GizmoCrunch.com

The iPhone 4S doesn't support WiMAX or LTE so what the three US carriers have in common with each other when it comes to the Apple phone is their 3G network. Of course, they are only the same theoretically and the speeds differ slightly from one another. Now the folks over at GottaBeMobile have setup a simple 3G test for the three iPhone 4S carrier variants to see which achieves the best results. The comparison is done using the SpeedTest.net app.

iPhone 4S speed test: AT&T vs Verizon vs Sprint

The tests were carried out in the San Francisco Bay Area and while all three smartphones performed well enough, the AT&T iPhone 4S stole the show, both in terms of download and upload speeds. The AT&T iPhone achieved best results of 3.87Mbps down and 1.12Mbps up, making it almost twice as fast as Sprint that was the slowest of the pack. Results of GBM's test are below:

First iPhone 4S speed test - Sprint: 1.23Mbps download, .91 Mbps upload; Verizon iPhone 4S: 1.18Mbps download, .24 Mbps upload; AT&T iPhone 4S: 1.80Mbps download, 1.13 Mbps upload

Second iPhone 4S speed test - Sprint iPhone 4s: 1.09 Mbps download, .85 Mbps upload; Verizon iPhone 4S: 1.75 Mbps, .43 Mbps upload; AT&T iPhone 4s: 3.87 Mbps, 1.11 Mbps upload

Third iPhone 4S speed test - Sprint iPhone 4S: .98 Mbps download, .86 Mbps upload; Verizon iPhone 4S: 2.22 Mbps download, .41 Mbps upload; AT&T iPhone 4S: 3.12 Mbps download, 1.12 Mbps upload

[source]