Tmobile fastest on phones, Verizon on modems
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See Which Carriers Have the Fastest 4G Network [Mobile Broadband]
We've told you everything you need to know about 4G, but if you're thinking about switching networks when you get that 4G phone or modem, you might be basing it on who's faster. Here's how the networks stack up against one another.We mentioned the speeds each company is claiming in our 4G roundup, but the numbers weren't always the most trustworthy. PC World did some serious testing of Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint's networks for both 4G smartphones and 4G modems, and the results were a bit surprising. T-Mobile ended up being the fastest on the smartphone end with 2.28 Mbps down, while Verison came in last at less than half that. As far as USB modems went, it was very different: Verizon had by far the fastest speeds, hitting about 6.44 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up, while Sprint came in last—albeit close to T-Mobile and AT&T—at a bit more than 2 Mbps down and less than 1 Mbps up.
For both sets of devices, they tested the connections in 260 different locations across 13 different US cities, so they were pretty exhaustive, giving us confidence in the results. Of course, there are a lot of other reasons to choose a given network, but these speeds may give you something else to think about as you inch closer to buying that new 4G phone. Hit the link to read more about the tests.
You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com. You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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