Verizon defeats AT&T for best LTE in network study, T-Mobile tops network speeds
Key findings
*Verizon users see big improvements in Video Experience* Six months ago, no U.S. operator scored better than a Fair rating in our Video Experience analysis, but since then Verizon has managed to climb out of the Fair ranks into Good territory. That means our users generally experienced faster loading times and fewer interruptions during playback when streaming video to their devices over Verizon's networks than over its competitors'. Verizon's dominance in this metric was nowhere more apparent than in the big cities, where it won or tied for every single one of our regional Video Experience awards.
*Download speed is a three-way fight between AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile* One of the most remarkable trends we've been tracking in our measurements over the last year is AT&T's rapid rise in 4G Download Speed experience. AT&T is now within a megabit of challenging the download speed leader in our measurements, and its average 4G Download Speed of 24.6 Mbps was the fastest our users experienced on any of the major operators' networks due to new spectrum and network upgrades. AT&T may still be in third place in Download Speed Experience in this report, but what was once a two-way race in this metric is now a three-way race. AT&T could easily vie for the Download Speed Experience award in our next report.
*T-Mobile steps into the lead in our speed metrics* Verizon and T-Mobile's tug of war in our speed metrics has swung back in favor of T-Mobile. The operator not only won our Download Speed Experience award, breaking the tie we recorded in our January report; it also wrenched our Upload Speed Experience award away from Verizon. But Verizon is still highly competitive in both metrics, and due to AT&T's rapidly improving speed results, T-Mobile faces a second challenger in Download Speed Experience.
*As the 5G era dawns, US operators double down in 4G Download Speed* The first commercial 5G services may be live in the U.S., but that hasn't stopped operators from improving their 4G networks. We recorded increases in average user 4G Download Speed from every major operator, and now all four of them have surpassed 20 Mbps in this metric. The biggest jump we recorded was for AT&T. It led all the operators in our analysis, with our users experiencing average 4G Download Speeds of 24.6 Mbps on AT&T's network.
*Verizon keeps its 4G Availability crown*, but overall growth in 4G access has stalled Verizon once again led all operators in our 4G Availability metric, but after years of consistent growth across the industry in this metric, overall growth in 4G Availability has nearly ground to a halt. Verizon and T-Mobile are hovering just above 94% in 4G Availability while AT&T and Sprint were lingering right below the 90% milestone. We expect that any future gains in this metric will be incremental, especially as operators turn their attention to 5G rollouts.
*AT&T flexes its 4G muscles in the big cities* Though Verizon and T-Mobile overshot AT&T in our national Download Speed Experience analysis, AT&T won the most awards outright in our city-level download analysis, showing that the average 4G speeds users see are really ramping up in urban areas. AT&T also clocked the lowest individual Latency Experience scores in our city-level metrics, despite sharing our national latency award with T-Mobile. Both trends are likely signs that AT&T's new urban-focused 4G upgrades are having a big impact.