iPhone 4S data speeds, Web browsing fastest on AT&T, test shows

A study measuring the performance of the iPhone 4S on the three major US wireless carriers found AT&T to be superior in Web browsing and data downloads and uploads when compared to Apple's latest smartphone on either the Verizon Wireless or Sprint network. iPhone newcomer Sprint was found to be superior with its iPhone 4S for network voice quality on the uplink (when the user is speaking), but Sprint was also about five times slower in Web browsing and data downloads than AT&T, according to the study released by Metrico Wireless, a mobile performance measurement company.

Verizon finished in the middle on those data tests, but trailed the other two carriers in voice quality. Metrico measured five performance factors shortly after the iPhone 4S was launched on all three carriers in October: whether calls could be connected and held; voice quality; data performance; Web browsing by page load speeds and video performance. In all, Metrico performed 21,000 Web page downloads nationwide with the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 over the networks of the nation's largest three carriers. Metrico also ran more than 8,000 data download and upload tests and generated about 6,000 voice calls with recorded human voices. The tests were performed in a certified lab as well as several locations in five unnamed cities that Metrico called "representative of [network] conditions nationwide." Metrico did not pronounce any carrier a winner or loser in the study, noting that each had strengths. (11/18)