iansltx

If Sprint switches from unlimited to 5GB...and starts allowing tethering as part of that 5GB...I'll still stick with them. Sure, 5GB is less than unlimited, but that amount of data is reasonable, even if I decide to broadcast an hour-long event via LTE on UStream once a week...yeah, between that and Google+ photo uploads, I have one of Fort Worth's LTE towers a bit of a workout. My usage will taper off now but I'm up to 2.23GB of 4G data, 277MB of 3G and 446MB of tethering (mostly on 4G).

Side note: LS has a LOT of spectrum...it's just kind of unusable right now. I counted 68MHz nationwide? If they can get two-thirds of that via a swap they can still build a decent network. Oh wait, they'll go bankrupt first :/

I'm hedging my bets and saying that at least one of the two DBS companies will strike some sort of agreement with Sprint (or maybe Clearwire) in the near-ish future. Sprint no longer has ties to wireline phone companies (potential competitors...CenturyLink, which bought Embarq awhile back, is doing "Prism" IPTV service in some markets) or cable companies (they're all in bed with Verizon now). That's a plus for cooperation with D*...and Sprint actually has a rural footprint that they're planning on upgrading to LTE (T-Mobile still hasn't figured out how to do this). And...wait for it...rural folks are a pretty big source of subscribers and revenue for DBS. Without repeating too much of the comment I posted here: http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=223133&site=lr_cable My bet is that D* would swoop in to get either a majority or significant-minority stake in CLWR, with Sprint expanding their stake to include most of the rest of the company, since cablecos dumping shares would drop the price of the company through the floor. Sprint would use their increased position to ensure that Clewarwire TD-LTE wasn't being billed to them per-gigabyte so NV can optimize spectrum use the right way (2500->1900->800). D* would use CLWR TD-LTE for fixed broadband, installed by satellite installation contractors, potentially with decent caps and definitely with high speeds (my bet is 20+ Mbps down and a few Mbps up over a single TD-LTE 20MHz channel, with channel-bonded TD-LTE coming later with higher speeds). Add VoIP, and DirecTV has triple play to compete with cable. Add a Sprint partnership (Sprint doesn't do fixed broadband anymore, nor does it do linear video delivery) and you have a quadruple play that both Sprint and DirecTV can cross-sell. Sounds like a win-win to me, though this would mean Clearwire would have to deploy some coverage-optimized TD-LTE sites (to serve more D* fixed customers...though these sites could have PCS or even CLR style spacing due to higher gain on fixed antennas), but that's not actually a bad thing.

Re: Dish, my bet is that they'll actually just use the service for broadband, potentially mobile (Sprint spectrum hosting agreement anyone?). That, or sell the spectrum (the latter not being preferable, since then you have yet another non-nationwide band class for various carriers to force their mobile device manufacturers to integrate). My two cents on video over IP is that you don't want to do that, unicast, on a cellular network unless you have tons of spectrum, and maybe not even then...maybe Dish would use their LTE network for that anyway to gain additional customers who can't get a dish to function at their residence but you can't put very many of those users on the network before everything comes to a grinding halt. As such, my guess is that Dish will self-label mobile and fixed broadband (S-band is similar propagation-wise to PCS) as the primary use for the network, plus maybe voice, and maybe wholesale to other providers if they find themselves awash in excess capacity.

Apple did this because AT&T leaned on them to do so...and it's annoying that I have to explain to people that the iPhone 4S cannot do actual 4G, no matter what that icon says. As WiWavelength said, the fastest the phone can do is HSPA 14.4 (not H+), which will get you some good download and upload speeds, sure, but 'tain't 4G. What's funny is that a good friend of mine has a 4S here in Fredericksburg, which AT&T shows on their coverage map as 3G (I think due to lack of backhaul; I believe the air interface is H+ but it doesn't matter much because speeds top out at a couple Mbps). He gets the 4G icon on is 4S. If I had an iPad running on AT&T, I wouldn't get the 4G icon on the exact same network...but hey, AT&T is compensating...for a small LTE network

I've played League of Legends (PC RTS sort of thing, except more latency sensitive) over VZW and TMo 4G...will do so on Sprint probably in mid August. You could tell the connection was over cellular with the two I have tried...higher latency...but Both were very playable. On Sprint, from what I've seen so far, the experience should actually be comparable to playing on a wireline connection.

Somewhat related: I got maybe four test alerts before leaving Colorado on Wedneasday on my S3. Geez guys...Your system works!

How are AT&T LTE speeds looking at this point? That's the only service I'm unable to test, due to lack of equipment. Sent from my Galaxy SIII-32GB using Forum Runner

I have three different sets of in-ears now...some silver Koss that I bought at Wal-Mart for $25 (no headset), some Skullcandy Smokin' Buds (with the headset...$10 online) and the ones that came with the SIII. Of the three, the Koss 'buds have better sound quality than the other two, though the Skullcandies are close and include a mic. So I use the Koss ones when listening to music, and the Skullcandies for making calls. The latter work just fine, and worked just fine with my OG Epic (and yes, I'm aware of the different TRRS mic vs. ground configurations).

