Report finds iPhone 4S Internet use fastest on AT&T

By Dan Gaul November 18, 2011

A new report from Metrico Wireless looked at how the brand-new iPhone 4S performed on the three major U.S. carriers currently offering the device…and found some variations that might be significant for anyone still up in the air over what carrier they might want with their iPhone. Overall, Metrico found Verizon edges out AT&T and Sprint for success placing and maintaining voice calls; however, Sprint edged out Verizon and AT&T for voice call quality, and AT&T beat both Verizon and Sprint for data upload and download and general Web browsing.

However, it’s important to note that Metrico generally found the iPhone 4S very reliable across all carriers, with 100 percent or near-100 percent success rates on downloads, uploads, and Web browsing, particularly when stationary. And, in Metrico’s tests, the iPhone 4S outperformed more than 70 percent of competing 3G smartphones tested on all three major providers.

Metrico says it performed over 21,000 Web page loads, uploaded and downloaded more than 8,000 files (both while mobile and stationary), and placed about 6,000 voice calls as part of its testing. Interestingly, although AT&T’s iPhone 4S generally won in Web browsing speeds, the company found the iPhone 4S on AT&T substantially outperformed the iPhone 4 in download speeds by “a considerable margin.”

Unsurprisingly, Metrico also found that staying in one place helps a bunch with download speeds, especially with the iPhone 4 available on AT&T and Verizon.

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Dan Gaul is the co-founder and Chief Technical Officer (CTO) for Digital Trends Media Group, a Portland, Oregon-based…

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