Recently PCworld took snapshot measurements of wireless service in 13 cities--Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and Washington, D.C, to see which companies are currently delivering on the promised faster speeds.



Here are their findings:

• AT&T's new LTE network turned in the fastest download speeds of any 4G service. Its 3G service was very competitive, too--and those two results help make a strong case for AT&T dual-mode 3G/4G phones.

• T-Mobile's HSPA+ 21 service won in the 3G bracket of our study, and the company's high-end HSPA+ 42 service competed reasonably well with other providers' 4G service.

• Verizon makes 4G service available in many more locations than other providers do, and its 4G upload speeds are top-of-the-line, but its 4G download speeds don't match AT&T's. And Verizon's 3G speeds are not improving much, especially when compared to the competition.

• Sprint was consistently a laggard in our wireless speed derby. The company seems to have virtually stopped developing its existing 3G and 4G networks while looking for a way to make the transition from its outdated WiMax 4G technology to LTE.





3G and 4G Wireless Speed Showdown: Which Networks Are Fastest? | PCWorld