If a site is backhauled via AAV, my guess is that the connection is handed off as copper Ethernet, but there's a fiber media converter very nearby. So the site is effectively fiber-fed. Sent from my Galaxy SIII-32GB using Forum Runner

My guess is that the towers get sold to whoever wants them (if they're owned by Sprint currently). Otherwise the towers are owned by someone else anyway, so that owner just looks for more clients.

I'm actually kind of surprised at your being unable to use WiMAX and voice at the same time previously, if this is indeed what you're talking about. P.S. You should remove your phone number from your phones/devices profile listing. Not a good place to put that!

Before I post the third of the tests (I don't have access to an AT&T LTE device) I'll open the floor to anyone who wants me to do some other tests in the area, though I have a limited data allotment on all devices and won't be straying much from this location until Sunday…so don't ask me for coverage reports around the entire city, beyond the NetMonitor info I'll post later One interesting occurrence that I noticed was that my IP geolocated to DFW only with T-Mobile during these tests, despite routing definitely being right through Dallas or Fort Worth. Sprint was somewhere in Indiana, while Verizon was in the Wichita, KS area…showing just how inaccurate GeoIP databases are. Verizon Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out a way to get dBm signal readings on my iPad, since I don't want to jailbreak it (at this point anyway). So we'll just have to rely on the 4 bars I got on LTE during my tests. Traceroutes traceroute to 4.2.2.4 (4.2.2.4), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets 1 [AS0] 172.20.10.1 (172.20.10.1) 0.852 ms 0.524 ms 0.456 ms 2 [AS6167] 97.sub-66-174-45.myvzw.com (66.174.45.97) 34.379 ms 43.545 ms 51.992 ms 3 [AS6167] 49.sub-69-83-101.myvzw.com (69.83.101.49) 31.130 ms 38.971 ms 52.552 ms 4 [AS6167] 195.sub-69-83-101.myvzw.com (69.83.101.195) 58.988 ms 32.592 ms 55.979 ms 5 * * * 6 [AS6167] 71.sub-69-83-96.myvzw.com (69.83.96.71) 125.429 ms 30.755 ms 43.970 ms 7 [AS0] tengige0-0-2-0.gw15.dfw9.alter.net (152.179.167.185) 45.977 ms 46.721 ms 40.969 ms 8 [AS0] 0.xe-0-0-1.xt4.dfw9.alter.net (152.63.102.38) 46.775 ms 47.808 ms 38.950 ms 9 [AS0] 0.xe-6-0-3.xl4.dfw7.alter.net (152.63.98.86) 52.921 ms 48.616 ms 52.047 ms 10 [AS0] 0.ae4.br1.dfw13.alter.net (152.63.96.85) 64.197 ms 43.554 ms 51.132 ms 11 [AS3356] ae6.edge2.dallas3.level3.net (4.68.62.165) 52.435 ms 50.786 ms [AS3356] ae7.edge2.dallas3.level3.com (4.68.62.33) 43.982 ms 12 [AS3356] ae-12-60.car2.dallas1.level3.net (4.69.145.4) 77.908 ms 192.500 ms [AS3356] ae-22-70.car2.dallas1.level3.net (4.69.145.68) 244.998 ms 13 [AS3356] d.resolvers.level3.net (4.2.2.4) 61.476 ms 35.614 ms 40.047 ms traceroute to google.com (74.125.137.139), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets 1 [AS0] 172.20.10.1 (172.20.10.1) 1.164 ms 0.493 ms 0.480 ms 2 [AS6167] 97.sub-66-174-45.myvzw.com (66.174.45.97) 32.741 ms 52.162 ms 25.999 ms 3 [AS6167] 49.sub-69-83-101.myvzw.com (69.83.101.49) 46.977 ms 31.190 ms 41.801 ms 4 [AS6167] 195.sub-69-83-101.myvzw.com (69.83.101.195) 39.404 ms 32.178 ms 40.077 ms 5 * * * 6 [AS6167] 71.sub-69-83-96.myvzw.com (69.83.96.71) 112.034 ms 50.286 ms 56.950 ms 7 [AS0] tengige0-0-2-0.gw15.dfw9.alter.net (152.179.167.185) 54.124 ms 58.368 ms 59.093 ms 8 [AS0] 0.xe-0-0-0.xt3.dfw9.alter.net (152.63.99.69) 47.792 ms 85.608 ms 79.857 ms 9 [AS0] 0.xe-5-0-0.xl3.dfw7.alter.net (152.63.0.50) 135.971 ms 58.661 ms 45.833 ms 10 [AS0] tengige0-6-4-0.gw4.dfw13.alter.net (152.63.101.21) 51.054 ms 39.707 ms [AS0] tengige0-6-1-0.gw4.dfw13.alter.net (152.63.101.13) 53.135 ms 11 [AS0] google-gw.customer.alter.net (152.179.51.26) 120.032 ms 120.552 ms 119.013 ms 12 [AS15169] 72.14.233.77 (72.14.233.77) 55.986 ms 78.567 ms [AS15169] 72.14.233.85 (72.14.233.85) 49.979 ms 13 * * * 14 * * * 15 [AS15169] 209.85.248.53 (209.85.248.53) 123.307 ms 81.750 ms [AS15169] 209.85.248.57 (209.85.248.57) 152.032 ms 16 * * * 17 [AS15169] yh-in-f139.1e100.net (74.125.137.139) 135.474 ms 69.755 ms 78.881 ms traceroute to hawkhost.com (208.43.49.44), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets 1 [AS0] 172.20.10.1 (172.20.10.1) 0.861 ms 0.505 ms 0.475 ms 2 [AS6167] 97.sub-66-174-45.myvzw.com (66.174.45.97) 31.686 ms 35.415 ms 39.564 ms 3 [AS6167] 49.sub-69-83-101.myvzw.com (69.83.101.49) 41.001 ms 42.333 ms 45.824 ms 4 [AS6167] 