Is 4G wireless just a bunch of hype? Apparently not.
The data and Web performance of the LTE networks at AT&T and Verizon Wireless are five times greater than on their 3G networks, Metrico Wireless announced this week in a report, "LTE: The Subscriber Experience – Year One."
But Metrico cautioned that higher data speeds don't always mean a richer experience for the customer.
"The fastest data device may not provide the best Web experience or the best video performance," said the company, which specializes in measuring the performance of devices.
Case in point: Having measured the performance of several AT&T and Verizon LTE smartphones, Metrico found a significant variation among devices in video performance. The irony is that such variation didn't correlate to data speeds.
The results indicate "that onboard device attributes – including video processor and rendering software – play a key role in the subscriber's video experience," Metrico said. "In general, the subscriber experience is not simply driven by the network or the device, but by the combination of the two."
Metrico measured the performance of AT&T and Verizon LTE smartphones on battery life, data performance, video performance and Web browsing. Handsets analyzed included the HTC Vivid and Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket from AT&T and the HTC ThunderBolt, Motorola DROID BIONIC and Samsung DROID CHARGE from Verizon.
"Even devices with similar specifications connected to similar network technologies still demonstrate variation in performance," Metrico said, "underscoring the criticality of measuring performance at the subscriber level."
