Apple’s iPhone 4S became the fastest-selling smartphone of all time when it launched last month. It also finally arrived on Sprint’s network, making it available from three of the four top wireless carriers in the United States. Despite the fact that we now have a single iPhone model that supports both GSM-based networks and CDMA networks, not all iPhones are created equal. A new report from performance analytics company Metrico Wireless Inc. looks at iPhone 4S performance across each of the top three carriers in the U.S. to determine where the iPhone 4S, and the previous-generation iPhone 4, shine brightest. Read on for more.

Over the past month, Metrico downloaded more than 21,000 web pages, performed over 8,000 speed tests and placed more than 6,000 voice calls from the iPhone, all while using its proprietary measurement platform to monitor performance. On the data side, AT&T crushed the competition, with maximum iPhone 4S download speeds of 6,047Kbps and a mean speed of 3,210Kbps. Verizon Wireless’ network found itself in a distant No.2 spot with a top speed of 2,371Kbps and a mean speed of 1,071Kbps, and Sprint came in last with a max speed of 1,767Kbps and a mean speed of 581Kbps.

Tests with the iPhone 4 painted the same picture, though speeds slowed at AT&T and Sprint while remaining consistent on Verizon’s network.

When testing call failure rates, Sprint found itself at the bottom once again as 3.7% of calls placed from the iPhone 4S over its network were dropped. AT&T was almost one percentage point better with a 2.8% fail rate, and Verizon Wireless’ network was found to be the most reliable with only 2.1% of test calls having failed.

Metrico found that Apple’s iPhone 4S showed mixed performance overall compared to the competition, independent of the carrier on which the phone was being used. The phone’s average dropped call rate was found to be 1.4%, poor in relation to its competition, but data task reliability was at or near 100%, a big improvement over the iPhone 4 and among the top performers in the world.

SquareTrade, a company that sells warranties for a host of products, has released a study on smartphone reliability. In analyzing the failure of just over 50,000 smartphones, the company has compiled a list detailing which OEM makes the most reliable device.

In measuring hardware durability, SquareTrade reports that, after 12-months of ownership, both BlackBerrys and iPhone 3GS’ were the least accident prone handsets. RIM’s smartphones had a 6.7% accident rate while the iPhone 3GS had a 9.4% accident rate. HTC and Motorola were tied for third amongst specific OEMs with a 12.2% accident rate. The report lists the overall rate of “other” smartphones as 10.2% and — unsurprisingly — the iPhone 4 fared the worst with a 13.8% rate.

SquareTrade also tried to measure overall smartphone reliability. As the company explains: “To arrive at overall failure rates, we looked at and combined both types of failures, accidents and normal malfunctions.” The company reports that the iPhone 4 was the most reliable smartphone after 12-months of ownership with a 2.1% failure rate followed by the iPhone 3GS and Motorola sets both boasting a 2.3% rate of failure. HTC placed third with a 3.7% failure rate and BlackBerry ended up fourth with 6.3%; the failure rate of “other smartphones” was listed at 6.7%.

Obviously some figures reported were projections, as devices like the iPhone 4 have been available for less than twelve months… but the study is still pretty interesting. Hit the jump to see some other highlights from SquareTrade.

• The iPhone 4 was the most reliable phone, with 2.1% projected to have a non-accident malfunction in the first 12 months The major makers of Android devices, Motorola and HTC, were also very reliable, with just 2.3% and 3.7%.

• BlackBerry and other smart phones were less reliable, with 6.3% and 6.7% failing in the first 12 months of use.

• Accidental damage is responsible for over 75% of smart phone failures. BlackBerry devices had the lowest one-year accident rate at 6.7%, and the iPhone 4 had the highest at 9.4%.

• The iPhone 3GS had the lowest overall failure rates, with just 11.7% failing over the course of a year, and the aggregated pool of other smart phones had the highest failure rate at 16.9%.

Reuters is reporting that Korean electronics manufacturer LG will postpone their plans to launch an Android based tablet due to reliability concerns with Google’s mobile OS. “We plan to introduce a tablet that runs on the most reliable Android version … We are in talks with Google to decide on the most suitable version for our tablet and that is not Froyo 2.2,” said an anonymous LG official. Reuters’ source went on to say that LG has yet to finalize the timing for its Android tablet play. Once thing seems certain, the Android tablet party will be fairly crowded by the time LG arrives.

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AT&T continues to boast of “the nation’s fastest 3G network” while many customers in various regions across the country seem to think differently. Dropped calls, outages, network congestion and general reliability issues continue to plague the carrier’s 3G network but today we have some good news for those of you currently with AT&T. According to one of our ninjas, AT&T is set to begin a rolling launch of its Network Settings (N-SET) Solution across all networks in the US. The roll out will begin this month. N-SET will balance traffic between the carrier’s 2G and 3G networks, thus reducing the load borne by its 3G network. Essentially, a customer who primarily uses voice services will connect via 2G even if 3G is supported by his or her handset. If and when said customer begins to actively use data services, the network will bounce him or her over to 3G. BlackBerry Bold and iPhone 3G users will not be affected by the change. Assuming all goes according to plan, N-SET stands to have a pretty immediate impact on network performance by freeing up 3G bandwidth for heavier data users. Whether or not it will be enough to impact urban and populated areas — especially once the new iPhone is released this Summer — remains to be seen.