AT&T 4G LTE Speed Preview: 28.87Mbps Downloads

A lot of us were disappointed when AT&T decided to dress its faster HSPA+ network up in 4G clothing when we all know the real 4G service from AT&T won't land until LTE is rolled out. We haven't been terribly impressed with that "4G" HSPA+ network at this point either. It sounds like we might be impressed with the real 4G network when LTE finally rears its head from AT&T. I only hope that the real world speeds come close to matching the theoretical speeds promised.

GigaOm got a demonstration of the LTE network in Plano, Texas at the AT&T corporate offices. The publication says that on the download side speeds were 28.7 Mbps and the upload side of things was around 10.4 Mbps. Those speeds are every impressive and if they hold true in the real world uploads will be faster than the download speed of the faux 4G HSPA+ service we have right now. AT&T's network will be faster than Verizon's promised speeds too.

Verizon has said that the speed of its LTE network will be in the 5-12 Mbps range on download and 5 Mbps upload. I would expect that real world LTE speeds for AT&T will be more in line with what Verizon is promising. If the rumor that an LTE iPhone won't hit until 2012 turns to to be true, I would expect the roll out of AT&T's LTE networks to land about the same time. With the leaning on the iPhone, AT&T does for its revenues, I expect that device will come alongside the LTE network for the carrier.

[via GigOm]