Anyone who has used Sprint’s 3G service knows how painstakingly slow it can be. The company has been releasing LTE-enabled devices for several months now, though its LTE network is only up and running in a handful of locations. This leaves the majority of customers who’ve purchased the likes of the Galaxy Nexus, EVO 4G LTE, and Galaxy S III stuck with Sprint 3G, which has repeatedly been rated as the slowest 3G network of the major 4 carriers in PCMag and PCWorld tests.
When launching their network vision plan late last year, Sprint promised a quick LTE rollout that would see a fully functional next-generation network by the end of 2013. The company is actively testing its LTE network in various regions across the country, and last night a source for Android Police reported that the service was up and running in the Silicon Valley. The source reported data speeds on par with that of Verizon and AT&T’s networks, with his Galaxy Nexus pulling 13-17 mbps down and 8-9 mbps up. That’s with a non-congested network mind you, and performance once Sprint LTE goes live will likely be somewhat below those numbers. Here’s hoping the results don’t drop too much once the network is up and running, though anything would be an improvement over their 3G and WiMax service.
If you’re in the Silicon Valley area with a Sprint LTE device, you may want to make sure LTE mode is enabled in your settings. Be sure to report back if you’re able to connect to Sprint LTE.