Sprint is going to be launching its LTE wireless network in a few US cities later this year, but the company is already letting one media outlet test its network before the launch. PCMag.com reports that it was allowed to test the company"s LTE speeds in five Atlanta locations earlier this month.
The report says that the speeds are 25 times as fast as Sprint"s current 3G network, and that they are also much faster than Sprint"s WiMax network. However, the LTE speeds are slower compared to the speeds customers encounter that use AT&T"s LTE networks. The report claims that"s due to the fact that Sprint uses 5 MHz channels for its LTE setup; Verizon and AT&T use the 10 MHz channels in most of the cites where they offer LTE coverage.
The same report shows that Sprint"s LTE network is faster that Verizon"s but it adds that a lot more people are using Verizon"s LTE network at this stage.
Sprint is apparently aware of this issue but claim that they would rather have a good average speed for a lot of customers compared to higher peak speeds that only a few wireless phone users could access. Sprint is already selling LTE compatible smartphones and will open its LTE network soon in six cities at first: Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, and San Antonio.
Source: PCMag | Image via PCMag