195.sub-69-83-101.myvzw.com (69.83.101.195) 32.965 ms 53.344 ms 28.909 ms 5 * * * 6 [AS6167] 71.sub-69-83-96.myvzw.com (69.83.96.71) 124.296 ms 48.215 ms 52.064 ms 7 [AS0] tengige0-0-2-0.gw15.dfw9.alter.net (152.179.167.185) 58.053 ms 55.385 ms 53.956 ms 8 [AS0] 0.xe-5-0-2.xt4.dfw9.alter.net (152.63.102.46) 60.961 ms 181.657 ms 73.956 ms 9 [AS0] 0.xe-3-1-2.xl4.dfw7.alter.net (152.63.101.158) 57.024 ms 119.571 ms 45.701 ms 10 [AS0] tengige0-7-4-0.gw4.dfw13.alter.net (152.63.101.49) 58.524 ms [AS0] tengige0-7-1-0.gw4.dfw13.alter.net (152.63.101.25) 58.822 ms [AS0] tengige0-7-4-0.gw4.dfw13.alter.net (152.63.101.49) 54.706 ms 11 [AS7381] teliasonera-gw.customer.alter.net (63.65.123.46) 60.121 ms 46.713 ms 35.048 ms 12 [AS1299] te3-3.bbr02.eq01.dal01.networklayer.com (213.248.102.174) 43.691 ms 65.465 ms 44.911 ms 13 [AS36351] ae0.dar01.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.211) 47.977 ms 42.683 ms 45.879 ms 14 [AS36351] po2.fcr04.sr05.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.218) 31.256 ms 60.503 ms 54.886 ms 15 [AS36351] hawkhost.com (208.43.49.44) 34.164 ms 57.673 ms 71.080 ms traceroute to 216.133.234.17 (216.133.234.17), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets 1 [AS0] 172.20.10.1 (172.20.10.1) 1.144 ms 0.606 ms 0.484 ms 2 [AS6167] 97.sub-66-174-45.myvzw.com (66.174.45.97) 49.450 ms 42.326 ms 52.136 ms 3 [AS6167] 49.sub-69-83-101.myvzw.com (69.83.101.49) 50.068 ms 43.425 ms 39.095 ms 4 [AS6167] 195.sub-69-83-101.myvzw.com (69.83.101.195) 48.531 ms 72.233 ms 42.906 ms 5 * * * 6 [AS6167] 71.sub-69-83-96.myvzw.com (69.83.96.71) 99.923 ms 57.336 ms 53.966 ms 7 [AS0] tengige0-0-2-0.gw15.dfw9.alter.net (152.179.167.185) 38.902 ms 39.316 ms 42.900 ms 8 [AS0] 0.xe-0-0-1.xt4.dfw9.alter.net (152.63.102.38) 35.016 ms 38.822 ms 69.913 ms 9 [AS0] 0.xe-6-1-3.xl4.lax15.alter.net (152.63.10.162) 96.835 ms 69.829 ms 78.784 ms 10 [AS0] pos7-0-0.gw3.lax15.alter.net (152.63.112.109) 94.910 ms 72.971 ms 77.961 ms 11 [AS0] internapgige-gw.customer.alter.net (157.130.236.110) 85.957 ms 71.689 ms 78.768 ms 12 [AS10912] border1.po1-20g-bbnet1.lax010.pnap.net (216.52.255.13) 91.025 ms 72.877 ms 70.893 ms 13 * * * 14 * * * Speed Tests Charter - http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073664393.png One Source - http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073665293.png SoftLayer - http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073666142.png Partnership Broadband - http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073667304.png 10gb.ru - http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073669435.png ForstHost - http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073672055.png Conclusion Verizon and T-Mobile are a different animal than Sprint. Both have a large number of subscribers already on the network (T-Mobile more so than Verizon, since any 3G or better T-Mobile phone draws from the available HSPA+ bandwidth). Both carriers are hitting within their advertised speed bracket (T-Mobile says their network should run around 10 Mbps, while Verizon says theirs is 5-12 Mbps down)…at least for download speeds (VZW is still turning in some nice upload numbers). This means that speed numbers are significantly less spectacular than with Sprint…but it also means that speeds are unlikely to slip from where they are right now. By contrast, print's speeds will definitely drop a bit from what I'm seeing as more folks get and use LTE phones and devices, though smaller cell sites compared with Verizon should help a lot with this. T-Mobile was, out of the three, the most unreliable, due to switching between higher-latency, lower-speed HSPA (or maybe even HSDPA) and HSPA+. You could tell that you were on a cellular network, though the exerpeince was still decent. With Verizon and Sprint on the other hand, it felt like I was on a wired connection, and a good one at that (DOCSIS 3 cable or something). I'll give Sprint the edge from a subjective quality standpoint (page load times etc., though I didn't put a stopwatch to anything…but I trust my gamer instincts as to latency perception). Which is great because..well…I have unlimited on-phone data and a couple gigabytes of tethering to chew through on Sprint, assuming Sprint is even counting my LTE mobile hotspot usage at this point. And, again, if Sprint's LTE network is going to end up like I'm seeing at this location, nationwide, I won't mind going from three diverse cellular connections to one.

