We’ve discussed before how Apple’s tendency to speak in “absolutes” (e.g., “the nation’s fastest”, “the world’s most advanced”) will come back to bite it eventually. There’s nothing wrong with being proud of what you produce, but Apple seems to arrogantly proclaim that any product it produces is always the “ultimate” at something.
When it comes to its iPhone, Apple often touts that AT&T’s network is “the nation’s fastest 3G network“. PCWorld recently decided to test the 3G networks of AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint in 13 different U.S. cities. What it found was that, depending on your definition, AT&T does not have the “nation’s fastest” 3G network.
The AT&T network’s download speed tested at 812 kbps, which is worse than Verizon (951 kbps) and virtually identical to Sprint (808 kbps). Sprint and Verizon are better for reliability, however, than AT&T. PCWorld’s testers found that they were able to make a connection at a reasonable, uninterrupted speed on AT&T’s network in only 68% of their tests. Sprint’s network delivered a fast connection in 90.5% of tests, and performed “especially well” in terms of speed and reliability in the western U.S. cities tested. Verizon was available in 89.8% of the tests.
In other words, if you look at upload speed, you might argue that AT&T is “the nation’s fastest” 3G network. If, however, you look at download speed (which is probably what most iPhone customers would really care about), AT&T is at best “middle of the road” among the major cellular data providers… hardly “the nation’s fastest”.
Although it’s interesting to see that an independent source has confirmed that Apple’s “nation’s fastest” claim doesn’t quite hold up, one has to wonder if this isn’t just another part of an Apple conspiracy to discredit AT&T so that it can break its iPhone agreement early and start selling the device through other carriers.