PC Magazine recently got a chance to test out Sprint's forthcoming LTE network. The network, which is scheduled to roll out by 2014, is a very important investment for Sprint — AT&T and Verizon are already making progress on their implementations of LTE, and even T-Mobile has its speedy HSPA+ network to lean on for a while. Fortunately, PC Magazine's results should give Sprint customers a justification for their patience.

The tests were done using an LG Viper 4G LTE and average download speeds hovered between 9 and 13Mbps. Upload speeds came to a passable 2.19Mbps, which puts Sprint's LTE service faster than T-Mobile HSPA+, but shy of AT&T and Verizon's LTE. This likely comes down to the Spint's network using 5MHz segments of spectrum instead of the 10Mhz bands of the two larger LTE carriers. In general, this bodes well for Sprint customers — while the rollout will take some time, there is at least light at the end of the 3G tunnel.