T-Mobile As a disclaimer, I don't know what tower I'm connecting to. All I know is that my connection manager shows "3G" and -89 dBm signal (40% according to the connection manager). In short, I've seen much, much better from my modem (20+ Mbps speeds down, ~3 Mbps up)…but I'm in DFW, not south Florida. But despite the 3G moniker, latency is decently low…though the modem seems to flip between a slow 3G tower (with high latency) and a snappy 4G (HSPA+/HSPA+ DC) one. As a result, these tests took a while to execute. SIde note: pretty sure I'm running on single-carrier H+ in these tests. So it's a good comparison of performance between Sprint's 5x5 network and T-Mobile's. Traceroutes traceroute to 4.2.2.4 (4.2.2.4), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets 1 [AS65534] 10.170.204.48 (10.170.204.48) 89.611 ms 58.840 ms 60.001 ms 2 [AS65534] 10.170.204.133 (10.170.204.133) 69.955 ms 219.360 ms 29.770 ms 3 [AS65534] 10.168.193.107 (10.168.193.107) 29.850 ms 29.176 ms 29.885 ms 4 [AS65534] 10.168.193.97 (10.168.193.97) 29.850 ms 29.271 ms 49.449 ms 5 [AS65534] 10.170.204.6 (10.170.204.6) 69.517 ms 88.746 ms 79.843 ms 6 [AS65534] 10.170.204.10 (10.170.204.10) 99.960 ms 49.248 ms 89.971 ms 7 [AS65534] 10.160.155.246 (10.160.155.246) 80.082 ms 68.764 ms 49.601 ms 8 [AS65534] 10.177.17.90 (10.177.17.90) 49.605 ms 29.404 ms 29.726 ms 9 [AS65534] 10.177.7.242 (10.177.7.242) 40.006 ms 29.136 ms 29.939 ms 10 [AS65534] 10.160.148.174 (10.160.148.174) 30.066 ms 38.893 ms 39.990 ms 11 [AS3356] ge-8-13.car2.dallas1.level3.net (4.71.171.101) 39.978 ms 29.234 ms 29.846 ms 12 [AS3356] d.resolvers.level3.net (4.2.2.4) 30.025 ms 28.999 ms 29.856 ms traceroute to google.com (74.125.227.136), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets 1 [AS65534] 10.170.204.48 (10.170.204.48) 49.871 ms 44.084 ms 39.684 ms 2 [AS65534] 10.170.204.137 (10.170.204.137) 50.229 ms 49.326 ms 40.076 ms 3 [AS65534] 10.168.193.107 (10.168.193.107) 39.752 ms 39.100 ms 39.998 ms 4 [AS65534] 10.168.193.97 (10.168.193.97) 40.110 ms 49.002 ms 39.553 ms 5 [AS65534] 10.170.204.6 (10.170.204.6) 39.529 ms 39.111 ms 49.494 ms 6 [AS65534] 10.170.204.10 (10.170.204.10) 99.863 ms 39.054 ms 39.979 ms 7 [AS65534] 10.160.155.246 (10.160.155.246) 49.966 ms 39.109 ms 39.881 ms 8 [AS65534] 10.177.17.90 (10.177.17.90) 50.114 ms 51.272 ms 37.974 ms 9 [AS65534] 10.177.7.242 (10.177.7.242) 49.907 ms 38.593 ms 49.974 ms 10 [AS7018] 12.116.132.85 (12.116.132.85) 50.035 ms 119.499 ms 29.014 ms 11 [AS7018] cr84.dlstx.ip.att.net (12.123.18.154) 29.867 ms 29.340 ms [AS7018] cr83.dlstx.ip.att.net (12.123.18.102) 29.597 ms 12 [AS7018] cr1.dlstx.ip.att.net (12.123.18.110) 29.581 ms [AS7018] cr2.dlstx.ip.att.net (12.123.18.250) 29.389 ms 39.175 ms 13 [AS7018] gar23.dlstx.ip.att.net (12.122.85.69) 70.131 ms 38.864 ms [AS7018] ggr1.dlstx.ip.att.net (12.122.138.189) 29.668 ms 14 [AS7018] 12.249.214.22 (12.249.214.22) 88.291 ms 117.174 ms 79.855 ms 15 [AS15169] 72.14.233.67 (72.14.233.67) 30.018 ms 29.115 ms 39.512 ms 16 [AS15169] 216.239.43.187 (216.239.43.187) 30.066 ms 29.152 ms 29.833 ms 17 [AS15169] dfw06s17-in-f8.1e100.net (74.125.227.136) 30.038 ms 29.030 ms 29.724 ms traceroute to hawkhost.com (208.43.49.44), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets 1 [AS65534] 10.170.204.48 (10.170.204.48) 49.957 ms 49.489 ms 39.863 ms 2 [AS65534] 10.170.204.133 (10.170.204.133) 53.342 ms 70.607 ms 48.061 ms 3 [AS65534] 