone OS 3.0 was released, and AT&T still, seven months later, has not? I’ve brought this up before and readers have argued that the U.S. is a far bigger country than those in Europe, so of course U.S. carriers have a harder job than those in Europe. But that argument doesn’t make sense to me. It’s not there’s one single AT&T cell tower providing service for the whole country. When it comes to providing coverage for a large city like New York or London or Paris, what difference does it make how big the rest of the country is?

My own iPhone performs just fine in Boston, but horribly in San Francisco. It seemed a pretty obvious conclusion that San Francisco's network was overutilized. If Root Wireless's data are correct, though, and the networks in San Francisco and New York outperform Verizon's, it's within the realm of possibility that some issue with the iPhone's air interface could be cropping up only in congestion conditions. We should wait to see better data, but it'd be ironic if - when exclusivity ends in the United States - a bunch of users jump ship on AT&T only to find that the network was never the problem after all.

[qgshadow]

Big deal... Thats about the only cities at&t has good 3G network.

[andygev35]

^^ And you know this how?!?! I'm a truck driver and I'm seeing 3G networks in many new locations now...

[tudtran]

Not everybody live in those cities. I don't care about fast network. I care about good coverage. I hate drop calls, delay text messages. I want my iPhone to just WORK.

[triphop718]

^^ And you know this how?!?! I'm a truck driver and I'm seeing 3G networks in many new locations now...

go drive your truck...

[andypropaganda]

I do care about speed, but I hate delayed messages as well. I just received a video message that was sent at 1 p.m. yesterday. AWESOME!...not

[ty22]

AT&T tops Verizon, eh? Don't believe it.

[Channan]

I just want Verizon to get the iPhone so some of these people will get off my towers. I'm perfectly happy with AT&T here, but can't say "no" to even faster speeds. B^]

[FURBY8704]

^^^
so true dude lol

Ive been with att/cingular for many years now and up til now still dont have a problem with them - they even hook it up every once in a while

[ThinkTank]

the issue is coverage. Verizon has more 3G towers. I live in a city with 3G so I am not too concerned. Price is another issue. I wish Metro PC had the iphone and 3G speed all for $50 a month. They'll make go broke.

[howlett15]

How did they test verizon and sprints network with the iPhone? Lol am I missing something here?

[Blowfish64]

^^^
so true dude lol

Ive been with att/cingular for many years now and up til now still dont have a problem with them - they even hook it up every once in a while

Ditto. I've always thought it was Apple's fault. When you go from zero dropped calls in your house with a regular cell phone to 5-10 per day with an iPhone, it's not hard to figure out who's really at fault, the phone or the network.

[1shuttle1]

This blame game is great. This is like the Republicans and Democrats blaming each other and in the mean time getting super rich and not accomplishing much. Maybe that is the same thing Verizon and AT&T are doing. In quite back rooms they meet and decide the next big blame game campaign and then laugh about how much both charge on their monthly bills.

[bbplayer5]

Speed tests in the Allentown area show the 3Gs about 3 times slower than my Droid. Thats all I need to see.

[Bassoonist23]

I find it funny how people can read a post (a well written and perfectly clear post) and not understand what it says and still bash on the wrong subject. it dosnt say att has better coverage than att or vice versa. what it says is att has faster speeds. and the test wasnt done on iphone it was done using other phones. the other thing they say is most off the problems with connectivity and dropped calls have to do with the iphone itself. so please dont post unless you know wtf your talking about. and who cares what carrier you have. take the one you want and leave it be. im staying with the iphone and att no matter what problems there is cause for one att hooks me up. and two i love the iphone (even though it has its problems. but what thing in this world dosnt).

[Jahooba]

the issue is coverage. Verizon has more 3G towers. I live in a city with 3G so I am not too concerned. Price is another issue. I wish Metro PC had the iphone and 3G speed all for $50 a month. They'll make go broke.

I thought this was the main issue. It was a coverage issue, wasn't it? The speed comes second to coverage, because the speed of a download doesn't matter if you can't connect.

I would rather have a larger coverage area and actually have it WORK than faster speeds in fewer locations.

[techrider62]

I love at&t here in New Jersey

[rhekt]

not to say i told you so......because you allready now know. and...well i told you so

[Luppin]

To all the people crying and complaining about bad service in your area, have you ever once called AT&T and talked to a representative about the possibility of extending coverage in your area? No? You've just been complaining on the internet about it? Oh, I'm sure that'll solve all your problems... AT&T isn't psychic, they aren't going to know magically which users are upset about the coverage they're getting unless those users let AT&T know instead of badmouthing AT&T on a forum where it's extremely unlikely that any kind of change will come of it. It's the same with people who complain about issues in their community, unless you let your local congressman know that there's a problem, it's very unlikely that he'll do something about it.

[KartRacer]

I find it funny how people can read a post (a well written and perfectly clear post) and not understand what it says and still bash on the wrong subject. it dosnt say att has better coverage than att or vice versa. what it says is att has faster speeds. and the test wasnt done on iphone it was done using other phones. the other thing they say is most off the problems with connectivity and dropped calls have to do with the iphone itself. so please dont post unless you know wtf your talking about. and who cares what carrier you have. take the one you want and leave it be. im staying with the iphone and att no matter what problems there is cause for one att hooks me up. and two i love the iphone (even though it has its problems. but what thing in this world dosnt).

Faster speeds don't mean **** when probably half your customers can't get it. Please don't post until you have a clue about WTF YOU'RE talking about.

I thought this was the main issue. It was a coverage issue, wasn't it? The speed comes second to coverage, because the speed of a download doesn't matter if you can't connect.

I would rather have a larger coverage area and actually have it WORK than faster speeds in fewer locations.

That is the main issue. AT&T keeps pounding their chest about speeds and Verizon is talking about how sparse the coverage is. AT&T is ignoring the problem and trying to direct attention to something no one has refuted recently. It's frankly a slap in the customers faces to be thought too stupid to notice the difference.

To all the people crying and complaining about bad service in your area, have you ever once called AT&T and talked to a representative about the possibility of extending coverage in your area? No?

Just because we come here and ***** doesn't mean we don't complain to them. Are you a mind reader? No? How do you know we don't call and complain? You don't.