iPhone 4S: Verizon vs AT&T Speed Test

Posted by | 10/15/2011 | 69 Comments

The iPhone 4S lives in a world of compromise, with Apple customers being forced to choose between clear calls and fast wireless Internet speeds. While competitors run on the latest 4G networks, the iPhone 4S is relegated to aging 3G networks that run at a fraction of the speed.

AT&T claims to have the fastest experience and is trying to work with Apple to gain a 4G designation on the latest iPhone’s home screen. AT&T is the only network that allows users to simultaneously place calls and connect to the Internet at the same time via 3G. Unfortunately, AT&T’s been unable to shake its reputation for poor call reliability in some cities, including the San Francisco Bay Area, the iPhone’s birthplace.

Verizon is known for rock-solid voice quality and having a super fast 4G LTE network. The only problem is that the iPhone 4S doesn’t run on Verizon’s 4G LTE network, but on its aging 3G network. Verizon’s 3G network is fantastic for voice and low-bandwidth tasks, but it runs at a fraction of the speed. The other downside with Verizon’s service is that iPhone 4S users can’t simultaneously make calls and get online at the same time.

We immediately saw the difference first hand yesterday between the AT&T and Verizon iPhone 4S units. While the AT&T iPhone 4S units could stream video with the Slingbox Player app, the Verizon iPhone 4S stuttered repeatedly, making it impossible to watch live television with it. Downloading apps took significantly longer on the Verizon iPhone 4S when on 3G.

We ran the Speedtest.net benchmark on both the AT&T and Verizon versions of the iPhone 4S. Above is the best results we could muster with the AT&T iPhone 4S.  The AT&T iPhone 4S  scored a 5.17 Mbps download speed and a 1.11 Mbps upload speed. That isn’t anywhere close to what we see with Verizon’s 4G LTE network, but it’s respectable. Those numbers are what a lot of people experience from  their home DSL connections and even faster in some cases.

The above score is faster than what we saw on the iPhone 4, even when directly beneath an AT&T cell site. Keep in mind that your mileage will vary.

Above is the best score on the Verizon iPhone 4GS . That’s right, just .74 Mbps on the download side and .58 Mbps for the upload score. Te AT&T iPhone 4S is nearly seven times faster than the Verizon version, at least in my home in San Francisco.

It’s important to note that we are well-covered by both Verizon and AT&T, hence the five signal bars in the top-left of each test result. I’d hate to see what Verizon’s 3G speeds are like when we’re further away from a cell site.

This test is not scientific in any way, but it is an illustration of just how different the iPhone 4S can be, depending on which network you choose. Choosing a wireless carrier can have a serious impact on your iPhone 4S experience. AT&T is the way to go if you plan on streaming a lot of content or transferring a lot of data when out of reach of a WiFi network. Verizon’s network is the way to go if you talk more than you browse the Internet.

You can read our full iPhone 4S review here. 

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Category: Mobile

About the Author (Author Profile)

Xavier Lanier is the publisher of Gotta Be Moible and Notebooks.com. He's a mobile technology geek that uses an iPhone 4S, iPad 2, Galaxy Nexus and Kindle Fire on a daily basis. He's an expert photographer that shoots primarily with Nikon DSLRs. You can follow Xavier on Twitter @xavierlanier and Google+
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  • I<3 ATT

    I like AT&T the best way better than verizon and sprint really good goverage with at&t

  • jaya gupta

    I have had the worst experience with ATT. Out of the last 6 months, I have had NO service for the last 2 (no bars, no 3G, nothing.) I finally left them last month, paid all balances, and closed my account and they are still harassing me now saying that they want $379 of cancelation fees!!!!!! And I was not even in contract! I’ve tried to solve this by calling them 3x now. I’ve spent over 10 hours on the phone with these guys – they either say that they are fixing it and it should be done (which is doesn’t cause I get harassed again) or they say that I need to go go to the apple store and deal with them, or another excuse. This company is shady and keeps finding a way to harass or falsely charge customers.

  • Anonymous

    This is not a comment. It’s a question:
    I am on the AT&T plan. Up until 3 weeks ago, my 3GS iPhone was downloading YouTube videos just fine. Then it slowed down and they told me to upgrade to a 4S iPhone.
    With the exception of YouTube videos, everything else is miraculously fast and positively amazing.
    But the YouTube videos still are not downloading fast and often, it still stops playing and buffers. I’ve been given answers ranging from “not being near enough to a receiver” to “Verizon Wireless being better than AT&T at receiving signals.
    PLEASE; any suggestions???

  • Not a fair test

    The dying Verizon battery may also have an effect on how quickly it can operate

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