10.168.193.107 (10.168.193.107) 49.815 ms 49.050 ms 40.172 ms 4 [AS65534] 10.168.193.97 (10.168.193.97) 49.859 ms 50.105 ms 49.019 ms 5 [AS65534] 10.170.204.6 (10.170.204.6) 42.207 ms 49.358 ms 39.938 ms 6 [AS65534] 10.170.204.10 (10.170.204.10) 49.842 ms 49.515 ms 49.573 ms 7 [AS65534] 10.160.155.246 (10.160.155.246) 48.094 ms 49.411 ms 49.556 ms 8 [AS65534] 10.177.17.90 (10.177.17.90) 49.243 ms 48.768 ms 149.547 ms 9 [AS65534] 10.177.7.242 (10.177.7.242) 42.535 ms 29.018 ms 30.286 ms 10 [AS65534] 10.160.148.174 (10.160.148.174) 29.584 ms 59.291 ms 39.946 ms 11 [AS3356] ge-8-13.car2.dallas1.level3.net (4.71.171.101) 52.089 ms 226.401 ms 242.064 ms 12 [AS3356] ae-3-80.edge2.dallas3.level3.net (4.69.145.140) 27.938 ms 47.560 ms 39.257 ms 13 [AS3356] softlayer-t.edge2.dallas3.level3.net (4.59.36.94) 52.095 ms 37.344 ms 61.150 ms 14 [AS36351] ae1.dar01.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.255) 27.833 ms 29.548 ms 49.694 ms 15 [AS36351] po1.fcr04.sr05.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.214) 39.963 ms 35.215 ms [AS36351] po2.fcr04.sr05.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.218) 29.205 ms 16 [AS36351] hawkhost.com (208.43.49.44) 36.746 ms 37.125 ms 39.608 ms traceroute to 216.133.234.17 (216.133.234.17), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets 1 [AS65534] 10.170.204.48 (10.170.204.48) 49.653 ms 48.712 ms 50.094 ms 2 [AS65534] 10.170.204.137 (10.170.204.137) 49.823 ms 49.044 ms 40.407 ms 3 [AS65534] 10.168.193.107 (10.168.193.107) 29.545 ms 29.534 ms 29.453 ms 4 [AS65534] 10.168.193.97 (10.168.193.97) 39.823 ms 29.296 ms 29.331 ms 5 [AS65534] 10.170.204.6 (10.170.204.6) 29.766 ms 28.998 ms 29.771 ms 6 [AS65534] 10.170.204.10 (10.170.204.10) 50.021 ms 38.684 ms 30.071 ms 7 [AS65534] 10.160.155.246 (10.160.155.246) 29.530 ms 29.363 ms 29.851 ms 8 [AS65534] 10.177.17.90 (10.177.17.90) 30.025 ms 29.014 ms 39.962 ms 9 [AS65534] 10.177.7.242 (10.177.7.242) 29.950 ms 29.026 ms 29.899 ms 10 [AS7018] 12.116.132.85 (12.116.132.85) 30.028 ms 48.976 ms 29.719 ms 11 [AS7018] cr84.dlstx.ip.att.net (12.123.18.154) 69.434 ms 59.051 ms 70.009 ms 12 [AS7018] cr2.dlstx.ip.att.net (12.123.18.250) 69.908 ms 59.494 ms 59.770 ms 13 [AS7018] cr2.la2ca.ip.att.net (12.122.28.178) 69.939 ms 69.542 ms 70.063 ms 14 [AS7018] 12.122.104.69 (12.122.104.69) 59.840 ms 69.437 ms 59.813 ms 15 * * * 16 [AS10912] border1.po1-20g-bbnet1.lax010.pnap.net (216.52.255.13) 67.100 ms 79.715 ms 69.842 ms 17 * * * 18 * * * Speed Tests Charter - http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073587248.png OneSource Communications - http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073588662.png Partnership Broadband - http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073590006.png T-Mobile - http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073594592.png 10gb.ru - http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073597154.png SoftLayer - http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073598048.png FrostHost - http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073600515.png The latency here is great…when the service is on H+. However the network tends to swap between H+ and standard, high-latency HSPA (probably even HSDPA). And speeds are a fraction of what I got on Sprint. Don't get me wrong…T-Mobile has a pretty solid network, but Sprint LTE beats T-Mobile with the same amount of FDD spectrum usage.

