Reader Speed Test Results

A few weeks ago a smartphonematters reader. Grant shared some SpeedTest results with us. Here is what he had to say.

Hey Bob,
I just thought I would send you a couple pictures of my latest SpeedTest results. For months and months of running speed tests, my iPhone 5 consistently gets between 9.50 and 11.00Mbps for download. I save my speed tests in the log where it shows the results of all the tests taken. Sometimes I would get in the 8’s and sometimes I would get 13-14mbps down. Never under 8mbps. Since I keep track of my results, everytime I do a speed test, I try to beat my fastest speed. For a while it was 14.15. Then I got 14.16. And for a while I have never been able to beat it. Ive come close though. So I figured in the 14’s was the fastest my phone would get. Well about 20 minutes ago I finally beat it. But not just beat it, I crushed it. I got 15.73mbps. But one bad thing is that it was actually in the high 16s and low 17s for a few seconds before it started to drop and end.

Here are some screenshots of Grant’s recent results.
IMG_9377 IMG_9378

Thanks Grant, you are running SpeedTest as a game! I always thought that would be kind of an interesting way to try to get more people to run and report SpeedTest results.

If you look closely at Grant’s screenshots, you’ll see he is getting these incredible speeds and his phone is showing a 3G data connection, not 4G LTE. Clearly grant lives in an area with great ATT network coverage.

I think Grant’s phone is actually getting a HSPA connection. For a while, ATT was marketing HSPA / HSPA+ as a 4G technology. Because ATT’s HSPA network, was fast enough to be considered 4G, they changed the iPhone 4s to display a 4G indicator, For some reason, StraightTalk changed the indicator back from 4G to 3G. I wrote about this here. I Updated My iPhone to Net10 & Straight Talk Carrier Update TFW 15.7 and Now My 4G Is Only 3G!

In fact, Grant may have even unknowingly confirmed he had a HSPA connection. Turns out late last year he was trying out an alternative app, 4Gmark, for measuring network speeds and he send me this screenshot.

granthspa

I haven’t checked out 4G Mark myself yet, but it seems to be reporting the type of connection that was available when the test was run.