AT&T Outperforms Verizon In Speed Tests For 4G LTE

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) offers the best 4G LTE according to recent speed tests from mobile analytics firm Root Metrics. Their speed rates even top Verizon Communications Inc.(NYSE:VZ).

Root Metrics reports that the download speed for AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) was 18.6 megabits per second. Their average upload speed was 9Mbps. The maximum download speed was 57.7 megabits while the fastest upload speed was 19.6 megabits.

The researchers for Roots Metrics connected to the 4G LTE network about 81.7 percent of the time,  second rate to Verizon wireless.

Overall, Verizon didn’t perform too poorly as they took the second spot in LTE speed tests with average LTE speeds of 14.3 Mbps and average upload speeds of 8.5 Mbps. The maximums speeds for downstream was 49.3 Mbps and upstream was 19.7 Mbps. As a bonus, the carrier’s reliability rating was 93.2. Verizon Communications Inc.(NYSE:VZ) also takes the lead for LTE coverage with 77 markets and Verizon’s LTE is available in every single city. AT&T’s LTE coverage only covers 47 of those markets, so it pales in comparison.

Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile take the third and fourth spots respectively. Sprint’s speeds average at 10.3 Mbps for downloads and 4.4 Mbps for uploads. Since Sprint’s LTE  access is still relatively new, they only cover about 5 out of the 77 markets.

Although T-Mobile doesn’t offer LTE just yet, they do offer HSPA+42, which had download speeds of 7.3 Mbps and upload speeds of 1.5 Mbps.

Root Metrics also shared their key takeaways in the report. The report reminds us that not all LTE services are equal and there is a big difference in LTE among each carrier’s services and availability. AT&T’s speeds for LTE and non-LTE were generally faster than Verizon’s and Sprint’s speeds, but T-Mobile’s non-LTE speeds are faster than AT&T’s non-LTE speeds.

And although Sprint’s speeds lag AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and Verizon Communications Inc.(NYSE:VZ)’s speeds, they are still faster than Sprint said they were.

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