In an informal and unscientific test for cellular broadband speed test conducted last month, AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) has emerged as a clear winner over its competitor Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), with a difference of almost 22%. This test was conducted using iPhone 6 mobiles and Ookla Speed Test app over a period of 12 days across five cities, on both the coasts of U.S.
The average download speed of AT&T was 15.89 megabits per second while that of Verizon was 12.99 MBPS. The five test locations were: The Boston suburb of Medford, three places in California – San Francisco, the Los Angeles Airport and a resort hotel in Dana Point, between San Diego and LA and Washington, D.C. While AT&T was the clear winner in the first four out of five locations, Verizon fared better in the last location.
Although AT&T beat Verizon in terms of download speed, the latter was a winner as far as upload speed was concerned. It was 7.8 MBPS for Verizon and 5.9 MBPS for AT&T, a difference of almost 30%. Also the overall speed performance of Verizon was quite impressive, being consistent since the time of its launch in 2010. It was 5-12 MBPS down and 2-5 MBPS up. In contrast, AT&T doesn’t assure of any speed range.
The test was conducted by running the Ookla speed test app on two iPhones for at least five times, at exactly the same location and within the same range of time. At last, all the individual results were averaged to obtain the overall average speed.
Consistency was observed in AT&T’s performance with its speed ranging between 10MBPS in downtown San Francisco and 29 MBPS in Boston suburbs which was absent in case of Verizon. The latter’s speed ranged from 20 MBPS near Boston, 10 MBPS in the southern California resort and downtown San Francisco to a dismal 1 MBPS at the LA airport.
One can clearly infer from the aforesaid test that Verizon has failed to live up to its standards although it was at the peak of cellular speed once. It still has the largest network and has delivered the fastest speed for the longest period of time.
In contrast, AT&T is moving fast up the ladder – it is not only improving its network coverage but is also showing marked improvement in its data and voice services. Thereby, it is coming out of shadows of the past when it was the exclusive carrier of iPhone once but had lost the contract in 2010 due to its dismal performance.
