Sprint responds to controversial 4G speed tests pitting Verizon’s LTE against WiMAX

By on Apr 4, 2011 at 12:51 PM
Exclusive April 4, 2011

BGR on Friday reported on a massive 1,000-test 4G speed study conducted by BTIG Research analyst Walter Piecyk and his team. Piecyk’s controversial study found that Verizon Wireless’ new 4G LTE network handily beat Sprint’s 4G WiMAX network in the head-to-head speed tests. The tests used the mobile hotspot functions on Verizon’s HTC ThunderBolt and Sprint’s HTC EVO 4G, and found that Verizon’s 4G network averaged 9Mbps down and 5Mbps up while Sprint’s 4G speeds hovered around 1Mbps in each direction. With regard to Sprint and its WiMAX network, these findings are not in line with BGR’s experience. As such, we reached out to Sprint for comment.

“In a word, we find these tests inaccurate,” Sprint spokesperson Stephanie Vinge-Walsh told BGR. “We work closely with an independent third party research company which reports regularly to us on real-world, scientifically tested speeds and the results we see do not match what Piecyk found. We’ve recently seen speeds in NYC (inclusive of New Jersey) averaging 4-5Mbps download.” Recent unscientific speed tests performed by BGR in and around New York City found that Sprint’s 4G WiMAX network consistently delivered between 3 and 5.5Mbps down and around 1.5Mbps up. While we did find Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network to be significantly faster than that during our review of the HTC ThunderBolt, our tests support Sprint’s stance and further suggest that BTIG’s testing may have been flawed.

Sprint’s full statement is as follows:

In a word, we find these tests inaccurate.

We work closely with an independent third party research company which reports regularly to us on real-world, scientifically tested speeds and the results we see do not match what Piecyk found. We’ve recently seen speeds in NYC (inclusive of New Jersey) averaging 4-5Mbps download.

The Verizon 4G LTE network is very new so no one has any fully time-tested data on it yet. As their network gets loaded and more than just one smartphone comes forward on their network, we can better assess its capabilities. In the early days of 4G for Sprint, we saw some very high speed numbers when the Network was launched (much higher than our current speed claims) but what ultimately matters to customers is a consistent, long-standing experience based on a network loaded with customers.

While speed tests will come and go, Sprint continues to offer consumers a dependable 4G network, more 4G devices and a better 4G value – with the only truly unlimited 4G – and we will continue to invest in expanding and enhancing Sprint 4G.

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  • JD

    AHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
    I call BULL SHIT!!!!
    Seriously now, this has to be my favorite quote…”While speed tests will come and go, Sprint continues to offer consumers a dependable 4G network, more 4G devices and a better 4G value”
    Really Sprint? Really? You’re gonna go with the “their speed tests are inaccurate because they only have one type of smartphone” excuse?
    Hey, maybe they don’t have to worry about only one smartphone because they have over 90 million customer’s on their network and almost 2 million customer’s with the Thunderbolt. How many customer’s started your 4G network? 200,000? And people are still leaving Sprint because of the unreliable service?
    That’s what I thought.
    They also have the iphone and 3 – 4 other 4G phones coming soon. What do you have? A 4G network thats an average 8 times slower? Keep up the good executive decisions by choosing WiMax over LTE. Keep trying to rope in T-Mobile or try selling yourself at $5 a share over to AT&T like the sad puppy dog you really are. I wouldn’t pay $2 a share.
    Ciao -
    JD

    • Anonymous

      Sheesh… take a chill pill man. Price always wins out I’m afraid whether its offering a company a load of money to buy them out or paying $10 cheaper for a phone service over a competitor. AT&T, Verizon are great for globe trotters, but Sprint, Tmo, US Cellular are great for local service providers. I’ve had Sprint for 6yrs and have never had a problem. I enjoy the savings at the pump and the customer service has always been fabulous. Dan Hess turned AT&T into a dynamic company. Now we are starting to see the fruit of his hard work coming out in Sprint. He isn’t narrow minded or full of himself. He is a strategic thinker and we are now seeing that come in his views of 4g technology, handsets, pricing, and even his new plan of wooing customers by pretty much paying off their termination fees from other carriers. Sprint will start being a dominate player here soon. How that plays out in the end no one really knows, but you can’t put quality in mixed with great execution and end up with a crappy product.

