Recently, the ITU decided to succumb to the pesky carriers by allowing LTE, WiMax and HSPA+ or any evolved 3G technology to be called 4G. T-Mobile is aggressively pushing its HSPA+ network – which will always be “3G” in my heart regardless of what anyone tells me – as America’s largest 4G network. Now the carrier is saying that an independent third-party, whose name hasn’t been disclosed, recently concluded that T-Mobile has the fastest wireless performance in the top 100 U.S. markets.
Of course, it’s no surprise to anyone that HSPA+ is fast. Really fast. In some cases and certain areas, it’s much faster than Sprint’s WiMax network – though for the most part the performance between the two is comparable. So perhaps it’s not entirely far-fetched to believe that the nation’s fourth largest carrier outperforms the top three when it comes to raw wireless data speeds.
Since the study was conducted by an unknown firm, and specific data and criteria weren’t disclosed, it’s hard to say where the buck stops. We also have to consider the fact that this is about wireless broadband speeds, not about coverage and reliability or even voice quality, many of which are deal-breakers for wireless customers.
But if the idea of having super quick data at affordable prices is enticing to you, in addition to a number of USB modems and smartphones that support the fast HSPA+ network, T-Mobile is definitely worth looking at. However, let’s not forget that Verizon has just launched its LTE network with some big expansion on the way for 2011 along with some attractive tablets and smartphones in the pipeline.
For details on the apparently anonymous study, see the press release on the following page.