T-Mobile's Rocket 3.0 USB modem shows 25Mbps download speeds

Maybe it's just our imagination, but it feels like T-Mobile has only become more impressive since the announcement of their potential sale to AT&T. At CTIA, the crew from Laptop Magazine decided to put T-Mobile's HSPA+ 42 network to the test.

With the T-Mobile Rocket 3.0 USB modem, they achieved impressive download speeds of 42Mbps, and upload speeds of 2.7Mbps. Much to Verizon's disappointment, that download speed is better than their LTE modems. To Verizon's credit, LTE upload speeds were faster, at 5 to 12Mbps. Also, Verizon's LTE enjoys wider coverage.

While these results might not be enough to make Verizon tremble, they should be sufficient to make Sprint sweat, as their WiMax peaks at 10Mbps. T-Mobile reports that the HSPA+ 42 coverage will expand to Chicago, Long Island, and northern New Jersey in the near future. By mid-2011, they expect to cover 140 million Americans in 25 cities.

Considering the potential sale to AT&T, we're curious to see how T-Mobile's sales will fare when consumers know that T-Mobile is delivering top-notch products, but are wary of future price-changes and data caps/throttling.

source: Laptop Magazine via IntoMobile