So, I finally got around to sitting down and conducting a round of tests, between my Sprint SIII, my VZW iPad and my T-Mobile Rocket 3.0). These devices are all pretty much the cream of the crop for their respective networks; the Rocket is a DC-HSPA+ modem, while the other two devices have LTE. All devices/services were tested via my early 2009 MacBook, running Mac OS X 10.7 with the latest dev build of Chrome and the latest patches etc. The computer got upgraded to 8GB of RAM as of a couple months ago, so the machine performance isn't a bottleneck on any of these tests The SIII was connected to my computer via Mobile Hotspot (WiFi…which is fine because I can hit 60 Mbps in both directions over WiFi with this computer). The iPad will be connected via wired tethering. The ZTE Rocket…well, it's a USB modem There are two types of tests that I performed on the services: traceroutes and speed tests. Speedtests were performed via speedtest.net, on all six (or seven in the case of T-Mobile) locations in the DFW metro area. Traceroutes…well, I'll tell ya about trace routes… Traceroutes are a good way of seeing how a cell network makes it to the Internet, revealing weird routing issues and average latency in one fell swoop. I used the "traceroute -aw1" command/switches for all traceroutes. For each test, I traced to multiple destinations in the DFW area: 1. Level3's anycasted DNS server cluster 2. Google 3. HawkHost (they have their main web server in one of SoftLayer's Dallas data centers) These routes won't go outside the DFW metro, since there's an internet exchange point nearby and all of the above are well-connected. So the air interface and 4G core performance determines latency. I also traced to a Los Angeles game server (one owned by Riot Games, which makes the League of Legends MMORTS). There are more variables in that route, but the game server is supposed to be on a connection optimized for low latency. I threw it in to see how attempting to gem over 4G would fare (I've actually played loL on both VZW and T-Mobile 4G, with decent results). The final hops prior to reaching the server don't respond, but the trace route is still an interesting metric. Anyway, to the results. Sprint I mentioned my signals (high -80s, low -90s) on Sprint last night. They've been holding solid, though it appears as though I'm now bouncing between two cell sites, one at 140 S Beach St and the other at 825 Elmwood Ave. The former site is about 2.07 miles to the east, while the latter is 1.25 miles to the southwest. The phone seems to prefer the Beach St site, at least for now, though I wasn't looking at NetMonitor while doing these tests (doing so appears to break the connection). Signals are comparable between the two sites, despite the distance difference. Anyway, trace routes: traceroute to 4.2.2.4 (4.2.2.4), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets 1 [AS8151] 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 2.402 ms 1.541 ms 2.111 ms 2 * * * 3 [AS65534] 10.158.218.103 (10.158.218.103) 46.841 ms 28.704 ms 29.675 ms 4 [AS65534] 10.158.218.77 (10.158.218.77) 27.744 ms 25.759 ms 31.000 ms 5 [AS65534] 10.158.201.60 (10.158.201.60) 31.986 ms 29.558 ms 33.932 ms 6 [AS0] 68.28.181.69 (68.28.181.69) 37.304 ms 28.054 ms 31.316 ms 7 [AS0] sl-crs3-fw-.sprintlink.net (144.228.109.9) 41.015 ms 25.423 ms 37.316 ms 8 [AS0] 144.232.25.188 (144.232.25.188) 39.794 ms 30.025 ms 38.854 ms 9 [AS0] 144.232.24.30 (144.232.24.30) 69.245 ms 32.335 ms [AS0] 144.232.24.18 (144.232.24.18) 40.343 ms 10 [AS3356] ae-42-90.car2.dallas1.level3.net (4.69.145.196) 26.670 ms * [AS3356] ae-22-70.car2.dallas1.level3.net (4.69.145.68) 41.526 ms 11 [AS3356] d.resolvers.level3.net (4.2.2.4) 23.501 ms 26.760 ms 33.687 ms traceroute to google.com (74.125.227.130), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets 1 [AS8151] 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 3.854 ms 2.644 ms 2.270 ms 2 * * * 3 [AS65534] 10.158.218.103 (10.158.218.103) 48.743 ms 45.255 ms 38.453 ms 4 [AS65534] 10.158.218.77 (10.158.218.77) 47.706 ms 31.540 ms 32.022 ms 5 [AS65534] 10.158.201.60 (10.158.201.60) 31.919 ms 30.257 