One of the big perks about my new hometown, Houston, is that it’s one of the select few cities where Sprint’s high speed LTE network has been rolled out. This replaces the original high-speed WiMax network, largely spanked by AT&T and Verizon’s LTE networks. Heck, in some cases T-Mobile’s HSPA+ has beaten Sprint’s WiMax, and that’s not even true 4G. One advantage LTE in general has had on any network until this past September has been a smaller pool of devices using the bandwidth. However, with the epic sales numbers on the Samsung Galaxy S III and the iPhone 5, you can expect LTE to take a hit in most areas. But does it still beat WiMax?
Using Ookla’s Speedtest.net app and a Virgin Mobile EVO V on Sprint’s WiMax network, speeds hover between 4 to 5 MBps for downloads, 1 to 2 MBps for uploads, and ping times between 100 to 140 milliseconds. Comparatively, Sprint’s 3G network is a little over 1 MBps down, not even a half a megabyte up, and pings are in the 170ms range. It should be noted that this was outdoors. WiMax reception would degrade visibly indoors in most areas and could drop altogether in some cases.
“Ah, my old nemesis. Walls!”
LTE, on the other hand, is far more pervasive. There are areas where WiMax connectivity came through but there’s no LTE signal; for the most part, I was on 4G the whole time. Using a Samsung Galaxy S III graciously provided by Samsung for our review, I was able to get, well, a mixed bag. Pings go down to 60 to 65 milliseconds, close to half the speed of WiMax. Upload and download times are a bit inconsistent though, at times sputtering in at 1.9 MB and surging up to 6.8 MB at other times. The latter is impressive, but what’s not is that the phone was in the same exact spot between those two tests, and they were done ten minutes apart. That’s major inconsistency. Uploads fare about the same, with a low speed of 2.9 MB but with a top speed of 7 MBps.
These LTE tests took place over a week after the iPhone 5’s launch to make sure that the LTE segment of Sprint’s network was nice and crowded.
Although WiMax is slower and has issues with indoor use, those slower speeds being a bit more consistent than Sprint’s LTE is a surprising find. With that said, LTE is the better value. Yes, you can get oodles of Sprint WiMax phones for free and have decent high-speed coverage now. However, those high-speed phones are all rather long in the tooth, and most lack what we would consider key features, like NFC. More importantly, those free phones all tend to have fairly horrible battery life when running on WiMax, and they run hot. My only exception would be if you’re looking for a 4G modem; if you’re staying in WiMax served areas, those cheap yet high-speed phones are a fine value.
Although a wireless modem with a limited usage area feels a bit confining.
While Sprint’s LTE network is still rolling out, the phones employed are current models, with desirable feature sets. Additionally, some of the new phones have pretty significant battery life improvements, like the Galaxy S III test unit. Don’t run out and buy an LTE phone before it’s rolled out to your area though! In fact, if you live in an area without Sprint LTE, hold off on locking yourself into a new phone for two years, if at all possible, until LTE goes live in your location. The fact of the matter is that new, amazing phones come out every day. If you can wait until your area has LTE, you can likely get an amazing deal on phones that would be hundreds of dollars now or get whatever is the hot new item then.
However, if budget is not an issue and patience is, snag yourself a good Sprint LTE phone now. Who knows, maybe you can find a good deal.
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