You Ain't Got a Thing if You Ain't Got that Ping

I have been testing a Verizon Pantech 4G LTE device for work. Basically, to ensure that it delivers 3G performance as good as our current devices and a solid 4G performance when that is available. Andrew suggested that I run a speedtest.net test on it and compare it to our Cox cable internet service. The results are not that impressive . . . for Cox. Here are the comparison points:


Cox


Verizon

You will note that the ping on the Verizon card is pretty bad and that could very negatively impact gaming performance. That said, its individual performance exceeds that of my cable internet service. Go Cox!

The one very important aspect that the above test doesn't address is the amount of bandwidth one gets for your service level. In fact, try to find it here:

Its not there for Cox. Wonderful. So what are the limits? You can chat with a live representative and get an answer:

So then, what are they for Verizon 4G LTE? If this story is correct, they are 4GB for $30/month, 10 GB for $50 and 20 GB for $80. Not awesome. Especially when a single download (Mac OSX Lion) can be 4 GB. Or an HD movie can be a couple of GB.

For now, it looks like sticking with a wireline makes the most sense, but only from a data cap perspective.