Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. Best-ofs

4G Wireless Carriers Compared: Sprint vs. T-Mobile vs. Verizon

By


Launched

September 2008

March 23, 2010

December 5, 2010

Coverage

Currently covers 74 cities. Claims it will cover 120 million people by the end of 2010.

Currently 80 cities. Claims it will cover 200 million people by the end of 2010.

As of Sunday, 38 metropolitan areas and 60 airports. Claims it will cover 110 million people by the end of 2010.

Technology

WiMax

HSPA+

LTE

Advertised Speeds
  • Downloads: Claims maximum of up to 10 Mbps; averages 3 to 6 Mbps
  • Uploads: Up to 3.1 Mbps
  • Downloads: Claims speeds of up to 21 Mbps; averages 5 to 8 Mbps
  • Uploads: Up to 5.7 Mbps
  • Downloads: Claims 5 to 12 Mbps (no average yet)
  • Uploads: Claims 2 to 5 Mbps (no average yet)

Hardware
  • 4G USB Device U1910
  • 4G Desktop Modem CPEi25150 by Motorola
  • Samsung Epic 4G, Galaxy S phone
  • HTC EVO 4G
  • Cradlepoint MBR-1000 4G Broadband Router (for business)
  • webConnect Rocket 2.0 laptop stick
  • webConnect Rocket laptop stick
  • myTouch 4G smartphone
  • G2 smartphone
  • Dell Inspiron Mini 10 4G netbook
  • LG VL600 (4G LTE USB modem)
  • Pantech UML290 (4G LTE USB modem)

Rates
  • Unlimited data plan (within the Sprint network) – (starts at) $49.99 month for USB modems, Evo 4G and Epic 4G users pay $10 monthly surcharge on top of existing data fees
  • 5 GB/month – $50
  • 10 GB/month – $80
  • Unlimited data plan, reduced speeds if exceeding 5GB/month – $49.99/month for new customers, $39.99 for existing
  • 200 MB/month, 10-cent fee for each MB over – $29.99/month for new customers, $24.99 for existing
  • Prepaid mobile broadband plans: $10 week pass for 100MB; $30 month pass for 300MB; $50 month pass for 1GB
  • 2.0 Laptop stick – $199.99 no contract, $49.99 (after mail-in rebate) with two year contract
  • 5GB/month – $50
  • 10GB/month – $80
    (both plans include $10/GB overage fee)
  • 4G USB modems – $49 (after $50 mail-in rebate) and two year contract

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Molly McHugh
Molly McHugh
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Before coming to Digital Trends, Molly worked as a freelance writer, occasional photographer, and general technical lackey…
T-Mobile still has the fastest 5G, but its rivals are catching up
T-Mobile smartphone.

For most of 2023, we’ve seen median 5G speeds among the big three carriers remain fairly stable, leading us to believe that things were beginning to reach a plateau. However, it now seems that this may only be true at the very top end of the 5G speed race.

Today, Ookla released its latest market research on 5G speeds for the third quarter of 2023, and it’s an interesting mix of surprising and not-so-surprising developments in the 5G market.

Read more
T-Mobile’s huge lead in 5G speeds isn’t going anywhere
OnePlus Nord N300 5G speed test.

It looks like 2023 could shape up to be the year that we reach "peak 5G." While T-Mobile still enjoys a very healthy lead over its rivals, we're no longer seeing significant speed increases from any of the big three U.S. carriers.

That's not surprising for T-Mobile and Verizon since they now cover more than two-thirds of the U.S. population. AT&T still has room to grow, yet it seems to be in a resting phase rather than an expansion one right now.

Read more
The 5G speed race is over and T-Mobile has won
Cell phone tower shooting off pink beams with a 5G logo next to it.

Every few months, a new market analysis comes out comparing the top 5G performance and availability among U.S. carriers. Each time, we wonder if the latest report will finally topple T-Mobile, which has held a commanding lead over rivals AT&T and Verizon for years. Yet, with each new report, T-Mobile pulls farther ahead while AT&T and Verizon are left in the dust.

With that in mind, Opensignal's latest 5G Experience Report doesn't bring too many surprises, at least in broad strokes. T-Mobile continues to deliver 5G download speeds that are more than twice those of any other carrier and more than twice the 5G availability. This means you won't just get faster performance on T-Mobile's 5G network, but you're more likely to be able to find a 5G connection.

Read more