Gizmodo posted a report today where they tested the various major cell carriers in 12 major cities. As they pointed out, they were not testing dropped calls, or customer service, or sound quality or anything like that.  Also they did not go into a street by street coverage check, so CLEARLY your mileage will very.  What they were looking for was Speed.  Plain and simple.  Average upload speed, average download speed. AT&T actually did the best, won in the most cities.  They won 6 out of 12 when it comes to download speeds with Verizon following up closely. Won clean 12 of 12 when it comes to upload speed.  Wow.

So what does that mean?  …  Umm.. not much.  The reason many people complain about AT&T is not the speed. I have played with t-moble and verison (have not played with a sprint phone in awhile) and I can tell (at least it feels like it) that AT&T seems to run faster, especially when I’m downloading a large doc. So as Gizmodo pointed out, AT&T’s pipes are fine.  At least at the moment they were.  Dont tell me that the next time there is a tech convention in SF. The problem many people have with AT&T, and I experience this daily in my office, is the bloody thing does not work!  So yea, 3G on AT&T is great, esp when you are uploading live Video where every sec of increased speed matters.

Now if your the type that pushes and pulls lots of data and need it now, then perhaps its worth putting up with the limited network.  In my case, 15% more speed in exchange for 15% more coverage, I’ll take the coverage.

Curious about how the tests came out in your city?  Have a look at the graphic below, or better, check out the link at the beginning of this article.