ms 39.014 ms 6 [AS0] 68.28.181.69 (68.28.181.69) 28.720 ms 31.719 ms 24.332 ms 7 [AS0] sl-crs3-fw-.sprintlink.net (144.228.109.9) 26.680 ms 36.220 ms 30.845 ms 8 [AS0] 144.232.11.180 (144.232.11.180) 43.688 ms 32.624 ms 27.808 ms 9 [AS0] 144.232.25.198 (144.232.25.198) 41.304 ms 35.326 ms 37.922 ms 10 [AS15169] 72.14.233.67 (72.14.233.67) 39.091 ms 26.790 ms 39.628 ms 11 [AS15169] 216.239.43.187 (216.239.43.187) 40.034 ms 31.108 ms 41.041 ms 12 [AS15169] dfw06s17-in-f2.1e100.net (74.125.227.130) 38.971 ms 25.529 ms 39.765 ms traceroute to hawkhost.com (208.43.49.44), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets 1 [AS8151] 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 3.072 ms 1.519 ms 1.978 ms 2 * * * 3 [AS65534] 10.158.218.103 (10.158.218.103) 47.948 ms 34.675 ms 30.455 ms 4 [AS65534] 10.158.218.77 (10.158.218.77) 31.169 ms 32.130 ms 30.519 ms 5 [AS65534] 10.158.201.60 (10.158.201.60) 31.298 ms 36.638 ms 28.947 ms 6 [AS0] 68.28.181.69 (68.28.181.69) 39.199 ms 34.246 ms 31.075 ms 7 [AS0] sl-crs3-fw-.sprintlink.net (144.228.109.9) 40.203 ms 58.584 ms 49.778 ms 8 [AS0] 144.232.25.188 (144.232.25.188) 29.413 ms 37.149 ms 30.622 ms 9 [AS0] 144.232.24.30 (144.232.24.30) 51.995 ms [AS0] 144.232.24.18 (144.232.24.18) 37.028 ms [AS0] 144.232.24.30 (144.232.24.30) 37.290 ms 10 [AS3356] softlayer-t.edge2.dallas3.level3.net (4.59.36.94) 38.267 ms 31.048 ms 25.645 ms 11 [AS36351] ae1.dar01.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.255) 51.114 ms [AS36351] ae1.dar02.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.213) 49.808 ms [AS36351] ae1.dar01.sr01.dal01.networklayer.com (173.192.18.255) 30.909 ms 12 [AS36351] po1.fcr04.sr05.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.214) 32.889 ms [AS36351] po2.fcr04.sr05.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.218) 28.788 ms [AS36351] po1.fcr04.sr05.dal01.networklayer.com (66.228.118.214) 35.019 ms 13 [AS36351] hawkhost.com (208.43.49.44) 32.614 ms 24.745 ms 40.126 ms traceroute to 216.133.234.17 (216.133.234.17), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets 1 [AS8151] 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 4.191 ms 1.549 ms 1.939 ms 2 * * * 3 [AS65534] 10.158.218.103 (10.158.218.103) 36.927 ms 28.519 ms 30.773 ms 4 [AS65534] 10.158.218.77 (10.158.218.77) 27.947 ms 22.358 ms 30.028 ms 5 [AS65534] 10.158.201.60 (10.158.201.60) 30.576 ms 24.353 ms 28.630 ms 6 [AS0] 68.28.181.69 (68.28.181.69) 30.310 ms 24.222 ms 29.605 ms 7 [AS0] sl-crs3-fw-.sprintlink.net (144.228.109.9) 31.358 ms 23.301 ms 29.283 ms 8 [AS0] 144.232.1.160 (144.232.1.160) 31.055 ms 19.127 ms 30.489 ms 9 [AS0] 144.232.1.165 (144.232.1.165) 61.083 ms 58.585 ms 59.481 ms 10 [AS0] 144.232.2.84 (144.232.2.84) 57.682 ms 49.928 ms 96.599 ms 11 [AS0] sl-st21-la-0-0-0.sprintlink.net (144.232.20.206) 53.728 ms 58.446 ms 58.866 ms 12 [AS0] sl-internap-96007-0.sprintlink.net (144.232.154.206) 60.127 ms 56.133 ms 58.847 ms 13 [AS10912] border1.po1-20g-bbnet1.lax010.pnap.net (216.52.255.13) 59.916 ms [AS10912] border1.po2-20g-bbnet2.lax010.pnap.net (216.52.255.103) 55.250 ms 59.200 ms 14 * * * 15 * * * Speed Tests All of the below speed tests were taken at the same location, one after the other. I'd say that I pummeled the network, but my guess is I'm the only person on the tower, or close to it! Fort Worth - One Source: http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073517462.png Fort Worth - Charter: http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073518596.png Dallas - SoftLayer: http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073520136.png Dallas - 10gb.ru: http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073521195.png Dallas - Partnership Broadband: http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073522239.png Dallas - FrostHost: http://www.speedtest.net/result/2073524238.png So yeah, phenomenal speeds at this time of day. Latency and jitter are both very low, giving me an Internet experience that pretty much feels like I'm using the fiber connection that the Sprint cell site is connected to. It's wonderful, really…looking forward to having this all the time!

