Gizmodo reports that in consistent testing of
Sprint's 3G network in eight cities selected by the blog showed Sprint unequivocally beating both AT&T and Verizon in download
performance speeds.
"On download performance Sprint wins overall, beating AT&T five cities
to three, and beating Verizon in four cities," said Wilson Rothman,
Gizmodo Features Editor. "Proving that Sprint is a serious contender in
almost any location... they should be taken seriously as a 3G and
4G data service provider."
The process for Gizmodo's test involved passing three mobile broadband
cards - one each from AT&T, Sprint and Verizon - between testers in
eight cities: Austin, Boston, New York, Portland, Raleigh-Durham, San
Francisco and the Bay Area, Chicago and Seattle. Testers chose up to
five locations in each city, including suburban locations, where they
tested network connectivity by running a series of five bandwidth tests
with each device. Testers then followed the bandwidth tests up with an
auxiliary battery of repeated pageload and file download tests in order
to verify the earlier bandwidth readings.
"This may not be a clean-room lab study, but we kept firm to our methods
and the results speak to that," wrote Rothman. "There's a reason this
may be the most information anyone has gathered, independently, on the
subject."
Sprint's Sierra Wireless Compass 597 was selected by Gizmodo for the
testing process. As the nation's smallest USB modem for mobile broadband
networks, the Sierra Wireless Compass 597 USB modem is about the size of
a pack of gum. It features automatic installation of Sprint SmartViewS
software and one-touch activation on the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network
for both Mac and PC users, making it quick and easy to get up and
running.