Sprint 4G LTE Speed Comparison
Even though I really needed to upgrade my old Sprint Epic 4G to a newer smartphone for a while, I didn’t get the Samsung Galaxy S3 because Sprint did not have 4G LTE available in Los Angeles until very recently. And without 4G LTE, the phone would be using 3G and very slow.
Now that I’ve upgraded to the Samsung Galaxy S4, let’s see if 4G LTE stands up to the hype. First, let’s see how fast my home WiFi network is using the SpeedTest app as shown below:
And now, the same test using 4G LTE from an enclosed building in the West LA area as shown below:
As you can see, the speed is less than spectacular. In fact, the old Sprint 4G Wimax gave results from 3.27 to 6.13 Mbps, which is faster than this slow result.
Next, I tried it outside still in the same area with the following results:
As you can see, this time, the 4G LTE was actually faster than my WiFi at home.
After several tests, it’s clear that Sprint’s 4G LTE is still very spotty in Los Angeles. In some areas, it’s below 1 Mbps, and basically unusable, while in other areas, it’s very fast.
Sprint has a long way to go before they are anywhere close to the coverage of Verizon or AT&T for 4G LTE. But starting up their coverage in Los Angeles is the first step. At least that’s how I see it here in LA.