PC World says AT&T (NYSE: T) 3G service doesn’t suck so bad afterall! In fact AT&T, after months—nay years—of grumbling, complaints and gnarly sass from pimply gamers, is now the top performer in a test spanning 13 cities, posting speeds 67% faster than competitors.
See graph showing comparative LAPTOP SPEED & RELIABILITY results
See graph for results of SMART PHONE testing.
The big gripe about AT&T had been demand on its network grew too fast with its monopoly on Apple iPhone sales as data usage shot thru the roof. Remember when tech pundits were predicting Apple would jump to Verizon once its contract with AT&T expired? Not so fast. First of all AT&T kept saying it was building out its 3G network and service would improve. And now we see Verizon actually slipping.
According to PC World, “We measured Verizon’s 13-city average download speed at 877 kbps, down 8 percent from its average of 951 kbps in our tests last spring. Verizon’s average download speed decreased in seven of twelve of our testing cities compared to the figures we recorded last spring; and in five of those cities–Chicago, New Orleans, Phoenix, San Jose, and Seattle–Verizon’s average dropped by 14 percent or more.
“Verizon had the best-performing network in our tests last spring, with the fastest overall speeds and strong network reliability. But our recent test results suggest that Verizon may not be keeping up with demand in some markets.”
