PCWorld has reported this week the results of their annual 13-city 3G wireless data test, and the changes in results from last year are drastic.
Averaging the lowest average download and upload speeds last year, AT&T has brought itself back, registering the best average speeds for this year, including the best performance in 10 of the 13 cities, besting rivals Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint.
AT&T average download speed grew to 1410 kbps, and reliability increased as well.
Before posting the charts, here is how the source reports their testing:
Before getting into the details of our test results, a few words about the testing and the data. During December and January, PCWorld and our testing partner, Novarum Inc., tested the download speeds, upload speeds, and network dependability of the AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon 3G networks from 20 locations in each of 13 U.S. cities. Altogether we ran more than 51,000 separate tests covering 850 square miles of wireless cell coverage servicing 7 million wireless subscribers (see “How We Do the Testing”).
At each testing location, we connected to the 3G network via both laptops and smartphones. The laptop tests accurately measured the capacity and performance potential of a given network, while the smartphone tests approximated the real-world connection speeds users of these popular devices might experience, given the less-powerful processors and 3G radios that the devices contain.
The charts:
Result for: radios
It appears that Adam Ries, a German mathematician deceased as of 1559, has received a bill from the GEZ broadcast fee collection office demanding that the man pay his “long-overdue” TV licensing fees.
The bill was sent to the man’s former address, which is now a club set up in honor of the algebra expert.
“We received a letter saying ‘To Mr Adam Ries’ on it, with the request to pay his television and radio fees,” said Annegret Muench, who is now president of the club.
Muench, after seeing the letter, returned the letter with a note attached explaining that Ries had died 450 years earlier, while especially noting that TV had not been invented at that time. Despite her letter, the collection office sent another reminder two weeks later.
The GEZ was in the news last year for a similar incident in which Friedrich Schiller, a poet who died in 1805, was sent a bill asking him to declare “all radios and televisions in his home and pay the corresponding fees.”
Result for: radios
According to a government-commissioned report, the UK should be moving fully to digital radio beginning in 2017.
The Digital Radio Working Group (DRWG) noted however that the government must “ease current regulatory burdens before digital radio can be widely adopted.” The report found that by 2015 under 50 percent of all UK radio listeners will be using traditional analog radios to listen to FM and AM broadcasts.
The DRWG is made up of representatives from commercial radio, manufacturers, the BBC and the government.
“In the short term we believe the government should consider options for funding to support the reduction of carriage costs,” added the report.
