Need advice about 3g

ardchoille · Mar 29, 2012

I'm planning to buy my first iPhone 4s next Wednesday and need info about data speeds and carriers.

I'm with Sprint and have two Android devices (I'm jumping ship, Android has gone down the drain). On Sprint's 3g connection it takes almost 30 seconds to open google's homepage, both of my devices are horribly slow on Sprint's 3g connection. Is this because these are Android devices or is Sprint's 3g really that slow? My other choice is Verizon and I'm wondering if their 3g speeds are any faster.

I'm new so forgive me if this was posted in the wrong place.

zig9449 · Mar 29, 2012

Personally I think it depends where you are, Perhaps the data speed would be just as slow no matter what phone you bought. tho I know nothing of Sprint's data speeds.

I have verizon, and the speed is great "most of the time". When I'm ina poor signal area it can be a little slow, but it's never painfully slow.

I happen to have a pretty sh**ty data signal in my apartment, and sometimes it takes up 2-4 seconds for the google home page to load. And that when its a rainy crappy day (like it usually is0. On a nice sunny day, my google home page loads rite up in 1-2 seconds......On a weak 3G signal.

When I'm in an area where I have full bars, every web page loads pretty much instantly.

But like I said........................It just depends where you are.

ardchoille · Apr 9, 2012

Update: Ok, here's what I have found out about this issue. I was on the Evo 4G (Android 2.3.5), on Sprint's WiMax network, before buying the iPhone 4S and signing up with Verizon. I ran the speed test app several times on both devices (Evo 4G and iPhone 4S) and found that Verizon's 3G network is faster than Sprint's WiMax network. I've also noticed that I don't have less than full bars anywhere in Seattle, I don't remember ever having full bars on the #vo 4G in the year that I owned it. Verizon's network seems to work much better for me.

perezr10 · Apr 17, 2012

Objective tests by PC Magazine rate AT&T 3G as being waaaay faster than Verizon. Of course, Verizon 4G LTE is faster than AT&T 3G, but if you're just sticking to 3G and you have good coverage, I wouldn't even think of going with Verizon. It's about half as fast as AT&T. But hey, it might be different where you live.