Yesterday, Gizmodo posted the results of their 12-city 3G speed test. Last year, they did an 8-city test, declaring Sprint the overall winner. This year, the results were a bit different. Overall, AT&T came out on top, destroying other carriers in upload speed, and narrowly beating Verizon in overall download speed. The cities tested, along with their results, can be seen below.
Gizmodo says that their tests were conducted in five locations from each city (only three in Maui and Chicago), using the best 3G modems that the carriers provided. Using various tools, the networks were put through a series of tests--bandwidth and latency, page load, and download. In 9 out of 12 cities, AT&T and Verizon took either first or second in download speed. When it came to upload, AT&T won in all cities. It"s interesting to note, however, that in New York, where T-Mobile has already turned on their higher speed capabilities, they came in just a tad behind AT&T in both categories, showing a lot of promise for the future of their data network.
It seems that AT&T"s "fastest 3G network" claim holds up. Gizmodo also notes that all networks had issues here and there, but AT&T wasn"t any more or less reliable than Verizon. However, network capacity and reliability was not actually tested and cannot be determined by any of the above results. Once carries finish rolling out their latest technologies, such as HSPDA+, WiMax, and LTE, the landscape is sure to change. Gizmodo plans to conduct the same sort of speed tests again, when 4G adoption becomes more widespread.