Verizon scored overall win in 3 of 6 markets tested so far, AT&T tops in a pair and Sprint No. 1 in 1
Less than two months into the new year, and already network performance testing company RootMetrics has already released results from a handful of markets to be included in its first half of 2016 report.
Of the six markets tested, Verizon Wireless hauled down the top overall spot in three (Sarasota, Florida; Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Ann Arbor, Michigan), AT&T Mobility scored the top spot in a pair of markets (New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana) and Sprint scored the top overall spot in Las Vegas. T-Mobile US, which has a certain disdain for RootMetrics, managed second place overall rankings in New Orleans, Las Vegas and Ann Arbor.
For Verizon Wireless, the Sarasota ranking witnessed it displace AT&T Mobility from a tie for the top spot from RootMetrics’ rankings for the second half of last year, maintain its lone hold on the top spot in Colorado Springs, and bump both AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile US from a share of the top step in Ann Arbor.
AT&T Mobility, on the other hand, managed to usurp Verizon Wireless as the top performer in New Orleans and wrestle sole control of the top spot from Verizon Wireless in Baton Rouge. Sprint jumped all three of its larger rivals that had shared the top spot in Las Vegas, boosted by strong data performance.
RootMetrics earlier this month released full testing results for the second half of last year, with Verizon Wireless coming out on top in the firm’s nationwide rankings across five tested metrics: network reliability, network speed, data performance, call performance and text performance. In terms of “overall performance,” Verizon Wireless garnered a 94.5 score from RootMetrics, followed by a 91.3 score for AT&T Mobility, 86 score for Sprint and 80.9 score for T-Mobile US.
Verizon Wireless also topped RootMetrics’ first half of 2015 results, though in those results was No. 2 to AT&T Mobility in text performance.
Verizon Wireless touted its continued strong performance in RootMetrics testing, pointing to the $11.7 billion in capital expense spent on its wireless network in 2015. “Verizon’s continued leadership is no accident – it’s the result of a sustained, ongoing investment in never settling for anything less than the best network for its customers,” the carrier noted.
At the other end of the scale, Sprint and T-Mobile US took different roots in defending their No. 3 and No. 4 positions.
Sprint looked on the bright side, with CTO John Saw claiming a strong No. 2 position from the carrier in terms of call quality and that the carrier is “closing the gap in network performance.”
T-Mobile US CEO John Legere took a different tact in blasting RootMetrics methodology, claiming some of the testing was more than six months old and didn’t take into account the carrier’s most recent network expansion. Legere also pointedly noted RootMetrics disabled voice-over-LTE capabilities when testing T-Mobile US’ calling performance, despite the carrier’s claim of nearly 50% of its voice traffic traveling over its data network.
RootMetrics attempted to pre-empt T-Mobile US claims by stating its latest testing did include T-Mobile US devices supporting the carrier’s 700 MHz spectrum bands and that it did plan on enabling VoLTE services for testing beginning this year.
Earlier this month, OpenSignal released results of its own network testing conducted during the final three months of last year that handed T-Mobile US top placing in three of five total categories, including 3G network latency, 3G download speeds and LTE download speeds. Verizon Wireless raked in a pair of top placings, including LTE coverage and a tie with T-Mobile US in LTE download speeds.
Further clouding the subject, Nielsen Mobile Performance late last month said its network testing showed Sprint’s network posted faster download speeds compared with Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile US. The testing was conducted during the last three months of 2015, with a claimed 75 million download events from devices representing more than 270 million potential customers covered.
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