The Fastest Networks
I was somewhat surprised by the results I found using the T-Mobile and AT&T HSPA networks. First, I had seen some impressive initial results with T-Mobile's HSPA+ network when I reviewed the T-Mobile G2, the first HSPA+ handset. But these results did not bear out in my tests with USB data modems. Second, AT&T has been so secretive and ambiguous about its HSPA+ network that I was not sure what to expect. But, overall, my tests showed that AT&T's network kept pace with T-Mobile's network. T-Mobile's HSPA+ network did produce a few remarkably high individual test results that handily beat AT&T's best, but overall the average of all scores for my network tests on HSPA were very close, regardless of carrier. Plus, while T-Mobile also scored higher on a few individual test runs, T-Mobile also produced the slowest test results in almost half of my testing areas. So, AT&T might not produce the best results, but, by a nose, it was more consistent than T-Mobile's network.
If uploading is just as important to you as downloading, AT&T handily beat T-Mobile in my upload tests. In fact, upload speeds on AT&T were consistently better than every other network except for Verizon Wireless. Even Clear's WiMAX network couldn't offer upload performance to match AT&T's HSPA. The difference was not extreme. Usually, AT&T's network offered uploads between 800 Kbps and 1.2 Mbps, while the other networks almost never topped 1 Mbps uploads. But if every second counts when you need to upload files, AT&T is your best bet, after Verizon.
Speed tests for downloads on HSPA+ networks usually hovered just over the 2 Mbps range. Across all of my tests, T-Mobile averaged 2.19 Mbps on downloads, and AT&T averaged 2.07 Mbps. T-Mobile did produce some of the fastest test results I saw on HSPA+. In Grapevine, a suburb between the Dallas and Fort Worth, I recorded scored that were in the 7-8 Mbps range, with some tests exceeding 8 Mbps. That at least proves that T-Mobile's network exceeds the theoretical performance of a slower 7.2 Mbps HSPA network, so T-Mobile's faster HSPA+ is definitely working and active down here in Texas.
On AT&T, on the other hand, the fastest individual test I recorded was only 4.76 Mbps. That's higher than I might expect from an HSPA device, but certainly within the real world limits of the somewhat slower 3G network. So, without official confirmation from AT&T, and with no indication from the device or the software itself, it's impossible for me to say for sure that AT&T's HSPA+ network is active, or at least actively achieving speeds in excess of what I might expect from a 7.2Mbps HSPA network. HSPA+ should reach theoretical speeds around 14.4 Mbps or higher, and T-Mobile's network has a theoretical limit around 21 Mbps, though real world results will obviously be much, much lower.
Still, regardless of the network technology, both AT&T and T-Mobile were so close in their overall results that I could not call a winner among the two. Sure, you might theoretically reach faster speeds on T-Mobile. In one testing area, T-Mobile's network also achieved the best latency scores I saw among any carrier, including Verizon Wireless, with a 45ms ping time. That's fantastic response, very close to the latency I see on my home network. Unsurprisingly, that test area was also where I recorded the fastest T-Mobile scores I found in my test period.
Unfortunately, T-Mobile's network also produced some of the slowest results I saw during my test period. My two slowest averages for any test site were recorded on T-Mobile. T-Mo's network often dipped well below 1 Mbps, and often chugged to a near-standstill at less than 500 Kbps. In automotive terms, if I hit the gas, I would rather know my car can reach a steady 85 on the highway, rather than wonder if it will top 120 or stall out at 35 MPH.
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