The LTE Problem

Let us start with some of the claims AT&T makes on its website:

"AT&T 4G LTE - The Nation's Most Reliable 4G LTE Network"

What is 4G LTE?

It stands for Long Term Evolution, but what it really means is speeds up to 10x faster than 3G.

It lets you stream clear, crisp video faster than ever before, download songs in a few beats, apps almost instantly, and so much more.

So when I recently replaced my Nexus 4 with a Oneplus One, I was somewhat excited to finally have an LTE enabled phone. But at least in Central Florida the LTE speed on AT&T is a huge disappointment. It seems like AT&T (and possibly other carriers) have sold way more LTE phones than their network can handle. This leads to the absurd situation that I almost always get faster speed when switching back to 3G.

But pictures (or rather a video in this case) tell more than a thousand words. It shows you two speed tests I made today in the early afternoon at my office, the first one on LTE, the second one on 3G:

And yes, my phone is set up correctly. During off times (like early mornings on the weekends) the speeds go up to 20+ Mbps....but even that is not that great. I understand that my results are not statistically representative, but at least in Orlando and Jacksonville this is what it is during regular hours. In other parts of the country people seem to get upwards of 50 Mbps (e.g. here) but I personally stay on 3G (and save battery) until this situation improves.