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4G Networks 4G Review of Reviews: HTC ThunderBolt Bests Samsung Galaxy S 4G, HTC EVO 4G, HTC Inspire & Motorola Atrix

By Lynn Walford 04/03/2011

Verizon 4G LTE Rated 5Gs out of 5Gs by Wireless and Mobile News' Review of Reviews

Almost all carriers in the United States are claiming to have the fastest 4G network, including the carriers T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T and Verizon.

Reviewers have done a great job of reviewing the top 4G smartphones, such as the Motorola Atrix, HTC Inspire, HTC ThunderBolt, Samsung Galaxy S 4G and HTC EVO 4G. However, smartphone data speeds can only be as fast as the network allows. We've reviewed all the reviews of 4G that we could find, with the following ratings:

Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews of Top Carrier 4G Service Ratings

Verizon 4G LTE - GGGGG Rated 5Gs out of 5Gs.
T-Mobile HSPA+ - GGGG Rated 4Gs out of 5Gs.
Sprint WiMAX - GGGG Rated 4Gs out of 5Gs (note: you pay $10 extra a month for access).
AT&T HSUPA - GGG Rated 3G's out of 5Gs.

Root Metrics tested the HTC Inspire, HTC ThunderBolt, HTC EVO 4G and Samsung Galaxy S 4G and found the Verzion 4G network to be by far the fastest, averaging between 4 and 14.5 times faster than the competition in downloads and between 4.7 and 49.3 times faster in uploads. Verizon showed an average success rate of 100%, Sprint 90%, T-Mobile 80% and AT&T 80%.

BTIF Research tested two 4G smartphones - the HTC EVO 4G and HTC ThunderBolt - when used as mobile hotspots. Verizon's HTC ThunderBolt was almost nine times faster than the Sprint WiMAX network with the EVO 4G. BTIF also found that ThunderBolt has better battery life than the EVO 4G.

The HTC Inspire and Motorola Atrix do not have 4G enabled yet, so they are at the bottom of the 4G barrel until AT&T activates the service in April.

Rich Jaroslovsky from Bloomberg, in a primer, notes that 4G definitions were ignored by carriers. He did some testing in San Francisco and found Verizon to be the fastest, followed by Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T. He noted that, when the data freeways get busier, test results may change.

Wilson Rothman at MSNBC tested the Sprint (HTC EVO Shift 4G), AT&T (HTC Inspire iPhone 4G), and T-Mobile 4G data network speeds, and T-Mobile came in first. The HTC EVO Shift 4G didn't do well. The winner was the T-Mobile Galaxy S 4G with download speeds as high as 10 megabits per second.

Many of these smartphones are mentioned in the Wireless and Mobile News' top Android an' Droid phones now and later.