LTE speeds this evening are phenomenal. Better tham VZW (at least on downloads) and T-Mobile. I'll add comparisons and traceroutes shortly. Sent from my Galaxy SIII-32GB using Forum Runner

Quick corrections: VZW's 10x10 LtE is in the UPPER C 700 block. VZ has holdings in the lower A/B blocks but they are hit or miss coverage wise. Now those bands are apparently just bargaining chips to get them more AWS. Also, Sprint has "PowerSource" phones that used CDMA for voice and data and iDEN for PTT. Motorola's ic series of phones, to be precise. The ic902 even supported EvDO.

@Treadhead Affirmative, and I will. @Feech I will. Need to turn off LTE to do it but I will compare. Will update momentarily. EDIT: 3G speeds are still slowisb here. Actually, the word is probably "unreliable". I can hit a megabit down and 600k up with around 100ms latency to Dallas sites, but my guess is that there aren't enough EvDO carriers to keep up with the load. Voice works perfectly though. EDIT 2: Interesting fact: none of my LTE usage has shown up on My Sprint/Self Service yet. Not on 4G data, not on Mobile Hotspot.

Clerwire doesn't own any of its towers. The stuff that's being ripped out on the iDEN side is radio equipment and the racks of stuff that powers said equipment. None of which is useful to Clearwire. On a different topic, as Robert and others have said, the point of Sprint+Clearwire LTE from the Sprint perspective isn't to blanket /anything/ in Clearwire LTE. It's just to bring LTE macrocell (1900/800) utilization down to a reasonable percentage of capacity. WiFi offloading could do this in theory as well, but power output limits mean that a WiFi network has to be much more dense than even a Clear TD-LTE network, and at that point you're also fighting with everything else on the 2.4 band...interference gets high and speeds go down. In contrast, Clearwire can pump out a more powerful (watts or tens of watts instead of hundreds of milliwatts) signal in spectrum where they are the only potential interference source, allowing them to deploy onto Sprint towers at half coverage, versus on top of every single light pole like you'd need to do with WiFi. Using Clearwire for offloading also has the side benefit that users don't need to turn WiFi on and go through its network selection process (or be annoyingly prompted to do so by something like the Sprint Connection Optimizer...which is turned off on my phone!) in order for WiFi offloading to work. The phone just switches bands, seamlessly, to the higher-frequency LTE network when it needs to, and the user is none the wiser (unless they're a power user, lol). Network crisis averted...with zero user input required.

Right now I'm tethered (via the official Sprint Mobile Hotspot app; I bought the 2GB data pack last week) to Sprint LTE via my GSIII in central Fort Worth, specifically 1709 E Hattie St (yes, bad part of town...it's a mission trip). I also have LTE on my iPad on Verizon, plus HSPA+ (not sure if it's dual-carrier) on my T-Mobile ZTE Rocket 3.0. Over the next few days, when I find the time, I'll be pounding all three carriers' networks with speed tests, traceroutes, etc. and will post with the results that I find. Results have been encouraging so far...I've been able to hit 27 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up (see this speedtest result for example: http://www.speedtest...d/214310452.png) on the network while inside one of the buildings here, though I just hit 17 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up on SoftLayer's speedtest while WiFi tethered. Latency-wise, I've hit sub-40ms to SoftLayer in Dallas, which is a good measure of network-specific latency since SoftLayer is extremely well-connected and is pretty much right next door. I'll post a traceroute sometime tomorrow. I just did a quick ping to 4.2.2.4 (Level3 anycasted DNS, with one cluster in Dallas) and hit 25ms at one point. Crazy stuff, for a cellular network. I'm being served (according to NetMonitor) by the tower at 140 Beach St., 2.07 miles away according to Google Maps. The signal from where I'm at right now (on the second floor, inside) is in the high -80s to low -90s according to my system status in Android settings (RSRP I assume?). Side note: it appears as though NetMonitor kicks the hotspot functionality offline :/. One side note: I didn't hit LTE on my trip from DFW to here until maybe ten minutes away. I had eHRPD from the moment I turned my phone on near the E concourse, and speeds were decent (1+ Mbps). But the way we drove I didn't hit 4G until a couple dozen cell sites, and a dozen miles, later (I have my NetMonitor logs turned on). So yeah...I can see why people are kvetching about LTE coverage being nowhere near complete in the DFW market EDIT 1: For some odd reason tethering seems to sporadically drop its connectivity (solution: restart tethering, reconnect my computer). Other than that, the web browsing experience is like I'm sitting on my home connection. Which is saying a lot...I have a $115/mo cable connection hooked to a $130 (today's dollars) 802.11n high power router

My guess is that AT&T will do the exact same thing with individual plans that Verizon did once they launch their version of Share Everything. If you want a reasonable individual plan, you'll need to use a prepaid provider if you want service on AT&T or VZW.