Putting Verizon's LTE Speed Claims Into PerspectivePutting Verizon's LTE Speed Claims Into Perspective

This morning Verizon Wireless issued a press release noting that its trials of Long Term Evolution were producing data speeds much faster than expected. How does that really compare to what's available today?Verizon Wireless is presently conducting trials of its forthcoming Long Term Evolution network in Boston and Seattle. In those test markets, Verizon has achieved peak download speeds of 40 to 50Mbps and peak upload speeds of 20 to 25Mbps. These speeds are only achieved under ideal conditions (i.e., in a lab somewhere).

The real story is buried in the second paragraph of Verizon's press release. It notes that its engineers are seeing real-world download speeds of 5 to 12Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5Mbps. That's a different story.

Sitting at my desk, I just tested Verizon's EVDO Rev. A network. After running three tests, the fastest download speed I reached was 1.82Mbps. The fastest upload speeds was 601Kbps. On AT&T's I was able to get 1.38Mbps down and 275Kbps up. On T-Mobile's, I was able to get 1.42Mbps down and 365Kbps up. (Over Wi-Fi, I was able to reach 8.95Mbps down and 3.4Mbps up.)

On the surface, it would appear that there is promise for LTE.

In December 2009, however, Ericsson successfully tested HSPA+ networks and reached download speeds of 42Mbps. That's not much slower than Verizon's theoretical LTE max of 50Mbps. Ericsson didn't share what real-world speeds it achieved or saw. Network operators can install HSPA+ today with a software upgrade to their existing base station equipment.

While I have not tested WiMax, a friend of mine at MobileBurn.com ran a great test of T-Mobile's forthcoming HSPA+ network on both a phone and a laptop. His results show:

MobileBurn achieved those speeds using gear that's already available in the market. When it stepped up to a pre-production laptop dongle made for T-Mobile's HSPA+ network, speeds improved dramatically. Download speeds averaged 6.48Mbps and upload speeds averaged 2.16Mbps. Those numbers look similar to Verizon's claimed LTE rates above?

Verizon reiterated that it's LTE network is on schedule, and should cover some 100 million people across 25 to 30 markets later this year. That doesn't mean we should expect to see LTE-toting smartphones by November. No. The first devices to take advantage of LTE will surely be laptop dongles and other wireless networking type gadgets. Think machine-to-machine.

The bottom line here? Long Term Evolution shows promise, but don't write off the best of 3G yet. HSPA+ will be a solid alternative for some time to come, and it will be more widely available in the next 18 months around the world.