Now here’s a surprise. Using Speedtest.net as a monitor, I can get better downstream results from my mobile broadband connection than I can from my Wi-Fi connection delivered over a FiOS-driven home network. I’m a Verizon 4G LTE subscriber for mobile broadband, and a Verizon FiOS Extreme customer (25/25 package) for Internet at home. I tested both networks using my HTC Thunderbolt to avoid any device-specific issues, and the tests took place in Takoma Park Maryland, just outside of Washington DC.
As you can see above, I got throughput of more than 35 Mbps downstream in the 4G test, while the Wi-Fi test rang in at just under 30 Mbps downstream. (still more than my promised FiOS speed) These tests took place one minute apart, though later tests showed 4G coming in as high as 39 Mbps.
I’m feeling pretty lucky with my mobile broadband coverage at the moment. An unofficial test on AT&T’s brand new LTE network now live in Chicago brought back a downstream result of just over 12 Mbps. DSLReports covered the AT&T news (original source: Boy Genius Report), and a reader shot back in the comment thread with his own result of more than 16 Mbps downstream using T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network. Verizon’s results in my area put both those numbers to shame. Yes, wireless caps and data sharing are a problem, but for speed alone, I’ve got nothing to complain about with Verizon’s 4G service.
That means you can download at full speed for all of… 28 minutes or so until you used up the data for the month (at the 5GB/month plan)?
The speed becomes rather meaningless with these caps.
I second Mike’s opinion. Having a very low data cap negates any speed advantage. Sure, it might be unrealistic for VZW and AT&T to have uncapped 4G service like Sprint does, but how about – say – a 10/25/50 GB cap levels on 4G data?
Speaking of 4G service, I’m now using my hacked iSpot as a backup when my U-Verse goes down. Don’t get LTE-level speeds indoors (top out at 3-3.5 Mb/s), but enough to get by.
Any thoughts on whether ISPs might shape traffic to boost results on common speed test sites? I’ve often thought I should get set up to monitor the service vs what I pay for.
P.S. what has two thumbs and is jealous?
“As you can see above”…
Actually, no.. I can’t see above. The WiFi one overlaps right on top of the 4G download.
How odd- the pic didn’t look like that originally. Corrected now.
I double corrected it so it doesn’t happen again. WordPress doesn’t handle images so great in general and TinyMCE can introduce weirdness depending on browser/OS (plus the misalignment was probably on me). So I’ve combined Mari’s two pics into one to avoid the problem. Probably should have put some horizontal white space between the graphics, but oh well. :)
Wow, those ping times are crap. I get about the same 20ms pings over WiFi (Comcast) as I do over wired. I also get 100ms or so over my 3G iPhone though. Verizon has talked about how LTE users should see 30ms or so, and certainly under 50ms.
You’d notice this most when gaming, or doing something latency sensitive like VoIP/Skype calling where your wireline service should really do better than your 4G. Odd that it doesn’t.
Yes most service providers are apparently cheating now and optimizing the results for speed tests like this. So you’ll probably never see speeds like this in real active use, but it gives you some idea.
And I think you hit the cap in under 19 minutes actually. In my testing speedtest.net runs the download test for about 10 seconds. Meaning even if you ignore the upload data, you’d use up just under 1% of your monthly cap just running a speedtest.net test…
It will be interesting to see if the speeds last.
I’ve been in different markets when Sprint/Clear first turned up 4G and the speeds were great for about a month, then they are just completely inconsistent..
Thats is frickin awesome. If only theses blazing 4g speeds were not ruined by the low monthly caps and expensive overages. 5GB monthly cap ($50.00) at 35Mb/s = cap burnt through in 19 minutes.