The latest speed tests by analysis group Ookla indicate that T-Mobile has the fastest LTE speeds in the U.S., but Verizon isn’t going down without a fight.
Many carriers, not only in the U.S. but also worldwide are working feverously to improve their networks ahead of the first deployments of 5G, scheduled for 2019. This makes the 2018 network quality snapshot all the more interesting.
While Verizon comes in at number two for overall speed, the network took the top spot as fastest network in 45 out of 100 of the largest cities in the U.S, including New York, New York, Anaheim, California, and Washington, DC. T-Mobile was fastest in 33 of those cities, including Seattle, Washington, Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Boise, Idaho. Minneapolis, Minnesota was rated as having the fastest mobile network speeds in the country, with Verizon as its best service provider.
Mike Haberman, vice president, network operations at Verizon said in a statement that having the fastest mobile internet speeds in more cities than T-Mobile makes the network the “clear winner” in this speed test.
Ookla conducted its speed tests primarily on Galaxy S9 and iPhone X handsets, with Verizon providing faster speeds on the Apple smartphone and T-Mobile providing faster speeds on the Samsung smartphone. Notably, Ookla named the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ as the fastest phones on the market in May, but there are likely more iPhone X models being used nationwide. The analysis group tested 351,847 iPhone X handsets and 20,822 Galaxy S9 handsets during the first and second quarters of 2018.
This is the second year T-Mobile has surpassed Verizon in Ookla’s speed tests. The network has been dedicated to expanding its LTE spectrum to more cities across the country. While Verizon’s spectrum is large, the network continues to work on speed, signal, and battery quality, particularly in rural areas. AT&T and Sprint were rated third and fourth for speed respectively with AT&T working to improve its own spectrum and Sprint evolving its speed.
Other speed tests have shown favorable results for T-Mobile and Verizon. OpenSignal rated T-Mobile as having the top 3G and 4G download speeds and 4G upload speeds, while Verizon got an accolade for 4G availability and AT&T a nod for 4G Latency. JD Power and Associates rated Verizon as having the greatest overall network improvement in six U.S. regions for the fourth consecutive year.
