How does 4G LTE compare with DSL?

Discussion in 'Computer Hardware, Networking, and Connectivity' started by Jeff, Mar 19, 2014.

  1. Jeff

    Jeff Senior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Michigan
    I know this is a broad question and probably still very location specific, but I'm wondering how others who have either Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, or T-Mobile 4G LTE and use it on their laptop find their connections compared to their hardwired DSL connections.

    I'm wondering how fast and consistent major 4G LTE plans are now for work compared to your DSL connection.

    What I'm getting at is that I'm wondering how well a big 4G LTE data plan and a mobile hotspot device would work for me traveling to various locations where I couldn't rely on having a DSL or Cable connection but need to get major work done and transfer large pdfs up and down. And I'm wondering if I need to get one ATT and one Verizon for example in case one is too slow to use in different areas. The upload and download speeds advertised look impressive now on 4G LTE, but can you generally count on consistent fast speeds and reliable file transfers?
     
  2. Jeff

    Jeff Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2006
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    Location:
    Michigan
    I got setup on ATT for now whose 4G is actually HSPA+ rather than LTE. The speeds I get on speedtest.net from the ATT 4G setup are 5.85 Mb/s download and 1.34 Mb/s upload speed (and 88 ms of latency). I ordered a unite mobile hotspot to see if that gets me anything better than my iphone personal hotspot since the plan for it offers more data/dollar than the phone plan I have.
     
  3. Jeff

    Jeff Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2006
    Messages:
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    Location:
    Michigan
    Verizon is giving me the best speed with a novatel mifi hotspot.

    Best speed so far is 30.10 Mb/s download and 17.37 Mb/s upload speed on verizon's 4G LTE.
    That was on a fairly unloaded tower; used it while traveling 1500 miles and more typical results were around 9 to 12 Mb/s download and 6 to 8 Mb/s upload.

    While traveling I also got to test my new AT&T unite pro hotspot (netgear) and on ATT 4G LTE as opposed to the AT&T "4G" HSPA+ that I have on the ATT tower here and on ATT 4G LTE I got 9.59 Mb/s download and 2.69 Mb/s upload. Faster than the HSPA+ but not nearly as fast as the Verizon 4G LTE. The ATT 4G did have more consistent ping times than the verizon which had a few 900 ms pings thrown in. But the verizon speeds overall were far more impressive.