PC Magazine got early access to Sprint’s new LTE network at five locations in the Atlanta, Georgia area last week, and ran speed tests on a specially provisioned LG Viper 4G LTE phone using both their own Sensorly speed test app and the Ookla Speedtest.net app.
Sprint’s LTE network is faster than its old WiMAX network and a bit faster than T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 21, but it doesn’t quite match AT&T’s and Verizon’s LTE speeds in cities where they have more spectrum, says PC Magazine.
Sprint is expected to launch LTE in six cities by the end of this month. Those cities are Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, and San Antonio. The rest of Sprint’s network will get LTE by 2014, but Sprint isn’t saying who’ll get it when, between now and then, or how much it will cost.
PCMag.com’s annual Fastest Mobile Networks test found Verizon Wireless 4G LTE to be the fastest smartphone data network nationwide.
Verizon’s new shared data plans will ensure data profits and collect more revenue as usage moves from voice to data. Their new shared data plans now feature unlimited text and voice, but the cost of data has gone up.
Verizon is pricing 1GB of data in $10 increments so there’s a $50 a month plan for 1GB and $100 for 10GB.