  • WillT

    The problem with WiMax is that it can’t operate higher bitrates over a long distance. It’s either/or, and there’s a lack of balance in between. It’s not a huge shocker that Verizon’s LTE network pull better speeds.

    It’s like how all other providers claim they can provide 4G speeds with 3G tech. Producing the speed isn’t a problem. I know Verizon’s network isn’t as saturated with 4G devices, but even the technology allows them to pull more consistent speeds over a wider range.

    WiMax is almost like DSL, you can have either range or speed. There’s a lack of balance inbetween.

  • Jcaf77

    It probably depends on the city where i live being a msim city but ntt as big as nyc speeds are horrendous 3g is a joke at about 200kbps on avg i believe 4was recently launched probably running at about 1mbps this was a no go for me and switched to tmobile 3g speeds are about 1mbps – 3 This

  • Snwbrdcrzy

    It is funny how a majority of Verizon fanatic/jihadists cursed spew all sorts of venom towards anyone who isn’t on Verizon. I’m here to let you know, it’s ok. The general public understands that you weren’t breastfed or your dad wasn’t interested about your amazing World of Aircraft skills. Take a moment and relax. It’s called competition in a free market society. It doesn’t always work, it often disappoints, but competition exists for a reason. All this hooplah translates into Sprints needs to improve its 4g concept at this point. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. Take a valium. The world is not going to end because you have pornographic fantasies about how Verizon is faster and Sprint is slow or whatever your moron ideology represents when it come to PHONES.

  • Spoken Wordâ„¢

    Sprints argument isn’t even valid due to the fact the when their 4G launched and didn’t have millions of 4G users it still wasn’t as fast as Verizon’s. If memory serves me correctly, 3-6Mbps is what was normally achieved on Sprint when it launched WiMax and that’s still slower than what Verizon gets on it’s new LTE.

  • Holdenp12

    Recognize the difference: LTE is brand new, and has maybe 50 phone users at early stages. WiMAX has been out for almost a year, and obviously gained more customers of its network than a brand new LTE service. I agree, LTE is faster, but you can’t judge LTE that has maybe four or five phones using the network against WiMAX which has over 1000 Devices using it at the same time. After a year, watch how that LTE speed drops becasue of more demand and more users. Owner of Sprint HTC EVO Shift 4G, and in NYC, I can use the network to game online, something a 1MB connection can’t do.

  • Jd

    Here’s the kicker, verizons extra speed means jack sh•t when you have a two gb data limit, you can’t do anything with this , plus verizon charges for going over, if data throttling wasn’t bad enough. I almost went with verizon then this. I don’t care for sprint but theyare the only true unlimited non capped data, if this ever changes they have to grandfather your unlimited data or let you out of your contract as I talked to sprint employee today about this. Verizons greed among the rest of the carriers makes sprint the only choice. Period

    • Spyderman200

      First off I’m a Sprint fan but Verizon’s 4g is faster and penetrates buildings a little better. The problem is that Verizon costs more and doesn’t have unlimited data. On average on Sprint WIMAX 4g I get 5-11 Mbs per sec where as on my Verizon 4g LTE I get 6-18 Mbs per sec ( they both fluctuate a lot). On average they are pretty similar except Verizon’s 4g signal is a little stronger and a smidge faster on avaerage, aka about 2-4 Mbs per sec. Either way 5-10 Mbs is plenty fast to do just about anything on a phone. Sprint has the better phone aka the EVO 3D 4G ( currently) and much more relaxed policies, plus it has cheaper phones and plans. (I think HTC phone’s are a better build quality than Motorola’s or Samsung’s, even though Samsung wins in thinness and weight). So if I had to rate the two companies over all, taking into account plan price, phones, policies, coverage, speed….. I would give Verizon a 97 and Sprint a 95. In the end I think Sprint wins because of unlimited plans, price, phone price, and extremely lax policies concerning everything (basically they don’t care if u pay them.) Verizon wins in overall speed and total coverage ( Kinda hard because Sprint roams on Verizon for FREE but….) In the end if you just care about speed… go with verizon. If unlimited data, price, and lax policies are your thing, Sprint is you friend.  Ps. If you have sprint, your coverage is the same as Verizon.  PPS. I rated Verizon higher because its technology is slightly superior speaking in technical terms. Oh by the way 4g drains the heck out of your battery on either network on any phone.

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