Here’s something we don’t get to say that often: AT&T has been ranked the best at something.
Specifically, a company called Metrico found that the iPhone 4S on AT&T managed to score the top download speeds compared to the same phone on Sprint and Verizon.
The report also noted that AT&T failed in other areas, like voice network stability and quality. Nevertheless, it is a small victory for AT&T fans.
Metrico says it ran more than 8,000 data download and upload tests, ultimately finding that AT&T managed to grab data speeds of five times more than Sprint, and twice as fast as Verizon.
Sprint has come under fire for its slow iPhone 4S speeds, leading to speculation that the carrier is purposefully restricting data strength on the device to lower its own internal costs. Sprint is the only carrier to offer “unlimited” data service for an iPhone product.
Of course, AT&T’s big sore spot has always been its quality of voice service. And in that category, Metrico found it placed dead last. Just as virtually every other comparison study of mobile carriers has shown, AT&T’s rate of dropped calls, quality of voice service while connected, and whether there are any troubles placing a call.
In those categories, Sprint was the leader, leaving Verizon as smack dab in the middle on all Metrico-tested metrics.
So if you want an iPhone that’ll give you the best voice service, go with Sprint. If you want an iPhone for the fastest data speeds possible, choose AT&T. And if you want an iPhone that does everything competently, you’ll want to look at Verizon.
